Julius Caesar and The Ides of March

Had Caesar been taken with the ancient cultures of the East, where he was worshipped as a living god to the point that he would now apply his godlike status to Rome? The answer came in late 45 BC when the Senate proclaimed that from this time forward Caesar was to be honored as Divus Iulius or Julius the God. Early in 44 BC, Caesar was seen wearing the high red boots once worn by kings in Italy's ancient past. Who could doubt now that he was about to perform the sacrilege of having himself declared a king? There is evidence that Caesar realized that he had gone too far, for on 15 February 44 BC he twice refused the offer by Mark Antony of a crown. The second time Antony offered the crown "a groan echoed all the way round the Forum." (Cicero, Phillipics, 2.85.). In Caesar's mind this certainly couldn't have been of much consequence. As Cleopatra was known as both a pharaoh to the Egyptians and a Macedonian queen to the Greeks, so Caesar would also be a living god in the East and a dictator in Rome. What indeed was the point of formally abolishing the Republic when the dictator himself was said to have uttered that the Republic had been brought to "nothingness, a name only, without body or substance." (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 77.). Julius Caesar appeared to have felt very secure in his new position, as he dismissed his guard of two thousand men and appeared in the Forum with only the lictors that came with his office.

When Favonius, who was Cato's most enthusiastic supporter said, "Better an illegal tyrant than a civil war." (Plutarch, Brutus, 12.), Caesar probably felt that most people in Rome-even the most republican leaning senators were more terrified about what would happen without him. And sure enough, though he hadn't been in Rome long at all he was preparing to leave for to fight the Parthians on 18 March 44 BC, and take revenge for Crassus's disastrous campaign in 53 BC. A soothsayer or astrologer-perhaps a person with a combination of fortune telling talents had warned Caesar about the Ides of March, which by our calendar today would be the thirteenth or the fifteenth of the month. In public anyway, Caesar scorned superstitions and warnings of death. To be afraid was to be emasculated. Interesting also-and I am thinking of this in relations to dreams and warnings of other political leaders down through the ages-all the way up to Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy; Caesar's wife Pompeia, had terrible nightmares and begged him not to attend the Senate the next day. Caesar laughed at her worries and as he was being carried in his litter, he is said to have sighted the prognosticator who had warned him of the Ides, the following exchange is reported to have taken place: "The day which you warned me against is here, and I am still alive," said Caesar, to which the soothsayer replied, "Yes, it is here-but it is not yet past." (Cassius Dio, 44.18.).

On that morning the Senate had arranged to meet in Pompey's great assembly hall. Pompey's statue had been removed after Caesar's victory at Pharsalus but Caesar had ordered it put back, along with all of the other Pompeian statues. Cicero had held this action of Caesar's in a kind of contempt and said it was nothing more than an insurance policy that nobody would take Caesar's statues down in the future. It must have seemed like business as usual when Julius Caesar came into the hall and the senators rose to greet him. A crowd of them approached him with a petition as he sat down in his gilded chair. Suddenly, he felt his toga being pulled down from his shoulders. Caesar, startled, yelled, "Why this is violence!" (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 82.). 60 men now crowded around him with daggers pulled out from under their togas. Every one of the men was known to him. Some were his former enemies who had accepted his pardon but -many more of the men were his friends. Some of the men had even served with him in Gaul, Decimus Brutus, the commander of the fleet that had routed the Venetians was among them. The final, most terrible and stunning betrayal of Caesar was the one that made him stop fighting for his life. Julius Caesar had seen his own supposed son (by his mistress Servilia) among the knife wielders-another Brutus-Marcus. This is the betrayal that caused the famous words to be echoed down through the ages as either: "You too, Brutus?" or "You too, my boy?" (Suetonius, The Deified Julius, 82.). Caesar did not want to be seen in the throws of his death agony, so he covered his head with the tatters of his toga. He had fallen in a pool of blood at the base of his old rival, Pompey's statue.

Some of the conspirators had also wanted the deaths of Mark Antony, Lepidus and the downfall of the whole regime. However, Marcus Junius Brutus, Caesar's reputed son and the conscience of the conspiracy would not agree to this. In his eyes they were executing a traitor against the Republic and not dabbling in the less noble ideals of political infighting. This turned out to be a problem, however, as the men-or some of them anyway-seemed to think the people would rally around the saviors of the Republic. Instead as news spread of the dictator's death, the spectator's at Pompey's theater began rioting and Rome's Jews were wailing in their grief at the death of the man they had always thought of as a friend. Cicero was one who got caught up in the aftermath of the Ides of March. Previous to this his much beloved daughter, Tullia had died following childbirth. It would be an understatement to say that Cicero was devastated by her loss. She had been a loving and intelligent daughter. In fact, in a society where men ruled over everything, she had been her father's dearest companion. Even his friends had thought his extremely emotional reaction to her death was a bit unmanly and told him he should put his duties as a citizen first. However, these old values which had once been such an inspiration to him only made him feel a deeper sadness. He explained his feelings to a friend: "There was a time when I could find in my home a refuge from the miseries of public life. But now, oppressed by domestic unhappiness as I am, there is no doing the opposite-no taking refuge in the affairs of state, and the comforts they once offered. And so I stay clear of both the Forum and of home." (Cicero, To Friends, 4.6.).

An important note here-commenter Xdell had made me wonder to check back through some posts to see if I had the actual date of Julius Caesar's being made dictator here. As far as I can tell I don't. Julius Caesar was made "Dictator in Perpetuity" or dictator for life by the Senate between 9 and 15 February 44 BC. The idea of a "dictator" was an actual office in ancient Rome. There is a bit about this in the "Sulla" posts-and not just a name like we refer to tyrants now. The fact that I didn't have such an important piece of information here (all the time I thought I was going into too much detail) makes me wonder if I should stop doing the majority of the work I do for both of my blogs in between the hours of 11pm and 4 am. I will look through tonights (hopeful) post and see if I am missing anything important.

The image is an artist's rendering of the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March-only problem is -I have no idea which artist-haha! I had picked out another rendition done in 1800 by Camenucci but when I posted the image it was too small, so I will try to find out who did this one-shouldn't be too hard-even for me. I hope to have the next post here soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!