The assassination of Julius Caesar
On the 15th March 44 B.C (Ides of March), Julius Caesar was assassinated. Suetonius, not surprisingly, gives us a detailed account of those events.
"As soon as Caesar took his seat the conspirators crowded around him as if to pay their respects. Tillius Cimber, who had taken the lead, came up close, pretending to ask a question. Caesar made a gesture of postponment, but Cimber caught hold of his shoulders. 'This is violence!' Caesar cried, and at that moment, as he turned away, one of the Casca brothers with a sweep of his dagger stabbed him just below the throat. Caesar grasped Casca's arm and ran it through with his stylus; he was leaping away when another dagger blow stopped him. Confronted by a ring of drawn daggers, he drew the top of his gown over his face and at the same time ungirded the lower part, letting it fall to his feet so that he would die with both legs decently covered. Twenty-three dagger thrusts went home as he stood there. Caesar did not utter a sound after Casca's blow had drawn a groan from him; though some say that when he saw Marcus Brutus about to deliver the second blow, he reproached him in Greek with: 'You too my child?'
The entire Senate then dispersed in confusion and Caesar was left lying dead for some time until three slave boys carried him home in a litter, with one arm hanging over the side."
Comments
Had he not been killed, before too long he would have been just another Marius or Sulla. His early death coupled with his rapid rise to power has meant he, like Alexander, is still regarded as a legend.
Also:
'Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me'
There's been some good left-wing Roman history written recently along with Parenti's book, there's Therese Urbanzyck's 'Spartacus' and Neil Faulkners' 'Apocalypse' and 'The Decline and Fall of Roman Britain'. Theyre worth reading.
As for your views on Augustus, I agree with you one-hundred percent.
Basically, I view Octavian on a par with Henry VII; not an innovator, but a very necessary ruler at a time of chaos in that he brought stability.