Caesar and the Fall of the Republic

I. Triumph and Fall of Caesar

A. Secrets of Caesar's success

1. discussion of Suetonius's Life of Caesar

2. scenes from the film Julius Caesar

B. Rise to Power

1. Senate insists he retire

2. Caesar conquers Rome

3. Declares himself dictator

4. Defeats Pompey in Greece

C. Ides of March

1. Senators resort to assassination

2. Brutus and Cato defeated by Caesar’s generals

3. Octavian eventually defeats Marc Antony

(and Cleopatra) to succeed Caesar as dictator

II. Roman Republic in Retrospect

A. Principles of the American Constitution (1787)

1. divided government

a. Legislative power divided into three parts

b. Compare with Aristotle's idea of politics

c. Republic is neither one nor the other, but all three together

--that was the original genius of Rome

2. Principle of checks and balances
a. balancing power is the check on power

3. the founders look back

a. England and the Glorious Revolution (1689)

b. Roman Republic and its collapse

B. John Adams's perspective on Rome
1. Defense of American Constitutions (1787)
a. Nutshell history of the Roman Republic

2. Strengths and weaknesses of the Roman republic
                  a. strengths:
                  b. weaknesses:

3. Adams's lessons drawn from Roman experience
a. example of what happens when republican balance fails

b. importance of the Senate in the American constitution