Two years after his death, the Roman Senate declared Caesar a god. This gave Roman biographers the unusual task of recounting the life of a man who was, by official proclamation, a divine being. By the time the biographer Suetonius writes his Life of the Deified Julius, the Roman people has worshiped Caesar as a god for more than 150 years. Please read through Divus Julius, and pick out a line that shows especially well why the Roman people might have accepted Caesar as divine or a line that shows that regarding Caesar as a god was more than a little strange. Explain your choice.
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Caesar the God (extra credit)
Two years after his death, the Roman Senate declared Caesar a god. This gave Roman biographers the unusual task of recounting the life of a man who was, by official proclamation, a divine being. By the time the biographer Suetonius writes his Life of the Deified Julius, the Roman people has worshiped Caesar as a god for more than 150 years. Please read through Divus Julius, and pick out a line that shows especially well why the Roman people might have accepted Caesar as divine or a line that shows that regarding Caesar as a god was more than a little strange. Explain your choice.
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The line that I’m choosing is line LXII. This line discusses when on the battlefield with his men, how he would continue fighting if he was quite frankly the one guy left there, or if his men had already left the battlefield, were injured from fighting, or even died. He made sure that his men never gave up on the battle, even if they felt like surrendering, “When his army gave way, he often rallied it single-handed, planting himself in the way of the fleeing men, laying hold of them one by one, and even catching them by the throat and forcing them to face the enemy;” It’s an interesting strategy nonetheless, and it really opens the door to perspective. Some may argue that he is a God, for fighting for Rome until quite literally there is no other option. In other words, fighting for Rome against their enemies, and not surrendering to their enemies and making Rome look weaker, or less effective against the rest of the group or even the world. Some may virtue him as God-like for this, while others might be opposed to it. When it comes to fighting as a whole, typically people who are losing the battles, or the individuals who leave the battlefield or feel like surrendering, are already losing the battle, and there seems to be no point in fighting. What’s leave it to say that Ceasar wouldn’t pull his men back and let them live? Surely these men are going to die if they are forced to battle a war that they're already losing. This could be perceived as a negative connotation not only to the men that Ceasar is in charge of, but to the people of Rome. Sometimes it’s better to lick your wounds, save the lives of your men, rebound, and try to fight again. Maybe it was an effective strategy, maybe it wasn’t. I think that’s the main perception, particularly on this line, and the impact moving forward about the true significance of Ceasar, and why some may consider him a God, whereas others may not. Depending on the battle, I would probably classify him as a God or even a patriot of the Roman Empire, who would never surrender to the enemy, if it meant the lives of his men, or even himself. He was for Rome once and for all, and any obstacle in his way he would attend and take action upon, in my opinion, that’s my perception of a hero or in this case to the Roman People, a God.
ReplyDelete- Nile Hesson
The line I chose which represents Caesar as a deified God is ""My aunt Julia derived her descent, by the mother, from a race of kings, and by her father, from the Immortal Gods".
ReplyDeleteIt is almost as though he himself sets up his title as a God by saying his aunt is from the mother of kings and her father from the gods. If they people saw this in writing then I'm sure they would have believed it and it looks like they did.
Also, the link from the blog did not work. So I found another site which has the text...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0132%3Alife%3Djul.%3Achapter%3D6
The line I choose was, "The civic crown was made of oak-leaves, and given to him who had saved the life of a citizen. The person thus decorated wore it at public spectacles, and sat next the senators. When he entered, the audience rose up, as a mark of respect." This shows that the Roman people accepted Ceasar as divine because they respected him enough to the point that they offered him a crown and stood when he appeared to show their respect to him. I'm guessing they only did this to people who were really important in government, or someone they saw as divine or a god.
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