Julius Caesar Essays (2418 words) - Julius Caesar, First Triumvirate

Julius Caesar Many things can be said about great men. You never can tell exactly just what makes a man great. Looks, personality, a strong mind, these are all good qualities to look for in a man. Speaking as a woman, I know women look for all these qualities and then some. Does he have a good job? A fine house? Good credit? Many of these questions plague the minds of women today. Whether you are looking for a life partner, a friend, or a lover, these questions will arise. Sometimes from you, but mainly from those around you. Needless to say, we are all looking for greatness. In one form or another. On July 13 100 B.C. a great man was born. Gaius Julius Caesar walked the face of this earth for 56 years. Some called him a tyrant, a foe, an adversary. Others named him a loyal friend and confidant. I, on the other hand, simply call him great. Journey with me through the life of this great man. We will walk together through his birth and family, his rise to power, and finally the betrayal that cost him his life. After this, we will meet back here. We will then reflect on the ups, the downs, the sorrows, and the pains of which Caesar would have called his life. As we walk down this road together, you will be awed, challenged and inspired. Come, let's go. The journey has already begun.... A Star is Born A light shined ever so brightly on the thirteenth day of July 100 B.C. That light was the birth of Gaius Julius Caesar. There was no small stir in the spiritual realm on that day. It seemed as though some mystical force knew what this young babe would later come to be. For that same mystical force tried to eliminate him at birth. Because of the various complications at birth, he was born through an unusual method for that time period. He was born through the process of what would later become known as a Caesarean Section. Although this process is commonplace for our day and time, at that time, his birth was nothing short of a miracle. This miraculous birth in itself was enough to let us know that this was not an ordinary man and this was not to be an ordinary life. Whatever mystical powers there are that be, tried to extinguish this life from the onset. Maybe this same power knew of the murders, the wars, the savageries, the betrayals that were to come. Maybe this power knew of the great lust for power and thirst for blood that was in this babe's future. This evil foreboding, seemed to cast a dim shadow over the remainder of his life. For this babe would grow into a lad and then into a man and yet this same mystical power would be continually petitioning the ultimate power for his life. For whatever reason that was, we cannot tell. However, looking through a dark glass in time we will least able to speculate. The Julian Family was a noble one to say the least. They were patricians, part of the Roman upper class. It was once rumored that they were direct descendants of the goddess Venus. However, modern scholars seem to believe that the Julian Family began this rumor on their own and it has no actual basis in fact. Descendants of the gods or not, the Julian family was a far cry from where they wanted to be politically, as well as financially. In fact, they were in the second or third rank politically. The highest office the family had reached was the office of Praetor. This shows they could not have had a great fortune. Caesar's father also was called Gaius Julius Caesar. His mother was named Aurelia, the daughter of consul Lucius Aurelius Cotta. In those days a Roman noble won distinction for himself and his family by securing election to a series of public offices, which culminated in the consulship, with the censorship possibly to follow. This was a difficult task for even the ablest and most gifted noble unless he was backed by substantial family wealth and influence. Even with all