1. High School Literature 2.7
Julius Caesar: Warnings and Pride

2. Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar ( B.C.) was a Roman general and politician who overthrew the Roman Republic and established the rule of the emperors. Caesar was confident in his success and took great pride in his accomplishments. Caesar was charming and handsome, vain about his appearance, and he made his love affairs the talk of Roman society. Caesar was famous for his hospitality and was often heavily in debt. He was especially noted for lavish displays and games.

3. Caesar’s Political Strategies
Caesar's first really important electoral success was his election as Pontifex Maximus in 63 B.C. This was regarded as the chief religious office in Rome and had important political possibilities.
Caesar's long absence from Rome for the purpose of conquering other lands partially weakened his political power. He kept numerous contacts in Rome through agents and through extensive correspondence.
Profits from his conquests were used for building projects to impress the people and for personal loans to leading figures such as Cicero in order to win their allegiance.

4. Caesar’s Commentaries – Political Propaganda
Caesar's conquests were well publicized; he wrote his own history called the Commentaries. It described his campaigns in a controlled, matter-of-fact, third-person style, and were circulated among the reading public at Rome.
Recent scholarship has claimed that Caesar seriously distorted facts to justify his actions.
Caesar sought to place his conquests in the best possible light, stressing their basically defensive nature and the importance of defending friends and allies of Rome against traditional Roman enemies.
Caesar’s military conquests expanded the Roman Empire to include an additional 640,000 square miles at the expense of his enemies of Rome.

5. 52 B.C.
In 52 B.C. Caesar had a difficult choice to make. A Civil War was raging at home and Caesar passed a bill that allowed him to run for consul without being present. He did not want a civil war, but he also did not want to yield his prime position in the state. Ultimately, Caesar’s opponents in the Senate won and a decree was passed demanding him to yield his standing and return to Rome as a private citizen to stand for the consulship. Caesar could be obedient to the will of the Senate and be destroyed politically, or he could provoke civil war. He chose to provoke civil war and led his troops over the Rubicon River.

6. Conspiracy Against Caesar
Caesar’s restless nature and desire to continue to conquer others through his exhaustive military campaigns did not allow him to be satisfied with the day to day administration and legislation of Rome.
The harsh rule of Caesar was causing a growing dissatisfaction among the senatorial aristocrats and a conspiracy was formed aimed at eliminating Caesar and restoring the old form of government rule to the Senate.
The conspiracy against Caesar increased with the hope that Caesar’s death would restore the government to its old republican form.
Caesar chose to ignore the warning signs.
On the ides of March (march 15) 44 B.C. he was stabbed to death in the Senate house of Pompey by a group of me that included old friends and fellow soldiers in arms.
With Caesar’s murder, Rome was plunged into civil war.

7. What were the warning signs?
Shakespeare wrote about the character of Caesar by using the actual character traits of the real Julius Caesar. We will look at several and discuss how they relate to us.
Can you identify any character traits from this account that show the true nature and character of Caesar?
Why did his pride and defiance to the rule of law cause him to ignore warnings?

8. Beware the Ides of March (Act 1, Scene 2)
Soothsayer. Caesar! Caesar. Ha! who calls? Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again! Caesar. Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear. Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March. Caesar. What man is that? Brutus. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. Caesar. Set him before me; let me see his face. Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. Caesar. What say'st thou to me now? speak once again. Caesar. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

9. Reason and Relate
A Soothsayer is a person supposed to be able to foresee the future. The Ides of March corresponds to 15 March on the Roman calendar and was marked by several religious observances. The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

10. Discussion
How does the council or words of those we know to be wiser than us, provide us with opportunities to heed a warning? Who are the “soothsayers” in our daily lives? What role does the prophet serve in giving us spiritual warnings?

11. Calpurnia warns Caesar
Calpurnia was the wife of Julius Caesar.
Calpurnia had a dream that a statue of Caesar was flowing with blood as many Romans wash their hands in the blood.
She also sees in her dream that Julius Caesar would die in her arms.
(Act 2, Scene 3)

12. Reason and Relate
Calpurnia had a premonition about her husband's murder, and endeavored in vain to warn him. Unaware that Brutus was one of the conspirators against her husband, she also asked him to send word to the senate that Caesar was ill and unable to attend. However, Caesar rejected this plan, and Brutus escorted him into the hands of his enemies.

13. Discussion
When do we need to be warned? What role do family members have in providing warnings to those they love? What responsibility do you have in providing warnings to family members and friends? How can you know if warnings are real?

14. Antony offers Caesar a crown.
BRUTUS -Was the crown offered him thrice? CASCA -Ay, marry, was ’t, and he put it by thrice, every time gentler than other, and at every putting-by mine honest neighbors shouted. Then he offered it to him again, then he put it by again—but, to my thinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered it the third time. He put it the third time by. And still, as he refused it, the rabblement hooted and clapped their chapped hands…

15. Discussion
Casca is a public figure opposed to Caesar’s rise to power. Casca relates how Antony offered the crown to Caesar three times and how each time Caesar declined it. Casca believes Caesar is an actor, lulling the populace into believing that he has no personal ambition. What role does deception play in ignoring warnings? Can you pretend to listen to warnings and know you are going to ignore them?

16. Relate to influence of Book of Mormon
Consider how this quote applies to heading warnings in your life. “…as I read, ponder, and apply the principles contained in the Book of Mormon, not only am I strengthened with an appreciation for the powerful servants of the Lord that it depicts, but a conduit of communication is opened to me personally that crystalizes truth in my own heart and mind.” Elder Richard G. Scott, Oct. 1984