Summary of Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Caesar was very ambitious, and when he returned to Rome after serving with Marcus Thermus in Asia, he began trying to advancement. He was offered a lot of positions by Marcus Lepidus, but he turned them down. He had little confidence in Lepidus’ abilities, and he found the political atmosphere less promising than he had been led to believe.
#2 When he became a military tribune, Caesar was assigned to Further Spain, where the praetorian governor sent him on an assize circuit. He was heard to sigh impatiently when he saw a statue of Alexander the Great in the Temple of Hercules. The soothsayers interpreted this dream to mean that he was destined to conquer the earth.
#3 During his aedileship, Caesar began to plan a revolution in Rome. He wanted to limit the number of gladiators that anyone could keep in Rome, but his opponents rushed through a bill limiting the number of gladiators that anyone could keep in Rome.
#4 After the Catilinarian conspiracy, the entire Roman Senate, with the exception of Caesar, demanded the death of those involved. Caesar only wanted them to be imprisoned and their estates confiscated. He so browbeat those senators who took a sterner line that Decimus Silanus, as consul-elect, felt obliged to interpret his own proposal more liberally.

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Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 25 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669365297
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

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Insights on Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Caesar was very ambitious, and when he returned to Rome after serving with Marcus Thermus in Asia, he began trying to advancement. He was offered a lot of positions by Marcus Lepidus, but he turned them down. He had little confidence in Lepidus’ abilities, and he found the political atmosphere less promising than he had been led to believe.

#2

When he became a military tribune, Caesar was assigned to Further Spain, where the praetorian governor sent him on an assize circuit. He was heard to sigh impatiently when he saw a statue of Alexander the Great in the Temple of Hercules. The soothsayers interpreted this dream to mean that he was destined to conquer the earth.

#3

During his aedileship, Caesar began to plan a revolution in Rome. He wanted to limit the number of gladiators that anyone could keep in Rome, but his opponents rushed through a bill limiting the number of gladiators that anyone could keep in Rome.

#4

After the Catilinarian conspiracy, the entire Roman Senate, with the exception of Caesar, demanded the death of those involved. Caesar only wanted them to be imprisoned and their estates confiscated. He so browbeat those senators who took a sterner line that Decimus Silanus, as consul-elect, felt obliged to interpret his own proposal more liberally.

#5

Caesar was eventually included on a list of Catilinarian conspirators, along with the names of other senators. He was accused of being a member of the plot, but he claimed that he had voluntarily come forward to warn the others about it.

#6

Caesar was elected consul, and his first act was to rule that a daily record of proceedings in the Senate and before the people should be taken and published. He also revived the obsolete custom of having an orderly walk before him, during the months in which his colleague held the fasces.

#7

Caesar was able to govern Rome alone, and he did so. He signed documents in the consulship of Julius and Caesar rather than Bibulus and Caesar, naming the same man twice. He began an attack on the opposing faction by bribing Vettius to announce that some of them had tried to make him assassinate Pompey.

#8

Caesar’s nine years as governor of Gaul produced many positive results. He reduced the province to the form of a province the whole of Gaul enclosed by the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Cevennes, the Rhine and the Rhône, except for certain allied states that had supported him.

#9

Caesar spent a lot of time and money to win the public’s favor. He built a new forum in Rome, and gave away valuable presents to various people, including his opponents.

#10

The Senate, led by Marcus Claudius Marcellus, voted to strip Caesar of his command. He was furious, but he had been reported as saying, Now that I am the leading Roman of my day, it will be harder to put me down a notch than to degrade me to the ranks.

#11

When news reached him that the tribunes’ veto had been disallowed and that they had fled the city, Caesar sent a few cohorts ahead with all secrecy and disarmed suspicion by attending a public show. At dusk, he borrowed a pair of mules from a nearby bakery, and set off quietly with a few of his staff.

#12

Caesar led his army to the further bank, where he welcomed the tribunes of the people who had fled to him from Rome. He tearfully addressed the troops and asked them to stand faithfully by him. The belief that he then promised to promote every man present to the equestrian order is based on a misunderstanding.

#13

Caesar was never defeated in his civil war, but he did come close to disaster twice. In the final battle in Spain, all seemed lost and he even considered suicide.

#14

Caesar’s reforms were many and varied. He reorganized the calendar, lengthening the year to 365 days, and abolished the intercalary month. He also added a day to the calendar every fourth year.

#15

Caesar was a dictator who brought the Senate up to strength, created new patricians, and increased the yearly quota of praetors, aediles, and quaestors. He also created a census in a novel way: he made landlords help him complete the list, street by street.

#16

Caesar was planning many great projects for the city and the empire. He was going to build a temple of Mars, the biggest in the world, and a huge theater sloping down from the Tarpeian Rock. He was also going to drain the Pomptine Marshes and the Fucine Lake.

#17

Caesar was accused of being King Nicomedes’ bedmate, but this was never proven. He was extremely careful with his domestic economy, and he once put his baker in irons for giving him a different type of bread than what was served to his guests.

#18

Caesar had many affairs, and he was known to drink abstemiously. He was the only sober man who ever tried to overturn the republic.

#19

Caesar was a great orator and general. He was also very dishonest with money matters, and many memoirs record that as consular governor of Further Spain he not only begged his allies for money to settle his debts, but also sacked several Lusitanian towns.

#20

Caesar was a very skilled swordsman and horseman. He always led his army, and could travel lightly in a carriage for long distances at incredible speed. If he reached an unfordable river, he would either swim or propel himself across it on an inflated skin.

#21

Caesar was a great general, but he was also a religious man who was cautious and careful. He never exposed his army to ambushes, but made careful reconnaissances. When news reached him that his camp in Germany was being besieged, he disguised himself as a Gaul and took command on the spot.

#22

Caesar was a great general because he was able to judge his men by their fighting record, not by their morals or social position. He treated them all equally harshly, and allowed no deserter or mutineer to escape severe punishment.

#23

Caesar’s men were extremely brave, and they won the devotion of their fellow soldiers. They were not dependable, however, and would often make insubordinate demands.

#24

Caesar was known for his loyalty to his friends. He protected a nobleman’s son named Masintha against King Hiempsal with such devotion that in the course of the quarrel he caught Juba, the king’s son, by the beard.

#25

Caesar was assassinated because of his abuse of power. He accepted too many honors, including a life dictatorship, a perpetual censorship, and the title Father of His Country. He also took other honors which he should have refused.

#26

Caesar’s third and fourth consulships were simply titular. He substituted two new consuls for himself during the last quarter, and let only tribunes and aediles of the people be elected. He placed his own slaves in charge of the mint and the public revenues, and sent his toy boy Rufio to command the three legions stationed at Alexandria.

#27

The people had grown tired of Caesar’s tyrannical rule, and they openly demanded champions to protect their ancient liberties.

#28

The Ides of March were the day of the planned assassination. Several victims were sacrificed, and despite unfavourable omens, Caesar entered the Assembly Hall.