Caesar caught his arm and ran it through with the only weapon he had, his stylus. Caesar cried, “But this is violence!”Īt that moment, one of the Casca brothers tried to cut Caesar’s throat with his dagger. Caesar gestured: “Later, later.” Closest was Tillius Cimber, one of the conspirators. He joked with the soothsayer: “You see, the Ides of March have come.” “Yes,” replied Spurinna, “but they are not over yet.” Senators pressed close to him, all pleading their individual cases. On the day of his death, he walked into the Senate meeting alone, unarmed. At least twice he refused the royal crown, saying loudly, “Jupiter alone is king. Six weeks later, after his ransom arrived and he was freed, he returned with several galleys, surprised the pirates in their lair and crucified them all-as he had promised.Īfter many battles, political and physical, he rose to the greatest heights of any Roman emperor. When he wanted to sleep he sent orders to his noisy captors to be quiet. On the way, he was captured by pirates, whom he promptly treated as servants. Dressed as a dandy, he wore his hair combed forward to disguise his premature baldness and frequently wore a laurel wreath.Īs a youthful lawyer, he decided to broaden his education and set out for Rhodes. He worked and fought, day and night, with little rest. He was subject to fits of epilepsy, but otherwise was in excellent health and had an abnormal capacity to endure hardships. He had piercing black eyes and a hovering, ironic facial expression. Thereupon, the entire army turned to fight with vehemence against the enemy. Each of his tribunes came running up with him and fought at his side. A shower of more than 200 arrows fell around him some passed without touching him, his shield protected him from the others. As this did not check their panic, he again seized a shield from a soldier and ran forward crying “it is here I am going to die.”Ĭaesar dashed from the ranks and ran forward until he was no more than ten feet away from the enemy. Seeing confusion and panic in his ranks, he removed his helmet and ran “like a madman” to the front line where he insulted and exhorted his men. His presence also helped win the last battle he ever fought, against Pompey’s son, Gnaeus. The gesture revived his men, and the Nervii were hacked to pieces. He seized a shield from a soldier in the rear ranks, pushed his way to the front, called upon his centurions by name, then sounded the charge. Caesar rushed over to the Twelfth Legion which was being massacred. During an early campaign in Gaul, his troops were surprised by an overwhelming onslaught of Nervii. Many times in desperately uneven battles on which Caesar liked to stake his luck, he saved the day by rushing in where his men were beaten back.
Did he scornfully ignore the threat of death? The Grim Reaper was no stranger to this tough, valiant, and flamboyant leader. The aging dictator for some reason failed to look at it. On that day as he left for his fatal rendezvous with the Senate, Artimidorus, an old friend, pressed a message revealing the conspirators into Caesar’s hand and begged him to read it. On that fateful and bloody day, did Julius Caesar know that death was near? Did he know of the conspirators’ plan to assassinate him? His soothsayer had said “Beware the Ides of March.” Animal omens were bad.
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