(Thematic Focus & Background)

Astrophil and Stella Poem #71: 

"Who will in fairest book of nature know"

BY SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

Who will in fairest book of nature know

How virtue may best lodg'd in beauty be,

Let him but learn of love to read in thee,

Stella, those fair lines which true goodness show.

There shall he find all vices' overthrow,

Not by rude force, but sweetest sovereignty

Of reason, from whose light those night-birds fly;

That inward sun in thine eyes shineth so.

And, not content to be perfection's heir

Thyself, dost strive all minds that way to move,

Who mark in thee what is in thee most fair.

So while thy beauty draws thy heart to love,

As fast thy virtue bends that love to good:

But "Ah," Desire still cries, "Give me some food!"

Caesar's "Virtues"                                    Caesar as the Great (Hu)Man

The FOUR ROMAN VIRTUES: 

• Comitas (Humor): ease of manner, courtesy, openness, friendliness

• Clemency (Mercy; though not so viewed by his fellow senators - ironically because he pardoned them)

• Dignitas (Dignity): a sense of self worth, self pride

• Firmitas (Tenacity): strength of mind, the ability to stick to one's purpose.
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OTHERS: 

• Magnanimity

• Honor

• Equality (for all (including the Plebeians)

• Moderation

• Compassion / Empathy

• Generosity

"Shakespeare describes this relationship in his play Troilus and Cressida, when he writes, “Life every man holds dear; but the dear man holds honor far more precious dear than life.” Because honor is the proper reward for excellent actions, the magnanimous person is justly concerned with honor. After all, it is proper that the Good and the Beautiful and the Virtuous be made evident to all. However, in a world ruled by elites of the Senate, where the Good, the Beautiful, and the Virtuous had ceased to stand as a model, it is no surprise that the nobles only saw the honor given to Caesar as a personal praise rather than a testament to true virtue, and ended Caesar’s life because of it."         (Matthew Bradshaw, Memorial Press)

Caesar's "Vices" (some alleged, and arguably refutable by his actions)

Ambition

Clemency (as a threat to the senate, and perhaps the republic)

Conqueror of (other) Nations

Vainglory

Physical Impairment (epilepsy)

Deaf (in one ear) 

Authoritarian (allegedly)

An Interesting, Difficult Timeline & Interpretation of Caesar's Actions and Philosophical Ideals                                                    Part 2
(It is difficult to assess if this history is saying Caesar was more or less Virtuous - a good leader or a bad one - but it explains the history of events and the philosophical debates conducted by the senators and Julius Caesar.  The conclusion suggests Caesar was clearly an opponent of the "class" views & government held by the senate (Cicero's Class Alliance) wherein the Patrician class owned all property and controlled government.  Caesar's view seemed to be, according to the site, that a new political system should ally all peoples (which would include Plebeians (though slaves & conquered people likely would not be included as they would not be considered "Romans") in participation in the state.  However, it also suggests they all participate and ally "below the hegemony of the progressive classes, of which Caesar set himself as the highest representative."

"The outlawing of kingship in Rome, in tandem with the personal distress and jealousy of the weakened Roman Senate was the uppermost motive for Caesar’s assassination."

 "And despite Caesar’s pompous attitude, his assassination is never seems fully justified."  "This is because a claim to clemency does not imply supra-legal powers; it had been made by Caesar, but was open to any office holder."

 "What was meant was that while Pompey had declared all enemies who were not on his side to be enemies of the state at the beginning of the civil war, Caesar announced that he would, conversely, treat all neutrals as friends."  "In other words, if you are not against me, then you are with me – a bold assumption."

 "That of course brought him huge crowds, because most didn’t want the civil war."

"And after the victory, instead of persecuting and murdering them like Sulla once with proscription lists, Caesar forgave his enemies and even reinstated them in office and dignity." 

from the website "Roughdiplomacy" - continue reading for further views upon Caesar and the idea of clemency, especially as granted to fellow Roman "citizens" (these would have been Patricians and perhaps Plebeians).

BACK TO CAESAR'S ASSASSINATION

"More than that, he burned Pompey’s files that had fallen into his hands so that he wouldn’t even know who he had forgiven everyone for.

 Finally, he said goodbye to his bodyguard and trusted the word of the senators, who had solemnly committed to protecting his person, as he did to them. 

Of course, the conspirators took advantage of this to murder him. 

Caesar was fatalistic about the danger of assassination.

He knew it was a possibility but he was a decorated soldier who did not want to live his life in fear.

He dismissed his official bodyguard but, to deter attack, surrounded himself with tough men and former soldiers.

Only senators could enter the meeting hall, however, so Caesar was vulnerable at senate meetings.

His enemies knew that, which is why they struck at a meeting of the Roman Senate on the Ides of March – March 15, 44 BC.

Among them were those whom he had appointed as his heirs.

This made the people so bitter when the will was read.

So the was misused Clementia Caesaris doomed to the Caesar killers. 

The people had decided: the freedom which Caesars liberalitas founded was more important to them than the freedoms which the liberatores conjured up.

The Clementia Caesaris was never denied by anyone, not even Brutus himself: he did not murder Caesar not because he found his clemency lying, but because freedom from Caesar’s grace seemed to him to be none.

 This is something else.

However,  as David Konstan notes, led to the communis opino – commonly supposed that Julius Caesar’s celebrated clemency toward his fellow citizens was perceived by his contemporaries not as a virtue, but rather as a manifestation of his tyrannical power.

Far from welcoming his clemency as a sign of generosity or benevolence, the senatorial aristocracy in fact resented it deeply.

It is not surprising that a group of Roman Senators, many of them also military men, gathered together to kill Caesar.

Caesar threatened to change their lives in ways that mattered – and that hurt.

By parading his clemency and offering pardon, Caesar was patronizing and adding insult to injury by rubbing salt in the wounds of his defeated enemies.

In their own estimation, they were Caesar’s peers, and were indignant at being treated with what they regarded as condescending charity.

Caesar was undertaking a series of fundamental reforms in Rome and its empire.

He wanted to downplay the power of the city of Rome and its ancient elite and to share power with new elites in the provinces.

He also wanted to reduce the power of the Roman people in the annual elections to choose public officials.

The result would be more efficient and fairer to the tens of millions of people who lived in Rome’s provinces but it threatened the privilege and power of both mass and elite in the city of Rome.

And it threatened to turn a republic into one-man rule, which few in Rome wanted.

Caesar was a visionary but the old Romans held back."

from the website "Roughdiplomacy" - continue reading for further views upon Caesar and the idea of clemency, especially as granted to fellow Roman "citizens" (these would have been Patricians and perhaps Plebeians).