Julius Caesar Book Report

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Significant Passages Phillip Freeman’s Julius Caesar is a profound biography on the life, achievements, and personality of Caesar. The author’s style and major themes can be displayed in quotations from significant passages. For example, when Sulla, a dictator, ordered Caesar to divorce his wife after Sulla had removed Caesar from position of flamen dialis, Caesar refused. Freeman describes his defiance, “Whether out of stubbornness, audacity, or simply love, Caesar was a defying man who had ordered the murder of thousands. In doing so, he lost everything he owned, and was now marked for death on the proscription lists,” (32). In another pressing manner, Caesar’s personality is also displayed when he was captured by pirates. Freeman writes, “Caesar treated the pirates with a good-natured contempt that shocked and amused his captors. They were accustomed to terrified prisoners who begged for mercy, but Caesar acted more as if the pirates were a minor distraction to his busy schedule,” (39). Not to mention, Caesar’s compassion for loved ones is also depicted within this biography. When his beloved aunt died, instead of the quiet funeral orientation typical for a woman, he chose to give a bold, family pride filled speech to a huge crowd for his dearly departed aunt. Caesar himself exclaims, “The family of my aunt Julia is descended from kings on her mother’s side, and through her father, from the gods themselves. For the Marcii Reges, her mother’s family, are heirs of Ancus Marcius, fourth king of Rome, while the Julians, of which our clan is a member, descend from the goddess Venus herself. My family therefore holds the sanctity of the kings who rule among men and of gods who rule over kings,” (52). In a similar case, the death of his young wife Cornelia, his wife Sulla had told him to divorce and risked his life for her because he loved her so much, Caesar honored

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