1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: On this episode of Newts World, the IDEs of March 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:08,799 Speaker 1: is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: March fifteenth and forty four b c. March fifteenth became 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar, 5 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: which made the IDEs of March a turning point in 6 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,760 Speaker 1: Roman history. So on this episode, I'm telling the story 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: of Julius Caesar's remarkable life and death. If you doubts 8 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,279 Speaker 1: Caesar's impact on all our lives, have a look at 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: a calendar. There's a month called July. That month was 10 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: named for Julius Caesar. The following month is August, named 11 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: after Caesar's nephew, the first Roman emperor, Augustus. The calendar 12 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: we used today was named after these two men who 13 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: lived two thousand years ago. The modern calendar is actually 14 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: Caesar's calendar. He added the number of days necessary to 15 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: actually fit how often the earth goes around the sun, 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: and the three hundred and sixty five day calendar, including 17 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: adjusting it every four years for leap year, as Caesar's invention. 18 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: So Caesar's in your life, whether you know it or not. 19 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: He's in your life every year, and he's part of 20 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: the calendar by which you live. The very term Caesar, 21 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: which became in German Kaiser for Kaiser Wilhelm, became in 22 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: Russian Czar, is today still a term that describes a 23 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: centralized dictatorial power, two thousand years after he died. So 24 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: we're dealing with somebody whose impact shook our part of 25 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: the world, the Western world, so profoundly that even to 26 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: this day he is in many ways an unknown and 27 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: studied but very real presence. If you look at Latin, 28 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: you'll find that among the most elegant books ever written 29 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: in Latin was Caesar's Gallic Wars and Caesar's Civil Wars. 30 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: Because Caesar was not just a great military general an 31 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: amazing politician, he was also a remarkable good writer and 32 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: a remarkably good orator. His reputation for using language brilliantly 33 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,239 Speaker 1: made him one of the leading people in Rome for 34 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: much of his life, just because of his sheer talent. 35 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:38,359 Speaker 1: There's another reason for studying Caesar. Caesar represents the Roman Republic, 36 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: the end of an experiment in people governing themselves, its 37 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: replacement by bloodshed, by murder, by dictatorship, by terror, and 38 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: there are a lot of lessons for us to learn 39 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: from the ladd stage of the Roman Republic. Because the 40 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: Roman Republic got too big, too militaristic, was too much 41 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 1: the center of power, and as a result, money poured 42 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,600 Speaker 1: in from all over to corrupt the Roman system. So 43 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,240 Speaker 1: if you were in Greece, or you were in Spain, 44 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: or you were in North Africa and you wanted to 45 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: get goodies, the most efficient way to get goodies was 46 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,320 Speaker 1: to have a lobbyist in Rome bribe somebody. And there 47 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: are a lot of lessons to be learned by what 48 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: happens when your system gets to be bigger than you 49 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: can maintain, and when the breakdown of the traditional order 50 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: leads to the rise of tyrants. And that's literally what 51 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: was happening in Caesar's lifetime. If you don't understand the 52 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: Rome of his time, you can't understand him. Caesar's uncle 53 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: Marius is around one hundred BC, and he's the best 54 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: general of his generation, but he is politically on the 55 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: losing side of a power struggle, and so he's sort 56 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: of pushed off to one side and he's not very important. 57 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, the huge Germanic tribe comes 58 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: rolling down the Rhone River, valley Momen. People get scared 59 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: because they think this huge tribe is going to break 60 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: through into Italy, and so they call him back and 61 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: give him an army, and he goes north and he 62 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: wipes out the German tribe and they now like Maryus briefly. 63 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: And then he is deposed and exiled, and he is 64 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: sent to a place that we don't think of as 65 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: a desert, but in his time, Sicily was considered a desert. 66 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,599 Speaker 1: It was not very heavily occupied. And as a result, 67 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: his wife dies trying to cross the Sicilian desert. He 68 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 1: becomes extraordinarily bitter, and as he recounts late in his life, 69 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: he survives only by imagining what he's going to do 70 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: to his enemies when he gets back. He does get back, 71 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:42,920 Speaker 1: and then he does what he said he would do. Now, 72 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: why does this matter, Because what's beginning to happen. The 73 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: politics of personality and philosophy and policy are beginning to 74 00:04:54,040 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: be replaced by violence, by poisonings, by assassinations, by crowds 75 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: in the street, and by intimidation. And in many ways 76 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:09,719 Speaker 1: marriage is the beginning of that breakthrough. Now, in that period, 77 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: the secondary rise of Sala, who is a great general, 78 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: and Sala becomes the great competitor to Marrier's and between 79 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,640 Speaker 1: them they just start wiping people out. So if you're 80 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: in Solo side, you're in danger of Marius killing you. 81 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: If you're in marrius socide, you're in danger of Solo 82 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,720 Speaker 1: killing you. One of the ways they finance what they're 83 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: doing is they look at the richest guys and they 84 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: just steal their property and they say, you know, lucky 85 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:37,479 Speaker 1: you you get to be exiled to Greece and I 86 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:39,720 Speaker 1: want all your money, or you could stay here. I'll 87 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: kill you and then I'll take all your money. Which 88 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: one do you like better? And a substantial number of 89 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: Romans ended up going to Greece for long periods just 90 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: in order to avoid being killed in that process. In 91 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: that period, Julius Caesar doesn't really exist yet. He's a kid. 92 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,240 Speaker 1: His family is very old. In fact, they are among 93 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: the oldest families, Julie I are among the oldest families 94 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: in Roman history. They go all the way back in 95 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: theory a prince from Troy, and in fact they trace 96 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,599 Speaker 1: their mythical background to the Goddess of Venus. So Caesar 97 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,480 Speaker 1: at one level is born into a family which says 98 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: to him, you are the direct descendant of a god. 99 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: And Caesar had the kind of personality that made sense 100 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,479 Speaker 1: to him, and so his whole life he has this 101 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,960 Speaker 1: kind of inner arrogance and inner certainty that you probably 102 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: have to be a descendant of the god to have. 103 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: I mean, it's a little hard to imagine how any 104 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: normal person could have been like Caesar. But he has 105 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: no money and his father dies when he's young. His 106 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: mother actually takes the families relatively smallholdings, invests it in 107 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,840 Speaker 1: a high rise, which back then meant six or eight 108 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: story apartment building in Subura, which was a working class neighborhood. 109 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:56,280 Speaker 1: Caesar was ravenously ambitious. He thought he was descended from 110 00:06:56,320 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: the gods. He thought he was descended from a family 111 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: which had been cheated and which was socially worthy of 112 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:07,039 Speaker 1: dramatically greater assets than they actually had. From the earliest 113 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: time we encounter him, he is unendingly ambitious, and he 114 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: understands that in the Roman world, if you're going to 115 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: be ambitious, you've got to be physically capable of being 116 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: a warrior, because otherwise you can't you can't earn the 117 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: level of respective. It's interesting to watch Cicero, for example, 118 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: who is probably Caesar's equal as an orator and as 119 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: a writer, is not a great warrior, and it cripples 120 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: his career because everybody knows it. But Caesar is somebody 121 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: who could fight his way out of a room, could 122 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: fight his way in a battle, could lead an army 123 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: in the army felt honored to follow him. And I 124 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: think he acquired that. My guess is he acquired the 125 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: core of that one he was like thirteen or fourteen 126 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: or fifteen years old, because he looked around and said, 127 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: I'm Caesar. And so she and the family live on 128 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 1: the top floor, which is also the healthiest and the cleanest, 129 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: and they read all the rest of the floors, which 130 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: means that in his early twelve to sixteen years of 131 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: age period, Caesar's wandering around among working class people, learning 132 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: working class Latin, understanding how they think, what they do, 133 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,679 Speaker 1: how they negotiate. And he is stunningly smart, season maybe 134 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: much like Napoleon, one of the smartest people ever to live, 135 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,119 Speaker 1: and so he could absorb information. He could learn things 136 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: at enormous speed the rest of his life. One of 137 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: his strengths over the regular aristocrats is he can talk 138 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,719 Speaker 1: to the crowd. He understands exactly how to appeal to him, 139 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: exactly what language. As a general he can appeal to 140 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: the common soldiers. He knows what will work, he knows 141 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: what they'll laugh at. And many of his greatest victories 142 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,320 Speaker 1: come after he's given a pre battle speech, gotten everybody 143 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: whipped up and excited, and they go off with very 144 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: high morale and destroy somebody. And he's very very good 145 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,280 Speaker 1: at keeping the morale of his army up. Caesar goes 146 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: on to marry somebody who Salah doesn't like. She belongs 147 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,040 Speaker 1: politically to the wrong side, and sal who's a dictator? 148 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: And who is and he's really He and Marrits are 149 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: really the beginning of the total breakdown of the republic 150 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: as a system, because now you have dictators, you have 151 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: people who have real power. They're prepared to kill you 152 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:15,319 Speaker 1: if you don't do what they want, and sometimes they'll 153 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: kill you even if you do do what they want, 154 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: because they need your money. And so Sala basically says 155 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: to him, you have to divorce your wife, and Caesar says, no, 156 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 1: it's truly one of those things where you have to 157 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: believe you have some kind of divine destiny or you're 158 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: just nuts. Because Caesar's standing there as a very young 159 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: man facing this dictator who's a great general, has a 160 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: huge force surrounding him, is capable of killing Caesar on 161 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: the spot, and he says, I'm not doing it, and 162 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: so Sala says, okay, well, then get it out of town. 163 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: You know, I'm not going to For some reason, he 164 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,000 Speaker 1: decided not to kill Caesar. And it may have been 165 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: again this magic touch that Caesar had, that he could 166 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,959 Speaker 1: manipulate people at levels that are just astonishing, and so 167 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: the dictator said, Okay, I'm really really mad at you, 168 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: but I'm not going to kill you right now. So 169 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:10,839 Speaker 1: Caesar goes up in the Apennines mountains and for three 170 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 1: years hides because he knows that on a bad weekend, 171 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 1: Sala could wake up and decide, you know, Caesar doesn't 172 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: amuse me that much, let's kill him. Eventually, he joins 173 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: the army to get away from Rome because he wants 174 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: to get far enough away that Sala can't easily kill him, 175 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: and he doesn't want to remind Sala that he's around. 176 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 1: So he wanders off and the great actionary at that 177 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 1: time for the army is over in what they would 178 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,720 Speaker 1: have considered the East, which is along what we now 179 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: would say is the Turkish and Syrian coast or they 180 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:49,679 Speaker 1: were constantly fighting with both pirates and with the local governments. 181 00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: Caesar turns out to be an amazingly courageous soldier. He 182 00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:57,559 Speaker 1: wins the oak leaves, which is the highest sort of 183 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:00,840 Speaker 1: the equivalent of our Congressional Medal of Honor. There are 184 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: many ways in which you can have authority or fame. 185 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:07,959 Speaker 1: You know, you can be rich, you can be from 186 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: a good family, you can hold a high office. If 187 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,320 Speaker 1: you've done something so heroic that you're allowed to wear 188 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,720 Speaker 1: the oak wreath, you're now in a unique category because 189 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: no one can challenge your courage, and so it puts 190 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: you in a very small league, as it says, first 191 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: of all, you've been in combat, you've done it so 192 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: heroically that your peers awarded you this highest and then 193 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: the Congressional Medal of Honor is the only thing that's comparable. 194 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: And if you've ever been in military environments, people will 195 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,199 Speaker 1: walk in wearing the Congressional Medal of Honor are by 196 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 1: definition in a different league because it's something they earned. 197 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: So I think in that sense, it was one of 198 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 1: the things early on that marked him off, and that 199 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: sort of said, this guy's special. You ought to take 200 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: him seriously, and he's going to become somebody. The concept 201 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: of wearing a wreath, which the trusts had done with 202 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,960 Speaker 1: gold wreaths for their kings, and in Greek mythology, Apollo 203 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: represents power and wears a laurel wreath on his head. 204 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:13,439 Speaker 1: So in Caesar's mind, wearing the oak wreath would be 205 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:18,559 Speaker 1: a signal of his uniqueness, in his near godlike importance. 206 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: And when you realize that he won this at nineteen 207 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 1: years of age, that is truly an astonishing comment. Now, 208 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: again it was an age when people started earlier because 209 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: they died younger. But still that this is a guy 210 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,319 Speaker 1: who's working really hard to rise as fast as he can. 211 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: So Caesar, as a very young guy, is working his 212 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 1: way into being seen as a great soldier, a great general, 213 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 1: a great orator, very very clever politician. One of my 214 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,480 Speaker 1: favorite stories about him, Caesar at one point gets captured 215 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 1: by pirates. Now, the pirates had operated off the coast 216 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: of Syria and Turkey because they had found places where 217 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: they could go in where the passageways were so complicated 218 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: that no one could find them. And what they didn't 219 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: realize was that Caesar had almost a perfect memory. So 220 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:12,000 Speaker 1: two things start out of this particular experience. One is, 221 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:15,720 Speaker 1: here's Caesar by himself, surrounded by pirates who are pretty 222 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: tough people, and they want twenty units of silver for him, 223 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: and he says, that's really stupid. You know, I'm a 224 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: famous guy. I mean, you got to go for fifty. 225 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: If you don't, I mean, if you don't go for fifty, 226 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: I will feel so insulted. And if you go for fifty, 227 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: they'll pay you. And by the way, after they pay 228 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:34,079 Speaker 1: you and you release me, I'm going to come back 229 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,840 Speaker 1: and kill you. The pirates all think this is just great. 230 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: Here's this guy. He's not physically dominant. He's fairly slender, 231 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: very muscled, but very slender, and he doesn't look like 232 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: he's a guy who's going to come back and kill 233 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:50,160 Speaker 1: all the pirates. And so they laugh at They think 234 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 1: he's just terrific. He's very personality. I'm chatting with him, 235 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: you know. So they get they asked for fifty because 236 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,840 Speaker 1: he told him too, They get fifty, they release him. 237 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: He organizes an army. He remembered exactly how to find them. 238 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 1: He goes back. He crucifies all of them, but because 239 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: he liked them, he cut their throats first. And there's 240 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: a brief note tremor about the Romans. Crucifixion in the 241 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:18,840 Speaker 1: Roman model is designed to be really painful. It's not 242 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: what we see in the Christian image of Christ on 243 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: the cross. And the Roman model, you are tied up 244 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 1: and you are hanging from a wooden cross, and the 245 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: goal is to allow you to hang there until the 246 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,160 Speaker 1: point where birds, for example, will come and pack your 247 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 1: eyes out and you will eventually die of dehydration. When 248 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 1: the Romans put nails through Christ and pokem in the 249 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: side with a spear, these are actually considered acts of 250 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: kindness because they accelerate the rate of which you die. 251 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:01,120 Speaker 1: These are very To understand the Roman world, you have 252 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 1: to start with the very simple model. These were really tough, 253 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: ruthless people. For example, when Spartacus rebels one of the 254 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: great moments in Roman history, Spartacus has about twenty thousand followers, 255 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: and he really scares the Romans because the idea of 256 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,520 Speaker 1: a slave rebellion would be genuinely frightening if you were 257 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:24,080 Speaker 1: a Roman aristocratic. So when they finally defeat him, they 258 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: crucify somebody about every two hundred feet for seventy miles. 259 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: So from Naples to Rome you are riding down a 260 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: road that has people crucified the entire distance. And their 261 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: goal was to sort of say, the people were really sincere, 262 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: and we want you to know you do this kind 263 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 1: of stuff, we will relentlessly come and get you. This 264 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: is also a country remember this before Caesar, just to 265 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 1: give you his flavor. And it often hits me as 266 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: they walk around Rome looking at the city and looking 267 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 1: at the walls. It's a city which had during the 268 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: Punic Wars with Hannibal Is in Italy for seventeen years 269 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: and they can't beat him, but he can't break through 270 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 1: the city walls, and so for seventeen years they just 271 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: slug it out and the Romans at one point lose 272 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 1: an entire army at a battle called Kena, to which 273 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:20,800 Speaker 1: the attitude is, I guess we have better get another army. 274 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: They decided to beat the Carthaginians, they have to go 275 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: to sea and build a navy, which they had not 276 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: done up to them. They build an entire navy. It 277 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: goes to see there's a huge hurricane. The navy sinks, 278 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 1: and the Roman responses, I guess we need a new navy, 279 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,240 Speaker 1: and they build another navy. I mean, these are just 280 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: relently this is the world. I'm giving this his background 281 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: because to understand Caesar, you have to understand this was 282 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: accepted as normal. This level of toughness was where they started. 283 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: It wasn't what they got to. And so Caesar comes along, 284 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: and Caesar is, if anything, smarter, more personable, more ruthless, 285 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 1: and tougher than anybody else. Somebody once said that in 286 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 1: the Great Fight between Pompey and Caesar, the equivalent of 287 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: two pirates mean that they were both trying to win 288 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:11,199 Speaker 1: control of the Empire of the Republic, which became the Empire, 289 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:13,480 Speaker 1: and that it wasn't like there was a good guy 290 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: and a bad guy. These are guys just slugging it 291 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 1: out for power. And if they happen to kill you 292 00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: on the way through a tough break because what they 293 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: were doing is important to them. So here's Caesar comes 294 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: back home, enters politics, becomes the high priest of the 295 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 1: Roman religion, which gives them another source of authority, and 296 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 1: it becomes an elected official and the Roman system is 297 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:39,720 Speaker 1: very complicated, and there's a hierarchy. You get into, you 298 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:44,119 Speaker 1: gradually rise in importance. It's all designed to minimize the 299 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: ability of any one person to be a dictators. It's 300 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: what Marius and Salah have broken out of. But after 301 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: Saulah's death it begins to revert back towards the traditions 302 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: and the goal again a little bit like the American constitution. 303 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: The goal is to not have any concentrate power enough 304 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: to be in charge the whole thing. So there they 305 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,200 Speaker 1: have two consoles. Every year, the two consoles can veto 306 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:10,919 Speaker 1: each other. They have people who elected to lower office, 307 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: They have various powers, and Caesar's gradually climbing this chain 308 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: of authority, and at the same time he is becoming 309 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: one of the most popular people in Rome, and it's 310 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: really interesting to watch. Caesar is instinctively what I would 311 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,679 Speaker 1: call a populist in the sense that having grown up 312 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:34,119 Speaker 1: in Sabora and having understood the working class Romans, he 313 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,920 Speaker 1: had concluded that the future of Rome was absorbing more 314 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: and more people. So part of his career will be 315 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,879 Speaker 1: extending citizenship to more and more and more people, which 316 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 1: builds a huge force of followers because they see Caesar 317 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: as protecting them and as being their guy. Caesar ultimately 318 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: is given authority to go to Gaul. Now he's already 319 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,520 Speaker 1: led several armies in Spain, he's at armies over in 320 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:04,120 Speaker 1: the east of what we would call Turkey or Assyria. 321 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: But now he has the big moment of his career. 322 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:10,760 Speaker 1: And what people tend to forget is Caesar's gone for 323 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: seven years and he's up in Gaul, and what he's 324 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: doing is pretty simple. He's killing. There are about three 325 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:23,439 Speaker 1: million men in Gaul when he arrives. One estimate is 326 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 1: by a Roman historian Suetonius that he killed a million, 327 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:30,720 Speaker 1: sold a million into slavery, and there were a million 328 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 1: left by the time he was done. He destroyed probably 329 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: Sirtonius said he destroyed eight hundred towns. At one point, 330 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 1: he fights a particular tribe and they finally surrender. He 331 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:48,439 Speaker 1: surrounds their fort, they finally surrender. Instead of killing them, 332 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:50,920 Speaker 1: he cuts off their right hands, so that there are 333 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: five thousand men wandering around Gaul with one hand, because 334 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: he wants to send a signal that you oppose me, 335 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: and it is going to be really bad for you. Finally, 336 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:06,199 Speaker 1: the tribes get together, they all rebel simultaneously. He's in 337 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:08,760 Speaker 1: the fight of his life and in about a six 338 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:14,720 Speaker 1: month period he organizes his army, hal maneuvers them and wins. Now, 339 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: the Roman armies great strength is engineering and logistics. They 340 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: know how to have a siege, They know how to 341 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: build a fort to protect themselves. They know how to 342 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:28,359 Speaker 1: sustain their army in the field with supplies. It is 343 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:30,720 Speaker 1: a very well thought out army, in an army which 344 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: has been practicing war for several hundred years. One on 345 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 1: the Gauls were probably as good or better than the Romans. 346 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:40,879 Speaker 1: The Germans were probably as good or better than the Romans. 347 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: The problem was it in fight one on one, and 348 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,679 Speaker 1: Roman armies were very, very good armies. Caesar has a 349 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: tremendous instrument which he uses brilliantly, and he uses it 350 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: for seven years. And s important to understand this because 351 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: when you watch what's about to happen when he goes 352 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,440 Speaker 1: back to Rome, there's only one person as the level 353 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: of military experience in the entire Roman world and that season, 354 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,160 Speaker 1: and he knows how to move, he knows how to organize. 355 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:25,640 Speaker 1: Nobody else is in his league. Caesar returns to Rome 356 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: after his seven years at war and Gaul, and he 357 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: faces a problem. He's got to cross the Rubicon River, 358 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,360 Speaker 1: which is the boundary of Rome at the time. Caesar 359 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: builds a whole series of signal fires and he has 360 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: his legions leaning forward. He comes down without his legions 361 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:46,160 Speaker 1: because he wants to be peaceful. He wants to send 362 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: a signal. He's written the Gallic Wars, which are well 363 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,480 Speaker 1: worth reading and which essentially are he wrote. He wrote 364 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,239 Speaker 1: a volume every year, and the essentially are here's how 365 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,439 Speaker 1: Caesar went and captured Gaul and turned all the slaves 366 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:02,680 Speaker 1: in the money, and why you should love Caesar because 367 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: look what he's done for Rome, and they're all propaganda. 368 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:07,960 Speaker 1: He also founds a daily newspaper to remind you that 369 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,480 Speaker 1: Caesar loves you. Caesar does good things for you. So 370 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: his enemies, who under Roman rule, if he gives up 371 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: his governorship, they can try him. And it's quite clear, 372 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:23,200 Speaker 1: given the last forty years of Roman history, if they 373 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: trying him, they're going to kill him, and that's the 374 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 1: only way they can contain him. And so he's negotiating. 375 00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:32,520 Speaker 1: Caesar is sitting on the far side of the Rubicon 376 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: saying Oh, I want to be peaceful. I really want 377 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: to work all this out. I'm down here without my army. 378 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: You know, I'm your guy. Can't we get something work out? Well, 379 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: when they finally figure out, no, we want to kill you, 380 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: we're not going to order something out. What they hadn't 381 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,879 Speaker 1: reckoned on was he had already set his division, his 382 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 1: units in motion, and the first legion could get to 383 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: the Rubicon in days and they could say signal fires 384 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: all the way through Gold. So he's mobilizing a force 385 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: very fast. Meanwhile, his major opponent Pompey. Pompey was the 386 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,800 Speaker 1: great general before Caesar. Between Sella and Caesar, company is 387 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: the dominant figure, very successful, very well organized, but a 388 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:23,680 Speaker 1: little slow and a little insecure. Where Caesar thinks, look, 389 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: I'm descended from the gods. I might as well gamble, 390 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: because you know the gods will be there for me. 391 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: Pompey kind of thinks, you know, I'm descending from normal people, 392 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,639 Speaker 1: and this guy, Caesar, scares me. So Pompey organizes and 393 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: he's the base of the opposition. The opposition is thinking, 394 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 1: we got a Pompey right here, and he's a great guy, 395 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: and he can he's our guy to beat. Caesar nays 396 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: Preparius Magnus, who we would call Pumpey the Great, came 397 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: out of a provincial Italian background. It's an interesting contrast. 398 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 1: Very competent man, very hard working man. He actually cleans 399 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,679 Speaker 1: up all the pirates in the eastern Mediterranean and is 400 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,680 Speaker 1: widely seen as a tremendou this organizer of military forces. 401 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: But in the end, he's not descended from the gods. 402 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: He doesn't represent one of the oldest families in Rome. 403 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:13,920 Speaker 1: He doesn't have this aristocratic sense of destiny, which is 404 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: at the heart of what makes Caesar so remarkable and 405 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 1: so Pompey, who he's proud. He's competent, he's powerful, but 406 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:26,360 Speaker 1: he's normal and he's trying to cope with somebody who's abnormal. 407 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:34,720 Speaker 1: Caesar was slender, fairly tall for his generation, consciously kept 408 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:39,399 Speaker 1: himself and a soldier like behavior. Tended to drink the 409 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:44,199 Speaker 1: slightly sour wine that the soldiers drank, tended to be 410 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: very careful about what he ate. He was an ascetic 411 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:51,399 Speaker 1: and would not eat very much. He exercised and was 412 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: physically very strong. I mean this is a Remember, these 413 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: are guys who fought with swords and carried shields and 414 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: had to be capable in battle and Caesar, and nobody 415 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: doubted Caesar fought at the front. He wore a bright 416 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: red cloak. Everybody in the army knew where he was, 417 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,640 Speaker 1: and so did his enemies. The sheer moral leadership of 418 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,360 Speaker 1: this guy in the sense that Caesar will not ask 419 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: us to do anything he wouldn't do. He was not 420 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,320 Speaker 1: particularly good looking, at least not in the reports we have. 421 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,399 Speaker 1: He was balding towards the end. He was an extraordinarily 422 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:30,280 Speaker 1: effective womanizer, and at one point was suggested that he 423 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:32,520 Speaker 1: had slept with most of the aristocratic women in Rome, 424 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,080 Speaker 1: which is almost certainly not true, there were too many 425 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: of them. But nonetheless, the principles there he was. I 426 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: think somebody that if you saw him, his eyes would 427 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: have mesmerized you, but the rest of him wouldn't have. 428 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 1: You wouldn't have automatically said, well that Caesar. Pompey was smart, 429 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: after all, organized the entire Roman military to defeat the Pirates. 430 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: But Pompey was not. He didn't have that quickness, that 431 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:03,639 Speaker 1: sudden pull plitical skill that Caesar had, and he didn't 432 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:05,359 Speaker 1: have the ability to plan at three or four or 433 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:09,040 Speaker 1: five levels simultaneously, and the result was I think that 434 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:13,600 Speaker 1: Caesar always frightened him and always confused him. Every general 435 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: I've ever studied, Caesar's on the shortlist people you cannot 436 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: give spare time to because he will use it, and 437 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: he'll use it better than you will. So Pompey leaves Italy. 438 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,000 Speaker 1: Now the reason this really matters, and this is why 439 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: when you visit Rome and you look at the coliseum, 440 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: and you look at the forum, and you'll just think 441 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,760 Speaker 1: to yourself, this was a city of over a million 442 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 1: people at the time we're talking about. It was the 443 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,960 Speaker 1: center of the Mediterranean world. It had the symbolism it's Rome. 444 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 1: The guy who gives up Rome gives up, symbolically all 445 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 1: of the emotional and moral power. And as Caesar walks 446 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: into Rome, he is acquiring all of the authority of 447 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:00,320 Speaker 1: being in Rome is also the center of money, in 448 00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:04,399 Speaker 1: the center of commerce. So Caesar overnight is able to 449 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,840 Speaker 1: start chasing Pompey's forces everywhere. And Caesar has better divisions, 450 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: but he has people who've been practicing warfare for seven years. 451 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 1: They are loyal to him. Sadly for him, his top 452 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: lieutenant actually leaves and joins Pompey. I think Caesar will 453 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:21,920 Speaker 1: lose and thinks that Caesar's breaking the rules, and that 454 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: makes Caesar feel bad, but he sends all of his 455 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: equipment to him, because you know, in a great seven years, 456 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: sorry's side of the other guy, because he's gonna lose. 457 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:35,560 Speaker 1: And so Caesar wanders around the Mediterranean defeating the various 458 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:39,200 Speaker 1: forces on the other side, ending up with chasing Pompey 459 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,520 Speaker 1: all the way to Egypt, where the Egyptians, having figured 460 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,000 Speaker 1: out that Pompey is a loser, decided they will cut 461 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,159 Speaker 1: off his head and give it to Caesar because you know, 462 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,120 Speaker 1: they want to show Caesar how much they like it. Well, 463 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,159 Speaker 1: then thought about the fact that Pompey was married to 464 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:57,640 Speaker 1: Caesar's daughter. Pompey and Caesar were friends while they happen 465 00:27:57,680 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: to have this little disagreement which led to a civil war, 466 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,600 Speaker 1: It's very likely Caesar would not have killed Pompey, and 467 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 1: Caesar was genuinely deeply offended. It turns out the side 468 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: that cut off Pompey's head was in fact the brother 469 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: of Cleopatra, who they were of civil war in Egypt 470 00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,440 Speaker 1: between Cleopatra and her brother, and her brother's the one 471 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,479 Speaker 1: who cut off Pompey's head. So Caesar now had two 472 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 1: reasons to be for Cleopatra. Once, she was pretty and 473 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: her brother wasn't, or at least she was apparently very exotic, 474 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,920 Speaker 1: and two she hadn't cut off Pompey's head, and so 475 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: he sides with her. Fights a civil war, defeats the 476 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:39,360 Speaker 1: Egyptian army, fights a civil war in Egypt. There's a 477 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:45,959 Speaker 1: moment where the Romans are being besieged in Alexandria, and 478 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: it's true during the siege, the act of the Great 479 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,160 Speaker 1: Library of Alexander's burned down, whether by Caesar's people or 480 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: by the Egyptians. One we owned a different a size 481 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 1: to that story was a great losssess, a huge collection 482 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: of Greek in an Egyptian works that burned one night. 483 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: But anyhow, they're there, and the regular Romans are getting 484 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:09,800 Speaker 1: very nervous. They're really worried, and why is Caesar not worried? 485 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:12,960 Speaker 1: And he said, I'm waiting, and they go, well, what 486 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: are you waiting for? He said, I'm waiting for dawn, 487 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,960 Speaker 1: And they go, well, what happens at dawn? Said, well, 488 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,920 Speaker 1: the sun was I thought you knew. Well. What I 489 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,600 Speaker 1: didn't tell him was that two months earlier he had 490 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,240 Speaker 1: ordered his legions to come from Syria, and he knew 491 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: that they were a few miles outside of town. And 492 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,960 Speaker 1: that's very much like Caesar. See Caesar's ability to play 493 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 1: seven games simultaneously and I'll tell you about any of 494 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: them was amazing, and it made him I mean people, 495 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: I think people at one level were awe struck by him, 496 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: and another level that were really frightened them because the 497 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: essence of the Roman model was to balance power, so 498 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:01,440 Speaker 1: nobody had too much power to have a system in 499 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:06,320 Speaker 1: which the very structure of the system limited the ability 500 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: to lead to dictatorship. And what had been happening was 501 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 1: through this long hundred year period, dictators kept killing people 502 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:15,959 Speaker 1: and had established a pattern now that if you were 503 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 1: on the losing side, it's not a huge jump from 504 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: one to jail to being killed. And that's what's being 505 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: to happen to them. And so you saw this a 506 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: continuous process. Even the people who were four Caesar were 507 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 1: worried because Caesar ultimately represented the end of the republic 508 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: and he represented establishing a new system of power. They 509 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: had had since the last Tarkian king was kicked out 510 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,080 Speaker 1: in four seventy six. The Romans that had a passion 511 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: against kingship, I mean a long stretch there were If 512 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 1: anybody thought you were thinking you were going to become 513 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: a king, you were gone. And now all of a sudden, 514 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: here's the guy who, by sheer power and sheer brilliance, 515 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: it's clearly the central He becomes dictator for life, not 516 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: yet king, doesn't want to be king, just happy to 517 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: be dictator. And so a group of people who began 518 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:14,520 Speaker 1: to really worry that the system is right at tilt 519 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: and if they don't do something that in fact the 520 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: republic will die. And that's why you end up with 521 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: the assassination in March of forty four BC. To some degree, 522 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 1: Caesar was ready for it. One of the fascinating aspects 523 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:57,959 Speaker 1: of Caesar's life was the impact of his death, because 524 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 1: it became one of the most historic moments in all 525 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 1: of Western history, partially because of the brilliant portrait in 526 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:14,840 Speaker 1: Shakespeare's play and the speech by Mark Antony at his funeral. 527 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: Partially because Caesar had been such a life force, he 528 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: had been so dominant. He strode across the Roman Empire 529 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 1: in such a huge way that his disappearance through death 530 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,200 Speaker 1: left a vacuum that would take years to sort out, 531 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,280 Speaker 1: because there was no natural ability for anyone to step 532 00:32:37,320 --> 00:32:40,280 Speaker 1: in and become Caesar, and so there'd be an entire 533 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:45,520 Speaker 1: civil war before he was replaced by his nephew who 534 00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: would actually found the empire itself, Octavius, who becomes Augustus, 535 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 1: and who's the second month we name for one of 536 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,120 Speaker 1: the Caesars. So he had July and August Caesar himself, 537 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 1: in a way, he had almost set the stage for 538 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:06,800 Speaker 1: his own killing. The Greeks had a concept they called hubris, 539 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: and hubris meant that you began to take onto yourself 540 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 1: enormous power and enormous self affection. And as you became 541 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:19,440 Speaker 1: more and more filled with hubris, you began to set 542 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 1: yourself up for what the Greeks called nemesis, and nemesis 543 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:27,680 Speaker 1: was the destruction of the person who had hubris. Well, 544 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: in a way, Caesar is the perfect model of what 545 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,640 Speaker 1: the Greeks were trying to warn about. The bigger Caesar became, 546 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 1: the more powerful Caesar became, the more people feared him, 547 00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,480 Speaker 1: and the more people envied him. And remember the core, 548 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: this isn't the average Roman. The average woman thought Caesar 549 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:49,360 Speaker 1: was fine. Caesar fed them, Caesar entertained them. Caesar conquered 550 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,440 Speaker 1: slaves that enriched them. So Caesar had a pretty big 551 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: base among normal people. But if you were an aristocrat 552 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,239 Speaker 1: and you had a great sense of self worth, and 553 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 1: you thought your family been around for hundreds of years, 554 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: and here suddenly you're in the shadow, no longer an equal, 555 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:10,720 Speaker 1: no longer a fellow aristocrat, no longer a person who 556 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: could look upon themselves as significant. But instead you were 557 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:22,800 Speaker 1: clearly weaker, lesser, subordinate, smaller, and you hated every minute 558 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,279 Speaker 1: of it. And you thought, who this guy Caesar, That 559 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:30,840 Speaker 1: he's flaunting his power, he's flaunting his role in history. 560 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,640 Speaker 1: Because there was a sense that the bigger Caesar got, 561 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,799 Speaker 1: the smaller the aristocrats got. So part of this pure 562 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:42,479 Speaker 1: old fashioned jealousy. Well, Caesar had now accumulated a very 563 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:47,360 Speaker 1: substantial number of aristocrats who just loathed him. They couldn't 564 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: say that to his face because they were terrified of 565 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,279 Speaker 1: him because he'd kill them. So they talked to each other, 566 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: and quiet they met together, they began conspiring. There was 567 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,720 Speaker 1: a secondary part of this, there was a legitimate, honest, 568 00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: deep fear of kingship. It's important to remember that Rome 569 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: really becomes Rome in four seventy six BC when they 570 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:11,640 Speaker 1: get rid of the last king. The last Tarkian king 571 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:17,040 Speaker 1: is replaced, and the Romans acquire this deep passionate opposition 572 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,200 Speaker 1: to having a king. That's why the republic is so 573 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:23,799 Speaker 1: stable for such a long period, because in their mind, 574 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:27,160 Speaker 1: the alternative is to go back to kingship. Well, now 575 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:30,440 Speaker 1: here's Caesar, who says every day, oh, I don't really 576 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,799 Speaker 1: want to be a king. But in the last days 577 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: before the eyes of March, he and Mark Anthony begin 578 00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: to play a game in which Mark Anthony, who's his 579 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:43,440 Speaker 1: chief subordinate, starts to say, oh, well, wouldn't you consider 580 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:46,120 Speaker 1: being a king? And Caesar says, no, no, no, no, 581 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:49,000 Speaker 1: nothing's further from my mind. I really I can't imagine 582 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: why you had mentioned the word king and Julius Caesar 583 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: in the same sentence. Well, the other nobles know this 584 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: is the beginning of a setup, and that at some 585 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,799 Speaker 1: point that summer that Caesar is likely going to say, well, 586 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,400 Speaker 1: all right, if you really want me to be king, 587 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,160 Speaker 1: how can I turn you down? So you have both 588 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:11,320 Speaker 1: this fear that Caesar represents the end of the republic 589 00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:15,399 Speaker 1: and the death of a system which was almost five 590 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,719 Speaker 1: hundred years old by that stage. And you had this 591 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:24,680 Speaker 1: personal level of just really deeply disliking Caesar because he's 592 00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 1: too big, too powerful, too arrogant, too smart, and they 593 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,720 Speaker 1: just want to get rid of him. Conspiracy begins to grow, 594 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:38,520 Speaker 1: and ironically, the Roman Senate itself was being refitted, and 595 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,680 Speaker 1: so they had to move the meeting place. They chose 596 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:45,080 Speaker 1: Pompey's Theater, remembering, of course that Pompey was the great 597 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:48,200 Speaker 1: leader who Caesar had defeated in the earlier Civil War. 598 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:50,800 Speaker 1: So now they're going down to Poppey's Theater, which was 599 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:54,719 Speaker 1: a quite spectacular place, and they're going to meet. The 600 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: rumor comes supposedly from a soothsayer who could see the future, 601 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: the Caesar should be where the eydes of March. It 602 00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,640 Speaker 1: was apparently real enough that his wife begged him not 603 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:07,799 Speaker 1: to go to that meeting of the Senate that day, 604 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 1: and this apparently is not just a fiction of Shakespeare's making, 605 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: but actually at the time was a real event. Caesar, 606 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,399 Speaker 1: of course, I think, had two different things going on. 607 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:23,799 Speaker 1: One he was very skeptical of these kind of things. 608 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,279 Speaker 1: I mean, he didn't particularly worry about soothsayer's telling whom 609 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,319 Speaker 1: he's going to win or lose anything. But the other 610 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:33,320 Speaker 1: was I think that he had this sense of destiny. 611 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,600 Speaker 1: If it was his destiny to be killed, then he 612 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:39,400 Speaker 1: would become a martyr for Rome. If it was his 613 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,000 Speaker 1: destiny to stay alive, then he would continue to be 614 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 1: the leader who had become dictator, which was a step 615 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,600 Speaker 1: below kingship, and he would continue simply to run Rome. 616 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:50,839 Speaker 1: And I think he sort of thought in that sense. 617 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:55,320 Speaker 1: There's a fatalism in Caesar that runs through his entire life, 618 00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:57,719 Speaker 1: and you can see it over and over again where 619 00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:01,680 Speaker 1: he risked death and he risked because he just believes 620 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: you have to roll the dice and see what's going 621 00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,799 Speaker 1: to happen. For verstly his entire life, he'd rolled the 622 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:10,399 Speaker 1: dice and he'd won. So he goes to Pompey's theater 623 00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:13,880 Speaker 1: that day, and there may have been up to sixty 624 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 1: nobles who had gotten together, although the number who actually 625 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,719 Speaker 1: attacked him is a much smaller number. He knew that 626 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,279 Speaker 1: a number of him disliked him, but part of the 627 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,520 Speaker 1: reason they disliked him was he had contempt for them, 628 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: So since he had contempt for them, he wasn't going 629 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,759 Speaker 1: to be afraid of them. And he deliberately dismisses his 630 00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:35,400 Speaker 1: security force because he wants to communicate I'm not afraid 631 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: of you guys. I don't need to be surrounded by 632 00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:41,239 Speaker 1: police to protect me because none of you guys have 633 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:45,120 Speaker 1: the guts to do anything. Anyway. Well, that particular day, 634 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,440 Speaker 1: he was wrong. When he goes in, the senators who 635 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:52,960 Speaker 1: hated him surround him. Supposedly Civilius Casca hits the strikes 636 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:56,280 Speaker 1: the first blow, hitting him in the neck and drawing blood. 637 00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:59,759 Speaker 1: Other senators join in and he is hit again and 638 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:03,320 Speaker 1: again and again around the head in the neck. Marcus 639 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: Brutus apparently wounds him in the groin, at least that's 640 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:10,640 Speaker 1: the traditional legend, and Caesar said said to him, you too, 641 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 1: my child, or at too brute, as it became translated. 642 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:18,240 Speaker 1: In later years, there was a rumor, which probably wasn't true, 643 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,480 Speaker 1: but it was a really delicious rumor that Brutus in 644 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:25,400 Speaker 1: fact was his illegitimate son. He certainly had had a 645 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:29,440 Speaker 1: long relationship with Buddhist's mother, but given the relative ages, 646 00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:32,080 Speaker 1: it's unlikely that Buddhis is really his son, but it's 647 00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:35,360 Speaker 1: clear that Brudhists really disliked Caesar, probably in part because 648 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:38,440 Speaker 1: he objected to Caesar sleeping with his mother and that 649 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: was habit a Caesar head with a substantial number of 650 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,759 Speaker 1: women around the Roman aristocracy, which probably further led to 651 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:50,080 Speaker 1: people being willing to kill him. So Caesar dies and 652 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:53,800 Speaker 1: it's as though a great force has left the world, 653 00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:56,600 Speaker 1: and I think at one level they're all staring at 654 00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 1: each other going, oh my god, we really did it. 655 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:03,879 Speaker 1: And then they're faced with so how do we deal 656 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,040 Speaker 1: with the Roman crowd? Because the Roman crowd initially was 657 00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:10,279 Speaker 1: very pro Caesar. Caesar had been very good to them, 658 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:14,040 Speaker 1: and he had improved their lives. He'd paid attention to them. 659 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,640 Speaker 1: He was the popularities, he was interested in the people 660 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:22,760 Speaker 1: rather than the aristocracy. So they said, basically, we saved 661 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:28,720 Speaker 1: Rome from dictatorship. Mark Antony speaking at the funeral, gives 662 00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:33,680 Speaker 1: an oration. It's pretty clear that when the assassins were 663 00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:37,440 Speaker 1: done speaking, they were in pretty good shape. By the 664 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:41,120 Speaker 1: time mark Antony was done speaking, they're all sneaking out 665 00:40:41,160 --> 00:40:44,879 Speaker 1: of town because the mob has turned, and the mob 666 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,120 Speaker 1: clearly now will tear them apart. And this is apparently 667 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:52,040 Speaker 1: really an actual fact of that particular day, that in 668 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:56,520 Speaker 1: one oration Mark Antony, who had been Caesar's deputy, is 669 00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,600 Speaker 1: able to convince people, oh, I could never speak well 670 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,560 Speaker 1: of Caesar, because we've all been told by these honorable 671 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,839 Speaker 1: men how evil Caesar is. And we know these are 672 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 1: honorable men, and therefore I can't say anything good about Caesar. 673 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:11,879 Speaker 1: And so I'm not even sure I should read you 674 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 1: Caesar's will, which Caesar, who loved you so much, has written. 675 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:19,560 Speaker 1: But it would be wrong of me to read this 676 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:22,399 Speaker 1: will in which Caesar loved you so much, because we've 677 00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:26,239 Speaker 1: all been told how evil Caesar is by these honorable men. 678 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 1: And this goes on and on a crowd. After a 679 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:31,439 Speaker 1: little while, the crowdbeans to go, we'll read the will. 680 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 1: We want to hear the will. Well, of course, the 681 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: will is a perfectly political document, and which Caesar has 682 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:40,880 Speaker 1: basically said, I love Rome so much that everything I 683 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:44,560 Speaker 1: have goes to you, the people of Rome. And then 684 00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:47,800 Speaker 1: Anthony has to say, well, now, we can't be grateful 685 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,200 Speaker 1: to Caesar for having loved us so much, because we've 686 00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:54,239 Speaker 1: all been told by these honorable men that he was 687 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:56,839 Speaker 1: a tyrant, that he was a bad person. So I'm 688 00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:59,799 Speaker 1: sure none of you would want us to execute his 689 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:03,319 Speaker 1: will and give everybody all the things Caesar wants you 690 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:06,399 Speaker 1: to have. Feels to be so wrong to do that 691 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,840 Speaker 1: when these honorable men have told you that Caesar was bad. 692 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,279 Speaker 1: And of course by this point you have a combination 693 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:16,520 Speaker 1: of emotion and greed and memory. And frankly, the aristocrats 694 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,600 Speaker 1: are not very not very nice people, and the average 695 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:21,840 Speaker 1: person in Rome knew that, And the average person in 696 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,160 Speaker 1: Rome knew that the number one reason the aristocrats didn't 697 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,680 Speaker 1: like Caesar was because they're aristocrats. And by the way, 698 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:29,759 Speaker 1: the aristocrats weren't going to be nice to the people either. 699 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,759 Speaker 1: And it apparently is true historically that by the end 700 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:38,640 Speaker 1: of Anthony speaking, the aristocrats who killed Caesar had left 701 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:42,960 Speaker 1: Rome to get away before the crowd attacked them. It's 702 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:48,200 Speaker 1: truly a remarkable moment. And in that process, Caesar had 703 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:51,080 Speaker 1: set the stage by his death and by his will, 704 00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:57,560 Speaker 1: by Anthony, who understood him, and by his young nephew Octavius, 705 00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 1: who had been an apprentice to see Caesar, had brought 706 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:04,560 Speaker 1: him in, Caesar had him travel with him, Caesar had 707 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:08,320 Speaker 1: taken him on the wars, and Octavius learned an immense amount. 708 00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:12,960 Speaker 1: Where Caesar shatters and ends the republic, he doesn't actually 709 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,719 Speaker 1: create a stable system, and that's part of why he 710 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:20,080 Speaker 1: gets killed. But his nephew. Now his nephew will come along, 711 00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:25,480 Speaker 1: take over the family business, take over Caesar's name, and 712 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,680 Speaker 1: in the process established an empire which will last for 713 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:33,640 Speaker 1: four hundred years. And it's truly remarkable because nobody on 714 00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:36,680 Speaker 1: the day Caesar was killed could have picked Octavius out 715 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:40,240 Speaker 1: as the long term winner. He was totally underestimated by everyone, 716 00:43:40,719 --> 00:43:43,040 Speaker 1: and yet he had learned so much from his uncle, 717 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:47,000 Speaker 1: and he knew how to play. Being the nephew, the 718 00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:50,239 Speaker 1: only person who could claim to be Julius Caesar's heir 719 00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:54,760 Speaker 1: was Octavius, and that may have been what, ultimately after death, 720 00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:59,160 Speaker 1: was Caesar's last great contribution to the history of Rome 721 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:06,200 Speaker 1: and in the Western world. News World is produced by 722 00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:11,400 Speaker 1: Gwich three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producers Debbie Myers, 723 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 1: our producer is Garnsey Sloan, and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. 724 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:19,800 Speaker 1: The artwork for the show was created by Steve Kendley. 725 00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:23,919 Speaker 1: Special thanks to the team of Gingwich three sixty. If 726 00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:26,480 Speaker 1: you've been enjoying news World, I hope you'll go to 727 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:29,880 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts and both rate us with five stars and 728 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,759 Speaker 1: give us a review so others can learn what it's 729 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:35,919 Speaker 1: all about. I'm new gingwish this is news World