Who Is Julius Caesar Responsible For The Collapse Of The Roman Republic

Julius Caesar’s role in the Collapse of the Roman Republic

The fall of the Roman Republic in 44-27 B.C. is seen by many as the fault of a combination of people’s actions and events. Whether you believe the rise of private armies where the cause or the creation of the first Triumvirate lead to the destruction, it is entirely up to you. According to book, “Twelve Greeks & Romans”, Julius Caesar is to blame for the collapse of the republican government in Rome. This may come as a shock to some people because of the many great deeds Caesar performed in his life. People referred to Caesar as magnanimous, as he even appointed some of his former competitors to high offices. Other than the fact that people believed in Caesar, it is shocking that the collapse of an entire Republic could be the fault of only one man. Unfortunately according to the author of “Twelve Greeks & Romans”, Creaser’s one lethal fault, that ultimately led to his demise and to the collapse of the entire Roman Republic, was his arrogance (Richard, pgs. 174-175).

Once Julius Caesar was the unofficial/official dictator of Rome in 48 to 44 B.C., he proved himself a worthy and generous leader.

He was able to reduce Rome’s debt and even stop the street gangs that had paralyzed the city. Caesar did not focus on the wealthy (aristocrats) as many others did, but rather he drastically reduced the number of those unemployed from 320,000 to 150,000 through the use of public works programs. He even ventured into the ‘realm of the intelligent’ by planning a public library and creating the “Julian calendar” that we still use to this day. Caesar capitalized on his success by creating a momentous move to extend Roman citizenship to many non-Italians. During this time people were starting to see Rome, as more of a community and less like an expanding empire (pgs.

174-175).
Caesar took advantage of his overall likability by the people, and started acting like a King. He had statues made of himself and placed them near the statues of ancient Kings. Wearing a semiregal dress, he sat on a throne of gold and even stayed sitting when Senators would bring him honors, depicting a patron receiving clients. The famous event that instilled alarm in the senators is when Caesar attended the festival. Mary Antony attempted to place a crown on Caesar’s head a total of three times, but every time Caesar refused. The Senators were alarmed because they believed this was Caesar’s public display of testing the waters before returning to monarchy (he being the King). This sparked a few Senators to start planning Caesar’s assassination, even though other Senators had agreed on extending Caesar’s rule from ten years to life (pg. 175).
Only a month after the senator’s ruling, Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus lead a group of conspirators to Pompey’s Theater where they stabbed Caesar to death with daggers. Since Caesar had chosen to never live in fear, no bodyguards were around to save him from falling dead at the foot of Pompey’s statue with his body covered in dagger wounds. According to “Twelve Greeks & Romans”, Caesar’s death drove Rome into chaos that ultimately led to the third Roman civil war. It is this civil war that ended in the rise of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus (pgs. 175-176).
In the book, “Twelve Greeks & Romans”, it is clear that Caesar is to blame for the fall of the Roman Republic. It all started with Caesar’s ‘king like actions’ that resulted in his assassination and it was this assassination that lead to the third Roman civil war that ended with the first Roman emperor coming to rise (pg. 176). It is difficult to imagine if one of these actions (steps) didn’t occur, if the Roman Republic ever would have collapsed. If one life lesson where to come form this disastrous situation, I believe it would be that arrogance diminishes the strength and wisdom within us.