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Caesar: Roman Empire
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As a commander Caesar's most striking quality was his speed of action. He always tried to seize the initiative, launching counter offensives in winter with whatever troops were immediately available against the Gallic rebellions in 54 and 52. Crossing the Rubicon with a single legion, and invading Macedonia in the civil war were equally bold actions. In battle, Caesar moved around his army, ever present where there was a crisis, and willing to go into the front line himself if the situation was desperate. Modern scholars have criticized Caesar for his rashness, pointing out that his genius was all too often exercised in extricating his army from the poor position which his recklessness had placed it in. Yet this type of behaviour was typically Roman. The Romans expected a general to be very bold, ranking luck as important an attribute of a successful commander as ability.
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In 69 or 68 Caesar was elected quaestor (the first rung on the Roman political ladder). In the same year his wife, Cornelia, and his aunt Julia, Marius' widow, died; in public funeral orations in their honor, Caesar found opportunities for praising Cinna and Marius.
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Caesar's long absence from Rome had partially weakened his political power. He naturally kept numerous contacts in Rome through agents and through extensive correspondence. Profits from his conquests were used for building projects to impress the people and for personal loans to leading figures such as Cicero in order to win their allegiance. Caesar's conquests were well publicized; his Commentaries, which described the campaigns in a controlled, matter-of-fact, third-person style, circulated among the reading public at Rome. Recent scholarship has emphasized the propaganda aspects of the Commentaries, even claiming that Caesar seriously distorted facts to justify his actions. Certainly, Caesar sought to place his conquests in the best possible light, stressing their basically defensive nature and the importance of defending friends and allies of Rome against traditional Roman enemies.
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The same year, Caesar ran for election to the post of Pontifex Maximus, chief priest of the Roman state religion, after the death of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, who had been appointed to the post by Sulla. He ran against two powerful optimates, the former consuls Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus. There were accusations of bribery by all sides. Caesar is said to have told his mother on the morning of the election that he would return as Pontifex Maximus or not at all, expecting to be forced into exile by the enormous debts he had run up to fund his campaign. In the event he won comfortably, despite his opponents' greater experience and standing, possibly because the two older men split their votes.[30] The post came with an official residence on the Via Sacra.[21]
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Julius Caesar was born into two old Roman patrician (noble) families, the Julians and the Aurelians (on his mother's side). It was ... unlikely, that any member of the Julian family had ever been a
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Caesar was elected praetor for 62 B.C. and served his propraetorship in Farther Spain. For over a century Spain had provided Roman governors the opportunity for a triumph. Caesar was quick to take advantage of the situation by waging a successful campaign against some native tribes in Lusitania. His political enemies accused him of provoking the war - he would not have been the first Roman governor in Spain who had done so - but he was ... awarded the right of a triumph for his victory.
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