Julius Caesar Quotes (-100--44)

“The principal point of their doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another.”

“The principal point of their [Druids] doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another.”

“With regard to their actual course of studies, the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed. Subsidiary to the teachings of this main principle, they hold various lectures and discussions on astronomy, on the extent and geographical distribution of the globe, on the different branches of natural philosophy, and on many problems connected with religion.”

“When Caesar inquired of them what states were in arms, how powerful they were, and what they could do, in war, he received the following information: that the greater part of the Belgae were sprung, from the Germans, and that having crossed the Rhine at an early period, they had settled there, on account of the fertility of the country, and had driven out the Gauls who inhabited those regions; and that they were the only people who, in the memory of our fathers [i.e. as far as we can remember], when all Gaul was overrun, had prevented the Teutones and the Cimbri from entering their territories; the effect of which was, that, from the recollection of those events, they assumed to themselves great authority and haughtiness in military matters.”

“Oh Thunderer, surveying Rome's walls from the Tarpeian Rock. Oh Phrygian house gods of Iulus, Clan and Mystery of Quirinus who was carried off to heaven, Oh Jupiter of Latium seated in lofty Alda and Hearths of Vesta, Oh Rome, equal to the highest deity, favor my plans! Not with impious weapons do I pursue you. Here am I, Caesar, conqueror of land and sea, your own soldier, everywhere, now too, if I am permitted. The man who makes me your enemy, it is he who be the guilty one." Then he broke the barriers of war and through the swollen river swiftly took his standards. And Caesar crossed the flood and reached the opposite bank. From Hesperia's Forbidden Fields he took his stand and said, "Here I abandoned peace and desecrated law; fortune it is you I follow. Farewell to treaties. From now on war is our judge!"”

“Of all the Britons the inhabitants of Kent, an entirely maritime district, are by far the most civilised, differing but little from the Gallic manner of life. Of the inlanders most do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh and clothe themselves in skins. All the Britons, indeed, dye themselves with woad, which produces a blue colour, and makes their appearance in battle more terrible. They wear long hair, and shave every part of the body save the head and the upper lip. Groups of ten or twelve men have wives together in common, and particularly brothers along with brothers, and fathers with sons; but the children born of the unions are reckoned to belong to the particular house to which the maiden was first conducted.”

“He had inaugurated a new era. Before him Rome had been a city with a few scattered colonies. He was the one who founded the Empire. He had codified the law, reformed the currency and even modified the calendar on the basis of scientific knowledge. His Gallic campaigns, which had taken the Roman flag as far as distant Britain, had opened up a new continent to trade and civilization. His statue had its place with those of the Gods, he had given his name to cities as well as a month in the calendar, and the monarchs added his illustrious name to their own. The history of Rome had found its Alexander. It was already apparent that he would become the unattainable model for every dictator.”

“In that man were combined genius, method, memory, literature, prudence, deliberation, and industry. He had performed exploits in war which, though calamitous for the republic, were nevertheless mighty deeds. Having for many years aimed at being a king, he had with great labor, and much personal danger, accomplished what he intended. He had conciliated the ignorant multitude by presents, by monuments, by largesses of food, and by banquets; he had bound his own party to him by rewards, his adversaries by the appearances of clemency. Why need I say much on such a subject? He had already brought a free city, partly by fear, partly by patience, into a habit of slavery. With him I can, indeed, compare you [Mark Antony] as to your desire to reign; but in all other respects you are in no degree to be compared to him.”

“Julius Caesar, a radical aristocrat of unbounded ambition, and a successful commander and politician, gained wealth and glory by conquering Gaul, then won supreme power in a civil war. He destroyed the Roman Republic and seemed to be moving toward monarchy, but was assassinated before he could complete his plans.”

“A hundred or even fifty years ago, Gaius Julius Caesar was variously described as the greatest man of action who has ever lived, the greatest man the earth has ever produced, and even as "the entire and perfect man". In an age like our own which has seen too much of men of action, enthusiasm on this particular score may have become somewhat muted. But it still remains impossible to think of anyone who has ever united a more spectacular and varied collection of talents. He was an astute politician, a masterly propagandist and showman, a clever and effective administrator, an exceptionally gifted writer, a man of great and wide learning and taste, and a military genius who moved with terrifying speed and exercised magnetic authority over his troops.”

“Rome officially became an Empire on 16 January 27 BC, when the Senate awarded Octavian – an adopted son of Julius Caesar – the title of Augustus. Prior to this the Republic had been tortured by two decades of bloody civil wars; in the course of these, in 49 BC, Caesar had seized power and ruled as a military dictator. Yet Caesar was an autocrat both of his time and ahead of it, and on 15 March 44 BC – the Ides of March – he was murdered – direct reward, said the scholar and bureaucrat Suetonius (c. AD 70-130), for his vaunting ambition, in which many Romans perceived a desire to revive the monarchy. ‘Constant exercise of power gave Caesar a love for it,’ wrote Suetonius, who also repeated a rumour that as a young man Caesar dreamed of raping his own mother, a vision soothsayers interpreted as a clear sign ‘he was destined to conquer the earth.’”

“Acer, et indomitus: quo spes, quoque ira vocasset, Ferre manum, et nunquam temerando parcere ferro: Successus urgere suos: instare favori Numinis: impellens quicquid sibi summa petenti Obstaret: gaudensque viam fecisse ruina.”

“In his campaigns I find more restraint and reflection than in those of Alexander, who seems to go looking for dangers and charging at them like a rushing torrent which indiscriminately batters and unselectively attacks anything it meets.”

“Whilst this great man was preparing himself to fulfil these lofty destinies, the remains of the aristocratic party, which owed their life to his generosity, conspired against his life. Brutus and Cassius were the leaders: Brutus was a stoic, the disciple of Cato. Cæsar loved him and had twice saved his life, but the sect to which he belonged admitted no mitigation of its austere principles. He was full of the ideas taught in the schools of Greece against tyranny; the assassination of every man who actually stood above the laws was regarded as a legitimate action. Cæsar, the perpetual dictator, governed the whole Roman world; he had only the semblance of a senate; it could not be otherwise, after the proscriptions of Marius and Sylla, the violation of the laws by Pompey, five years of civil war, so many veterans established in Italy, attached to their generals, awaiting every thing from the greatness of certain men, and nothing from the republic. In such a state of things, these deliberative assemblies could no longer govern: the person of Cæsar was then the guarantee of the supremacy of Rome over the world, and constituted the security of all parties of citizens: his authority was therefore legitimate.”