Caesar
By: Christian Meier ; translated from the German by David McLintock.
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1995
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 513
Subjects: Caesar, Julius.; Statesmen -- Rome -- Biography.; Generals -- Rome -- Biography.; Rome -- History -- Republic, 265-30 B.C.
Work titles: Caesar.
Description: "In his own day Caesar excited both admiration and revulsion. Abusing his power as consul, he fell foul of the Senate in 59 BC and the next year embarked, without the Senate's authority, on a bloody war of aggression in Gaul, which he subjugated and impoverished, largely for his own glory. Honoured nevertheless for his unwanted conquests, Caesar was also threatened with prosecution for unconstitutional conduct during his consulship. To save his political existence, he plunged Rome into a civil war that soon spread throughout the Mediterranean world." "He returned victorious to Rome where the Senate showered him with honours and made him dictator for life, trusting that he would restore the republic. When he failed to do so many suspected him of wanting to set up a monarchy. Alienated from Roman society and tired of political life, he was about to set out on a fresh campaign in the east when he was assassinated by Brutus and his fellow conspirators on the Ides of March, 44 BC." "Christian Meier sets this titanic story against the political and social background of the late Roman republic, and where the immediate sources are silent, he draws upon others that indirectly fill out the framework. Written specifically for a general readership, and acclaimed in Germany when it was first published, this authoritative, stimulating book serves, amongst other things, as a reminder to those who believe that men are mere servants of historical forces that the great individual still has an unarguably significant part to play." [Book jacket].

James Boswell called him 'the greatest man of any age'. As politician and diplomat, writer and lover, but above all as a military genius, Julius Caesar is one of the most perennially fascinating figures in history. This biography is the definitive, modern account of Caesar's life and career, and places him within the wider context of the crisis of the Roman Republic. Written specifically for a general readership, this authoritative, stimulating book serves, amongst other things, as a reminder to those who believe that men are mere servants of historical forces that the great individual still has an arguably significant part to play.