¶ … Caius Caesar, after succeeding in so many wars, would have been condemned and destroyed, had I dismissed my army, after the battle of Pharsalus.
From Julius Caesar's perspective, the command to disband his army by Marcus Claudius Marcellus and the prohibition against his ability to stand in absentia as a political candidate was ungrateful in the extreme. Caesar had devoted his entire political life to winning glory for Rome. Thanks to Caesar, the territory of the Roman Empire had expanded to include Gaul, Great Britain, and much of what is now Germany. Caesar also offered many acts of public charity to ordinary Romans: "Caesar thus became the one reliable source of help to all who were in legal difficulties, or in debt, or living beyond their means" (Plutarch 25). Of course, such acts were somewhat self-interested and designed to win common men to his side. Still, there can be no doubt that Caesar was...
Caesar believed he deserved to be honored with political power as a result of his actions and when he was not, he felt compelled to act with force.
The support of the people he had garnered proved to be extremely useful for Caesar in justifying his actions. "Realizing, however, that the aristocratic party had made a determined stand, and that both the new Consuls-elect were unfriendly to him, he appealed to the Senate, begging them in a written address not to cancel a privilege voted him by the commons, without forcing all other governors-general to resign their commands at the same time as he did" (Plutarch 29). Caesar was thus able to use the concept of democratic will, or the idea that he was only ensuring that the will of the people was enforced, to justify his political ambition. This…
