Ambition In Julius Caesar By Plutarch

In the book, Plutarch lives he discusses Caesar’s life and his position as a Roman leader. Plutarch describes Caesar as a man with an ambition that knows no limit. According to Plutarch Caesar aspires to obtain total control and will do anything to achieve it, which in Plutarch’s point of view is a bad characteristic. Plutarch presents Caesar as a powerful Roman leader with the capability to use his spirit and ambition to transform civilian men into ambitious soldiers. Caesar’s will to conquer additional territory and lead Rome represents his desire to obtain power and a powerful empire. Plutarch frames Caesar’s ambition as destructive and complicated. Plutarch makes the reader believe that Caesar’s ambition is ultimately a negative aspect

At the start, Plutarch presents Caesar as a commanding officer and then begins to condition the reader to view Caesar as a ruler. Plutarch does this to explain to the reader why Caesar had such a strong ambition to raise up the Roman empire slowly, without conquering so much in so little time. To Plutarch Caesar’s ambitions were unnatural and his mercy towards other was astonishing to Plutarch. Caesar’s description does not follow the usual structure of Plutarch’s writing. Caesar was presented as a man of skill for a political and military leadership role. Caesar was described to have charisma and beloved by all his subjects, as a result Caesar is viewed to care more about the benefit of his empire than the growth of social status. However, Plutarch presents Caesar’s ambition as a strange trait to have because for Plutarch Caesar’s mercy shows weakness and lack of control over the empire. This shows the reader were Caesar’s main priorities land, to simply gain power and nothing else. Plutarch is trying to convince the reader that Caesar is a power-hungry Roman individual that has a limit less ambition to claim himself as a lead

Plutarch describes the city to have barbarian like features and was a devastation to look at. His perception of the city as an insignificant city tells the reader that Gaul is not such an honorable conquer. However, Caesar is pleased to have claimed it under his empire because under Plutarch’s perception Caesar simply wants to gain the title of the most powerful ruler in the land. Caesar’s mention that he would rather be first in Gaul than in Rome, which is a much more prestigious and rewarding title, is meant to show the reader that Caesar doesn’t care what land he obtains. Plutarch presents this comment to the reader as a Caesar’s way of saying that simply wants to claim first power. Caesar’s rejection of Roman power is meant to translate as not a rejection of the Roman empire but an example of Caesar’s desire to be number one, even if it comes with a less impressive structure. Plutarch demonstrates Caesar’s ambition to be driven by the goal of obtaining power, because for Plutarch the desire to possess anything other than the Roman empire must come with a different goal set in mind. For Plutarch, anyone who would demonstrate such modesty for their actions has a hidden agenda to ultimately control the empire. What Plutarch wants the reader to get from this episode is that