Caesar

Caesar, ăris (CAESERIS, C. I. L. 4, 2308; Inscr. Orell. 4205: CAESARVS, C. I. L. 1, 696), m., = Καῖσαρ [a caeso matris utero, Plin. 7, 9, 7, § 47; cf. Non. p. 556, 32: a caesarie dictus, qui scilicet cum caesarie natus est, Fest. p. 44; cf. Comment. p. 383. Both etymm. also in Isid. Orig. 9, 3, 12, and Spart. Ael. Ver. 2. Better acc. to Doed. Syn. III. p. 17, from caesius, caeruleus, the color of the skin; cf. Rufus],

• a cognomen in the gens Julia. Of these the most celebrated, C.Julius Caesar, distinguished as general, orator, statesman, and author, was assassinated by Brutus and Cassius, B.C. 44. After him all the emperors bore the name Caesar, with the title Augustus, until, under Adrian, this difference arose: Augustus designated the ruling emperor; Caesar, the heir to the throne, the crown-prince, etc., Spart. Ael. Ver. 1, § 2; Aur. Vict. Caes. 13, § 12.—
• II Derivv.
• • A Caesărīnus, a, um, adj., of or relating to the triumvir Julius Caesar, Caesarian: celeritas, Cic. Att. 16, 10, 1 Orell. N.cr.—
  • B Caesărĭānus, a, um, adj.
  • • 1 Of the triumvir Caesar, Caesarian: bellum civile, Nep. Att. 7, 1.— Hence, Caesărĭāni, ōrum, m., the adherents of Caesar in the civil war (as Pompeiani, his opponents), Auct. B. Afr. 13: orationes, orations of Cicero in which Caesar was praised (pro Marcello, Deiotaro, De Provinciis Consularibus, etc.), Serv. ad Verg. G. 2, 131.—
    • 2 Imperial, Vop. Carin. init.: Pallas (esp. honored by Domitian), Mart. 8, 1.—Hence, subst.
    • • a Caesărĭāni, ōrum, m.
      • • α A class of provincial imperial officers, Cod. Just. 10, 1, 5; 10, 1, 7; Cod. Th. 10, 7.—
        • β Partisans of Caesar, Auct. B. Afr. 13; Flor. 4, 3.—
      • b Caesărĭānum, i, n., a kind of eye-salve, Cels. 6, 6, n. 27.—
  • C Caesă-rĕus, a, um, adj.
  • • 1 Of or pertaining to the triumvir Caesar, Caesarian (mostly poet.): sanguis, Ov. M. 1, 201: Penates, id. ib. 15, 864: Vesta, id. ib. 15, 865: forum, founded by him, Stat. S. 1, 1, 85.—
    • 2 Imperial: amphitheatrum, built by the emperor Domitian, Mart. Spect. 1, 7: leones, presented by Domitian in the fight of wild beasts, id. Epigr. 1, 7, 3.

Caesar, aris, m., ein röm. Familienname des julischen Geschlechts. Am berühmtesten ist C. Iulius Caesar, der den Pompejus besiegte, die Republik stürzte u. als Diktator königliche Gewalt erhielt, aber von Brutus u. Kassius im J. 44 v. Chr. ermordet wurde. Sein Neffe u. Erbe Oktavius, der nachher auch seinen Namen C. Iulius Caesar (Octavianus) führte, setzte die Alleinherrschaft fort. Nach ihm hatten alle Kaiser den Beinamen Caesar neben dem Titel Augustus (vgl. Suet. Galb. 11), bis unter Hadrian der Unterschied entstand, daß Caesar Augustus den wirklich regierenden Kaiser und Caesar den bestimmten Nachfolger desselben, den Thronerben (der in neuern Zeiten »römischer König« hieß) bezeichnete, Spart. Hel. 1, 2. Aur. Vict. Caes. 13, 12. – Germanicus Caesar, s. Germanicus. – Dav. abgel.: A) Caesareus, a, um, a) den Julius Cäsar betreffend, cäsarisch, sanguis, Ov.: forum, von Cäsar angelegt, Stat. – subst., Caesareum, ī, n. (sc. templum), ein dem Cäsar geweihter Tempel, Corp. inscr. Lat. 9, 1556; 10, 415 u. 11, 948. – b) kaiserlich, amphitheatrum, vom Kaiser Domitian erbaut, Mart.: leones, von dems. in den Tierkampf gegeben, Mart. – B) Caesariānus (nachaug. auch Caesareānus), a, um, a) cäsarianisch, des Cäsar, civile bellum, Nep.: nex, Suet.: familia, Capit.: orationes, Lobreden Ciceros auf Cäsar, Serv. Verg.: aequitas (Ggstz. Sullana violentia), Val. Max.: subst., Caesariānī, ōrum, m., die Anhänger Cäsars im Bürgerkriege, die Cäsarianer, Auct. b. Afr. – b) cäsarianisch = des Mitregenten, nomen, imperium, Scriptt. hist. Aug. – c) kaiserlich, der Kaiser, collyrium, Cels.: Pallas, vom Kaiser Domitian bes. verehrt, Mart.: Caesareanorum temporum scriptor, Vopisc.: subst., Caesariānī, ōrum, m., eine Art Provinzialbeamter, spät. ICt. – d) Caesareānus als Beiname v. der Eroberung von Caesarea, Treb. Poll. trig. tyr. 2. § 2. – C) Caesariēnsis, e, Beiname mehrerer Ortschaften, wie: Mauritania, der östliche Teil von Mauritanien, Tac.: Colonia, ICt. – D) Caesarīnus, a, um, cäsarinisch, des (Jul.) Cäsar, celeritas, Cic. ad. Att. 16, 10, 1.

Caesar [CL] , emperor. b king, civil ruler. c (w. ref. to Act. xxv 11). in presidibus provinciarum et proconsulibus, id est legatis ~aris J. Sal. Pol. 783A; †169 (13c) petistis a nobis leges Romanas et ~aris vobis transmitti, quibus in regno Britannie uti voluistis. leges Romanas et ~aris semper reprobare possumus, legem Dei nequaquam (Lit. Papae) GAS 636; s1243 Romanos Cesar expugnat Garl. Tri. Eccl. 39; quis ‥ ~ares hodie sciret ‥ nisi insignirent monumenta scriptorum? Higd. I prol. p. 6.  b regis et Normannorum ducis, augusti domini nostri ~aris Henrici ‥ serena tempora (Quad. argumentum) GAS 533; ~ari contradices [cf. Joh. xix 12], et quicquid dictet, nisi sic eat et nisi sic stet, est in personam regis contraque coronam J. Sal. Pol. 591A; presentes ~ares nemo loquitur; eorum tamen mores cum ‥ omnium admiratione presto sunt ad calamum Map NC V 1; papa dicitur monere ~ares ad ducendum sibi frenum Wycl. Chr. & Antichr. 690.  c 802 an aequum sit ut, qui ~arem appellat, ad ~arem non adducatur Alcuin Ep. 245; adversus hos non ~arem sed Benedictum appello J. Sal. Pol. 700c.

2 Cæsăr, (5) ăris, m. , nom de famille dans la gens Julia ; dont le personnage le plus important fut Jules César || titre porté par les empereurs et même, à partir dʼAdrien, par les héritiers présomptifs de lʼempire || -rĕus, a, um [poét.] ou -rīnus, a, um, ou -rĭānus, a, um, de César : Cic. Att. 16, 10, 1 ; 6, 8, 2 || Cæsărĭānī, ōrum, m. , partisans de César : B. Afr. 13 ; ou agents de lʼempereur dans les provinces : Cod. Th. 10, 7 || -rĭānum, ī, n. , espèce de collyre : Cels. Med. 6, 6.

Caesar

Καῖσαρ, the name of a patrician family of the Julia gens, which was one of the most ancient in the Roman state, and traced its origin to Iulus, the son of Aeneas. [Julia Gens.] It is uncertain which member of this gens first obtained the surname of Caesar, but the first who occurs in history is Sex. Julius Caesar, praetor in B. C. 208. The origin of the name is equally uncertain. Spartianus, in his life of Aelius Verus (100.2), mentions four different opinions respecting its origin : 1.That the word signified an elephant in the language of the Moors, and was given as a surname to one of the Julii because he had killed an elephant. 2. That it was given to one of the Julii because he had been cut (caesus) out of his mother's womb after her death; or 3. Because he had been born with a great quantity of hair (caesaries) on his head; or 4. Because he had azure-coloured (caesii) eyes of an almost supernatural kind. Of these opinions the third, which is also given by Festus (s. v. Caesar), seems to come nearest the truth. Caesar and caesaries are both probably connected with the Sanskrit kêsa, " hair," and it is quite in accordance with the Roman custom for a surname to be given to an individual from some peculiarity in his personal appearance. The second opinion, which seems to have been the most popular one with the ancient writers (Serv. ad Virg. Aen. 1.290; Plin. Nat. 7.7. s. 9; Solin. 1.62; Zonar. 10.11), arose without doubt from a false etymology. With respect to the first, which was the one adopted, says Spartianus (l.c.), by the most learned men, it is impossible to disprove it absolutely, as we know next to nothing of the ancient Moorish language : but it has no inherent probability in it; and the statement of Servius (l.c.) is undoubtedly false, that the grandfather of the dictator obtained the surname on account of killing an elephant with his own hand in Africa, as there were several of the Julii with this name before his time.

An inquiry into the etymology of this name is of some interest, as no other name has ever obtained such celebrity--"clarum et duraturum cum aeternitate mundi nomen." (Spart. Ael. Ver. 1.) It was assumed by Augustus as the adopted son of the dictator, and was by Augustus handed down to his adopted son Tiberius. It continued to be used by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, as members either by adoption or female descent of Caesar's family; but though the family became extinct with Nero, succeeding emperors still retained it as part of their titles, and it was the practice to prefix it to their own name, as for instance, Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus. When Hadrian adopted Aelius Verus, he allowed the latter to take the title of Caesar; and from this time, though the title of Augustus continued to be confined to the reigning prince, that of Caesar was also granted to the second person in the state and the heir presumptive to the throne.

In the following stemma the connexion of the earlier members of the family is to a considerable extent conjectural. A full account of the lives of all the Caesars mentioned below is given in Drumann's Geschichte Roms, vol. iii. p. 113, &c.

Caesar

1. Sex. Julius Caesar, praetor B. C. 208, obtained the province of Sicily. On his return he was one of the ambassadors sent to the consul T. Quinctius Crispinus, after the death of the other consul, Marcellus, to tell him to name a dictator, if he could not himself come to Rome to hold the comitia. (Liv. 27.21, 22, 29.)

Caesar

2. L. Julius Caesar, grandfather of No. 6, as we learn from the Capitoline Fasti.

Caesar

3. L. Julius (Caesar), probably son of No. 2, praetor B. C. 183, had the province of Gallia Cisalpina, and was commanded to prevent the Transalpine Gauls, who had come into Italy, from building the town of Aquileia, which they had commenced. (Liv. 39.45.)

Caesar

4. Sex. Julius Caesar, probably son of No. 2, tribune of the soldiers, B. C. 181, in the army of the proconsul L. Aemilius Paullus. In 170 he was sent, as a legate, with C. Sempronius Blaesus to restore Abdera to liberty. (Liv. 40.27, 43.4.)

Caesar

5. L. Julius (Caesar), probably son of No. 3, praetor B. C. 166. (Liv. 45.44.)

Caesar

6. SEX. JULIUS Sex. F. L. N. Caesar, curule aedile B. C. 165, exhibited, in conjunction with his colleague Cn. Cornelius Dolabella, the Hecyra of Terence at the Megalesian games. (Titul. Hecyr. Ter.) He was consul in 157 with L. Aurelius Orestes. (Plin. Nat. 33.3. s. 17; Plb. 32.20; Fast. Capit.)

Caesar

7. Sex. Julius Caesar, probably son of No. 6, praetor urbanus in B. C. 123. (Cic. pro Dom. 53 ; ad Her. 2.13.)

Caesar

8. L. Julius Caesar, son of No. 6, and father of No. 9 (Fast. Cap.), married Popillia, who had been previously married to Q. Catulus.

Caesar

9. L. Julius Sex. N. Caesar, L. F., called erroneously by Appian, Sex. Julius Caesar, son of No. 8, was consul, B. C. 90, with P. Rutilius Lupus, when the Social war broke out. His legates in this war were Sulla, Crassus, P. Lentulus, T. Didius, and M. Marcellus. He commenced the campaign by attacking the Samnites, but was defeated by their general, Vettius Cato, and fled to Aesernia, which still remained faithful to the Romans. Having, however,received a reinforcement of Gallic and Numidian auxiliaries, he was soon able to face the enemy again, and pitched his camp near Acerrae in Campania, which was besieged by the enemy. Here a great number of the Numidians deserted, and Caesar, suspecting the fidelity of the remainder, sent them back to Africa. Encouraged by this defection, Papius Motulus, the general of the enemy, proceeded to attack Caesar's camp, but was repulsed with a loss of 6000 men. This victory caused great joy at Rome; and the citizens laid aside the military cloaks (saga), which they had assumed at the beginning of the war. It was not followed, however, by any important results : on the contrary, Caesar withdrew from Acerrae almost immediately afterwards, without having relieved the town. Meantime, the other consul, Rutilius Lupus, had been defeated and slain in battle by Vettius Cato; and Caesar himself, while marching to Acerrae to make another attempt to raise the siege of the town, was defeated with great loss by Marius Egnatius. (Appian, App. BC 1.40_42, 45; Vell. 2.15; Liv. Epit. 73 ; Plin. Nat. 2.29. s. 30; Obsequ. 100.115; Cic. de Div. 1.2, pro Font. 15, pro Planc. 21; Flor. 3.18.12; Oros. 5.18.)

These disasters, the fear of a war with Mithridates, and apprehension of a revolt of all the allies, induced Caesar to bring forward a law for granting the citizenship to the Latins and the allies which had remained faithful. (Lex Julia de Civitate.) It appears, however, to have contained a provision, giving each allied state the opportunity of accepting what was offered them; and many preferred their original condition as federate states to incurring the obligations and responsibilities of Roman citizens. (Cic. pro Balb. 8; Vell. 2.16 ; Gel. 4.4.)

In the following year, B. C. 89, Caesar's command was prolonged. He gained a considerable victory over the enemy, and afterwards proceeded to besiege Asculum, before which he died of disease, according to the statement of Appian. (BC 1.48.) This, however, is clearly a mistake : he probably was obliged to leave the army in consequence of serious illness, and was succeeded in the command by C. Baebius. He was censor in the same year with P. Licinius Crassus (Cic. pro Arch. 5; Plin. Nat. 13.3. s. 5, 14.14. s. 16; Festus, s. v. Referri), and was engaged in carrying into effect his own law and that of Silvanus and Carbo, passed in this year, for conferring the citizenship upon some of the other Italian allies. These citizens were enrolled in eight or ten new tribes, which were to vote after the thirty-five old ones. (Appian, App. BC 1.49; Vell. 2.20.)

On the breaking out of the civil war in B. C. 87, L. Caesar and his brother Caius, who were opposed to Marius and Cinna, were killed by Fimbria. (Appian, App. BC 1.72; Flor. 3.21.14; Ascon. in Scaur. p. 24, ed. Orelli; V. Max. 9.2.2; Cic. de Orat. 3.3, Tuscul. 5.19.)

Caesar

10. C. Julius SEX. N. Caesar Strabo Vopiscus, L. F. (comp. Cic. Phil. 11.5; Varro, R. R. i. 7.10; Plin. Nat. 17.3. s. 4), son of No. 8, and brother of No. 9. He commenced his public career in B. C. 103, when still young, by accusing T. Albucius, who had been praetor in Sicily, of extortion (repetundae) in that province : Cn. Pompeius Strabo, who had been quaestor to Albucius, wished to conduct the prosecution, but was obliged to give way to Caesar. Albucius was condemned, and the speech which Caesar delivered on this occasion was much admired, and was afterwards closely imitated by his great namesake, the dictator, in the speech which he delivered upon the appointment of an accuser against Dolabella. (Suet. Jul. 55.) He was curule aedile in B. C. 90 in the consulship of his brother, and not in the following year, as some modern writers state; for we are told, that he was aedile in the tribuneship of C. Curio, which we know was in the year 90. In B. C. 88 he became a candidate for the consulship, without having been praetor, and was strongly supported by the aristocracy, and as strongly opposed by the popular party. This contest was, indeed, as Asconius states, one of the immediate causes of the civil war. The tribunes of the plebs, P. Sulpicius and P. Antistius, contended, and with justice, that Caesar could not be elected consul without a violation of the lex Annalis; but since he persevered in spite of their opposition, the tribunes had recourse to arms, and thus prevented his election. Shortly afterwards, Sulla entered Rome, and expelled the leaders of the popular party; but upon his departure to Greece to prosecute the war against Mithridates, Marius and Cinna obtained possession of the city (B. C. 87), and C. Caesar was put to death, together with his brother Lucius. It may be added, that C. Caesar was a member of the college of pontiffs.

C. Caesar was regarded as one of the chief orators and poets of his age, and is introduced by Cicero as one of the speakers in the second book of his " De Oratore." Wit was the chief characteristic of Caesar's oratory, in which he was superior to all his contemporaries; but he was deficient in power and energy. His tragedies were distinguished by ease and polish, though marked by the same defects as his oratory. His contemporary Accius appears, from a story related by Valerius Maximus (3.7.11), to have regarded Caesar's poetry as very inferior to his own. The names of two of his tragedies are preserved, the "Adrastus" and "Tecmessa." (Orelli, Onomast. Tull. ii. p. 301, where all the passages of Cicero are quoted; Gel. 4.6; Appian, App. BC 1.72; V. Max. 5.3.3 ; Suet. Cal. 60; Vell. 2.9.2. The fragments of his orations are given by Meyer, Orat. Roman. Fragm. p. 330, &c. Respecting his tragedies, see Welcker, Die Griechischen Tragödien, p. 1398; and Weichert, Poet. Lat. Rel. p. 127.)

Caesar

11. L. Julius Caesar, L. F. L. N., son of No. 9, and uncle by his sister Julia of M. Antony the triumvir. He was consul B. C. 64 with C. Marcius Figulus, and belonged, like his father, to the aristocratical party. In the debate in the senate, in B. C. 63, respecting the punishment of the Catilinarian conspirators, he voted for the death of the conspirators, among whom was the husband of his own sister, P. Lentulus Sura. L. Caesar seems to have remained at Rome some years after his consulship without going to any province. In B. C. 52, we find him in Gaul, as legate to C. Caesar, afterwards the dictator. Here he remained till the breaking out of the civil war in 49, when he accompanied C. Caesar into Italy. He took, however, no active part in the war; but it would appear that he deserted the aristocracy, for he continued to live at Rome, which was in the dictator's power, and he was even entrusted with the care of the city in 47 by his nephew M. Antony, who was obliged to leave Rome to quell the revolt of the legions in Italy. L. Caesar, however, was now advanced in years, and did not possess sufficient energy to keep the turbulent spirits at Rome in order : hence much confusion and contention arose during Antony's absence.

After the death of the dictator in 44, L. Caesar preserved neutrality as far as possible, though he rather favoured the party of the conspirators than that of Antony. He retired from Rome soon after this event, and spent some time at Neapolis, where Cicero saw him, at the beginning of May, dangerously ill. From Neapolis he went to Aricia, and from thence returned to Rome in September, but did not take his seat in the senate, either on account, or under the plea, of ill-health. L. Caesar had expressed to Cicero at Neapolis his approbation of Dolabella's opposition to his colleague Antony ; and as soon as the latter left Rome for Mutina, at the close of the year, he openly joined the senatorial party. It was on the proposal of L. Caesar, in B. C. 43, that the agrarian law of Antony was repealed; but he opposed the wishes of the more violent of his party, who desired war to be declared against Autony as an enemy of the state, and he carried a proposition in the senate that the contest should be called a " tumult," and not a war. In the same spirit, he proposed that P. Sulpicius, and not C. Cassius or the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, as the more violent of his party wished, should be entrusted with the war against Dolabella. His object then was to prevent matters coming to such extremities as to preclude all hopes of reconciliation; but, after the defeat of Antony in the middle of April, he was one of the first to express his opinion in favour of declaring Antony an enemy of the state. On the establishment of the triumvirate, at the latter end of this year, L. Caesar was included in the proscription ; his name was the second in the list, and the first which was put down by his own uncle. He took refuge in the house of his sister, Julia, who with some difficulty obtained his pardon from her son. From this time we hear no more of him. He was not a man of much power of mind, but had some influence in the state through his family connexions and his position in society. (Orelli, Onomast. Tull. ii. p. 314; Sal. Cat. 17; D. C. 37.6, 10 ; Caes. Gal. 7.65, B. C. 1.8; D. C. 42.30 ; 47.6, 8; Appian, App. BC 4.12, 37; Plut. Ant. 19, Cic. 46; Liv. Epit. 120; Vell. 2.57 ; Flor. 4.6.4.)

Caesar

12. Julia, the daughter of No. 9, and sister of No. 11. [Julia.]

Caesar

13. L. Julius Caesar, L. F. L. N., son of No. 11, with whom he is sometimes confounded by modern writers, though he is usually distinguished from his father by the addition to his name of filius or ad olescens. On the breaking out of the civil war in B. C. 49, the younger L. Caesar joined the Pompeian party, although his father was Caesar's legate. It was probably for this reason, and on account of his family connexion with Caesar, that Pompey sent him with the praetor Roscius to Caesar, who was then at Ariminum, with some proposals for peace. Although these did not amount to much, Caesar availed himself of the opportunity to send back by L. Caesar the terms on which he would withdraw from Italy. Cicero saw L. Caesar at Minturnae on his way back to Pompey, and whether he was jealous at not having been employed himself, or for some other reason, he speaks with the utmost contempt of Lucius, and calls him a bundle of loose broom-sticks (scopae solutae). Pompey sent him back again to the enemy with fresh proposals, but the negotiation, as is well known, came to nothing. (Caes. Civ. 1.8, 9, 10; Cic. Att. 7.13, 14, 16; D. C. 41.5.)

In the course of the same year (B. C. 49), L. Caesar repaired to Africa, and had the command of Clupea entrusted to him, which he deserted, however, on the approach of Curio from Sicily, who came with a large force to oppose the Pompeian party. (Caes. Civ. 2.23; D. C. 41.41.) Three years afterwards (B. C. 46), we find L. Caesar serving as proquaestor to Cato in Utica. After the death of Cato, who committed his son to his care, he persuaded the inhabitants of Utica to surrender the town to the dictator, and to throw themselves upon his mercy. Lucius himself was pardoned by the dictator, according to the express statement of Hirtius, though other writers say that he was put to death by his order. It is certain that he was murdered shortly afterwards; but it was probably not the dictator's doing, as such an act would have been quite opposed to Caesar's usual clemency, and not called for by any circumstance. He probably fell a victim to the fury of the dictator's soldiers, who may have been exasperated against him by the circumstance mentioned by Suetonius. (Hirt. B. Afr. 88, 89; Plut. Cat. Mi. 66.; Cic. Fam. 9.7; D. C. 43.12; Suet. Jul. 75.)

Caesar

14. C. Julius Caesar, the grandfather of the dictator, as we learn from the Fasti. It is quite uncertain who the father of this Caius was. Drumann conjectures, that his father may have been a son of No. 4 and a brother of No. 6, and perhaps the C. Julius, the senator, who is said to have written a Roman history in Greek, about B. C. 143. (Liv. Edit. 53.) We know nothing more of the grandfather of the dictator, except that he married Marcia, whence his grandson traced his descent from the king Ancus Marcius. (Suet. Jul. 6.) It is conjectured by some writers, that the praetor Caesar, who died suddenly at Rome, is the same as the subject of the present notice. (Plin. Nat. 7.53. s. 54.)

Caesar

15. C. Julius Caesar, the son of No. 14, and the father of the dictator, was praetor, though in what year is uncertain, and died suddenly at Pisae in B. C. 84, while dressing himself, when his son was sixteen years of age. The latter, in his curule aedileship, B. C. 65, exhibited games in his father's honour. (Suet. Jul. 1; Plin. Nat. 7.53. s. 54, 33.3. s. 16.) His wife was Aurelia. [Aurelia.]

Caesar

16. Julia, daughter of No. 14.

Caesar

17. Sex. Julius Caesar, C. F., son of No. 14, and the uncle of the dictator, was consul in B. C. 91, just before the breaking out of the Social war. (Plin. Nat. 2.83. s. 85, 33.3. s. 17; Eutrop. 5.3 ; Flor. 3.18; Oros. 5.18; Obsequ. 114.) The name of his grandfather is wanting in the Capitoline Fasti, through a break in the stone; otherwise we might have been able to trace further back the ancestors of the dictator. This Sex. Caesar must not be confounded, as he is by Appian (App. BC 1.40), with L. Julius Caesar, who was consul in B. C. 90, in the first year of the Social war. [See No. 9.]

The following coin, which represents on the obverse the head of Pallas winged, and on the reverse a woman driving a two-horse chariot, probably belongs to this Caesar.

Caesar

22. Caesarion. [Caesarion.]

Caesar

23. Sex. Julius Caesar, son of No. 17, was Flamen Quirinalis, and is mentioned in the history of the year B. C. 57. (Cic. de Harusp. Resp. 6.)

Caesar

24. Sex. Julius Caesar, son probably of No. 23, as he is called by Appian very young in B. C. 47, and is not therefore likely to have been the same as the preceding, as some have conjectured. He was in the army of the great Caesar in Spain in B. C. 49, and was sent by the latter as ambassador to M. Terentius Varro. At the conclusion of the Alexandrine war, B. C. 47, Sex. Caesar was placed over Syria, where he was killed in the following year by his own soldiers at the instigation of Caecilius Bassus, who had revolted against the dictator. (Caes. Civ. 2.20; Hirt. B. Alex. 66; D. C. 47.26; Appian, App. BC 3.77; compare Bassus, Caecilius.)

Caesar , C.

and L. Caesar, the sons of M. Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, and the grandsons of Augustus. Caius was born in B. C. 20 and Lucius in B. C. 17, and in the latter year they were both adopted by Augustus. In B. C. 13, Caius, who was then only seven years of age, took part with other patrician youths in the Trojan game at the dedication of the temple of Marcellus by Augustus. In B. C. 8, Caius accompanied Tiberius in his campaign against the Sigambri in order to become acquainted with military exercises. Augustus carefully superintended the education of both the youths, but they early shewed signs of an arrogant and overbearing temper, and importuned their grandfather to bestow upon them public marks of honour. Their requests were seconded by the entreaties of the people, and granted by Augustus, who, under the appearance of a refusal, was exceedingly anxious to grant them the honours they solicited. Thus they were declared consuls elect and principes juventutis before they had laid aside the dress of childhood. Caius was nominated to the consulship in B. C. 5, but was not to enter upon it till five years afterwards. He assumed the toga virilis in the same year, and his brothel in B. C. 2.

Caius was sent into Asia in B. C. 1, where he passed his consulship in the following year, A. D. 1. About this time Phraates IV., king of Parthia, seized upon Armenia, and Caius accordingly prepared to make war against him, but the Parthian king gave up Armenia, and settled the terms of peace at an interview with Caius on an island in the Euphrates. (A. D. 2.) After this Caius went to take possession of Armenia, but was treacherously wounded before the town of Artagera in this country. Of this wound he never recovered, and died some time afterwards at Limyra in Lycia, on the 21st of February, A. D. 4. His brother Lucius had died eighteen months previously, on August 20th, A. D. 2, at Massilia, on his way to Spain. Their bodies were brought to Rome. Some suspected that their death was occasioned by their step-mother Livia. (D. C. 54.8, 18, 26, 4.6, 9, 11, 12; Zonar. x. p. 539 ; Suet. Aug. 26, 56, 64, 65, Tib. 12; Vell. 2.101, 102; Tac. Ann. 1.3, 2.4; Florus, 4.12.42; Lapis Ancyranus.)

C. Caesar married Livia or Livilla, the daughter of Antonia [Antonia, No. 6], who afterwards married the younger Drusus, but he left no issue. (Tac. Ann. 4.40.) L. Caesar was to have married Aemilia Lepida, but died previously. (Ann. 3.23.) There are several coins both of Caius and Lucius : their portraits are given in the one annexed. (Eckhel, vi. p. 170.)

Caesar

A title of the Roman emperors, and originally a family name of the gens Iulia. It was assumed by Octavianus as the adopted son of the great dictator, C. Iulius Caesar, and was by him handed down to his adopted son Tiberius. It continued to be used by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, as members either by adoption or female descent of Caesar's family; but though the family became extinct with Nero, succeeding emperors still retained the name as part of their titles, and it was the practice to prefix it to their own names, as, for instance, Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus. When Hadrian adopted Aelius Verus, he allowed the latter to take the title of Caesar (Spart. Ael. Ver. 1); and from this time, though the title of Augustus continued to be confined to the reigning emperor, that of Caesar was also granted the second person in the State and the heir-presumptive to the throne. See Augustus.

The name Caesar was variously derived by the ancients, some assigning it directly to caedo, to denote that the first bearer of the name was cut from his mother's uterus by the “Caesarian” operation (Plin. H. N. vii. 9, 7); and others explaining it from caesaries, because the first Caesar was born with a full head of hair ( Fest. p. 44 Müll.). Doederlein (Synon. iii. 17) assigns it to caesius, as applied to the colour of the skin, or perhaps of the eyes.

Caesar , Iulius

, or, as the name is written in English, Julius Caesar, was born on the 12th of July, in B.C. 102 or 100. The latter date rests upon the statement of several ancient authorities, but Mommsen has shown that the earlier date is more probably correct. The Caesar family was of patrician stock. It belonged to the proud gens of the Iulii, who traced their ancestry back to the very beginning of Roman history. In the century between B.C. 160 and 60, several Caesars held public offices, at least four being honoured with the consulship.

Of the youth and education of Iulius Caesar little is known excepting that he was under the instruction of the distinguished teacher of grammar and rhetoric, M. Antonius Gnipho , who for a time taught in his home. Though allied by descent with the aristocracy, he was brought into relation with the popular party through the marriage of his aunt Iulia with the great leader Marius. In B.C. 83, he himself married Cornelia, the daughter of Marius's most ardent supporter, Cinna. This vexed Sulla , who, regaining the ascendency at Rome the following year, ordered Caesar to divorce her. Unlike Pompey and Piso, who put away their wives at Sulla 's bidding, Caesar boldly refused. Sulla confiscated his property, and revoked the priesthood of Iupiter, which had been conferred upon him through the influence of Marius. As his life was now in danger, he went into hiding, hotly pursued from place to place by Sulla 's emissaries. After a time his friends, aided by the Vestal Virgins, succeeded in securing pardon for him from Sulla , who is said to have granted it with the remark that Caesar would some time be the ruin of the aristocracy, for in him there was many a Marius. Soon afterwards, desirous of gaining the military experience considered necessary for a young Roman of rank, he joined the staff of M. Minucius Thermus, who was besieging Mytilené. Here he saved the life of a fellow-soldier, displaying so great bravery that he was honoured with a civic crown. After Mytilené fell he entered the service of P. Servilius in Cilicia; but immediately on hearing of the death of Sulla , in 78, he returned to Rome.

The following year Caesar introduced himself to public notice by bringing a charge of provincial extortion against Gnaeus Dolabella, who had been proconsul of Macedonia. Though unsuccessful, in 76 he was invited to accuse Antonius of similar misconduct in Greece. Antonius also was acquitted, but the young prosecutor gained great popularity and a considerable reputation for oratory by his pleas. He now started for Rhodes, to pursue the study of oratory under Molo. Near Miletus he was captured by pirates, and was detained on the island of Pharmacusa until he could get together a ransom of fifty talents (over $55,000). Having been set at liberty, he procured ships, captured the pirates, took them to Pergamus, and crucified them, thus carrying out a threat which he had jestingly pronounced when with them. He spent a short time at Rhodes, and then passed over to Asia, where he rendered gallant service against an army of Mithridates. In the winter of 74-73, he returned to Rome, having been chosen to fill a vacancy in the college of pontifices. He now threw himself into political life with an energy that yielded to no opposition and a reckless liberality that hesitated at no expenditure. He was affable to every one, and no applicant for aid went away empty-handed. He soon exhausted his inheritance, and became deeply involved in debt; but his popularity was unbounded. Having taken a stand in opposition to the Sullan constitution and the aristocracy, he received the offices in the gift of the people in regular succession. In 67, he was quaestor, serving under Antistius Vetus in Further Spain. In 65, he was curule aedile, with M. Bibulus as colleague. Extravagant expenditures upon games and buildings raised his popularity to the highest pitch. He increased the power and influence of the popular party in many ways, but by no single act did he kindle the enthusiasm of the populace more than by privately restoring the trophies of Marius, which had been destroyed by Sulla , and replacing them by night on the Capitol. Marius's veterans crowded around them with tears and shouting. The Senate, notwithstanding the formal denunciation of Marius as a public enemy, was obliged to yield to the popular feeling and leave them in the place of honour.

Caesar was charged with complicity in both the Catilinarian conspiracies, but evidence is wanting. In 62, he was praetor, carrying himself with great firmness and discretion amid scenes of violence. The following year he governed the province of Further Spain with distinction, both as a civil administrator and as a general. He subdued several tribes and captured the city of Brigantium, in the extreme northwestern part. At the expiration of his year of office he came back to Rome with ample means to satisfy his creditors. In 60, he was chosen consul for 59, the aristocracy making every effort to secure the election of Bibulus as his colleague to offset his influence. About this time he brought about a reconciliation between Pompey and Marcus Crassus, entering with them into the coalition known as the First Triumvirate. These ties were strengthened further by the marriage of his daughter Julia to Pompey. During his consulship he was influential in promoting the interests of Pompey and Crassus; at the same time he kept his standing with the people, and was especially serviceable to the important body of equites. Instead of the usual proconsular command for one year, he easily obtained the governorship of Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum, and Transalpine Gaul, of which only the southeastern portion had been subdued, for five years, together with the control of four legions. During the next nine years (58-50), Caesar was engaged in the conquest of Transalpine Gaul. Summers were devoted to military operations; but when possible he spent a part of the winter in Cisalpine Gaul, in close communication with his friends at Rome. In 56, he again reconciled Pompey and Crassus, who met with him at Luca; in 55, his command was continued for five years longer. The conquest of Gaul was no easy matter, both from the advancement of its civilization and the character of the country (see Gallia); but Caesar accomplished it, in a series of campaigns which, for variety and skill of tactics as well as unremitting energy of movement, are unsurpassed in the annals of warfare. He twice bridged the Rhine and invaded Germany; twice also he crossed over to Britain, reducing the tribes along the southeast coast to nominal subjection. By the year 50, Gaul was completely conquered, and well on the way towards complete organization as a Roman province.

The death of Iulia, Pompey's wife and Caesar's daughter, in 54, and that of Crassus a year later in the East, broke the common bond between the two great military leaders and put an end to the compact of the triumvirate. Pompey, viewing with jealousy and alarm the victorious career of his younger rival, entered into an alliance with the aristocratic party, and endeavoured to check the increasing power of Caesar by means of senatorial enactments. In his interest the Senate, early in B.C. 50, passed a decree that each of the commanders should give up a legion for the Parthian War. As Pompey had lent one of his to Caesar in 53, this was now demanded back. Although the intent of the whole matter was clearly to weaken Caesar, he gave up Pompey's legion and one of his own as directed; but the troops, instead of being despatched to the East, were placed in camp at Capua. It became clearer every day that Caesar's friends were powerless to obtain for him the recognition and privileges to which he was justly entitled; that the senatorial party and Pompey would scruple at nothing to gain the advantage over him. While his commission prevented him from entering Italy, and no dispensation from it was granted, Pompey was permitted to administer an important command in Spain through lieutenants, and at the same time remained at Rome. The climax was reached early in January, B.C. 49, when the Senate, amid great uproar, decreed that Caesar should disband his army by a certain date, under penalty of being considered a public enemy if he failed to do so; and that the magistrates should take measures to provide for the security of the State. The tribunes M. Antonius and Q. Cassius, who had in vain interposed their veto, were obliged to flee, and took refuge with Caesar, calling upon him to defend the inviolable sanctity of their office. War was now inevitable.

With the vigour and despatch characteristic of his previous military operations, Caesar at once crossed the river Rubicon, the southern boundary of his province. Within three months he was master of the whole of Italy, Pompey and the more zealous adherents of the aristocratic party having fled to Greece. He now set out for Spain, and soon dispersed the forces of Pompey there, meanwhile gaining possession of Sicily and Sardinia also, through his lieutenants Curio and Valerius. In Africa and Illyricum his officers were less successful; but on his way back from Spain he forced the surrender of Massilia, which in his absence had withstood a siege at the hands of Trebonius and Decimus Brutus. By this time Pompey had gathered a large army in Greece, and had also a powerful fleet at his service. Nothing daunted, Caesar crossed the Adriatic in January, 48, and with a far inferior force tried to blockade his opponent at Dyrrachium. Being unsuccessful, and also reduced to straits for supplies, he withdrew into Thessaly. Pompey followed, over-confident. The decisive battle was fought on the plain of Pharsalus, in Thessaly, August 9th, B.C. 48. Pompey had 47,000 infantry and 7000 cavalry, Caesar barely 22,000 infantry and 1000 cavalry. But superior generalship and discipline, and the courage of despair, won the day against greater numbers. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was immediately murdered. When the news of the victory reached Rome, Caesar was appointed dictator for a year, and other offices also were conferred upon him, so that, under the forms of the old constitution, he possessed absolute authority.

Having followed Pompey to Egypt, Caesar was there for a time in great danger on account of the disturbance known as the Alexandrine War, which arose from a dispute regarding the succession. He placed Cleopatra on the throne, and in the spring of 47 proceeded to Pontus, where he defeated Pharnaces, a son of Mithridates, near Zela, announcing the victory at Rome in the famous despatch, Veni, vidi, vici, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Early in 46, he crossed over to Africa, crushing the remnants of the senatorial forces there at the battle of Thapsus, April 6. Returning to Rome, where his supremacy was no longer disputed, he treated his former opponents with unlooked-for clemency, and inaugurated several salutary reforms, among which not the least important was the rearrangement of the calendar. The sons of Pompey gathered an army in Spain, which he defeated at the battle of Munda, March 17th, B.C. 45. During the ensuing months, Caesar's powers as a civil administrator had full scope. His projects, few of which were destined to be realized, were characterized by statesmanship of a high order, which has come to be the more admired the better it has been understood. But he was not beyond the reach of malice and envy. A conspiracy was formed against him; the leaders of it were Marcus Brutus and Cassius. The conspirators were actuated by different motives—some, no doubt, by personal jealousy and hatred; others by a patriotic desire to restore the old republican constitution; a few, perhaps, by ambitious designs upon the spoils of State. On the 15th of March, B.C. 44, as Caesar was entering the hall connected with Pompey's theatre to attend a meeting of the Senate, he was set upon, and fell pierced by twenty-three wounds.

Caesar holds a unique place in the history not merely of Rome, but of the world. In his time the government of Rome had been found wholly inadequate to meet the administrative demands of a great empire. More and more the military became paramount to the civil power in the State, and the old-time balance of political parties gave place to violent strifes between successful generals. The perpetuation of the Roman government demanded centralization of authority. Cherishing the ambition to become the great political leader of his generation, Caesar became supreme, not by usurpation, but by the natural exercise of extraordinary executive abilities under political conditions which admitted of no alternative between anarchy and absolutism. He appears to have had a truer insight into the needs of his country than any of his contemporaries. His genius was not, as often represented, merely destructive, but was constructive as well. After his death, Rome had no peace or prosperity till political authority was again concentrated in the hands of Augustus. But this many-sided man was great not merely as a statesman. As a general he is ranked in the same class with Alexander, Hannibal, and Napoleon; as an orator he was reckoned in his day second only to Cicero; and as a writer he has long since received a place among the world's greatest masters. Tall, with fair complexion and expressive black eyes, sensitive in regard to his appearance and neat to the verge of effeminacy, gracious in address and Epicurean in both tastes and beliefs, in external characteristics he might have passed for a man of the world, at home in the gay society of a luxurious capital. But in ambition, in energy, in the ability to form plans and to bring things to pass, he belied all appearances, and has probably made a deeper impression upon humanity than any other man that has ever lived.

With the exception of a few fragments, Caesar's speeches have perished. A like fate has befallen his poems, most of which were composed in early life, and his treatise on grammar, in two books. Among other writings that were published was a tract written in opposition to Cicero's panegyric on Cato , in two books (see Anticatones); a treatise on astronomy, and a collection of witticisms. Only his invaluable “Memoirs” are extant—“On the Gallic War” (De Bello Gallico), in seven books, and “On the Civil War” (De Bello Civili), in three books, the former published probably in B.C. 51. These works are written in a simple, concise, straightforward style, remarkably free from military technicalities of the sort to trouble the reader. They were no doubt designed to justify the author in the eyes of his countrymen, but their credibility on the whole is not thereby seriously impaired. An eighth book was added to the Gallic War by Aulus Hirtius; and unknown authors extended the Civil War by narratives concerning the Alexandrine, African, and Spanish wars.

Bibliography.—The chief sources for the life of Caesar are his own writings and the works of Cicero (particularly the Letters), Sallust's Catiline, the biographies by Plutarch and Suetonius, and the treatises on Roman history by Velleius Paterculus, Appian, and Dio Cassius. The ancient authorities are examined with much painstaking by Drumann, in his Geschichte Roms (vol. iii.); worthy of mention, also, is the extended treatment of Caesar in Mommsen's History of Rome (vol. iv. of the English translation), in Duruy's History of Rome (vol. iii.), and in Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire (vols. i., ii.). Special works are: Napoleon III., Histoire de Jules César (2 vols., with valuable atlas, Paris, 1865; English translation, New York, 1865); Delorme, Cäsar und seine Zeitgenossen (deutsch, bearbeitet von Doehler, Leipzig, 1873); Froude, Caesar: a Sketch (New York, 1884); and Fowler, Julius Caesar and the Organization of the Roman Empire (New York, 1892). For the history of Caesar's campaigns: Rüstow, Heerwesen und Kriegführung Cäsars (Nordhausen, 1862); F. de Saulcy, Les Campagnes de Jules-César dans les Gaules (Paris, 1865); A. von Göler, Caesars gallischer Krieg und Theile seines Bürgerkrieges (2d ed., Freiburg and Tübingen, 1880, reprinted 1884); Stoffel, Histoire de Jules César: Guerre civile (2 vols., with atlas of twenty-four plates, Paris, 1887); Judson, Caesar's Army (Boston, 1888); and Fröhlich, Das Kriegswesen Cäsars (Zürich, 1891). Useful, also, in this connection are: Rüstow, Atlas zu Caesars gallischem Kriege (Stuttgart, 1868); A. von Kampen, XV. ad Caesaris de Bello Gallico Commentarios Tabulae (Gotha, 1879); Jal, La Flotte de César (Paris, 1862); and especially Desjardins, Géographie historique et administratrive de la Gaule romaine (4 vols., Paris, 1876-93). For Caesar's writings, see Fallue, Analyse raisonnée des Commentaires de Jules César (Paris, 1862); and Trollope, The Commentaries of Caesar (Philadelphia, 1880). For the extant portraits of him, see Bernoulli, Römische Ikonographie (vol. i., pp. 145-181).

The MSS. upon which the text of Caesar's Commentaries is based fall into two classes, known as α and β. The α group seems to be more faithful to the original form, but contains only the Gallic War; the best representatives are: a MS. of the ninth or tenth century at Amsterdam (A), three of the tenth century (B, C at Paris, R in the Vatican), and one of the eleventh century (M, also at Paris). The MSS. of the β class include also the Civil War with the continuations, the best being a Paris MS. of the eleventh or twelfth century (T), a Vatican MS. of the twelfth century (V), and one of the thirteenth century, at Vienna. Critical editions of Caesar's works are by Nipperdey (Leipzig, 1847) and Dübner (2 vols., Paris, 1867); convenient text-editions by Nipperdey (4th reprint, 1884); Dinter (3 parts, Leipzig, 1864-76; 2d ed. of Gallic War, 1884), and Hoffmann (2d ed., Vienna, 1888); critical editions of the Gallic War by Frigell (Upsala, 1861), Holder (with useful index, Freiburg, 1882), and Kübler (vol. i., Leipzig, 1893). Among the numerous annotated editions are those by Kraner (Berlin; de Bel. Gal., 15te verbesserte Aufl., von W. Ditten berger, 1890; de Bel. Civ., 10te umgearbeitete Aufl. von Hofmann Fr., 1890), Doberenz (Leipzig, umgearbeitet von Dinter, de Bel. Gal., 9te Aufl. 1890-92; de Bel. Civ., 5te Aufl., 1884), Rheinhard (Stuttgart; de Bel. Gal., 7te Aufl., herausg. von S. Herzog, 1892>), Moberly (Oxford; Gallic War, 2d ed., 1878; Civil War, 1880), and Peskett (Cambridge; Gallic War, 5 vols., 1878-82; Civil War, Book I. 1890), Allen and Greenough (Boston; Gallic War, 1887), and Kelsey (Boston; Gallic War, 7th ed., 1894). Of the several lexicons to Caesar, Meusel's Lexicon Caesarianum (Berlin, 1887-93) and the Lexicon Caesarianum by Menge and Preuss (Leipzig, 1890) are the best. A brief bibliography of the more recent literature dealing with Caesar's works is given in Teuffel's History of Roman Literature. 195, 196 (Eng. tr. by Warr, 1892).

Caesar Caesar

• restores Corinth: Paus. 2.1.2
• Carthage restored in his reign: Paus. 2.1.2
• temple of C. at Sparta: Paus. 3.11.3