Caesar

$5.00.

Potpourri

A very comprehensive biography of Julius Caesar, based on industrious research into contemporary sources. It is a pity the book is so pedantically written and awkwardly translated (from the French), because Caesar’s life, of which most of us know only a fraction, is quite phenomenally rich in color, drama, and psychological interest. At the age of seventeen he was appointed to one of the highest priestly offices in Rome, but was soon forced into exile. On his return, he combined the life of a luxury-loving, wildly extravagant Don Juan (which nearly landed him in jail for debt) with the tenacious pursuit of his political ambitions. He was a skillful demagogue and an immensely resourceful careerist. When he was put at the head of an army at the age of forty, he had virtually no military knowledge. At this point he suddenly changed his entire way of life. The playboy-politician became a hardy soldier and a great strategist, and there followed the twelve famous years of insatiable conquest.