|
Dromo's Den
|
|
[Up] [Dromo's Den] Julius Caesar Biography Caesar, Caius Julius, son of a Roman praetor of the same name, was born July 12, 100 B. C., according to Mommsen in 102 B. C. One of the greatest, if not the greatest of military commanders, he was likewise peerless in his time as politician and statesman. He overcame all his enemies in the field, and was the dictator, and virtually the first emperor of Rome. During the year 46 B. C. he conferred a benefit on Rome and on the world by the reformation of the calendar, which had been greatly abused by the pontifical college for political purposes. After quelling an insurrection which broke out in Spain, where Pompey's sons, Cneius and Sextus, had collected an army, he received the title of "Father of his Country," and also of imperator, was made dictator and praefectus morum for life, and consul for 10 years; his person was declared sacred, and even divine; he obtained a body-guard of knights and senators; his statue was placed in the temples; his portrait was struck on coins; the month Quintilis was called Julius in his honor, and on all public occasions he was permitted to wear the triumphal robe. He proposed to make a digest of the whole Roman law for public use, to found libraries for the same purpose, to drain the Pontine Marshes, to enlarge the harbor of Ostia, to dig a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, and to quell the inroads of the barbarian on the E. frontiers; but in the midst of these vast designs he was cut off by assassination on the Ides (15th) of March, 44 B. C. People’s Cyclopedia, Vol. I (New York: Syndicate Publishing, 1914) |