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The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters

PREVIEW: Epochs #195 | Pompey and Caesar Part XX

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters

lotuseaters.com

Politics, News, Daily News

4.8977 Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week Beau discusses all the details concerning the period of Caesar’s sole rule, after he had won the civil war, but before his assassination.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello and welcome back to Epox, well I shall be once again continuing my narrative of the decline

0:05.2

of fall of the Roman Republic, focusing now solely on Caesar, because last time, if you remember,

0:11.8

Pompey had been killed, so there can be only one. Caesar couldn't really suffer anyone being

0:19.1

above him in the Roman state, so it's now a case of Caesar trying to mop up and there's still a few years to go yet before his own early and timely death.

0:28.5

So the story of what happens to Caesar in the remainder, the short remainder of his life.

0:33.7

So let's pick up the story with Plutarch's life of Caesar, where he's in Egypt.

0:40.2

So Plutarch tells us this, quote,

0:42.5

He arrived at Alexandria just after Pompey's death.

0:45.4

When Theodotus came to him with Pompey's head, Caesar refused to look at him,

0:49.5

but he took Pompey's signet ring and shed tears as he did so.

0:53.2

He offered help and his own friendship to all who had been friends and companions of Pompey's signet ring and shed tears as he did so. He offered help and his own friendship

0:55.0

to all who had been friends and companions of Pompey and who, without anywhere to go, had been

1:00.6

arrested by the King of Egypt. And he wrote to his friends in Rome to say that, of all the

1:05.5

results of his victory, what gave him the most pleasure was that he was so often able to save

1:09.9

the lives of fellow citizens who had fought against him.

1:13.2

As I've said before, Caesar's clemency is a bit of a double-edged sword.

1:17.2

He's sort of ruthless with his clemency, if you like.

1:21.6

It doesn't leave the people pardoned unscathed.

1:24.6

It's often still a complete humiliation.

1:33.3

Although most people, but not all, would say they'd prefer that to death, but there you go. Pletat goes on.

1:34.3

As for the war in Egypt, some say that it never have taken place, and that it was brought

1:39.3

on by Caesar's passion for Cleopatra, and that it did him little credit while involving

...

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