Julius Caesar (Gift for History Buffs)

This book ends with the line:"When Thomas Jefferson showed Alexander Hamilton his portraits of Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and John Locke as the three greatest men in world history, Hamilton, a republican to the core, spoke for many when he shook his head and reluctantly proclaimed:""The greatest man who ever lived was Julius Caesar."I set out to read this book because I wanted to compare the two greatest "men" of history, both with the same initials (using the modern lexicon) "JC," both having a great effect on our modern calander, both involved in books freqently read today and oth born within a generation of each other some 2000 years agoAlthough I consider myself fairly well educated with a great interest in history, this was a real eye-opener and a delight to read. Like most, I knew a little of Caesar but had no idea of his greatness. This was a man so talented in so many ways that to call him the greatest man who ever lived 2000 years after his death is by no means an exaggeration. (I can say this because I do not classify the "other JC," strictly speaking, as a man).Caesar fought the greatest armies in the world in five major contests, conquering almost all of Europe, Spain, North Africa, Egypt and Greece, each time he was outnumbered, often massively, yet he never lost to barbarian or Roman. On the political front he defeated all of his talented Roman enemies. He was well read and wrote what could be considered the World's first modern book, still read today, "Gallic Wars."In a world known for unbelievable cruelty and ruthlessness, he almost invents forgiveness of enemies before Christ mentions it in the Sermon on the Mount (though with Caesar it seems to be more politically calculated).Enough about Caesar, let's talk a little about this book's author, Phillip Freeman though forgetting the author in favor of his subject may be the greatest complement you can pay an author!)Freeman writes a compelling, interesting book and although a college professor and Harvard PhD he does not sound like one (again, a great complement). I was very pleased that he did not, like so many other authors get bogged down in details but stuck with a sweeping story line. He writes this straight up like a modern novel using the most impeccable classical sources.If you are an expert on the Rome this might be beneath you. But for anyone else with an interest in history and how the world works you should find this book a delight.

This is a fascinating story and it just gets better and better. We can learn so much from this story. You see so much of today throughout book.

Countless books have been written about Julius Caesar. In many of them, anecdotes and rumors have crept in and masqueraded as facts. One of the things I liked about this excellent piece is that the author takes on some of these myths and documents the truth behind them. For example, there was a famous incident when Caesar declined to rise when he was approached by a deputation of Senators, as tradition and respect required. Caesar later put it about that this was due to his illness rather than his attempt to behave like a king. Some authors have adopted Caesar's alibi. Not so, according to Freeman, who provides sources showing that Caesar, indeed, wanted to be King of Rome in name as well as in fact.I thought that the most insightful part of the book was the focus on Caesar's disdain and disapproval for many of the excesses of the Roman Republic. For example, (while still a mere Senator) Caesar introduced legislation that was intended to put a stop to the hallowed custom whereby a Roman Governor would plunder the province to which he was assigned. Caesar's law on this subject endured throughout the many centuries of the Roman Empire as a model of sound legal drafting. In point of fact, the author makes a convincing case showing that when Caesar crossed the Rubicon, surely knowing that the Republic would never be the same, he did so in the belief that the Republic had to be fundamentally restructured and modernized. Caesar rightly viewed the Roman Republic as an oligarchy designed to allow a small clique of rich Senators to maintain their dominance and plunder Rome's neighbors. The city-state government, satisfactory for governing Rome and the nearby environs, was completely inadequate to govern Rome's far-flung empire, or even just Italy. Caesar knew this, and for a time sought to correct these deficiencies.Other reviewers have characterized this piece as being pro-Caesar, and this is mostly true. I will say that the fairly detailed analysis of Caesar's conquest of Gaul left me with a strong belief that Caesar inflicted a holocaust upon the lives of millions of Gauls mainly to achieve his own personal wealth and fame. The author notes that Caesar, in common with Rome in general, did not try to justify his warring and conquest as being for the "good" of those Rome conquered. To the contrary, Caesar acknowledged that by fighting him for their independence and freedom, the Gauls did what he himself would have done in their place. This "them or us" philosophy no doubt derived from the horrendous penalties for losing a war -- death to most of the males, enslavement or death to the women and children. These were the ancient rules of war to which Rome invariably adhered. Romans believed, as did Caesar, that it was better to ravage and subjugate Gaul than to allow a strong Gaul to someday menace Italy and Rome. Nowhere does the author make a case that Caesar tried to avoid warfare in Gaul by trying other means of subduing Gaul as a peaceful province under Roman control. Perhaps it was impossible. Certainly I found no evidence in this piece that Caesar made any great effort to avoid the wars there. His warring in Gaul brought Caesar fabulous wealth and established him as the First Man in Rome. Which was surely his objective all along.This is an unusually readable piece that does a good and thorough job of acquainting the reader with Caesar. The author explains why there are gaps in our knowledge of certain parts of Caesar's life, and when he speculates about these gaps he makes sure that the reader knows it. Overall, an excellent book. Highly recommended. RJB.

I read about Caesar when I was a kid, and finally had a chance to read about him again. The book was well written and very engaging.

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If you want to know Caeser read it,If you want to understand human emotion, read it..What a book...After winning the whole world and being a great military strategist and what not..Julius Caesar showed extraordinary amount of mercy...But at core he was a child as we all are.....Would not call him a dictator but certainly a king .....But who had the greatest balls in roman history ??Cato ..

Excellent book if you like history

Bought this for a present and it was gladly received.