Moral Courage Showed By Julius Caesar Essay

, Research Paper

Moral Courage showed by Julius Caesar

INTRODUCTION

Gaius Julius Caesar had moral courage. He was born in a time when the Roman Republic was being shaken by a series of problems.(5 pg. 1) He managed to overcome these problems and became the great leader that everyone has heard of today. His leadership came from the way he was brought up and what he did with his life. Caesar showed much courage in his time as a child and as an adult. Many of his actions were done so that he would succeed in his battles and get support of the people, but there were some instances in which his acts of courage were purely moral and not solely for himself. These moral acts helped his people and made him a better leader than he had been before. This paper will prove this point and make his acts of moral courage more clear to understand.

ROMAN REPUBLIC AT THE TIME OF CAESAR

The Roman Republic was being corrupted and had been in disaray before and during Caesar s lifetime. It had been around for over 400 years and was no longer a good form of government for the vastly expanded Roman civilization. The main reason that it was in crisis is because the Second Punic war had left Rome poor and much of their land and property lost. The Republic consisted of three ruling groups: the Assembly of Centuries, the Assembly of Tribes, and the Senate. Although there were these three groups the Senate was the one that controlled almost everything that went on in Rome. They were the most powerful because they controlled public funds, determined foreign policy and, and even acted as a court. They were headed by two Consuls elected annually for one year terms. The Senate could even elect a dictator; in times of emergency. The Senate was the most powerful force in Rome at the time, but it had many flaws which lead to wars and conflict. Almost all of the senators were from a few aristocratic families and in Caesars time, all that these nobles wanted to do was to gain more power and wealth. This caused them to start little arguments that turned into wars. Then the rest of the nobles and powerful Romans would choose sides and then these small quarrels turned into civil wars or major conflicts. This was one of the reasons that the Republic fell and the Empire rose after Caesar s death.(8 pg. .)

Other wars arose because the Senate was not fair to the people that they governed in Roman providences and countries under their controll. One such war, the Social War, that occured during Caesar s early life. t was called the Social war. The Social War was in 90 B.C. and it was not a civil war between the Senators, but it was caused because the senators were being unjust to the rest of Italy. Although Italy lay outside of Rome fully supported Rome, the Senate they didn t show them the decency of making them citizens of Rome and more important part of the Republic. Along with wanting to be citizens these tribes were feeling great hardships from Rome. They had high taxes and didn t even have a vote in the Senate. So, because of all these factors, they waged a war upon Rome. Finally, Rome offered these people their citizenship and freedom from persecution. This war was very small compared to others, but it just shows how easily Rome got into quarrels.(10)

Another war was a civil war that was between the two political goups, the Optimates and the Populares. A man named Gaius Marius was the leader of the Populares and Lucius Cornelius Sulla was the leader of the Optimates. Marius was elected to the highest rank in the Roman government of consul, not once but seven times. The Senate and Sulla, a former consul, had raised up an army and were trying to overthrough Marius. Sulla had fought in the Social War and Marius knew that Sulla wasn t the type of person to back down. A great war then arose and Marius was fighting for his life and his consulship. Sulla eventually won the war and instituted many Sullian policies that would later be removed by the Senate and the other high officials. Wars like this one, led to rise of other powers and more civil wars within the Roman civilization. Most of these wars were foolish and could have been avoided with negotiations and common sense.(1 pg 28-30)

CAESAR S EARLY LIFE

Gaius Julius Caesar was born in 100 B.C. to the family of Julii; a great aristocratic family. His father was Gaius Julius Caesar and his mother was Aurelia.(1 pg. 19) His family was not common at all. His uncle was Gaius Marius. The man that was fighting the war with Sulla. That war was taking place when Caesar was aroung seven years old.(1 pg 28-30)

Not only was young Caesar stuck right in the middle of this conflict but other events later arose in his childhood that changed him too. When Caesar was at the age of eight his father became a praetor of Rome. Each day Caesar s father was visited by Senators and other important leaders from the government. This left almost no time at all for Caesaer to get the attention that he wanted from his father. Instead of learning from his parents a tutor was hired to educate him and teach him the ways of life. Marcus Antonius Gnipho was this mans name and he was an excellent tutor for Caesar. Gnipho had studied in Alexandrea and other great institutes of learning. He tought Caesar lititure and math and science and along the way he taught his how to speece Greek. Gnipho is considered to be one of the grea