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The Roman Revolution
G. Julius Caesar
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| Gaius Julius Caesar |
The third character in the final act was Gaius Julius Caesar.
He did not hesitate to use gangs to influence voting in the assemblies; Caesar was hardly the first to do this, but as with everything else in his life, he practiced it in a scale much larger than his contemporaries. He did manage to further his reputation by associating himself with the prosecution of the Catilinarian Conspiracy.
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| Other views of Caesar |
As a young man, Caesar had far more ambition than resources. He spent enormous amounts of money buying influence, including giving public games as aedile that eclipsed anything that had gone before. He was immensely popular, but he also found that he was broke. As he entered his military career (the next step after engaging in local politics), he found that he was not only broke but deeply in debt.
He was given command of the forces in Gaul, a backwater province that seemed to promise no chance for brilliant political or military success. He went to Gaul knowing he must do something spectacular or face ruin.