The Reign of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar was a general in the Roman army whose dictatorship brought a lot controversy to the Roman Empire. He was given the title of dictatorship forever and ruled Rome October 49BC – March 44 BC. He was a strong, confident and ruthless general that had a goal in mind and believed he would achieve it, no matter what or who got in his way. Not only did he bribe political leaders in order to move up in politics, but he also fought wars in order to gain power, and he established order in Rome. Julius Caesar was not simply born to become a controversial dictator; he became the Caesar we all know about through circumstances that he endured in early years that shaped his political views.

Most people see Julius Caesar as a callous dictator and they talk about him as if he had killed people just because he felt like killing people; but like many other times when we make assumptions about people, things are not like always what we assume them to be, and this was the case with him. Caesar was not only stubborn, but extremely determined; he had a goal in mind, the goal of becoming powerful. Caesar grew up in Rome, Italy in an area where it was tough for children to grow up in. His family was aristocrats but they had no fame or money. His father Gaius Caesar was a praetor and his mother Aurelia Cotta came from a family of officials appointed to government. As he grew up and learned about his family’s background, Caesar decided that something had been stolen from him and whether right or wrong, he feels the need to move up the social ladder. It sounds really ambitious but think about it this way, what if your family came from a line of wealthy people and all of the sudden your immediate family isn’t wealthy, wouldn’t you feel like what w...

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...nasty leader overall and perhaps the way he carried things were not the best way, but if you look past the wars, bribes, and everything else, you can see someone who came from a great family that didn’t have much of anything they felt they deserved. Someone who set a goal for himself, and lets no one stop him nor change him from his goal. Everything he did are things that we all can do at any given time. Most people are usually confronted with difficult things that take us away from our goals; we make excuses for not following through and stop short of accomplishing anything. Some of us have been or will be confronted with difficult things that in our mind we need to change and it’s up to us decide to pursuit or turn away from our goals. This is just what Julius Caesar did. He bribed political leaders, fought wars but he also restored Rome. All in the name of power.