CHAPTER 1

CAESAR'S CELEBRITY

From fame to fable

Julius Caesar hit the headlines in late summer 2003 when a perfectlypreserved white marble head displaying his likeness was discoveredon a small island in the southern Mediterranean. Although it wasquickly identified as another posthumous Roman portrait, it waspresented as more refined and pristine than the few other bustswhich have been most closely associated with the statesman's name.Italian archaeologists also claimed its physiognomy (the lines aroundthe brows, the sad expression, the distant gaze) revealed bothCaesar's authority and the strains under which it placed him, withperhaps even a suggestion of foresight into his impending demiseand that of his whole epoch. Found on Pantelleria, a holiday hideawayfor pop stars and Hollywood celebrities, the marble head wasthen shot by the fashion photographer Fabrizio Ferri to accompanynewspaper and magazine reports. Julius Caesar's face had emergedelegantly from the warm waters of the Mediterranean into contemporarycelebrity culture.

Why is Julius Caesar the most famous of all Romans? Why notthe dictator Sulla, the military conqueror Pompey, or the emperorAugustus? Caesar's exceptional talents, his actions, and his murder,as they figure in many ancient narratives, all assist in the process ofturning the Roman dictator into an embodiment of a profoundtransformation in the history of Western civilization from republicto empire. Caught on the threshold of epochal change, Julius Caesaris also deeply implicated in it. Consequently his biography has takenon monumental dimensions, and matured into a foundational andformative story. It has possessed extraordinary and lasting appealbecause his image has not been fixed. Whether as founder ordestroyer, Julius Caesar's life has become a point of reference fromwhich to explore concerns about conquest and imperialism, revolution,dictatorship, liberty, tyranny and political assassination. Usedas model or anti-model for warfare and statecraft, he has also beeninvoked to pose questions about more personal merits (such asaudacity, risk-taking, courage and glory, leadership, good fortuneand fame, even immortality) and about personal failings (such asarrogance, ambition, extravagance, lust and cruelty). Even from thetime of his own writing about himself, Julius Caesar's life has beenarranged, fictionalized, and sensationalized so as to become a set ofcanonic events and concepts whose telling reveals much more thanjust the minutiae of one individual's existence. Julius Caesar was aRoman leader of flesh and blood who existed in real time. He is alsoa quasi-mythic protagonist in the development of Western culture.

Fame

From the ancient sources (including Julius Caesar's own writing),there emerges the portrait of the most charismatic and talentedRoman of his time. A spectacular and varied list of gifts, skills andcapacities reveal a figure without precedent: a man of wide learningand sophisticated tastes, but also physical strength, endurance,courage, focus and energy; an eloquent and lively orator, a versatileand direct writer; a supremely shrewd general and magnetic leader,an astute and dynamic politician and statesman, an effective administrator,a clever self-publicist and showman, a successful lover, afavourite of fortune.

Blessed with such characteristics, and acting notionally in thename of the senate and the people of republican Rome, JuliusCaesar conquered Gaul, vastly extended the boundaries of Romanrule, laid the foundations of France, and initiated the formation ofwhat would become modern Europe. Then, in crisis-riddenRome, he instigated a civil war against the republic's supporters andtheir leader Pompey, usurped power and established a permanentdictatorship. His populist, autocratic mode of government was cutshort by his murder but eventually, after more than a decade of furthercivil war between his aspiring successors and his assassins, anenduring imperial monarchy was put in its place.

The Roman general and dictator constantly cultivated a publicimage for himself that was larger than life in order to arouse admirationand, therefore, increase his political authority, and also toachieve a lasting recognition (or fama) for those great deeds of state.Beyond the games and triumphs which he staged, and the honorificdistinctions with which he adorned himself, his own commentarieson the war in Gaul and the subsequent civil war constitute a successfuland enduring example of his self-promotion in pursuit offama. In these works, the author refers to himself as 'Caesar' – a separableentity whose reputation can be favourably manipulated,polished and inflated. While the narratives affect third-personobjectivity, a breathless haste and the limitations imposed by battlefieldreporting, they tell tales of vast territories annexed andenemies utterly outwitted and overwhelmed.

Set alongside (and at times against) this self-presentation of'Caesar' are the depictions which emerge from the works of contemporariessuch as the poet Catullus, the orator and statesmanCicero, or the political historian Sallust. In his letters, speeches andphilosophical essays, Cicero in particular offers no consistency:open hostility at times, at times expedient eulogy, frequently anoscillation between admiration and distaste. On at least one occasion,he expresses an apprehension that Julius Caesar will begranted the enduring fame he so desires, only for it to prove highlyvolatile:

Posterity will be staggered to hear and read of the militarycommands you have held and the provinces you haveruled ... battles without number, fabulous victories, monumentsand shows and Triumphs. And yet unless you nowrestore this city of ours to stability by measures of reorganizationand lawgiving, your renown, however far and wide itmay roam, will never be able to find a settled dwelling-placeor firm abode. For among men still unborn, as among ourselves,there will rage sharp...