Julius
Caesar was a great general. His desire to rule Rome as the emperor came after several events
occurred:
Caesar became a part of the triumvirate with Pompey
Caesar won many great battles bringing back slaves, gold, and other spoils of
war.
Caesar was admired by many of the great Roman senators who valued Caesar
for his acumen and courage.
Caesar believed that he could bully the Roman
people as well as the senators into naming the lifelong king of Rome.
When
Caesar came back to Rome after winning the war in Gaul, it became obvious to many powerful
Romans that Caesar wanted complete and singular control of the government. The Romans had
traded this kind of government for an oligarchy style of government (ruled by the senate even
though many of the senators were often corrupt). A majority of the senators would not bow to
another monarchy and certainly not with the killer of Pompey.
These
achievements granted him unmatched military power to
eclipse the
standing of Pompey, who had realign himself with
the Senate after
the death of Crassus in 53 B.C.
When Antony offered the crown to Caesar, it
became apparent that Caesar would accept it and wanted to be the lifelong ruler of Rome. This
lead to a sinister plot to assassinate Caesar. There were approximately 60 senators who
supported the murder actually took part in it.
Caesar's mistake was to
place himself above all other men. His arrogance prevented him from realizing that he was
not supported by the most important men in Rome. This led to his bloody death on the floor of
the senate building.
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