Download SOURCE A : "Julius Caesar." Biographies. Julius

SOURCE A : "Julius Caesar." Biographies.
Julius Caesar was born in 100BC in Rome to a well-known, but not rich family. The
young Caesar left Rome for military service in Asia and Cilicia. When the dictator
Sulla died, he returned, and began his political career as a prosecuting advocate.
He held a number of government positions under Pompey, and was elected consul in 60 BC. In 59 BC he
also became governor of Gaul and Spain. In 55 BC he attempted an invasion of Britain. Three years later,
in 52 BC, he defeated a union of Gauls.
After defeating his former ally, Pompey, Caesar went on to Egypt, where he involved himself in
upholding the rule of Cleopatra, with whom he had a son Caeserion.
He was made dictator for life in 45 BC and was called Father of his Country (Pater Patriae). The month of
Quintilis was re-named in his honour, and continues to be known as July. He was also the author of a
large body of important political writings.
However, his apparent arrogance and ambition brought him great unpopularity and the suspicion of his
peers. He made a number of political reforms, which served to give him more power and alienate his
fellow senators. In 46 BC, he gave himself the title of 'Prefect of Morals', which meant he could hold
censorial powers without being subjected to them himself.
Caesar used this power to fill the senate with his own partisans, while setting the precedent of requiring
the senate to bestow honours and titles upon him. Coins also bore the likeness of Caesar while he was
given the right to speak first at assembly meetings. He also increased the number of magistrates and
senators who could sit in the Senate. He also tried to transform Italy into a province.
Caesar was assassinated in the Roman Senate on the Ides of March (15 March) of 44 BC by a group of
conspirators (including his adopted son, Brutus) who wanted to save Rome from his alleged monarchical
ambitions. His famous last words were immortalised by Shakespeare as "You too, Brutus?".
A bitter power struggle broke out after his death, which led to the end of the Roman Republic. Caesar had
been popular with the middle and lower classes, who became angry that he had been killed by a small
number of aristocrats. They turned into a mob at Caesar's funeral and attacked the homes of Brutus and
Cassius.
Caesar's heir Gaius Octavian, who was his great-grand nephew, played on this discontent and raised an
army to fight the troops gathered by Brutus and Cassius.
The 18-year-old initially worked with Marc Antony to defeat this army. He then had to fight Antony who
had teamed up with Cleopatra to make Egypt a base from which to take over Rome. They were defeated
and Octavian became the first Roman emperor, taking the name Augustus.
On 1 January 42 BC, Caesar became the first historical Roman to be deified, being granted the title 'the
divine Julius' posthumously by the Senate.
Source
"Julius Caesar." Biographies. Web. 7 Jan. 2015.< http://www.history.co.uk > .
SOURCE B: "Julius Caesar Biography.”
The Dictator
Through a series of events, Caesar eventually went to war against Pompey, leading troops across the river
Rubicon on January 10-11, 49 BC. With Pompey further aligning himself with nobility, and the nobility
increasingly seeing Caesar as a national threat, civil war proved to be inevitable.
But Pompey and his troops were no a match for Caesar and his military campaign. By the end of 48 BC,
Caesar had pushed his enemies out of Italy and pursued Pompey into Egypt, where he was eventually
killed. There, Caesar aligned himself with Cleopatra, with whom he had a son, Caesarion.
Upon his return to Rome, Caesar was made dictator for life and hailed as the Father of his Country. For
Caesar and his countrymen, his rule proved instrumental in reforming Rome.
He would serve just a year's term before his assassination, but in that short period Caesar greatly
transformed the empire. He relieved debt and reformed the Senate by increasing its size and opening it up
so that it better represented Romans as a whole. He reformed the Roman calendar and reorganized how
local government was constructed. In addition he resurrected two city-states, Carthage and Corinth, which
had been destroyed by his predecessors, and he granted citizenship to a number of foreigners. He also
proved to be a benevolent victor by inviting some of his defeated rivals to join him in the government.
But Caesar was also careful to solidify his power and rule. He stuffed the Senate with allies, and required
the same body to grant him honors and titles. He was allowed to speak first at assembly meetings, and
Roman coins bore his face.
Assassination
Caesar's reforms greatly enhanced his standing with Rome's lower- and middle-class populations. But his
popularity with the Senate was another matter. Envy and concern over Caesar's increasing power led to
angst among a number of politicians who saw in him an aspiring king. History had shown that Romans
had no desire for monarchical rule. Legend had it that by the time Caesar came to power it had been five
centuries since they'd last allowed a king to rule them.
Caesar's wish to include his former Roman enemies in the government helped spell his downfall. Gaius
Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus were both former enemies who'd joined the Senate.
Together, the two of them led the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March (the 15th), 44 BC.
Source
"Julius Caesar Biography.” Web. 7 Jan. 2015.< http://www.biography.com > .
SOURCE C: from "Plutarch: Life of Caesar
Caesar Becomes Dictator for Life
However, the Romans gave way before the good fortune of the man and accepted the bit, and regarding
the monarchy as a respite from the evils of the civil wars, they appointed him dictator for life. This was
confessedly a tyranny, since the monarchy, besides the element of irresponsibility, now took on that of
permanence. It was Cicero who proposed the first honors for him in the senate, and their magnitude was,
after all, not too great for a man; but others added excessive honors and vied with one another in
proposing them, thus rendering Caesar odious and obnoxious even to the mildest citizens because of the
pretension and extravagance of what was decreed for him. It is thought, too, that the enemies of Caesar no
less than his flatterers helped to force these measures through, in order that they might have as many
pretexts as possible against him and might be thought to have the best reasons for attempting his life. For
in all other ways, at least, after the civil wars were over, he showed himself blameless; and certainly it is
thought not inappropriate that the Temple of Clemency was decreed as a thank-offering in view of his
mildness. For he pardoned many of those who had fought against him, and to some he even gave honors
and offices besides, as to Brutus and Cassius, both of whom were now praetors. The statues of Pompey,
which had been thrown down, he would not suffer to remain so, but set them up again, at which Cicero
said that in setting up Pompey's statues Caesar firmly fixed his own. When his friends thought it best that
he should have a body-guard, and many of them volunteered for this service, he would not consent,
saying that it was better to die once for all than to be always expecting death. And in the effort to
surround himself with men's good will as the fairest and at the same time the securest protection, he again
courted the people with banquets and distributions of grain, and his soldiers with newly planted colonies,
the most conspicuous of which were Carthage and Corinth. The earlier capture of both these cities, as
well as their present restoration, chanced to fall at one and the same time.
Source
"Plutarch: Life of Caesar (ca. 100 CE)." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2015.
Database. 7 Jan. 2015.< http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/ > .