Roma and Territories, BC 44
Julius Caesar's Funeral
Mark Antony:
(speaking at Gaius Julius Caesar's Funeral)
"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interréd with their bones,
So let it be with Caesar…. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answered it….
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,
(For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all; all honourable men)
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral….
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man….
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. "
Built by Julius Caesar B.C.51
Julius Caesar Refuses the Crown
One of the places where speeches were made
Caesar crossing Thames River
One of the first to be put on money
B.C.44, 15 March
Another artist's depiction of Ides of March
Ciaran Hinds
THE Most awesome Caesar Ever:
that is; not counting "The Genuine G.J.Caesar",
Ancient coin referencing the day
Caesar and Cleopatra: What Really Happened
Cleopatra was born in 69 B.C, she was one of four children at birth. However, her two older sisters were assasinated leaving her to be the oldest with brother Ptolemy behind her. When she was 18, her father died leaving the rule of Egypt to Cleopatra and her ten-year old brother Ptolemy. Soon, however, a quarrel ensued between Cleopatra and her brother. Cleopatra eventually lost her throne, leaving Egypt in the hands of her young brother.
In comes Caesar, traveling to Egypt in order to collect debts owed to him. Upon his arrival in Egypt, Cleopatra feels she needs to speak to him. In order to do this secretly, Cleopatra has herself wrappedin a rug and brought to Caesar. Caesar took a liking to young Cleopatra and a relationship developed between the two. (Even though Caesar was already married) Caesar saw to it that Cleopatra regain her rightful throne and she sat as ruler of Egypt due to Caesar's handiwork.
The age difference between them is believed to be 31 years, making Julius Caesar roughly 52 years old, and Cleopatra roughly 21 at the time she presented herself to him in the rug.
They were both smart, and political rulers. So some would say he was a father figure in some ways, and someone she trusted very much.
Cleopatra later bore a son, whom she named Ptolemy Caesarion. It is likely that the father was Caesar, since he traveled with Cleopatra in the time of her pregnancy,and many of their companions said it to be so. Caesar, however, never publically admitted the son to be his. This was most likely for political reasons. And Julius Caesar was a politician first, all else second. Also, Roman Law didn't acknowledge marriages between Roman citizens and non-Romans. Since Cleopatra was Egyptian (Ruler of Egypt, in fact), she could not be a Roman citizen. Caesar bought her a palace in Rome where she lived for a time and was visited by admiring Roman citizens.
When Caesar died, Cleopatra was disappointed when, instead of naming Caesarion his heir, he named his great nephew Octavian. Upon Ptolemy's death, Cleopatra named her son Caesarion as coruler of Egypt. Cleopatra, in the end committed suicide in order to avoid being held under the thumb of Octavian.