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Chapter 10 - Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2021

Robert Morstein-Marx
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
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Summary

Caesar was no aspiring autocrat seeking to realize the imperial future but a republican political leader whose success was based on a combination of patrician pedigree with a popular persona built on an extraordinary record of military achievement. He was no anti-senatorial, populist revolutionary but followed in the tracks of Roman heroes of the past such as the Scipios. His astonishing success hardened his enemies' determination to stop him, even at the price of forcing a civil war. His assassination on the eve of his departure for a great war of vengeance against Parthia precluded whatever plans for consolidation he may have had, but also propelled the violence of civil war into the next phase of what would become a decisively destructive cycle. If Gruen was correct to emphasize that civil war destroyed the Republic, not its preexisting institutional weaknesses, then human choices, especially those that brought about the Civil War, provide the most satisfactory explanation for the collapse of the Republic.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Conclusion
  • Robert Morstein-Marx, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Book: Julius Caesar and the Roman People
  • Online publication: 05 August 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943260.010
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  • Conclusion
  • Robert Morstein-Marx, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Book: Julius Caesar and the Roman People
  • Online publication: 05 August 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943260.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Robert Morstein-Marx, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Book: Julius Caesar and the Roman People
  • Online publication: 05 August 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108943260.010
Available formats
×