Though this volume is not intended to provide a history of the Late Roman Republic, the biographical chapters, narrative in Part I and thematic in Part II, will of necessity recount some very important historical events. After all, the earliest extant biographers of Caesar, Plutarch and Suetonius, acknowledged the necessity of narrating his wars, however briefly (Plut. Alex. 1; Suet. lul. 25), and the same was true of his legislation and of his political alliances (Pelling, chapter 18, pp. 254-5; 259). But the focus of these two Parts will be on the difference which this one individual can be seen to have made to that history.
Part III forms a bridge between Caesar’s life and his afterlife, discussing his own writings and their continuations by others. In these works Caesar presented to his contemporaries, and left for later readers, not only a record of his actions but also a carefully constructed portrait of himself. As Kraus (chapter 12) and Raaflaub (chapter 13) show, his intention to produce a self-standing literary work, not a mere sketch for later historians to elaborate, and his skill in putting himself in a good light, without actually lying, are now increasingly appreciated. His continuators fill out the story of his campaigns, and also - no less importantly - bear witness to the powerful influence he exercised over his officers and his men (Cluett, chapter 14, pp. 199-202).
Part IV explores Caesar’s posthumous reputation among the Romans themselves, as reflected both in literature of various genres and in visual representations. Part V explores Caesar’s image at certain key points in history - of necessity, a sample only. The importance of Caesar’s example, as ruler and as general, continued across Europe in the early Middle Ages when his works were little read and his reputation largely depended on the popularity of Lucan’s epic poem on the civil war (Suerbaum, chapter 22). From the fifteenth century on, editions and translations proliferated, giving solidity to the fascination with him as a general: in Italy his works were used to teach geography and as guides to military strategy, tactics, and technology (McLaughlin, chapter 23, pp. 350-5). At all times, approval and disapproval of Caesar could reflect contemporary political debates, not only Republicanism vs. monarchy, but also traditional vs. enlightened or reforming monarchy (Biskup, chapter 26; Nicolet, chapter 27; Cole, chapter 28). The effect of Caesar’s conquests on his provincial subjects was variously estimated by the descendants of those subjects, in Germany, France, and Britain (Suerbaum, chapter 22; Clark, chapter 24; Biskup, chapter 26). Finally, the continued use of Julius Caesar and Rome in political thought and rhetoric is exemplified by the twinned analogies of the Roman empire and Julius Caesar with the United States and the American president, analogies used both by the right as a boast and by the left as a condemnation (Wyke, chapter 30).
World History
