The twelve Caesars summary

Julius Caesar Ambitious and Ruthless

The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius Suetonius provides a dramatic and terrifying account of the personal lives and corrupting power of Rome's first twelve rulers. What happens when absolute power is concentrated in the hands of a single ruler, unchecked by law or morality? Imagine a civilization at the height of its glory, ruled by individuals who could declare themselves gods, execute senators on a whim, and bankrupt the treasury to fund their bizarre personal obsessions. In The Twelve Caesars, the ancient Roman historian Suetonius provides an unfiltered, gossipy, and terrifying look into the lives, scandals, and madness of Rome's first twelve emperors.

Augustus Humble and Frugal

Julius Caesar, ambitious and ruthless, it's 85 BCE, and a 15-year-old boy is grieving the death of his father. The passing of the family patriarch means the teenager is now the head of his household, his name, Julius Caesar. It's a turbulent time to come of age. Rome is consumed by a civil war between plebeian populists and conservative aristocrats.

After a bitter struggle, the aristocrats win. A conservative general called Sulla is installed as dictator. This makes Caesar the nephew of one of the populists, most famous leaders, Gaius Marius a target. He's stripped of his inheritance and forced into hiding.

Sulla eventually pardons him, but he issues his decree with a sense of foreboding. Caesar, he says, has all the markings of a man who will one day bring down the Republic. He isn't wrong. Caesar doesn't hang around to find out whether Sulla will change his mind about the pardon.

He leaves Rome to serve in the Republic's army, but by 78 BCE, the dictator is dead, and Caesar has returned. The young man is a fiery populist, just like his uncle, and he's a gifted speaker. During these years, he makes a name for himself as a scourge of elite corruption and an advocate of the common folk, whose rights he defends in Rome's courts. As those who cross him soon learn, Caesar is a merciless opponent.

He shows as much when he's kidnapped by pirates while crossing the Aegean Sea. His captors ransom him, demanding 20 talents of silver. Caesar is offended that figure is far too low. He insists they raise it to 50 talents over 3,000 pounds of silver.

They do, and the ransom is paid. But this isn't the end of the story. During his captivity, Caesar tells his abductors that he will find and execute every last one of them as soon as he is free. They think he's joking, but he's deadly serious.

He raises a fleet and returns to the Aegean. After hunting the pirates down, Caesar makes good on his promise. He has them killed and their bodies crucified. Caesar's political career is well on track by 69 BCE.

That's the year he's elected to oversee Rome's finances. But he's growing impatient. At the same age, Alexander the Great had conquered the world. What has he achieved, by contrast?

A few triumphs here and there, perhaps, but nothing epoch-making. That is about to change. Julius Caesar, military genius Caesar's power is growing, and the conservatives and aristocrats are beginning to worry about him. It's easy to see why.

Here's an ambitious young man from a family of political radicals, with military experience to boot. Worse, he has the ear of the lower classes. Then there's his love of organizing gladiatorial spectacles a ruse, many think, to assemble a private army in the Republic's capital. There is even talk of a plan to use those fighters to storm the Senate and install Caesar as supreme leader.

Fearful senators soon rush through a law limiting the number of gladiators any private citizen may keep in Rome. Caesar has them rattled. But Caesar doesn't need a personal army. He has designs on the Republic's army.

In 60 BCE, Caesar stands for election for the position of consul, Rome's highest political office. Conservatives throw everything they have at preventing his victory. Even Cato, a senator famed for his probity, advocates bribing voters to keep Caesar out of office. None of it matters, Caesar wins the election.

During his year as consul, Caesar appoints himself governor of several Roman provinces, including Sizzlepine Gaul in northeastern Italy and Illyricum in today's Balkans. That puts him in direct command of four legions or around 14 ,000 men. Greatness, he senses, is close at hand. Caesar is a gifted military leader.

Men under his command aren't called soldiers, but comrades. When they suffer losses in battle, Caesar refuses to cut his hair or shave his beard until the fallen have been avenged. This kind of leadership inspires loyalty and bravery. During one naval battle, one of Caesar's men grasps the stern of a hostile vessel.

His hand is severed by a sword. Undeterred, he boards the ship and drives the enemy back with just his shield, having subdued the Germanic tribes on the Republic's northern frontiers. Caesar returns to Rome with his legions in 49 BCE Civil War follows, and this time Caesar is on the winning side. He assumes the position of dictator and wields absolute power.

He ends up staying in power for only five years, but he uses this time to change the course of history. His rule hastens the demise of the Republic and speeds up the emergence of the Roman Empire. From now on, Rome will be ruled by those who can claim to be descended from Caesar. Octavian, shrewd tactician, Caesar is very sure of his importance to Rome.

If anything happens to me, he says, a new civil war will break out. His prophecy is fulfilled when a group of senators stab him 23 times in 44 BCE. Rome is plunged into crisis. Caesar's plebeian supporters look to avenge their champion slain, in their eyes, by cowardly aristocrats.

The assassins see themselves as heroes. They have prevented the dictator Caesar from destroying the Republic and making himself king. But who will rule Rome, now another dictator, or a would-be emperor, in Caesar's mold? There are three contenders for power after Caesar's death.

Brutus and Cassius the senators behind Caesar's assassination represent a return to the Republic of old. Caesar's friend, the general Mark Antony, favors another military dictatorship. Then there is Octavian, Caesar's 18-year-old adopted son. What does he stand for?

It's hard to say, but it is clear that he has a plan. Antony leverages popular outrage to drive Brutus and Cassius into exile in Greece. They still pose a threat, though there's no telling after all, when they might return to Rome at the head of an army. Octavian and Antony join forces to eliminate this danger.

Each man leads an army into Greece, and in 42 BCE, Brutus and Cassius's troops are defeated at the Battle of Philippi. After having Brutus killed, Octavian sends his head to Rome, where it is thrown at the feet of Caesar's statue. On the battlefield, he is as unrelenting as his adoptive father. Once, when prisoners awaiting execution ask to be assured of a decent burial, he replies that they may take up the matter with the carrion birds.

The truce between Octavian and Antony falls apart. However, when Antony and Cleopatra, the ruler of Egypt, become lovers, Octavian manages to convince the Senate that this is a prelude to an attack on Rome. How? Well, Cleopatra and Caesar had also been lovers.

Their relationship produced a son, Caesarian, whom Cleopatra has declared Caesar's true heir. From Rome, it looks like Antony is using this claim as a wedge issue. In 31 BCE, with the Senate's blessing, Octavian defeats Antony's forces. Both Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide, Caesarian is killed.

After all, there can only be one son of Caesar. After years of civil war, Rome is at peace again. Octavian is the linchpin in this settlement. In 17 BCE, after just over a decade of ruling as a dictator, he adopts the name Augustus and becomes the emperor of Rome.