
       2.

                              Caesar as a:


               T  H  E     R  O  A  D     T  O    P  O  W  E  R


        The Rome to which Caesar returned in 74 b.c. was the mistress of the
Mediterranean and the political heart. Many of these lands were already
Roman provinces Italy, Sicily, Macedonia, Greece, and parts of Spain and
North Africa. While most of the kingdoms of the eastern parts of the Mediteran-
ean looked to Rome as their protector and government.



But this collection of territories was not yet and empire, it had been acquired
a treaty to be a empire in the preceding centuries as Rome fought off and
conquered one country as a time.

And already the romans were beginning to enjoy the richesof the provinces.
In 167 b.c. a law was passed that freed all of the romans from paying taxes.



        As Caesar's popularity grew, so did the hostility if the patrician
party in the Senate. They saw in him a man who would always appeal to the
people in defiance of the Senate.



        Caesar was determined to get more people to like him and to get
more power though the years he did, but as his popularity grew his enemies
were alarmed by his sudden success. He grew in power little by little in
the Senate and earned a considerable amount of power in the government of
Rome.


        Then finally he amde himself a general and the emporerof Rome he
finally had the most powerful army in those times of Julius Caeser, he soon
spent over 4 years of his life chasing Pompey. Then finally he conquered
Pompey and went on. He went on into his uncle's foot steps.



        From 49 to 44 b.c. Caesar controlled Rome and therefore much
of the world. Romans called him father and supreme ruler. He had himself
made dictator for life and held absolute power. Caesar turned the Senate into
a political joke. Increasing the number of members, Caesar filled the Senate
with men prepared to follow his orders with no questions asked.

