Analysis of Julius Caesar's Assassination

Caesar can be seen as one of the greatest leader in human history. Even though Caesar never actually became the king, Some historians considered Caesar as the first king of Rome. However, such a great figure was dead at the age of fifty- eight. His achievement of his lifetime made his death be controversial.

Caesar was the general of Rome but he became a leader quickly. In 60 BC, Caesar selected to the consul, and he started to contact with Rome’s superior politics and military from that time. Venturing into Rome’s high level class of politics helped him to gain the opportunities to manage and determine the most important events of the country. Meanwhile, this is the base of Caesar stacked out his ambition; he also showed his outstanding ability of governing the country on that niche. In his future governing period, he became more and more popular among Romans citizens, and he overshadowed other leaders. Then, In 53 BC, one of Rome’s leader, Crassus, dead. His death is the blasting fuse of Roman civil war. The rest of leaders, Caesar and Pompey, cannot feigon the peace anymore. Inevitably, the civil war happened in 49 BC. After a year, the war quieted down, Caesar won the war. In this year, he had the power to vote the senate which made him became sacrosanct. The later two years, Caesar still continued the fight. In 45 BC, Caesar managed lots of people participate the senate who was favorable to himself, and then senate declaimed that Caesar became the dictator.In general, there are three key reasons help Caesar to rise: his role in the First Triumvirate, his conquest of Gaul and his victories during the Civil Wars. Caesar’s participation in Triumvirate offer him lots of benefit, and most importantly it allowed him to select Consul in 59 BC and then Caesar had the opportunities to initiate his a series of reforms. All of his reforms aimed at improving romans lifes, and because of his great deeds, he become much more popular in society. This help him to establish his own network of supporters. Moreover, his consulship allowed him the command of four legions and a province, in what is now southern France. This was to allow him to embark on his military career which was to be the key to his success. Moreover, his two victories of the wars were also the basestore of his rising. People considered him as the first emperor in roman history was base on his capability of military as well as his success on countless battlefields around Europe and the Middle East.

There are two version of Caesar’s death from Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus and Plutarch. Even though their article are different from each others, they still exist the similarities. In their article, Caesar was hacked many times by about sixty senators instead of a only one, and finally dead in Theatre of Pompey Rome. The numbers of participate were big, but who were the main player in this action, who should be guilty? None of them were innocent in this action. They all have their personal motives, but there are two person stand out; they are Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.

Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was a great general and a close friend of Caesar’s who rose in the ranks to become one of the most powerful men in Rome. However, he didn’t really respect and admire Caesar in his mind. On the contrary, he felt resentful because Caesar’s shadow above him and all of his honors were given by Caesar. Plus, most importantly, as long as Caesar still existed, he cannot fulfill his ambition since everybody only see what Caesar’s great deeds and he was just a general. As a result, he had enough motives for murdering Caesar.

Gaius Cassius Longinus is the another main player. Cassius was a man of considerable ability and a good soldier, but in politics he was actuated by vanity and ambition and had an uncontrollable temper and sharp tongue. He used to work for Pompey, but Caesar finally won the civil war, and he reconciled with Caesar, who give him legateship. He was one of the person who organized the assassination. His purpose of murdering is for his own benefits. Moreover, he also faced to the rumors that Caesar sleep with his wife. So, his motives were complicated and selfish. Cassius was the active one in the action; he was also the one who first suggest this assassination.

The additional culprits who consider should be blame at Marcus Junius Brutus. He was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus and Servilia. In the 50 BC, he opposed Pompey’s increasing power, however, because of Caesar’s invasion of Italy in 49 BC, Brutus was reconciled with Pompey and served under him in Greece. When Caesar defeated Pompey at the battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, Brutus was captured. He was soon pardoned by Caesar. Brutus was always optimistic about Caesar. However he was shocked that Caesar made him perpetual dictator in 44 BC, and Caesar’s king-like behavior persuaded Marcus Junius Brutus finally joined to take the action.

It was obvious that perpetrators were not justified in their assassination of Julius Caesar. To be the dictator was the biggest motives for the senators to murder Caesar, because this decision irritated and threatened the senators who preserved republicanism. Caesar’s power and capability overshadowed the other leader. The senators feared that Caesar planned to overthrow the senate which was favorable for his totalitarian dream. In addition, most importantly, they feared that Caesar was too powerful to endanger their own personal benefits. That why this assassination was not justify. Most of them wanted the power, but when Caesar became the dictator, the profits they can gain would definitely shorten.

On the other hand, even though Caesar became the dictator and crash roman republicanism, he was absolutely a great leader for Rome. His ability and strategies can make Rome better. During his reign as a dictator, he did a number of notable impacts on Rome. The unemployment was a big issue after the civil war. Under Caesar’s ruling, the poor was offered the new life in overseas colonies. He also eliminated the heavy taxes which loaded on the famers and poor. Any roman citizens were granted the land in order to lighten their hardship. In addition to the unemployment, he also need to deal with the widespread debt in Rome. The lender demanded the repayment of the loans, which triggered the shortage of coinage. Realizing the seriousness of this situation, Caesar ordered that property must be accepted for repayment at its pre-war value. Obviously, the reforms that he took over his time in power showed his devotion to Rome and his wish to bring stability and prosperity to the city. However, if the senator’s discontent was they wanted to protect roman republicanism from the declaim that Caesar became the dictator. They can adopt other way to solve, such as they can negotiate with Caesar, but they decided to kill him because of their personal motives.

These senators murder a great leader who actually enhanced Rome for their own personal benefits, and the result unforeseen by the assassins was that Caesar's death precipitated the end of the Roman Republic. After the death of Caesar, Rome experienced a period of turbulence. Finally, Octavian became the first emperor of Rome. The republicanism still broken. In general, everyone who participated into the action of murdering Caesar was guilty, and this they were not justified in this assassination.