Caesar the Merciful

I have to admit, while reading Plutarch’s take on Caesar’s life, the beginning was absolutely boring. I think I’ve read about more interesting things in a National Geographic magazine. Yikes! I kept reading though because, ya know, Dr. MB told us to.

For the past couple of classes, we’ve talked about what we can take from media and in the midst of reading, I came to realize that I love how Plutarch painted Caesar’s image. He presented Caesar as both an honorable man and a great leader although some would paint him as arrogant. I thought his response to be captured was very fitting of his character. He told his pirate captures that he was worth far more than a ransom and if that isn’t bravery, tell me what is. I know that if I was captured by pirates, I wouldn’t be telling them my worth because I feel like I wouldn’t even get out a full sentence without a sword through my neck. Although the pirates caught my attention for a little bit, I am not a huge fan of them.

My favorite part of reading about Caesar’s love life. I absolutely LIVE for these stories because I just want to grab a bowl of popcorn and see what goes down! Some label Caesar as an arrogant man but when he finds out that his brother and his wife had an affair, the only words I could stumble across were compassionate and merciful. I could only imagine his face at first would look a little like this: 

 

DIVORCE HER! DIVORCE HER! Thank God he did. I thought I was going to read about how he was going to see revenge and order her head on a silver platter but instead, he showed mercy towards his ex-wife and his brother. “Why?!,” is all I could think. They both betrayed him and he remained an honorable man and remained the bigger person and didn’t ruin them. Think about what usually happens to a convicted cheater . . . nothing good, right? He saved their asses and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what compartment of his heart he dug this kindness from because most people would jump at the opportunity to ruin the cheater’s lives.

I think Goldworthy’s portrayal of Caesar and the Caesar that we meet in Plutarch could be great friends. Yes, I know it is one person (haha) but what I mean is that if Goldworthy’s Caesar and Plutarch’s Caesar were made into little cartoon characters, it’d be like meeting your twin after not knowing them for some years. What's up, twin! 

Although I wanted some juicy divorce stories, I am also happy that Caesar remained the honorable man he was and didn’t stoop to his ex-wife’s and his brother’s level. Kudos to him.