Julius Caesar

The ambitious general and statesman was instrumental in the future shape of the Roman Empire.

The biography of Julio César had all the ingredients to become a mythical figure. Cesar was a skilled strategist and a courageous soldier, whose victories allowed the Roman territory; He was a shrewd politician, whose populist measures won him the affection of large strata of the population. In the same way, he stood out as an exceptional man of letters, whose writings, like the war in Gaul, are among the most accomplished of the classical latin. The conquests of Caesar allowed that much of Europe adopt Latin customs and models. Similarly, measures adopted as head of the Roman State (which included reforms in the agrarian legislation and the calendar) boosted irreversible changes in Europe.

Gaius Julius Caesar was born on July 13, the year 100 BC (according to the commonly accepted date) in a not very aristocratic district of Rome, close to the current via Cavour. It is known little of his childhood, has passed in a patrician family, the gens Julia, which intended to descend from Aeneas (to who are considered a son of Venus), and in which, at some point, a branch that added the name of Caesar had inserted. The members of the family had lived apart from the continuing struggle for the charges that allowed the public to reach the Consulate, maximum aspiration career.

The children and youth first were short in those days. Since ten years, Caesar was placed in the care of Marco Antonio Gnifon, illustrious teacher, specialist in Greek and Roman literature, so you take your education. He learned to read and write in the translation of the Odyssey by Livius Andronicus. Surely his natural talent allowed him to take advantage of the teachings of his master, so he was perfecting his language and learning the rudiments of oratory, fundamental for a political career.

Julius Caesar

Although his family had not held senior positions, the inclinations of the Group shoveled him towards the popular party. Julia, a sister of Caesar's father, had married Cayo Mario, commoner of origin but very powerful man for his military capability. The family entered, probably through Mario, in the circles of the people's Party. The father of Caesar could not help but access to the second charge of greater importance of the State, the pretura. It held that office when your fifteen-year-old son, should attend the ceremony which is leaving the actual children's robes of purple and received the manly robe.

At age fifteen, in that 85 where he died his father, Caesar was a man. Immediately took to wife Cornelia, daughter of Cinna, one of the leaders maximum (together with Cayo Mario) of the partido popular and powerful man in Rome. With this decision, the gens Julia ended up partnering definitively with the interests of the people, facing off against the corrupted Roman patriciate. All this must be something hard to Caesar, who was a young man who lived a life free of prejudice, released from the rigidity of his master and inclined toward all kinds of readings, including the theater.

To marry Cornelia had to break a previous commitment, which caused tensions in the bosom of the family. César had with her daughter, Julia, which was linked to his life and that always felt a deep affection, while their marital relationship with Cornelia was almost incidental. At the start of their married life, Caesar must enter into the circle of important men that his Aunt Julia, widow of Mario surrounded himself. At that time he was appointed flamen dialis, i.e. priest of Jupiter, the most important of the Roman gods.

In 82, Sila, who had defeated Mithridates, making it back to the primitive borders of his Kingdom in Pontus, returned victorious to Rome and, as it was customary, took accomplished revenge on his adversaries 'popular'; It killed them, outlawed the rise to public officials of their descendants, seized their property and established a new form of State, inaugurating a kind of absolute dictatorship indefinitely, legal concept that Caesar would not forget in the future. But moment Sila, that had some considerations with the patrician families inclined toward populism, demanded that Cesar that it abandon to Cornelia. Cesar said the Messenger of Sila with a famous phrase: "tell your master who only sends Caesar in Caesar" and opted for exile in Asia.

None of this was easy; Caesar was pursued and put price on his head. He had to buy his freedom from a soldier who had found him, and finally by pleas of close relatives to the dictator and the intermediation of priestesses of the goddess Vesta, Sila pardoned "to the young of the loose robe', epithet that alluded to the habit of Caesar not to adjust the belt of his toga, who fell so freely, according to a use that was seen then as little manly. It was a sorry reluctantly. Sila had columns the frightening future of the boy when he stated, according to Suetonius, that Caesari multos Marios inesse (Cesar there are many Marios), meaning the danger involved in your determined personality with that phrase. Caesar, however, not abbreviated to return to Rome and joined the service of the Termes propretor, which, as Caesar son of a member of the Senate, conferred the degree of officer. Thus participated in the taking of Mytilene in Lesbos, city allied with Mithridates, and their military behaviour earned him an award.

Termes decided then to send it to the Court of Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, a Kingdom on the southern coast of the Black Sea and the sea of Marmara, in order to strengthen relations. Nicomedes and César locked a close friendship which was the subject of rumors, something very common at the time, on the other hand. The fact is that César returned a couple of times to Bithynia and that, on the death of Nicomedes, realm would be incorporated into Rome as one province more, becoming all its inhabitants 'customers' of César. This was now absolute dictator of Rome, and even in the large celebrations (a curious sign of freedom some enjoyed in Rome in those days) his own soldiers sang verses in which mockingly referred to its likely homosexual relations with Nicomedes. His enemies would remember you often this shameful episode, coming to baptize you with the infamous nickname of Bithynicam reginam (Queen of Bithynia).

The rise to power

Dead Sila, Caesar returned to Rome in 78. In its short life it had already acquired enough experience in public affairs and it had exercised its ability to command. Undoubtedly César thought that the death of Sila would allow rapid progress between the popular, but wrong. Sila had left everything securely tied, and the power of the conservative optimates ("great men"), which dominated the Senate, stopped to the partido popular. Julius Caesar, political born (and thus must always understand it to understand the meaning of many of their actions), is proposed to deepen the understanding of the labyrinth of the res publica. He considered that his training had not been completed and traveled to Rhodes to study rhetoric with Apollonius Molon, a brilliant and renowned teacher who found great innate qualities to eloquence in his disciple. Only Cicero, who had also received lessons of Apollonius, overcame him among his contemporaries in the art of oratory.

The Emperor Julius Caesar, by Rubens

On the journey he was kidnapped by pirates who ravaged the Mediterranean and living the rescue that required by their victims. History was undoubtedly exaggerated, but the fear and respect that, as he has been repeated, the pirates came to feel for him, are illustrative of the arrogance of Caesar and his capacity to fascinate even to his enemies. Once free, he gathered a small army, Chartered boats and lashed out at the pirates, who won, and he and his soldiers with all as possessed. The survivors of the adventure was finally crucified in Miletus, and César undertook an immediate campaign against Mithridates, returning to stand up against the Empire. Then unaware of the testament of Nicomedes, made of singular importance for him, since the King of Bithynia left him a legacy which, together with the loot from the pirates, saneaba its always ailing economic situation.

However, the campaign against Mithridates was entrusted to other hands, because the death of his uncle Aurelio Cota 74 left vacant a position in the College of pontiffs of Rome, charge that requested, and was granted, as also, the following year, on military Tribune. These designations did not do to accelerate the political career of César. The 68 was Quaestor and traveled to Hispania Ulterior. He has that Caesar wept before the statue of Alexander the great, erected in the city of Cadiz, thinking of what little could then be his career with the of the Conqueror of the East and how much wished to emulate the invincible Macedonian General deep down. On one occasion he was upset by a dream in which he appeared to raping his own mother, but the Seer prophesied him why good omens, since they interpreted that mother symbolized Earth, mother of all things, and it meant that it adueñaría the world. And the truth is that it was dramatically, accumulating dignities in successive years. In 65 he was appointed Councillor seat; in 63 died the President of the College of pontiffs, and Caesar, with twenty-seven years, presented his candidature faced with Catullus, leader of the optimates.

Caesar knew that it undertook an economic adventure (the power struggle always demanded money) and that if he lost would be relentlessly pursued. But the election showed the popularity which he enjoyed among the people, and was appointed as pontifex maximus. Preturi, immediately prior to the Consulate rung, came in 62, and was sent as propretor to Hispania Ulterior, territory that already knew very well, where not only did solid friendships, but enriched the public purse, with great satisfaction of Rome, and greatly strengthened his personal pecunia and its ability to command of a large army, an indispensable condition for political success in Rome. When he returned to the eternal city in the year 60, the way was open for the great adventure.

The triumvirate and the Gallic War

The passage to the maximum of consul condition gave it in the year 59. Aware of the forces of the Senate (always dominated by the conservatives), in which Caesar had escaped intelligently their unfortunate linkages with rebel Catilina, he realised that only an alliance between powerful could neutralize the equites. He then proposed to his old friend and defender, Crassus, constitute, together with Pompey, a society of mutual defense, which forced them to always act by unanimity (later known as the "triumvirate" institution). Caesar, in the company of Calpurnio Bíbulo (a candidate of the equites), was appointed consul and the Alliance was effective.

The triumvirate the daughter of Cesar was strengthened, moreover, with the marriage of Pompey with Julia. Caesar, in turn, was married to Calpurnia. He had repudiated by infidelity to Pompeii, his second wife, at 62, after a scandalous episode: during the mysteries of the Bona Dea, an exclusive night party for women that took place in the own Julio César, one of the maids House discovered the presence of an intruder disguised as a woman, Publio Clodio, which provoked the indignation of the workers. He blamed Pompeii be Clodio, extreme lover that could never be proven. Caesar did not want to give credence to the complaint and acquitted both of the crime of adultery in which they had been indicted. Everyone was amazed of that even so he abandon his wife, but he answered with a phrase that has become famous: "Caesar's wife must not only be chaste, but seem so".

César progressive legislation had an agrarian base. He did vote laws of distribution of land to veterans and settlement in conquered lands, which then spread to all Italy, granting full Roman citizenship in addition to the settlers. Bibulus, unable to oppose Caesar, opted for retirement. The Tribune of the Plebs, Publio Vatinio, former friend and associate of Caesar, in order to avoid the judgment of Caesar by conservatives after his consulate, proposed a bill that the Senate could not but approve, that were granted as a proconsul (thereby preventing their subsequent trial), and for a period of five years three legions, the provinces of transpadana and Cisalpine Gaul and the Illyria. These concessions were renewed for five years more in April of 56, at the meeting in Lucca, attended the 'triumvirs'.

Gross, meanwhile, remained in Syria, where he directed the war against the Parthians and that died in 53 and Pompey remained in the Pro-Consulate of Hispania. These conditions allowed that Caesar was done with all the power. This all means could be useful: as pontifex maximus authorized Clodio, former lover of his wife Pompeii, to be adopted by a commoner, for thus, despite its original condition of Patrick, access to the office of Tribune of the Plebs. And that was how the grateful Clodio dealt with clear of enemies the way of Cesar.

Roman camp

Already in his province of Gaul, Caesar seemed determined to not intervene in war problems, but did when so called for its inhabitants. The eduos began to feel the threat of the Helvetii, which, in turn, sought new territories, pushed by the invasion of the Germanic tribes led by Ariovistus. Caesar's legions came to the aid of the eduos, and defeated Helvetii and Swabians. This marked the beginning of the systematic occupation of Gaul by Caesar, aided by his lieutenants Labienus and Crassus's forces.

It was a protracted struggle in which the country was literally looted, a third of its population died fighting and another third was probably sold into slavery. On, in actions in which César also met defeat, were subjected all Gallic peoples. In the midst of this struggle, between 55 and 54, Caesar landed in England and fought until beyond the Thames, but finally had to retire. The following year (winter of 54-53), he returned to shake the Gaul. Revolted eburones and trevinos, and finally all the Gaulish peoples, under the leadership of Vercingetorix. The Romans knew the disaster at the battle of Gergovia, but were long time besieged and finally defeated at Alesia Vercingetorix forces. The bellovaci accountability (Belgian) at Uxellodunum (51) put an end to the dominance of Gaul, although the total submission was only achieved in the winter of December of 51 to February of 52, after reducing stubborn pockets of resistance.

The Roman soldiers emerged enriched from these campaigns; officials, of course, even more. César filled their finances, enriched the coffers of the State, long was generous with his friends, and even reserved an important figure for the future. The city of Rome, which depreciated noble metal flooded with so much gold in at least a thirty percent. The war of Gaul was registered in De bello gallico, one of the two preserved works of Caesar, written at 52-51, which is not only the most valuable document for the knowledge of that fact, but should also be considered as a masterpiece of classical latin.

The civil war

The other work preserved Julio Caesar, De bello civili, literally below first, perhaps because it did not even time to revise their manuscripts, refers to the facts that cover the civil war between 49 and 45. The immense power accumulated by César caused the panic of the senatorial party, enemies always. On the other hand, many Republicans saw this power the gravest danger to the Republic. And in addition, domestic circumstances had convulsed the city. The Senate appointed 52 Pompey as sole consul, and when the Senate side returned to feel strong, between 51 and 50, Pompey (now enemy of Caesar) asked that he disbanded his legions and returned to Rome.

At that point, hesitant and indecisive, Julio Cesar stood opposite the small Rubicon River, which separates the Cisalpine Gaul from Italy, when, according to some by his proverbial boldness and according to others by imperative of fate, was seized by an irresistible impulse and dragged his troops after him exclaiming Alea boasts est (the die is cast!). This action would trigger the civil war: occupied Picenas, Umbria and Etruria, turned to Brindisi to intercept the move to Pompey, although did, and returned on his steps to enter Rome, summoned the Senate and imposed its conditions.

Caesar crosses the Rubicon

The final battle would take place in Pharsalia, epic sung by Lucan in immortal verses. The poet describes Pompey "in declining years to old age", "shadow of a big name", and to Caesar as "fiery and untamed", a man who came to act "wherever that called the hope or anger". There were "signs leonadas signs hostile and same, identical Eagles front and spades threatening identical picas". Defeated Caesar and Pompey fled to Alexandria, where he died on September 28 48 BC at the hands of soldiers of Ptolemy, who had a dispute with his sister and wife, Cleopatra, on the throne of Egypt. Caesar arrived in Egypt and to learn of the tragic end of Pompey mourned his death.

Caesar in Egypt

Caesar arrived in Egypt accompanied by two legions, the tenth and the twelfth; in total, about six thousand men. After accommodate to his men in the Royal Palace, were to put order in the difficult internal situation of the country of the Nile, divided by the conflict between the two brothers and husbands prevail, Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra VII. Caesar and Cleopatra kept an intense and famous love affair that a son would as a result: Caesarion. Caesar gave the throne to Cleopatra (47 BC), which, together with the presence of the Roman troops in the Palace of the Pharaohs and the deposition of Ptolemy XIII, made the village, directed by members loyal to the King, are amotinase and try to retake the Palace.

For four months, Caesar resisted entrenched in the Palace with sixty thousand men of the Egyptian Achilles. Finally, when the reinforcements led by Mithridates of Pergamum arrived, César starred in one of its great military actions and managed to cross the Egyptian fence to meet with Mithridates, after which the forces combined both they destroyed the Egyptian troops in a bloody battle in which Ptolemy XIII died. Cleopatra then moved to Rome, where he lived until the death of the dictator.

That war between Romans had not finished yet. Cesar played his third Consulate when he had to fight against Senate at Thapsus, in April of 46, and against the last forces of the sons of Pompey in Manda, in March of 45, when he was consul for the fourth time. In warriors terms there was practically nothing to do. Even in the middle of the civil war, at 47, he had definitely defeated Pharnaces, King of Pontus eternal enemy. Five days after arriving, presented her battle and in a few hours, devastated the enemy troops. Immediately attended to the Roman Senate, a famous and laconic relation of facts: veni, vidi, vici, (I came, I saw, I conquered). He was never defeated personally in any bout that effected, although if they are his generals.

The murder

César was, therefore, absolute owner of the Roman Republic and the Mediterranean world. It had fulfilled the dream of his youth: the totality of the power, within the legal framework of the Republic. César was imperator and dictator. As such, he returned to exercise his traditional clemency with his enemies; not to forget its agricultural policy and settlement; It increased the number of festivals, although being careful not to engage in wasteful expenditure for the State; It had before it economic and financial regulations that protected the less strong, tried to discipline the luxury of the powerful and limited expenses at banquets; designed to deep political transformations, issued laws extending Roman citizenship to over vast segments of the population, and began to think about a different world to the hitherto known within the boundaries of the Roman city.

César was convinced that, to maintain the dominance in the East and to carry out successfully the final expedition against the Parthians (the only threat to the Empire), needed to be absolute King outside the territorial confines of Rome. And this was the catalyst. Some sixty members of important families, almost all senators, conspired to kill Caesar and restore the legitimacy and legality of the Republic, fearful that the overwhelming accumulation of positions and privileges that fell in his person to finish by giving her the lace to the ramshackle Republic and Caesar proclaimed himself King.

In fact, some commentators put in her mouth these jactanciosas and challenging words: "The Republic is not, is just a name without a body or figure". But for many of them it was no doubt a pretext that conceal sordid resentments and appetites. They directed the plot Casio, gross, and Casca. Brutus was the son of Servilia, the most famous of the lovers of Caesar, and Julio Caesar himself had hosted him as filled with honors and adoptive son. Casio had fought alongside Cesar always in search of loot, so it was not hard to buy it. Casca, finally, was a traditional enemy of Julio Cesar. Probably, other conspirators had no other goal than the remove the dictator and pledged, as imposed gross, to respect his Lieutenant Marco Antonio.

Cesar attended the 15th Senate (the IDEs of March) to the session that would argue the expedition against the Parthians. He went to the Senate despite the pleas of Calpurnia in the sense of not to do this, since during the night it had premonitory dreams. Someone retained by Marco Antonio in the lobby of the Senate. When Caesar was sitting, they surrounded him and attacked him with their knives and daggers. According to tradition, before the stabbing of gross, César exclaimed kai your teknon, Greek phrase which subsequently latinised in the famous your quoque, fili mi! (you too, my son!). Caesar issued a moan to the first stab, then remained silent.

Death of Julio César (Vincenzo Camuccini, 1798)

He had received 23 stab wounds; possibly one of them had been fatal. As the terrified Senators fled (done that it came in the plan of the conspirators), César, wrapped in his toga, fell at the foot of the statue of Pompey. The bloody scene, expected by the Seer that he would unleash a new fratricidal war, certifies, following the description of Suetonius, the second-season elegance of the hero: "then, to realize that was the target of countless daggers that against him brandishing everywhere, covered his head with the toga, and hand left sent down its folds until the end of the legs to fall with more dignity." The man who had won a world and had contributed to irreversibly modify the destination of much of East and West was nothing more than a bloody dispossession.

March 17 Senate met urgently to address the critical situation of the State following the murder of Caesar. Approved measures of compromise between the two opposing camps: the tiranicidas were not punished, and in turn, not condemning neither the person nor the work of César. Power fell to Antony, who at that time occupied the Consulate with Caesar. The testament of Caesar held 300 sesterces to every citizen in need of Rome and gave their gardens from Trastevere to the Roman people, which stimulated popular devotion by his figure to stunning ends; called for the implementation of the tiranicidas and refused Antony committed with the assassins of Caesar, who eventually would cost him power. Having no César male heirs, in his testament was established that his nephew grandson, Octavio, became his successor. Octavio would carry out reforms of Caesar and was to become the first emperor of Rome, with the name of Augustus.

Chronology of Julius Caesar

100 BC	Born in Rome in the bosom of the gens Julia, family of illustrious lineage linked to the leader of the popular, Cayo Mario, uncle of Julio Cesar.
84 BC	He married Cornelia. He was named flamen dialis or priest of Jupiter, giving him a seat in the Senate.
82 BC	Dictatorship of Sila. Persecution of the popular.
81 BC	It refuses to comply with the order of Sila spreading of Cornelia. Part to Asia minor in the service of the Governor under Minucius Thermo. Strong friendship with King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia.
78 BC	Death of Sila. Julius Caesar returns to Rome.
74 BC	Extensive knowledge of rhetoric in Rhodes. He is captured by pirates, who takes revenge after being released.
73 BC	Returns to Rome. He began his political career.
68 BC	His wife Cornelia dies and marries Pompeii, granddaughter of Sila.
65 BC	Rapid progress in his political career, thanks to the economic support of Crassus.
62 BC	It repudiates the Pompeii course adultery.
60 BC	First triumvirate of Caesar, Crassus and Pompey.
59 BC	He marries Calpurnia. He was elected consul.
58-51 BC	He was appointed proconsul of Gaul. During the next seven years he directed the military campaign known as the war of Gaul.
56 BC	Renewal of triumvirate at the meeting in Lucca.
53 BC	Death of Crassus. Crisis of the triumvirate.
52 BC	Decisive victory Julio Caesar in Gaul to crush the rebellion of the Gauls led by Vercingetorix. Pompey was appointed consul sine colleague, who joined other powers puts you above Cesar.
50 BC	Senate instructs Julio César that license its troops and obey to Pompey.
49 BC	The Senate declared Caesar enemy of Rome. Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon with his troops and March towards Rome: start of the civil war.
48 BC	Defeat Pompey at Pharsalus, Thessaly. Pompey flees to Egypt, where he is killed. Julius Caesar moved to Alexandria. Meet Cleopatra.
47 BC	Defeat the partisans of Ptolemy and placed Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt. Return to Rome, with absolute powers.
44 BC	It he was murdered.

Legacy of Julio César 

Julius Caesar was the main protagonist of the last period of the history of Republican Rome. Splendid speaker and brilliant writer, noted primarily as a distinguished general and politician, brilliant, ambitious, generous, impulsive and, at the same time, resolute and subtle. Holder of a vast and refined culture and an exceptional memory, so knew the doctrines of the philosophers of politics as the history of the great Oriental empires and also felt interest in linguistic and grammatical problems.

Being still very young Julio Cesar, Sila acknowledged in the "wood of many Mario". In reality, was to some extent the heir and continuer activity displayed by that old political boss, uncle, as happened with Pompey on Sila: César is also supported in the town and founded own military prestige in the fight against the senatorial faction, which sought to weaken always.

The reform of the State

The military victories of Julio César had risen significantly the extent of the territories subjected to Rome, and the conquest of power faced Caesar with the difficult task of rearranging the State, attacking with energy the multiple problems that weighed about Rome and its empire.

Bust of Julio César (Archaeological Museum of Naples)

With all the power of the Republic in his hands, Caesar embarked on an ambitious project of reform and fight against administrative corruption. César defined its program with the famous phrase "create peace of mind for Italy, peace in the provinces and security in the Empire". To restore the peace in the provinces, César not resorted to revolutionary measures, but rather favored the ruling classes at the time that made some concessions to the rest of society. This dual policy caused him the enmity even from his followers, who did not understand the work of César, which slowly was isolating.

In contrast to the multiple activities of the dictator in the social and administrative fields, there was no institutional regulation of its role on the State, culminating in the exercise of a totalitarian power. Precisely were their isolation and indications that aspired to create a monocratica position on the ruins of the traditional order that favored the conspiracy, until the end of the day of his assassination only two senators tried to defend him against the total passivity of the rest.

The Government of César, after his military campaigns, was really short-lived, barely two years. During that time it remained nominally Roman Republican institutions, but adapting them to their political approaches. Its program, trying to cover the whole of the State's problems, consisted in establishing security in the Roman world under its umbrella, which sought to guarantee social peace, eliminating armed gangs, which functioned as collegia political, without taking retaliatory measures against their enemies.

Two of his great achievements were colonizing policy (with the creation of colonies outside Italy, particularly in Hispania, Gaul and Africa, where installed to army veterans and many urban commoners) and the granting of citizenship Roman with which rewarded people loyal to their cause. Many provincial cities went to become provinces of Roman or Latin, right as the case may be. Soldiers perceived as salary twice what until then charged, which avoided possible discontent. An army of 32 legions structured with them.

Among his political reforms should be noted the increase in the number of senators, which became of 1900s (some originating the Cisalpina and the Betica), with which such institution was losing some of its power. The assemblies were managed according to your personal criteria, although Republican formalities were kept, and the courts became, in practice, an executive body, with judges appointed by Caesar himself. Modified the courts, ordering it hardens penalties to offenders and published a lex Iulia de provinciis consularibus that shortening the temporal mandate of provincial governors. Coined gold coin, leaving to the Senate the issuance of parts of silver and copper. Finally, it is noteworthy the calendar reform carried out in 46 BC, keeping it to the solar year. In the cultural field, tasked with Varro libraries organization.

His literary work

As a writer, Caesar is regarded as one of the fundamental pillars of the Roman literature. His best contributions are their famous comments on the Gallic War and comments on the Civil War, written during winter breaks of his military campaigns. In the first work, composed of seven books, he described its annexationist wars with detailed descriptions on the expeditions, conquests, uprisings and defeats experienced in Gaul between the 58 years and the accountability of Ariovistus in 52; and in the second he reflected in three books the events in 49 and 48, with the clear intention of justifying the need of civil confrontation that led to the Summit of power.

The meaning of his historical work is complex. She picked up the tradition of public men who, to spread his speech and strengthen voters, used the publication of War Chronicles, memoirs or pamphlets; but it was original because it added the technical language and concise lexicon learned helena military tradition. It used a simple style, and a language devoid of decorations, brief and austere.

An edition of 1783 comments

In the comments to the Gallic War spread his role as strategist and military leader, and did not need both justify their actions because the Romans supported him. It was show, in an official version directed against hostile interpretations, which the conquest of Gaul (with which, in reality, Julio César had exceeded the limits of his governorship of the Narbonnaise province) was provoked by the threatening attitude of the same Gauls. However, in the comments on the Civil War changed objectives and drew up a set of subtle justifications to hide its responsibility at the beginning of the conflict that divided Rome and blamed the Senate the responsibility of the civil war; and he used all of his narrative and rhetorical resources to consolidate power and honor got.

Already own contemporaries praised the clarity and precision of the comments, as well as its style, "sermo imperatorius", which directly tends to his object of the man of action quickly. The style of the comments on the Gallic War was praised by Cicero as "sober, without artifice, elegant", "as a body that had been stripped of his robe". However, no you can not refuse to both texts controversial spirit and biased character which, cleverly disguised by the silence guarded about some details and the presentation of others in the light most favorable to the author, harm their objectivity, otherwise unusual in the memoirs of politicians. However, the two works are a valuable source of information on vital events for the history of Rome. His prose is evocative, despite certain monotony due to the employment of indirect speech in a part of war, generally indifferent to (although not always) tone to the oratorical passages of writing with artistic intentions.

He also wrote other texts which are preserved only in fragments, as some speeches and poems, and analogy, works originally composed for two books dedicated to Cicero, who despite political differences was considered as a fundamental figure of Latin eloquence. The two Anticatones, propaganda from the end of the Republic works, were well known at the time but were not preserved and you are known only by quotations of his contemporaries.

Extracted from the website: Biografías y Vidas