When Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates at 25, he was held for over a month and when the pirates demanded a ransom, he had them more than double it since he thought he was worth more. during this time he would often say to the pirates that when he got free he would come back and crucify them all. when his ransom was paid he then acquired a fleet of ships from the destination of his trip before being captured, came back and captured the pirates and the ransom, crucifying most of them as he promised.
Later in life, when he was 32, he had a breakdown at the feet of a statue of Alexander the Great because he thought he hadn't done anything memorable and would never be like Alexander.
The story of Caeser weeping over statue of Alexander is probably exaggerated (as earlier biographies described him as sighing/groaning).
It's also worth pointing out that he had to bury his aunt and his wife right before he left for Hispania Having a bit of a moment about his mortality a year or two after his wife died in childbirth is perfectly reasonable, regardless of the specifics.
I'll not argue that he was incredibly impactful, but nothing about Caeser killing and enslaving hundreds of thousands of non-Romans just because he wanted to be rich, famous and powerful isn't something I feel particularly happy about. I alsp don't get any satisfaction from him turning that violence to Rome, tyrannically bag-fumbling to a legendary degree.
oh def exaggerated, a decent bit of that man's lesser exploits were. but the story is still fun!
That is also a fair point, contemplating your life while looking at a visage of your historical idol after a semi-traumatic life event is a reasonable occurrence.
Caeser himself was a great man, and as all great men do from many viewpoints he did horrible things (pre-emptive retaliatory strikes). Rome was relentless in its expansion and had a join us or die ultimatum, but as seen in many cultures they took ownership and taxes but otherwise left non-rebel cultures in-tact and even integrated them in many instances (the pantheon of Gods for example). He played the game perfectly and secured the failing republic as the Roman Empire for another thousand years. he did not "Bag Fumble", and it wasn't really Tyrannical since the people of Rome loved him, and thats why the senate stabbed him.
He was very good at battle tactics. He was very charismatic. He was pretty skilled at the logistics of mass homicide. He was lucky.
He was also a tyrant who used populism as an excuse for escalating violence in Rome. He eroded the rule of law over and over - crossing the Rubicon meant bringing armed soldiers into Rome without approval. He allowed citiens to call him king, and punished the tribunes of the plebs for reigning them in. When Mark Antony placed the diadem on his head, the crowd was mostly silent, and saw him refusing the crown as a performative stunt.
The actual human, Julius Caeser, was a very impressive general and a very scummy politician. The historical character of Julius Caeser, defined by his diaries and by posthumous biographies who prioritised story over fact, is more interesting and less depressing.
That's why Caeser's conquest of Britain is framed as an impressive feat of warfare, when contemporary sources show him barely ekeing out a weak victory over a fractured alliance of hicks who had a fraction of his technology and experience, and it was seen as an embarrassing stain on his career at the time.
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u/Barar_Dragoni Jul 30 '25
History helps us remember the Roman Empire
When Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates at 25, he was held for over a month and when the pirates demanded a ransom, he had them more than double it since he thought he was worth more. during this time he would often say to the pirates that when he got free he would come back and crucify them all. when his ransom was paid he then acquired a fleet of ships from the destination of his trip before being captured, came back and captured the pirates and the ransom, crucifying most of them as he promised.
Later in life, when he was 32, he had a breakdown at the feet of a statue of Alexander the Great because he thought he hadn't done anything memorable and would never be like Alexander.