The story of Julius Caesar - part 2

In 58 BC Caesar decided to take care of the peoples who pressed the borders to the north of Italy.

At that time, many populations lived in Europe that had names that were a bit bizarre for us.

There were no French, Germans, Swiss, Poles or Hungarians, but the people of Dacia with their Burebist king, the Germans of Ariovisto, the Helvetii who lived in Gaul, the Edui and Allobrogi, to remember a few.

These peoples, however much they lived on their territories, had a tendency to move and widen their borders, which worried the Romans, who in any case shared with others the desire to expand in the territories of others.

So Giulio left Rome at the end of March and reached Gaul and the Rhone river where he defeated the Helvetii in the battle of Bibracte; immediately afterwards he also faced the Germans who were severely defeated; but he did not stop there: he faced the Belgians, defeating them and headed north to Brittany where he engaged in yet another clash with the people of the Venetians, who capitulated.

At this point the English Channel stretched out in front of the general and beyond the mysterious island, Britannia.

Giulio decided to conquer it, and he succeeded.

All these successes, however, showed a crack called Gaul, which was not yet completely submissive and many populations rebelled against the power of Rome.

Giulio, thanks to his strategic intelligence and the advanced military engineering of the Romans, managed to defeat all the opponents of Rome: after 8 years of military campaigns, Rome found himself controlling an immense territory, Gaul was declared a province of Rome and in the 49 BC the legions were able to return to Italy, where Caesar was hailed as a hero by all the people.

But Giulio had been away from Rome for too long and when he decided to return he knew that many of his friends would not have been so happy to see him again.

At this point Giulio got very angry and decided to do something that was strictly forbidden: to enter Italy at the head of an army.

At that time the Italian border was established by the course of the Rubicone River, which is located in the current province of Forlì-Cesena, and who crossed it with legions was declared an enemy of Rome and therefore had to be defeated.

So Julius found himself having to fight with his old friend, General Pompeo (one of the triumvirs).

Julius begins to hunt Pompeo and his allies throughout the Mediterranean Sea: he goes to Egypt first, where he meets the beautiful Queen Cleopatra, then he is in Pontus, he returns to Africa and finally goes to Spain where he defeats Pompey's last armies .

Also this time he is away from Rome for a long time, for 4 years.

When Julius returned to Rome in 49 BC he was the most powerful man in the city and was appointed dictator and imperator.

Near the statues of the ancient kings others with its appearance were erected and when he went to the Senate he sat on a throne all in gold.

Caesar was the most powerful man in Rome until 14 February 44 a.

C., the day of the Ides of March.

Just on February 14, Caesar was to be elected king by the Senate, but his political opponents could not tolerate that Rome became a monarchy and that Julius sat at the head of it.

So, for some time, his opponents had been looking for ways to kill him: he would have been stabbed in the Senate, on the day of the Ides of March.

It is said that before the assassination there were many ominous omens: strange nocturnal noises, heavenly fires, crying horses, nightmares.

Later that day, Cesare Calpurnia's wife asked her husband to stay at home, on the way to the Senate Giulio was approached by a fortune teller and a haruspex who warned him of the danger, but nothing: Cesare went to the Senate.

And when he sat down, the conspirators, whom he considered friends, surrounded him and pierced him with 23 stab wounds.

It is said that before dying Giulio uttered the phrase "Quoque tu, Brute, fili mi!", "You too Brutus, my son", addressed to Marco Giunio Brutus, who was not on son, but a person to whom Cesare wanted a lot well.