by Gary Watson

Created on: July 26, 2010

Caesar was in all ways a people’s leader. Lucien Canfora in his book The Life and Times of the Peoples Dictator makes a point of how Caesar throughout his life used the support of and took the side of the people to gain power and Auctoritas (political influence and popularity).

This should be looked on as a central theme when telling the story of Caesars life. He was born into the Julii a pater familias (noble family) of Populares (populist faction) whose allegiances had always lain with the people of Rome against the Optimates (the conservative faction). This conflicting story characterised Caesar’s life as much as it characterised the period, even his personal life with the devious and interpersonal marriages and relations between factions in the pater familias.

From early points in his life this populist streak can be seen, even to the extent that he was always courting for a political career as indeed was expected for man of his blood. It was clear however that he was going beyond simply a political career to being an extreme proponent of his family’s party and the people of Rome; he seems to have recognised and chosen his loyalties from an early age.

His earliest point of this seems to come when Sulla who had set up a staunchly conservative and anti-Populare regime, asked Caesar to divorce his wife in favour of a Sullan choice. Caesar (bearing in mind Sulla had killed others who had refused) refused, and spent a lot of time on the run from a vengeful Sulla. He then waited until the reign of Sulla ended before he returned to the ‘restored’ republic (it was still a Sullan and conservative regime) to begin a fully fledged political career. On his election as Quastor (an important but minor public office) he delivered tributes to his aunt Julia the widow of Marius the enemy of Sulla and the last major populist leader. He had portraits of Marius placed in public during the funeral procession something that Sulla had prohibited. He thus began to restore power and respect to his family’s political faction and put himself in the public view as a new people’s champion.

Years later having made an alliance with the two most powerful figures in Rome, Crassus and Pompey, Caesar with them founded the first triumvirate and with their support achieved the office of Consul in 59 BC. Here with Caesar as a driving force they set about dismantling the conservative Sullan regime they restored the power of the Tribunes (the representatives

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