Back in Rome, Caesar celebrated her victory in Spain and shared her triumph with her lieutenants, which was not generally done, but it was not this that made the people of Rome uncomfortable, but the fact that a victory was celebrated upon Romans, who had been practically exterminated. A terrible thing in the eyes of the people but that didn't matter to Caesar.
The girl celebrated her triumph without considering the feelings of the people. What she wanted was to show Rome that only she was capable of bringing peace and restoring order. Nobody was better, nobody was more capable, nobody had the same foresight that she possessed. In a sense that triumph was a message both to the people of Rome and to the Senate.
Caesar was now the most powerful figure in the world, she no longer had rivals capable of defeating her. Each region had seen a triumph of Caesar: Gaul, Germany, Britain, Africa, the Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula, and of course the Italic Peninsula. Only the best legions were faithful to Caesar and for Caesar the strongest men of Rome would die. No one would ever have dared to turn against such a figure.
Caesar decided to implement policies whose sole purpose was to modernize Rome but also to pacify it completely. She never established a military government because she knew it would cause uprisings; the girl disbanded the legions and decided to wear the toga, putting away the armor. In her mansion, on the Tiber, she welcomed Cleopatra and her son whom she never recognized; meanwhile she was also carrying on a relationship with her wife, Calpurnia, and with Brutus's mother and no one dared to question Caesar's polygamy.
Nobody, except the patricians. The most reactionary men, fearing the wrath of Caesar, gathered in secret and spoke ill of that Roman woman who had allowed herself to be 'infected' by Eastern customs.
The girl, having obtained total control over Rome, decided to favor science, astronomy and mathematics, and to finance the intellectual circles and became a judge in every trial, offering clemency to her rivals and avoiding the use of the death penalty. She weakened the Senate thanks to her reforms and decided to balance the powers between the people and the aristocracy.
Caesar was disrespectful to the senators but these, pushed by Cicero, began, for some strange reason, to fill the girl with honors and titles such as imperator and pater patriae, some intellectuals close to Caesar immediately noticed that the senators were competing to see who gave the girl more honors and they sensed that there was something sinister in this excessive submission. A gold statue was erected that depicted Caesar without the dictator's knowledge and a crown of laurels was placed on it; the Senate accused Caesar of wanting the monarchy but the girl ordered that the crown be removed and expelled the two tribunes suspected of having placed that crown on the statue.
Another similar case occurred during the Lupercals, a feast in Rome; Caesar was on the beaks watching the procession when he saw a man arrive who placed a crown of laurels at her feet, then Cassius came who pretended to be benevolent and put the crown on Caesar's knees, the girl refused the crown and returned it; but then Marcus Antonius arrived and took the crown and put it on her head and greeted her as king. Caesar rose furiously and threw the crown among the people and then shouted, lowering her toga and showing her throat:
"Here is my throat for those who want to slit it!"
That episode stunned the population and the girl after her had to retire to her quarters.
Even after the scene of the Lupercals, Caesar continued to carry out her reforms. She decided to extend Roman citizenship to the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul, brought the number of senators to nine hundred and also included men loyal to her. She strengthened the popular assemblies to the detriment of the Senate, which lost its decision-making autonomy. Caesar was the first to adapt the bureaucracy of the Republic to the new needs of the time.
What really damaged the power of the Senate was the establishment of the first Roman newspaper. Cesare created the Acta Diurna, or tables on which all the decisions of the Senate were written so that the people were always informed of the different political choices. The Senate was thus deprived of its secrecy and became, officially and for the first time in the history of Rome, transparent.
And as Caesar continued to modernize Rome, the Senate lost much of its ancient power, and the people continued to exist in a state between subjection and free citizenship.
"Far be it from me to want to emulate a power-hungry man like Sulla!" Caesar exclaimed in a speech in the Senate.
But was that really so?
There were those who seriously feared the power that girl had conquered. Caesar's enemies were many and many of them were close to her.
There were several reasons to hate Caesar: she enjoyed too much power; she had deprived the aristocrats of their privileges; she had committed atrocities in war; she was too libertine; she loved foreign populations and their customs; her reforms, which were intended to modernize Rome, were, for some, too radical; she was epicurean.
There were really different reasons behind the hatred of Caesar. However, one reason excelled over the others and Cassius expounded it in front of his colleagues, in a secret meeting:
"A woman must not and she must never rule over the noble men who made Rome great!"
On the night of March 14, Caesar was invited to dine at Marcus Lepidus' house. Trebonius and Cassius, and other members of the Senate were also at dinner. Between laughter, jokes and fantastic stories, in the end, Cassius asked Caesar a question:
"How would you like to die, Caesar?"
Everyone remained a bit petrified. They looked at the man then the girl. Caesar, with a slightly saddened smile, replied:
"Many men find a slow departure honorable. I don't. If I had a choice ... I'd rather die quickly. I'm not interested in honor ... but happiness. A good and respectful man would make me die quickly."
The girl celebrated her triumph without considering the feelings of the people. What she wanted was to show Rome that only she was capable of bringing peace and restoring order. Nobody was better, nobody was more capable, nobody had the same foresight that she possessed. In a sense that triumph was a message both to the people of Rome and to the Senate.
Caesar was now the most powerful figure in the world, she no longer had rivals capable of defeating her. Each region had seen a triumph of Caesar: Gaul, Germany, Britain, Africa, the Middle East, the Iberian Peninsula, and of course the Italic Peninsula. Only the best legions were faithful to Caesar and for Caesar the strongest men of Rome would die. No one would ever have dared to turn against such a figure.
Caesar decided to implement policies whose sole purpose was to modernize Rome but also to pacify it completely. She never established a military government because she knew it would cause uprisings; the girl disbanded the legions and decided to wear the toga, putting away the armor. In her mansion, on the Tiber, she welcomed Cleopatra and her son whom she never recognized; meanwhile she was also carrying on a relationship with her wife, Calpurnia, and with Brutus's mother and no one dared to question Caesar's polygamy.
Nobody, except the patricians. The most reactionary men, fearing the wrath of Caesar, gathered in secret and spoke ill of that Roman woman who had allowed herself to be 'infected' by Eastern customs.
The girl, having obtained total control over Rome, decided to favor science, astronomy and mathematics, and to finance the intellectual circles and became a judge in every trial, offering clemency to her rivals and avoiding the use of the death penalty. She weakened the Senate thanks to her reforms and decided to balance the powers between the people and the aristocracy.
Caesar was disrespectful to the senators but these, pushed by Cicero, began, for some strange reason, to fill the girl with honors and titles such as imperator and pater patriae, some intellectuals close to Caesar immediately noticed that the senators were competing to see who gave the girl more honors and they sensed that there was something sinister in this excessive submission. A gold statue was erected that depicted Caesar without the dictator's knowledge and a crown of laurels was placed on it; the Senate accused Caesar of wanting the monarchy but the girl ordered that the crown be removed and expelled the two tribunes suspected of having placed that crown on the statue.
Another similar case occurred during the Lupercals, a feast in Rome; Caesar was on the beaks watching the procession when he saw a man arrive who placed a crown of laurels at her feet, then Cassius came who pretended to be benevolent and put the crown on Caesar's knees, the girl refused the crown and returned it; but then Marcus Antonius arrived and took the crown and put it on her head and greeted her as king. Caesar rose furiously and threw the crown among the people and then shouted, lowering her toga and showing her throat:
"Here is my throat for those who want to slit it!"
That episode stunned the population and the girl after her had to retire to her quarters.
Even after the scene of the Lupercals, Caesar continued to carry out her reforms. She decided to extend Roman citizenship to the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul, brought the number of senators to nine hundred and also included men loyal to her. She strengthened the popular assemblies to the detriment of the Senate, which lost its decision-making autonomy. Caesar was the first to adapt the bureaucracy of the Republic to the new needs of the time.
What really damaged the power of the Senate was the establishment of the first Roman newspaper. Cesare created the Acta Diurna, or tables on which all the decisions of the Senate were written so that the people were always informed of the different political choices. The Senate was thus deprived of its secrecy and became, officially and for the first time in the history of Rome, transparent.
And as Caesar continued to modernize Rome, the Senate lost much of its ancient power, and the people continued to exist in a state between subjection and free citizenship.
"Far be it from me to want to emulate a power-hungry man like Sulla!" Caesar exclaimed in a speech in the Senate.
But was that really so?
There were those who seriously feared the power that girl had conquered. Caesar's enemies were many and many of them were close to her.
There were several reasons to hate Caesar: she enjoyed too much power; she had deprived the aristocrats of their privileges; she had committed atrocities in war; she was too libertine; she loved foreign populations and their customs; her reforms, which were intended to modernize Rome, were, for some, too radical; she was epicurean.
There were really different reasons behind the hatred of Caesar. However, one reason excelled over the others and Cassius expounded it in front of his colleagues, in a secret meeting:
"A woman must not and she must never rule over the noble men who made Rome great!"
On the night of March 14, Caesar was invited to dine at Marcus Lepidus' house. Trebonius and Cassius, and other members of the Senate were also at dinner. Between laughter, jokes and fantastic stories, in the end, Cassius asked Caesar a question:
"How would you like to die, Caesar?"
Everyone remained a bit petrified. They looked at the man then the girl. Caesar, with a slightly saddened smile, replied:
"Many men find a slow departure honorable. I don't. If I had a choice ... I'd rather die quickly. I'm not interested in honor ... but happiness. A good and respectful man would make me die quickly."
