Caesar Life of a Colossus, by Adrian Goldsworthy - Reviewed by Irene Hahn

The rest of the section deals with the dictatorship and the remaining years of Caesar's life. Mr. Goldsworthy tries to hold the middle ground between Caesar the visionary and Caesar the power grabber. He points out the eventual weaknesses in Caesar's situation, which he likens to the creation of a settlement in conquered Gaul. "Caesar had to persuade his fellow citizens, especially the aristocratic elite, that tolerating his dominance was preferable to opposing it. This was the final test." And he points out, in another comparison to Gaul, that, as Caesar had misjudged the mood of the Gaulish aristocracy in 53-53 B.C., so now he had done the same in Rome.

The book ends with the assassination except for a brief epilogue, with a discourse on senatorial ambitions in general and where Caesar stood in this, "not all that different from his opponents or most of the other prominent Romans of the first century B.C." And that "all of them were gamblers in their way, and all certainly were afraid of consequences of defeat and reluctant to trust personal enemies." While not minimizing Caesar's faults, Mr. Goldsworthy sees him as "a patriot and very able man." He cannot disguise his admiration for the man, and "whatever the rights or wrongs of his actions, it is hard to imagine that in any way his life could have been more dramatic," taking up the theme from the Introduction. Thus he has given the reader a complex and rounded portrait. On my first read-through, as some of my friends know, I was more critical of some of Mr. Goldsworthy's assertions/absolutes, but on second reading, these are minor compared to the overall picture. The general audience, for whom the book is intended, gets its money's worth and hopefully will enjoy the book. The question, "do we really need another book on Caesar?," can be answered in the affirmative, since a popular history treatment of the subject has been wanting for quite a while, and this one fills the bill. In the end though, Caesar still remains difficult to pin down, not for want of trying by the author, but because of his truly elusive personality.

Finally, there is a brief discourse "Always I am Caesar' -- Caesar through the Ages, from his contemparies to ours, namely Colleen McCullough, Conn Iggulden, Alan Massie and Steven Saylor.

The book is nicely illustrated with photos, maps, and battle diagrams. It has the prevailing and annoying habit of publishers not linking the endnotes to the page numbers.

© 2006 Irene B. Hahn

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