Introduction
Julius Caesar was a great man and the general of a Roman army. In 49 BC, he marched his roman army over the Rubicon and took over Rome. After which, he had himself made dictator for 10 years. Which was later extended to dictator-for-life. In 44 BC a conspiracy group was formed, led by Marcus Brutus and Cassius Longinus and involved 60 senators. In march 44 BC, Caesar was murdered by said conspiracy group under the accusation of attempting to making himself king. Which was a taboo in the Roman civilization. (Barlow, 2018)
Thesis
Were the conspirators right to murder Julius Caesar? The sources suggest that Julius Caesar did indeed have the intention of being king. This was a taboo against the Roman republic as it went against the republic’s idea of individual freedom. However, I would argue that even before Caesar’s rule,
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However, sources imply that they had other selfish ulterior motives and their reasoning for the murder given to the public was only a cover-up to hide their true ulterior motives. The senate was made up of aristocrats. The introduction of laws such as Caesars law was popular amongst the common people as it increased their property. However, aristocrats had their properties reduced such as in the case of Cicero “my own property was actually reduced by Caesar’s law.” (Cicero Letter ex. 1). Furthermore, as highlighted before, aristocrats held most of the power in the Roman republic through the use of force. When Caesar came into power, that power was taken back by Caesar. Thus, it would not be unreasonable to think that the conspirators true motive of the murder of Caesar was in an effort to return power back to the aristocrats. The senates did not really want to protect the Roman empire from an autocracy rule instead they wanted to return the power back to themselves. When compared to the senate’s selfish desire, Caesar would have served Rome
The conspirators were wrong to kill Julius Caesar because he contributed to the upturn and reformation of Rome into an orderly state. Caesar reformed Rome and prevented Rome from demolition. For instance, Caesar "reorganized the town governments in Italy, reformed the courts, planned to codify the law to improve administration. Besides
As Julius Caesar once said, “Men are nearly always willing to believe what they wish.” Many people believed that if Caesar became a ruler, he would be a brutal dictator. The conspiracy did not have concrete reasons to murder Julius Caesar. They just assumed that he would be a tyrant. Considering that Caesar and Brutus were such close friends, Brutus should have attempted to talk to Caesar instead of agreeing to murder him. Also, Brutus claims to be such an honorable man, but killing someone isn’t a very honorable deed, regardless of the circumstances.
On March 15th, 44 B.C., Roman politician Julius Caesar was stabbed repeatedly until death by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Brutus on the floor of the Roman Senate. This assassination came after Julius Caesar was reportedly about to be coronated by the rest of the Senate. Later that day, Brutus issued a statement to a crowd of citizens, stating that he and the conspirators had killed “a weak Caesar,” and not the “brave Caesar” the people had known. Marcus Brutus referred to the killing as an act “to save all of Rome from tyranny.”
I do not believe the conspirators were just in assassinating Caesar. One could argue they were at fault for killing Caesar due to the fact that he denied being crowned not once, but three times. I think the conspirators were overreacting to Caesars following. I feel as though the conspirators had enough control over their politics and the general public to further limit Caesars power and actions if he ever was to take power of Rome.
The killers assassinated Caesar without clear justification and did it based on their own assumptions of him. Cassius says, “Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed That he is grown so great? Age, thous art shame! Rome thous hast last the breed of noble bloods!”(Act I, scii, 150-153). Cassius is asking what is so great about Caesar without saying what isn’t great about him. One of Caesar’s good friends, Brutus, claims he
Caesar was duplicity, he wanted to be a king but denied it on public “Some even proposed to call him king, until he heard of this and forbade it himself, saying the name was evil after the curse laid on it by their ancestors” (Appian The civil wars ex. 106). However, his behavior in various aspects illustrated that he really wanted to be a king. He celebrated the victory of the civil war which upset most of the Roman citizen because it was not vanquishing foreign general but destroyed numerous Roman family and consolidated Caesar’s own position in Roman (Plutarch Caesar ex. 56). Also he did not put the tribunes into death who over and over again peeved Caesar by intimated that he is a king in public (Dio Roman history ex.). This could be regarded as his mercy, but could not avoid the truth that it might be his willing to be a
Julius Caesar had been accused to have wanted to be king and was disapproved as Cicero (Cicero Duties Ex. 3.83) expressed that a king `justifies the destruction of law and liberty'. Scullard (1988:151) sated
What?- What did Julius Caesar do? Caesar had joined the Roman army in 81 BC, and was the first Roman army commander to invade England, which he did in 55 BC. He is well known for his bravery and strength in battle and as leading a great mass of troops into and out of battle victoriously.
Julius Caesar was a remarkably dynamic man who intended to become the supreme ruler of the Roman Empire in order to solve the many economic, political, and military problems. Julius Caesar died because his fellow friends did not think he was fit to be crowned king. They were worried he would ruin freedom to all Romans and ruin Rome. The only conspirators who expressed reasons for assassinating Caesar were Cassius and Brutus. Brutus was a friend of Caesar but had realized Julius was becoming ambitious. Although, Caesar was warned more than once to be careful and watch the ides of march. Many conspirators decided to all bring their daggers and stab him to
For all they know, Caesar could have some great things in mind for the people. The conspirators just need to stop jumping to conclusions and give Caesar the chance to prove
Firstly, according to the conspirators, one of the critical issues why they murdered Julius Caesar was because he wanted to be a King. He aspired to be the king of Rome and the lord of the entire world (Cicero On duties ex.). This position made him being hated by the common people for the first time (Plutarch Caesar extract 60). When Roman Republic was established in 509 BC it was focused on the issue of liberty, freedom from those who want to be a tyrant or a king (Buttrose and Barlow 2014, p.5). Caesar was praised since he ended the civil war and brought with it a relative peace to Rome; consequently, he received many honors (Appian The civil wars extract 106). For instance, statues were built in his honor and he was considered to be holy and inviolate. However, Caesar took these honors, especially the latter so much to heart that he began using a pair of high red boots that were
After Caesar’s victory in Gaul, he was made dictator of the Roman Empire around 47 BCE. He was the first dictator to be awarded dictatorship for life and was so adored that his birth month, July, was renamed after him. His position as dictator bestowed upon him command of the all Roman legions and provinces, financial control, foreign policy decisions and power over the Senate. He appointed a large number of his supporters to the Senate firmly establishing his control of the Roman Empire.
Caesar was stabbed to death upon entering the Senate. Julius Caesar's untimely death came as a shock to the public and a significant number of our fellow Romans eagerly await the day when the conspirators come to justice. However, some stand by them in claiming that the tyrant Caesar needed to be stopped. Arguing that although they loved Caesar dearly, they love their motherland more, and they could not tie their
If the assassination attempt on Julius Caesar had failed, I believe that due to previous scenarios, he would have used it to help him accelerate into the dictatorship that he was struggling to create. I believe this as he did something similar in Gaul, when there were revolts and riots he used them as a reason to expand his grasp on the Germanic and Gaelic tribes to cement his power and stature as a great leader, therefore it would make sense for something similar to take place if the assassination attempt had failed. Caesar would also have gathered all of the senators that were involved with the conspiracy and had public trials to show the citizens their tyrannical motives. He would’ve then dismissed the Senate due to hints of further conspiracies,
Rome had been a Republic for approximately 500 years before Julius Caesar placed himself in power. Several in the Senate, being unhappy with this turn of events, decided that the only way to rid themselves of his influence was through murder. The desired impact of this crime was never seen. Although some may believe that the murder of Caesar was justified, it is clear that Brutus should have devised another solution to keep the republic safe.