Caesar, the Flawed Genius
Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) often appears as a flawed genius. A genius, he dominated his generation. Flawed, he was murdered for the way in which he did so. Caesar changed Rome, destroying the centuries-old Republican form of Roman government based on annually elected magistrates. He also changed the shape of Europe by attaching France to the Mediterranean world. It is not at all clear whether the failing government of Rome in the 1st century BCE would have accomplished any such thing on its own. The conquest of Gaul required the vision of a man operating outside the bounds of the Roman constitution, and the skill of one of history's greatest military minds.
The fundamental questions that Caesar's career raises are connected with the nature of democratic institutions. Can democratic institutions work effectively and consistently in the interests of the majority of their citizens, delivering the benefits of an orderly society in an equitable fashion? Or are those institutions inherently flawed, enabling self-interested actors to seize control of their operation, and hence doomed to failure when citizens weary of the non-delivery of the benefits they expect? When democratic institutions falter, will the citizens of a democracy turn inevitably to a strongman who promises he will deliver what others have failed to? Is Caesar a model for others, or is he a unique political figure whose powerful intelligence and organizational capacity set him apart not only from his contemporaries but from generations of would-be successors?
Being Caesar
Being Caesar was not easy. It required patience and a capacity to listen. Even those who did not like him admitted that Caesar was an exceptionally bright, highly cultivated man with the ability to win others to his side through the power of his arguments. These are not qualities that many aspiring dictators possess. Although Caesar himself was no democrat, he did genuinely care for people who were less fortunate than himself and for the well-being of the individuals who served him. In his accounts of the wars he fought first in Gaul and then of the civil war he began when he crossed the Rubicon in 49 BCE, he is very clear that his thinking while on campaign included consideration of the welfare of his men, and he inspired genuine loyalty among those who were closest to him. While Caesar was absolutely convinced that the democratic institutions of the Roman Republic were inefficient and could not provide effective government for the empire Rome had acquired, his understanding of how to fix the situation changed with circumstances. It was the ability to adjust that enabled Caesar to become Cassius's colossus.
We can know Caesar better than virtually any other figure prior to Saint Augustine, his contemporary Cicero (106-43 BCE) excepted, through a close reading of his own works. In particular, we can learn a great deal from what he has to say about himself and his principles of administration. He has a great deal to tell us about how he understood his role as a general, the role of politics in strategic planning, the management of an organization, and the enormous attention to detail that is necessary if a leader is to be successful. The organization Caesar built in the decade he was in Gaul was stronger than the state he ostensibly served. He deployed this organization to transform that state.
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