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Here’s a puzzle for you:
A man once found a very old piece of money that had on it the date 100 B.C.
That couldn’t be so. Why not? See if you can tell without looking at the answer at the bottom of the page.
In the year 100 B.C. was born in Rome a boy who was named Julius Caesar. If you had asked him when he was born, he would have said in the Year 653. Why do you suppose?
Because Roman boys counted time from the founding of Rome in 753 B.C. and Caesar was born 653 years after the city was founded. That makes it 100 years before Christ, doesn’t it?
Pirates seemed to be everywhere in the Mediterranean Sea at that time— Pirates . Now that Rome was ruler of the world, there were many ships carrying gold from different parts of the empire to Rome. The pirates sailed up and down, lying in wait to capture and rob these ships laden with gold.
When Caesar grew to be a young man, he was sent off to sea to fight these pirates, and he was captured by them. The pirates kept Caesar a prisoner and sent to Rome saying they would not let him go unless Rome sent them a great deal of money. Caesar knew that he would be killed if the money was not sent. He knew, too, that he might be killed anyway. He was not only not afraid, but he told the pirates that if he lived to get back home he would return with a fleet and punish every one of them. When at last the money came they let him go, nevertheless. They thought Caesar would not dare to do what he said. They thought he was just talking big . At any rate, they did not believe he would be able to catch them. Caesar, however, kept his word, came back after them as he said he would do, and took them prisoners. Then he had them all put to death on the cross, which was the Roman way of punishing thieves.
The far-off places of the Roman Empire were always fighting against Rome, trying to get rid of the foreign rule, and they had to be kept in order by a general with an army. As Caesar had shown such bravery in fighting the pirates he was given an army and sent to fight two of these far-off places—Spain and a country north of Spain then known as Gaul, which is now France.
Caesar conquered these countries, and then he wrote a history of his battles in Latin, which of course was his own language. Nowadays this book, called Caesar’s Commentaries , is usually the first book read by those who study Latin.
In 55 B.C. Caesar crossed over in ships to the island of Britain, conquered a large part of it, and went back again next year, in 54 B.C.
Caesar was becoming famous for the way he conquered and ruled over the western part of the Roman Empire. Besides this, he was very popular with his soldiers.
Now there was in Rome at this time another general named Pompey. Pompey had been successfully fighting in the eastern part of the Roman Empire while Caesar had been fighting in the west. Pompey had been a great friend of Caesar, but when he saw how much land Caesar had conquered and how popular he was with his soldiers, he became very jealous of him. Notice how many quarrels and wars are caused simply by jealousy. You have heard of at least two already.
While Caesar was away with his army, Pompey went to the Roman Senate and persuaded the senators to order Caesar to give up the command of his army and return to Rome.
When Caesar received the order from the Senate to give up his command and return to Rome, he thought over the matter for some time. Then at last he made up his mind that he would return to Rome, but he would not give up his command. Instead, he decided that he and his army would take command of Rome itself.
Now, there was a little stream called the Rubicon , which separated the part of the country over which Caesar was given charge from that of Rome. The Roman law forbade any general to cross this stream with an army ready to fight—this was the line beyond which he must not pass, for the Romans were afraid that if a general with an army got too close to Rome he might make himself king.
When Caesar decided not to obey the Senate, he crossed this stream—the Rubicon—with his army and marched on to Rome.
People now speak of any dividing line from danger as “the Rubicon” and say that a person “crosses the Rubicon” when he takes a step from which there is no turning back, when he starts something difficult or dangerous which he must finish.
When Pompey heard that Caesar was coming, he took to his heels and fled to Greece. In a few days Caesar had made himself head not only of Rome but of all Italy. Caesar then went after Pompey in Greece and in a battle with his army beat him badly.
Now that Pompey was out of the way, Caesar was the chief ruler of the whole of the Roman Empire.
Egypt did not yet belong to Rome. Caesar next went there and conquered that country. Now, in Egypt there was ruling a beautiful queen named Cleopatra. Cleopatra was so charming that she seemed able to make everyone fall in love with her. Cleopatra flirted with Caesar and so fascinated him that he almost forgot everything else. Although he had won Egypt, he allowed Cleopatra to remain queen over that country.
Just at this time some people in the far eastern part of the empire started a war to get rid of the rule of Rome. Caesar left Egypt, traveled rapidly to the place where the enemy were, made quick work of conquering them, then sent back the news of his victory to Rome in the most laconic (do you remember what that means?) description ever given of a battle. There were only three words in the message. Although the messenger could have carried three thousand as easily as three words, Caesar sent a message that would have been short even for a telegram. He wrote, “Veni, vidi, vici,” which means, “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
When Caesar at last got back to Rome, the people wanted to make him king, or said they did. Caesar was already more than king, for he was head of the whole Roman Empire. But he wasn’t called king, for there had been no kings since 509 B.C., when Tarquin was driven out. The Romans had been afraid of kings and hated them, or were supposed to hate them.
A few of the people thought that Caesar was getting too much power and believed it would be a terrible thing to make him a king. They therefore decided on a plot to prevent such a thing happening. One of these plotters was a man named Brutus, who had been Caesar’s very best friend.
One day when Caesar was expected to visit the Roman Senate, they lay in wait for him until he should appear—in the same way I have seen boys hide around the corner for some schoolmate, against whom they had a grudge, until he should come out of school.
Caesar came along, and just as he was about to enter the Senate the plotters crowded around him, and one after another they stabbed him.
Caesar, taken by surprise, tried to defend himself; but all he had was his stylus, which was a kind of pen he used for writing, and he could not do much with that, in spite of a famous saying, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
When at last Caesar saw Brutus—his best friend—strike at him, his heart seemed broken and he gave up. Then, exclaiming in Latin, “Et tu, Brute!” which means, “And thou, O Brutus!” he fell down dead. This was in 44 B.C.
Antony, one of Caesar’s true friends, made a speech over Caesar’s dead body, and his words so stirred the crowd of people that gathered round that they would have torn the murderers to pieces if they could have caught them.
Shakespeare has written a play called Julius Caesar , and the month of July is named after him.
Now whom do you suppose Antony called “The Noblest Roman of Them All”?
“Julius Caesar”?
No, you’re wrong. Brutus, the friend who stabbed Caesar, was called, “The Noblest Roman of Them All.”
Why, do you suppose?
You’ll have to read Antony’s speech at the end of the play to find out.
Caesar was pronounced in Latin kaiser ; and in later years the rulers of Germany were called this, and those of Russia by the shortened form, czar .
