1
00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:09,560
He is perhaps the most famous
ancient Roman of them all.

2
00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:15,560
When his name is mentioned, we think
of power, victory, and betrayal.

3
00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:21,680
Julius Caesar changed his own world
in unimaginable ways,

4
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,160
and he's left a pretty big mark
on ours.

5
00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:30,600
<font color="
was born by C-section.

6
00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:35,120
The C in C-section is actually short
for Caesarean.

7
00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:40,960
The whole story's
almost certainly a myth,

8
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,200
but out of the millions of mums
who give birth this way,

9
00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:48,040
very few realise
<font color="

10
00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:53,520
is named after Julius Caesar,
the most famous,

11
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,720
probably most notorious
ancient Roman of the lot of them.

12
00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,640
BABY BAWLS

13
00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:04,600
There you are! Gosh!

14
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:08,400
10 lbs.

15
00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:14,120
The name "Caesarean section"

16
00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:19,200
<font color="
Julius Caesar is still with us.

17
00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,760
I'm going to find out how and why.

18
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,120
I'm about to come face-to-face
with Julius Caesar.

19
00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,640
Caesar was never
called Emperor of Rome

20
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,200
but, in a way, he was the first one,

21
00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,240
<font color="
that the emperors had

22
00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,880
over the next hundreds of years.

23
00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,880
And his impact has lasted
a lot longer than that.

24
00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,640
This old Roman is still part
of our everyday language.

25
00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,920
For the first time,
<font color="

26
00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,640
He has given us some wonderfully
grabby Latin phrases.

27
00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:56,400
I came, I saw, I conquered.

28
00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,240
I came, I saw, I conquered!

29
00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,240
Getting that punch and simplicity

30
00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,840
that still marks the modern
political sound bite.

31
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:07,240
Yes, we can!

32
00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,200
<font color="

33
00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,360
Make America great again!

34
00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:14,600
I will track down the evidence

35
00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,720
to show how Julius Caesar
rose to the top...

36
00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,840
We call it conquest
but it was really genocide.

37
00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,440
..uncover his tricks of the trade...

38
00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:28,240
Like countless men
<font color="

39
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:30,800
he became a master of the comb-over.

40
00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:34,240
..and reveal how our modern leaders,

41
00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,240
from dictators
to elected politicians,

42
00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:42,960
have used tactics and methods
he first perfected 2,000 years ago.

43
00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:47,520
Hail, Caesar! Come on!
<font color="

44
00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:48,560
Yes!

45
00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:58,600
Modern Rome.

46
00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,280
A city where loads of people
still come

47
00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,000
to catch a glimpse of a lost world.

48
00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:11,080
And one Roman stars in more selfies
than any other.

49
00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:14,400
Julius Caesar.

50
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:20,200
<font color="
biggest power-grabber of the lot.

51
00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:25,480
The man who turned Rome from
a democracy into a dictatorship.

52
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:33,160
And he would no doubt be thrilled
to know that we still recognise him,

53
00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:34,760
2,000 years later.

54
00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:37,280
Can you tell me who this guy is?

55
00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:38,640
<font color="

56
00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,200
Julius Caesar.
That is Julius Caesar.

57
00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:42,800
LAUGHING: It is.

58
00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,040
But how much
do we really know about him?

59
00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,360
Can you tell me
anything that happened to him?

60
00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,160
It's been a long time
<font color="

61
00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:52,320
Do you know?

62
00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:53,640
LAUGHING: Oh, no!

63
00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:55,160
Emperor of Rome?

64
00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,080
He was the boyfriend of Cleopatra?

65
00:03:58,080 --> 00:03:59,200
He was indeed.

66
00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,720
I know that he came over here
for a certain reason.

67
00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,200
<font color="

68
00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,200
Did he come to a good end?
No, he came to a bad end.

69
00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:08,920
And I can't remember why.

70
00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:10,400
THEY LAUGH

71
00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,000
Ooh, um...

72
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,000
..stabbed...

73
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:15,640
Was he stabbed? Was he assassinated?

74
00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:20,280
Didn't his...brother...
<font color="

75
00:04:20,280 --> 00:04:22,080
Murder? Murder?

76
00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:23,240
He was murdered.

77
00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:24,560
He took it in the neck.

78
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:25,840
MARY LAUGHS

79
00:04:25,840 --> 00:04:27,000
As they say.

80
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,000
I guess we have to start
with a spoiler,

81
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,280
because if there's one thing
<font color="

82
00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:36,280
about Julius Caesar,
it's the ending.

83
00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:40,000
So, if you don't want to know
the result, look away now.

84
00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:50,720
It was the 15th of March, 44 BC.

85
00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,880
And, according
to contemporary accounts,

86
00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:54,960
Julius Caesar was going to work.

87
00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:01,240
<font color="
still exists,

88
00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:05,120
but we can get a glimpse
of the ruins of the Senate house,

89
00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,400
the building where he died.

90
00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,440
When he gets to where the Senate
is meeting, somewhere around here,

91
00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:16,480
everybody's chatting and gossiping
<font color="

92
00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,040
At that point, one of his friends,

93
00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:23,840
apparently wanting
to ask him a favour,

94
00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:27,880
goes over to his chair
and pulls on his toga.

95
00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:29,880
That's the signal.

96
00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,640
Suddenly, 20 or more of them -

97
00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,440
friends, colleagues, politicians -
<font color="

98
00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,600
Out come their daggers,
and everyone has a go!

99
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,200
Into Caesar's face,
his thighs, his chest.

100
00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,920
Caesar fights back
with the only weapon he's got.

101
00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,360
It was his pen,
and it's hopeless.

102
00:05:55,360 --> 00:06:00,880
<font color="
and everybody scarpers.

103
00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,240
That's what everybody knows
about Julius Caesar -

104
00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:05,600
he gets killed.

105
00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,840
He wasn't the only famous Roman
to meet a bloody end,

106
00:06:10,840 --> 00:06:15,680
but no other has captured our
<font color="

107
00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:20,720
The scene of Caesar's murder
has been immortalised

108
00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:22,520
in hundreds of paintings

109
00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,440
and in William Shakespeare's
tragedy, Julius Caesar.

110
00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:29,800
It was in fact Shakespeare

111
00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,240
who coined the famous phrase,
<font color="

112
00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:34,680
"You too, Brutus?" -

113
00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,160
that Caesar is supposed
to have cried out

114
00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,560
when he saw one of his
dearest friends wielding a dagger.

115
00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,720
Words we still use today

116
00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,560
as a shorthand for disloyalty
and backstabbing.

117
00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:52,000
<font color="
a bit too often in modern politics?

118
00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,760
But how and why did
Julius Caesar end up,

119
00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,960
literally and metaphorically,
stabbed in the back?

120
00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,960
How could a rich,
but frankly not A-list aristocrat,

121
00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,360
<font color="
to get rid of him was to kill him?

122
00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,160
The Rome that Caesar was born into
in 100 BC

123
00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,760
wasn't a bit like the ancient Rome
we see in the movies.

124
00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:26,000
It was super-powerful all right,
but there was no Coliseum,

125
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,560
<font color="
all that came later.

126
00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,160
Caesar's Rome was home
to about a million people.

127
00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:40,320
Most of them living in pretty
squalid, low-rise brick buildings.

128
00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,760
It was a sort of democracy.

129
00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,560
That's to say,
everybody had a vote -

130
00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,400
<font color="
and the slaves -

131
00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:54,960
but real power was in the hands of
a few rich, aristocratic families

132
00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:57,000
like Caesar's.

133
00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:58,640
How very different from now, eh?

134
00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,000
So this was not yet the Rome
ruled by emperors.

135
00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:05,840
It was a democracy,

136
00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:10,640
<font color="
of one person for too long.

137
00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:14,120
But Caesar would change all that.

138
00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,440
Looking back on it,
you can almost see his rise to power

139
00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,640
as a brilliantly-executed
strategy game.

140
00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,200
A masterclass in how to be top,

141
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:28,480
<font color="
the ultimate power grab.

142
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:33,360
One that would become a manual
for leaders, right up to now.

143
00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,600
And step one was simple -

144
00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:38,360
rewrite your own history.

145
00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:42,160
Caesar wasn't always
marked out for success.

146
00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:45,920
But, like all so-called great men,

147
00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,560
<font color="
of his early life

148
00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:52,200
was eventually spun
to suggest that he was.

149
00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,160
In Caesar's case,
right back to his birth,

150
00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:57,840
C-section or not.

151
00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:00,160
It's a kind of creation myth.

152
00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:09,040
The truth is that his early career
<font color="

153
00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:11,800
Playing by the rules.

154
00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:19,160
Like all Roman posh boys,
he does a bit of military service,

155
00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,360
he stands for
a few political offices,

156
00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,120
and we really don't know
much about the details.

157
00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:28,240
What we do know for sure

158
00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:33,200
<font color="
rather good at the gambits

159
00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:35,520
and the strategy,

160
00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:40,680
and he makes
some really clever moves.

161
00:09:40,680 --> 00:09:47,400
And, eventually, he starts
to change the rules themselves.

162
00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,960
And if he starts out
as a little chap like this...

163
00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:58,840
<font color="
pretty much like a king.

164
00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,480
And according to a later legend,

165
00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:06,680
there was a dramatic,
life-changing turning point.

166
00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:14,760
In 69 BC,
Caesar was sent to Spain

167
00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:18,160
as an elected official
of the Republic of Rome.

168
00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:22,240
<font color="
young administrators,

169
00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,640
he was taking his first big step
on the Roman political ladder.

170
00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:35,400
By this time, through a combination
of conquest and alliance,

171
00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:39,080
the power of Rome extended through
the whole of Italy,

172
00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:41,560
<font color="

173
00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:44,080
southern France, and most of Spain.

174
00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:49,760
And it was on a tiny island off
the coast of Spain, near Cadiz,

175
00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,720
that Caesar was later said
to have had the encounter

176
00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:55,800
that changed the course of his life.

177
00:10:55,800 --> 00:11:00,120
It was with the most glamorized -
<font color="

178
00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:04,440
ancient Greek General of them all,
King Alexander the Great,

179
00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:09,400
who by the age of 33, had conquered
half the known world.

180
00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:14,920
The story goes that,
somewhere around here,

181
00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:17,640
Caesar actually came face-to-face

182
00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,720
<font color="
Alexander the Great.

183
00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:22,360
And he started to cry.

184
00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:28,360
"Isn't it terrible," he said to his
friends, "that at my age,

185
00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:33,000
"Alexander was already king
of so much of the world."

186
00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:36,320
"But look at me.

187
00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,640
"I've done nothing
<font color="

188
00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:41,120
Yet.

189
00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:47,320
Nothing survives of the temple
that once housed the statue.

190
00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:50,960
We don't even know
if the whole story's true,

191
00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:55,200
but it became a key chapter
in Caesar's legend.

192
00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,320
This is a much later attempt
<font color="

193
00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:04,040
There's the statue of Alexander
here, and Caesar's admiring it,

194
00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:06,560
in his rather splendid red outfit

195
00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:09,280
and some particularly natty shoes.

196
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,160
In fact, ever after,

197
00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:15,200
artists and writers
have reimagined this encounter

198
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,600
<font color="
in Caesar's life.

199
00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,120
We all do it!

200
00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,840
If you wanted, I guess
I could give you the turning point

201
00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:27,320
when I decided
to become a classicist.

202
00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:31,560
In reality, of course,
it's all much more complex.

203
00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:34,680
<font color="

204
00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:39,520
All the same, people have often
fixed on this occasion

205
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:44,200
as the moment
when Caesar became Caesar.

206
00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:48,280
True or not, this is
the symbolic moment

207
00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:51,800
when Caesar the ordinary
administrator

208
00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,360
<font color="
the wannabe top dog.

209
00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,680
If step one in
Caesar's rise to power

210
00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:09,240
was mythologizing his early life,

211
00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:14,040
step two was winning the loyalty
and devotion of the military.

212
00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:18,080
It's something that he and later
<font color="

213
00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:24,120
And ten years after that defining
encounter with Alexander the Great,

214
00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:25,440
he got his chance.

215
00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:36,320
After a series of political
trade-offs and backstage deals,

216
00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:38,480
Caesar was elected Consul,

217
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,960
the highest political office
<font color="

218
00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:44,680
Only two were appointed each year,

219
00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:48,200
and that made him one of the
principal power brokers in Rome.

220
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:54,560
And with that kind of political
power came a big military command.

221
00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:58,240
Caesar left Italy
to lead the conquest of Gaul,

222
00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:00,120
<font color="

223
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,000
modern-day France, Belgium,
and Luxembourg.

224
00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:08,720
It was in Gaul that Caesar
got to lay the foundations

225
00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:13,280
on what all his later successes
in some way would be built.

226
00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:14,880
A loyal army.

227
00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:20,720
<font color="
managed this is Admiral Lord West,

228
00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,760
who understands Caesar's campaigns

229
00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,840
from a rather different
point of view to mine.

230
00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:29,320
I met him - fittingly, I guess -

231
00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,680
in the shadow of a Roman military
memorial in Gaul.

232
00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:36,120
<font color="
was a brilliant strategist.

233
00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,120
He understood how he should divide
and split up his enemies,

234
00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,640
not fight too many of them at once,
he understood

235
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,560
the political background
that he was working against,

236
00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:48,000
<font color="
of what his aim was.

237
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,200
But what he manages to do,
he manages to get those guys,

238
00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:57,720
I mean, first of all,
to slaughter the enemy, nastily.

239
00:14:57,720 --> 00:14:59,760
How do you get people to do that?

240
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,960
Because that must be
<font color="

241
00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,480
Basically, they felt
he was part of them.

242
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,240
He... He took the same risks,
he led from the front,

243
00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:09,960
he understood about the fighting.

244
00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:12,520
And you're right, it was visceral
and unpleasant and nasty.

245
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,440
Killing 10,000 people
<font color="

246
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,720
you had to kill with a sword
or a stabbing.

247
00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,080
You right out killed 10,000 people.

248
00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,600
But he made each one of them feel
that they were individuals.

249
00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:23,880
He won, he won!

250
00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,680
There's nothing like having a man
<font color="

251
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,000
If you have a man who is your
commander who keeps winning,

252
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,120
you jolly well like that.
And when you look at that totality,

253
00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:33,520
then it's a cohesive unit.

254
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:35,440
And they felt part of
something bigger!

255
00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:37,040
<font color="

256
00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:38,720
Is it always the same?

257
00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:42,240
Well, the morale
and the focus on the individual

258
00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:44,080
is as important today
as it was then.

259
00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:45,680
I mean, that actually is crucial.

260
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:47,720
If you don't do that,
you will not win.

261
00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:49,800
<font color="
on this one.

262
00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,320
You've got scruffy prof here.

263
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,840
Do you think you could turn her
into a good soldier? And how?

264
00:15:56,040 --> 00:16:01,360
I think, because you have a belief
in certain things and a focus,

265
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:02,600
I think I could make you

266
00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,880
<font color="
battlefield to somebody else.

267
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,440
There goes my pacifist credentials
at a stroke!

268
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:14,000
But what was it like

269
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,160
for the ordinary squaddie
to fight for Caesar?

270
00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:24,400
There's one curious museum treasure
<font color="

271
00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,800
of the world of the Roman
battlefield from the bottom up.

272
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,800
I've waited for ages to get my hands
on these strange little things.

273
00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,600
Because they give us one of the few
glimpses we can get

274
00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,760
of what life was like
<font color="

275
00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,280
in an army camp in Caesar's day.

276
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:48,000
Because what these are

277
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,840
are the ancient equivalent
of bullets.

278
00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:52,800
They're called sling-bolts,

279
00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:56,520
and you put them at the end
of a cord, you whirl the cord,

280
00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:00,680
let the bullet go,
<font color="

281
00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,440
But what's really interesting
about them is that they've got,

282
00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,840
either scratched on them
or more often

283
00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,760
moulded actually into the lead,

284
00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:14,920
they've got messages
to take to your enemy.

285
00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,160
<font color="

286
00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:21,800
Bombs in World War II often had
rather rude messages

287
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,560
scrawled on the side, you know,
"Run, Adolf, run."

288
00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:26,960
That kind of thing.

289
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,680
These Roman ones
are actually rather ruder.

290
00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,480
This one says "pathice".

291
00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:36,880
<font color="
translate that I suppose is...

292
00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:38,280
"You're buggered."

293
00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,520
From a very academic
point of view,

294
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:42,080
this one's the most interesting.

295
00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:45,000
It's aimed at one of the women,

296
00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:48,560
one of the prominent women on
the other side, called Fulvia.

297
00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:50,800
<font color="
very clearly.

298
00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:57,120
And it says, "Peto" - I'm going
for - the "landicam" of Fulvia.

299
00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:01,320
That is the first example in Latin

300
00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,400
of the use of the word clitoris.

301
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,760
"I'm going for Fulvia's clitoris."

302
00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,480
Now, it's blokeish, it's rude.

303
00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:12,600
<font color="

304
00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,320
that these were
really deadly weapons.

305
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,440
Deadly is right.

306
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:23,560
In less than five years,

307
00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:27,680
Caesar and his men had marched
and fought their way

308
00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:32,240
some 1,500 km
to grey Northern Gaul.

309
00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:37,360
<font color="
in minute detail,

310
00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:40,960
because in one of the most amazing
survivals from the ancient world,

311
00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,640
we still have Caesar's own
step-by-step account.

312
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:47,800
And one description above all

313
00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:51,360
underlines the brutality
<font color="

314
00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:54,520
as they fought a battle
against native tribes.

315
00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,640
Caesar describes this battle
in detail.

316
00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,920
He talks about his own
lightning speed,

317
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:07,000
and how he met the enemy
"at the confluence" -

318
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,800
<font color="

319
00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:12,280
He hemmed them in

320
00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,880
so that they despaired of being able
to flee away.

321
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,560
"Desperate flight!"

322
00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:24,120
And a large number of them -
"great number" - were killed.

323
00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:30,600
The rest threw themselves
"into the river" -

324
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:32,160
<font color="

325
00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:35,680
Goes on to say that this tribe

326
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,880
had once numbered
over 400,000 people,

327
00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,160
and he implies that there were not
very many left.

328
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,440
Archaeologist Nico Roymans

329
00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:51,840
has identified the location of
the battle, and its grisly legacy.

330
00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:55,320
<font color="
the dramatic massacre here

331
00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,880
taking place in 55 BC,

332
00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,120
and we indeed have this kind of
archaeological material

333
00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:03,760
in huge quantities.

334
00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:08,440
You can really see just how deadly
Caesar's campaigns were

335
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,400
when you look at the finds
<font color="

336
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:15,200
It's a human skull
of an adult male, about 60.

337
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:20,400
This man has actually had his face
cut off with a sword. Yeah, indeed.

338
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,440
With a single sword blow.

339
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,280
This is part of a female skull,

340
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,480
and there's a hole here
<font color="

341
00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,640
caused by a spearhead
or a sword point.

342
00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:36,640
So the casualties include, then,
women and children?

343
00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:39,080
We have also bones of children.

344
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:42,960
It was described as a battle
by Caesar,

345
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,840
but in fact it was
<font color="

346
00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:50,920
It was an attempt to massacre
the complete population here.

347
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,520
It tends to make real
some of the claims

348
00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:58,280
that people now make, that
what Caesar was doing in Gaul was...

349
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:02,840
We call it conquest,
but it was really genocide.

350
00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:05,360
<font color="

351
00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,880
This was a landscape of terror,
more or less.

352
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:10,880
Killing fields.
Yeah, yeah, killing fields.

353
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,080
In that mid-first century BC.

354
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:20,240
Julius Caesar has always had

355
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,760
the number-one reputation
as great conqueror.

356
00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:28,040
<font color="
ancient and modern.

357
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:33,520
But my problem is, it's such a
sanitized view of ancient warfare.

358
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:37,840
It's easy enough to glorify
a conquering general like Caesar

359
00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:42,080
2,000 years ago, when you don't see
the collateral damage.

360
00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,600
<font color="
the innocent victims,

361
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,480
you don't hear their voices,
you don't even know their names.

362
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:54,760
Now, we watch the maimed children
in hospital on our televisions.

363
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:59,080
And that makes it a lot harder
to glorify conquest.

364
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,800
<font color="
isn't only about conquest -

365
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:07,560
it's about commanding the
unquestioning loyalty of your men.

366
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:12,000
And Caesar's men would follow him
to the ends of the earth.

367
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:17,560
In 55 BC, Caesar decided to
cross the Channel and check out

368
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:21,240
<font color="
the other side was all about.

369
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:28,760
Almost 100 years before Roman armies
actually conquered Britain,

370
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,120
Caesar became the first Roman
we know

371
00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:35,080
to have set foot on British soil.

372
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:37,600
He landed here, in Kent.

373
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:43,520
<font color="
it was exploration.

374
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:45,760
More like a moon landing, really.

375
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:47,640
Because for the Romans,

376
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:51,320
Britain really was
beyond the final frontier.

377
00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,560
And when they got here,

378
00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:58,680
they did actually find themselves
<font color="

379
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:04,040
Now, it was in fact Julius Caesar
who has given us

380
00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:09,720
the first surviving
eyewitness account of us.

381
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:13,240
And there's good news in it
for the people of Kent.

382
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,640
This is some of
what he's got to say.

383
00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:17,800
<font color="
Out of all the people there,

384
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,120
by far the most sophisticated -
most humane -

385
00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:24,080
are those who inhabit Kent,

386
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:28,280
which is a seaside region,
not very different from Gaul.

387
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,800
But all the Britons
dye themselves with woad,

388
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,200
<font color="

389
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,880
that makes them
really awful to look at -

390
00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:40,880
horridiores - in battle.

391
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,800
They let their hair grow long, and
every part of their body is shaved

392
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,440
except their head
and their upper lip.

393
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:49,880
They're moustachioed.

394
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:54,520
<font color="
in that description,

395
00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:58,120
but that really is the first time

396
00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:01,480
that the British enter real history.

397
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,680
Caesar's writings
didn't just record events.

398
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:14,800
His accounts cast him as
a Roman hero,

399
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,400
<font color="

400
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,400
and that's where their true purpose
comes in.

401
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,240
They are propaganda for
a contemporary Roman audience.

402
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,000
It was, if you like, step three

403
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,280
in Caesar's handbook
for would-be leaders -

404
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:32,920
set the news agenda.

405
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,760
<font color="
all politicians have.

406
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,360
How do you keep yourself
in the public eye?

407
00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:42,640
How do you get your message across?

408
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,880
Today, that's done by Twitter,
24-hour news, and the internet.

409
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:50,560
Caesar had none of that.

410
00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:56,040
<font color="
accounts of his conquests come in.

411
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,480
Because I don't think that
they were written

412
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:03,440
just to help out historians
2,000 years later.

413
00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:09,040
Those accounts actually make
pretty odd reading now

414
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,920
<font color="
this, and then I did that,

415
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:13,560
"and then I did the other."

416
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,320
What he wrote was, "Caesar did this!
And then Caesar did that!"

417
00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,280
That could be because
he was frightfully pompous,

418
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:27,600
but much more likely is he wrote
<font color="

419
00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,200
directly to the Roman people,
by one of his staff,

420
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,200
when he was hundreds of miles away.

421
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,040
Let's give it a try.

422
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:39,520
Friends!

423
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:41,080
Romans!

424
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:42,800
Countrymen!

425
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:49,600
I am bringing you dispatches
<font color="

426
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:53,680
TRANSLATING: Caesar as always,
hurries ahead

427
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:56,880
to be in the very midst
of the battle!

428
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:02,440
You can spot him from the
distinctive colour of his uniform.

429
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:06,160
But Caesar, again, as always,

430
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,760
goes ahead to harass the enemy!

431
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:12,360
<font color="

432
00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:14,680
Impressed?

433
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:16,960
THEY CHEER

434
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:16,960
Yes!

435
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,240
Triumphant stuff!

436
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,680
And I'll bring you more news soon.

437
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:25,640
Hail Caesar!

438
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,160
Come on!
ALL: Hail Caesar!

439
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:29,840
Hail Caesar!

440
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:31,360
<font color="

441
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:37,520
In his written accounts,

442
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,640
Caesar gave
the Romans in the streets

443
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,320
something and somebody
to celebrate.

444
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:47,280
You might say
he whipped up national pride.

445
00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,040
And never more successfully

446
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,680
<font color="
of a later victory.

447
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,760
Writing the story down
and reading it out isn't enough.

448
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,880
Caesar absolutely grasped
the value of a good sound bite.

449
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,280
I came, I saw, I conquered.

450
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:09,520
I came, I saw, I conquered.

451
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,840
<font color="
that Caesar ever wrote.

452
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,680
They're probably
the most famous words

453
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,200
in the whole of the Latin language.

454
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,840
They've got tremendous zing, rhythm,

455
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,080
and they're really to the point.

456
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:26,880
I won!

457
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:29,920
I kind of think of them

458
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:34,360
<font color="
some of our best slogans.

459
00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:36,720
Yes, we can!

460
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:40,680
Education, education, education!

461
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:43,120
Even Caesar's contemporaries

462
00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:47,680
were impressed with the punch
and the genius brevity.

463
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:51,560
It's all a lot less
than the average tweet!

464
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:55,120
<font color="
I might actually send it

465
00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:58,720
to the world's most famous tweeter.

466
00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:05,240
@Potus...

467
00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:05,240
SHE LAUGHS

468
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,880
There you are, Donald. Mr President.

469
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:10,480
Please enjoy.

470
00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:20,040
Caesar knew exactly how important
it was

471
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:24,040
<font color="
directly to the people.

472
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:26,040
It's something that Robert Harris,

473
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:31,040
who has written about ancient and
modern politics, gets very well.

474
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:32,760
Caesar - he didn't write

475
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:36,560
quite as much as you,
but he wrote a huge amount,

476
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,600
<font color="
world in surviving.

477
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:42,400
And what do you make of them?

478
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,000
Well, I think they show
that he was a master of propaganda.

479
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,400
So if one imagines what it must've
been like when the herald or whoever

480
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:50,680
appeared in the forum,
<font color="

481
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,720
people going, "Come and look!
Let's see what he's done now!"

482
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,880
And the things that he was doing,
of course, were, as someone said,

483
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,240
landing in Britain was like
the trip to the moon.

484
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,280
It was astonishing that one of
<font color="

485
00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,640
So a lot of ordinary people,
they really liked to hear that.

486
00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,520
They really like to see their
leaders are cutting it out there

487
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,240
and anyone who gets in their way
gets it.

488
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:15,440
You know, "Make Rome great again"

489
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:17,480
<font color="

490
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:19,840
that's coming through
these commentaries.

491
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,080
Of course, you know, it's quite
a common phenomenon

492
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,560
for politicians to refer to
themselves in the third person.

493
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,520
Look at President Trump.
<font color="

494
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,680
"President Trump has done this,
that, or the other."

495
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,840
And Caesar's appealing
to the socially excluded,

496
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,200
just like some modern
populist politicians. Exactly,

497
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,040
and that the more outrageous he was,
<font color="

498
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,120
the more he flaunted
his own misdemeanours,

499
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,240
the better they liked him.

500
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,160
So one of the things you ought to do

501
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,920
if you're in either Caesar
or Trump's position

502
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,760
is kind of bypass the rest
<font color="

503
00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,560
and speak to the citizens directly.

504
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,360
Yes, what he did,
which I think is very modern,

505
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,360
is that although he was himself
immensely wealthy,

506
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,760
he nevertheless managed to appeal
over the head of what he called

507
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,000
<font color="

508
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,960
All great dictators, in a way,

509
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,480
or charismatic leaders,

510
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,680
I think addressed
their followers directly,

511
00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:23,760
and they stage-manage very carefully
the form in which they do it.

512
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:27,400
Obviously, Hitler with his rallies,
<font color="

513
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:31,680
And would our world be different
without him?

514
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:37,000
Yes, I think that Caesar is one of
the architects of the modern world.

515
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,840
I have no doubt that the world
would've been a different place

516
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,120
if Julius Caesar hadn't been born,

517
00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,080
<font color="
history of whom that can be said.

518
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:57,320
By 50 BC, Caesar could say that the
job in Gaul was more or less done.

519
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,160
He had the love of the people at
home and the loyalty of his army,

520
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,000
a dangerous combination.

521
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:11,280
It made his fellow politicians
<font color="

522
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,480
Victory in Gaul brought new problems
for Caesar.

523
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:21,600
The metropolitan elite in Rome,

524
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,120
who were a pretty conservative
bunch,

525
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,480
decided that his military job
was over.

526
00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,560
They thought that he'd gone
<font color="

527
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:36,080
and that his appeals
to the Roman people were dangerous.

528
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:40,560
They had in mind to get him back
and to impeach him

529
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:44,640
for legal irregularities,
real or imagined,

530
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,680
committed years before.

531
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:49,720
Caesar had been backed
<font color="

532
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:52,760
Either he went home
to face prosecution,

533
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,880
or he stayed in Gaul against orders,
a rogue general.

534
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,000
It was catch-22.

535
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:00,760
Faced with that dilemma

536
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:05,840
and to protect what he was always
calling his dignitas, his dignity,

537
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:11,720
<font color="
across the border between Gaul and

538
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,040
Italy, and to march on Rome.

539
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,800
It was effectively
the start of civil war.

540
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,600
The border lay on the line
of a river, the River Rubicon.

541
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:29,600
For a Roman general to cross
<font color="

542
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,040
on Rome was almost unthinkable,

543
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:36,440
like some Commander-in-chief
rolling his tanks onto Parliament
Square

544
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,600
or Capitol Hill.

545
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:41,560
That was Caesar's
make-or-break moment.

546
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:46,080
He chose to gamble everything and
<font color="

547
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,840
It's really step four
in getting to the top -

548
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:54,280
spot your opportunity
for the power grab and take it.

549
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:58,560
Oddly enough, Caesar doesn't say
a word about this moment in his own

550
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:02,960
writings. There's a rather guilty
<font color="

551
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,480
But there were loads
of Roman stories

552
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,760
about what was going on in his head

553
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:13,680
at the time. The anxieties,
the dreams, the godly apparitions.

554
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,400
Should he? Shouldn't he?

555
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:17,760
But ultimately,

556
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:23,640
Caesar gave us the phrase "crossing
<font color="

557
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:29,200
gamble and going past
the point of no return.

558
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,360
"The gamble is cast,"
he's said to have declared.

559
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:34,960
"The die is cast."

560
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:38,840
Or, "I rolled the dice,
and it's all up in the air now."

561
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:43,440
<font color="
exactly where the river was.

562
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:45,560
It was Benito Mussolini,

563
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:49,400
the Italian dictator
who came to power in the 1920s,

564
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:53,640
who decided that
this slightly underwhelming stream

565
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:55,000
was THE Rubicon.

566
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,040
In his march on Rome,

567
00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:03,400
<font color="
the route taken by Julius Caesar,

568
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:08,440
in a way to cast himself
as the new Caesar.

569
00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:11,240
But in reality,
Mussolini took the train.

570
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,960
Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon
has long been seen as a symbol of

571
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,040
<font color="
and risk-taking.

572
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:25,440
And not just by Mussolini.

573
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:28,600
For Caesar's fellow politicians,

574
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,080
it was, of course,
an act of aggression,

575
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:32,120
a coup d'état.

576
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:36,480
And it plunged Rome into civil war.

577
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,720
The fighting dragged on
<font color="

578
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:44,680
But to all intents and purposes,

579
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:49,240
Caesar had control of the city
itself within a matter of months.

580
00:34:49,240 --> 00:34:51,200
He was elected dictator,

581
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:55,560
a perfectly traditional office in
ancient Rome reserved for times of

582
00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:59,960
crisis, which placed power
<font color="

583
00:34:59,960 --> 00:35:02,120
for a short time.

584
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:08,760
Caesar took that power for a year,
and now effectively ruled Rome.

585
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:12,360
It's easy to imagine that Caesar
crosses the Rubicon one minute

586
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,680
and gets assassinated the next.

587
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:15,960
But actually,

588
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,360
<font color="
in between that's so crucial.

589
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,320
And he's facing all the problems

590
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,720
that victors in civil wars
always face.

591
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:28,240
What do you do
with those you've defeated?

592
00:35:28,240 --> 00:35:30,440
What do you do with your supporters?

593
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,600
<font color="
them loads,

594
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:34,600
and you've now got to deliver.

595
00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:36,960
And how do you make sure
you stay in power?

596
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:42,680
Some of the strategies he uses
are easily recognisable to us.

597
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:47,920
He invests in infrastructure,
<font color="

598
00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:53,960
So there's walls, bridges,
he drains the swamps.

599
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:59,040
And he has a programme of
slum clearance and new towns.

600
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:03,640
And he looks out for the ordinary
Roman with food rations.

601
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:05,160
And he takes some measures

602
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:07,760
<font color="
the credit crunch.

603
00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:12,760
The bottom line of all this
is strength and stability.

604
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:17,040
But he's also flooding the city
with his own image.

605
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:20,520
The idea is that there should be
a statue of him

606
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:22,400
in every single temple.

607
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:27,640
<font color="
his showcase.

608
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:34,040
Caesar was turning into a dictator
in the modern sense.

609
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:38,040
And by that, I don't just mean
winning power by killing people

610
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,000
and commanding fear,

611
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,600
I mean he was changing the world
<font color="

612
00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,160
putting himself at the centre of it.

613
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:51,000
And he understood the importance
of getting his image out there.

614
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,440
It's a technique we recognise well -

615
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,320
the face of the beloved leader
pasted across every available

616
00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:01,200
surface from newspapers
<font color="

617
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:06,280
It was pioneered by Caesar,
who had his bust sent everywhere.

618
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:12,440
And it's true that we do still see
his face everywhere.

619
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:18,080
But actual portraits done from life
are almost impossible to find.

620
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:23,680
Perhaps the orders had not been
<font color="

621
00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:26,480
Perhaps they were thought to be
hot property and destroyed

622
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:27,800
after his assassination.

623
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:31,800
But then, in 2007,

624
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:35,200
archaeologists in France
found something intriguing.

625
00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:41,600
It was one of those discoveries
<font color="

626
00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:43,720
It was only a few years ago,

627
00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:47,040
an archaeologist
was diving right here,

628
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:49,680
searching for remains
on the riverbed.

629
00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:54,160
He's down there,
and he spots a bit of marble.

630
00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:58,880
He brings it up to the surface,
<font color="

631
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:03,000
takes a closer look
and then shouts out,

632
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,400
“Damn, it’s Cesar!”

633
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:11,400
Which could only be translated as,
"BLEEP me, it's Caesar."

634
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:31,360
I'm about to come face-to-face
with Julius Caesar.

635
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,160
<font color="

636
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:38,920
in the archaeological museum
in Arles.

637
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,200
Hello. Or hello.

638
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,280
SHE GIGGLES

639
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,680
This is about as up close
and personal to Julius Caesar

640
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:50,160
as you can get.

641
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:55,040
The question is, what kind of image
<font color="

642
00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:56,560
project of himself?

643
00:38:56,560 --> 00:39:00,360
I think one thing's for sure,
is it's not glam.

644
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:04,960
He's got a really wrinkled,
furrowed brow, kind of saying,

645
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:08,120
"I'm working terribly hard
on behalf of the state,

646
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:11,560
<font color="
thinking through politics!"

647
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:16,360
And his neck is really craggy
and wrinkly,

648
00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:18,800
with a big Adam's apple.

649
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:22,120
This is not the kind
of youthful idealism.

650
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:26,360
This is sort of middle-aged,
elderly bloke style.

651
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:29,640
<font color="

652
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:33,000
the Holy Grail
of classical archaeology.

653
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,080
For centuries and centuries,

654
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:39,600
archaeologists have tried
to track down

655
00:39:39,600 --> 00:39:44,960
a portrait of Caesar done
in his lifetime.

656
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:46,160
And here you are.

657
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:51,840
<font color="

658
00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:55,480
The problem is it's very hard
to tell whether this really

659
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:56,960
is Caesar.

660
00:39:56,960 --> 00:40:00,320
After all, there's no name on him.

661
00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:02,760
If we want to pin down
his portraits,

662
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:06,440
all we can do is what
the archaeologists at Arles did -

663
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:11,680
<font color="
that are very clearly labelled.

664
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:13,200
And guess what?

665
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:14,760
We have hundreds of those.

666
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,600
Hello Mrs. Hello Mrs.

667
00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:21,880
Glass of white wine, please.
Yes.

668
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:25,240
So. THANKS.

669
00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:29,480
<font color="
knowing what Julius Caesar
looked like,

670
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:35,000
and that's by looking at the tiny
little images on his coins,

671
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,400
which are named.

672
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:42,480
But these coins were much more
revolutionary than they seem.

673
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:46,680
<font color="
that we'll find the Queen's head

674
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:48,120
on all the currency,

675
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:52,280
and we assume that one obvious type
of political propaganda

676
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:57,080
is seeing the mugshot of the dear
leader plastered everywhere.

677
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:03,280
But Julius Caesar was the first
<font color="

678
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:08,160
He was the very first person
in the West systematically

679
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:12,720
to put his head on the coinage.

680
00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:15,880
It must have been
actually quite shocking.

681
00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:19,640
Every time you went to pay
for a glass of wine,

682
00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:21,000
or for a takeaway,

683
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,080
<font color="
of a cup of coffee,

684
00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:26,760
you were paying with him.

685
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:34,080
That's to say, Romans went around
with Julius Caesar in their pockets.

686
00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:35,760
Madam, the bill, please.

687
00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:38,920
Two euros and eighty. So.

688
00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:42,360
I regret,
<font color="

689
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,440
I did try!

690
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:48,680
So. In the euro. Thank you, thank you.

691
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:50,240
THANKS.

692
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:55,160
Some people may have found the idea
of carrying Caesar's face around in

693
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:59,640
their pockets a bit big-headed,
but ordinary Romans loved him.

694
00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:06,280
<font color="
as the anti-establishment candidate,

695
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:10,560
not part
of the Roman metropolitan elite.

696
00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:13,240
And he knew the value
of keeping the people happy,

697
00:42:13,240 --> 00:42:18,280
what a later Roman satirist would
describe as "bread and circuses".

698
00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:24,200
<font color="
people on a spectacular scale.

699
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,320
It was 100 years
before the Colosseum was built,

700
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:32,200
so he gave his gladiator shows here,
in the Forum.

701
00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:35,040
But the point was
that Caesar's shows

702
00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:37,560
<font color="

703
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:40,600
than anyone had ever given before.

704
00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:45,160
And so, too,
were his public banquets.

705
00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:50,280
Once, he gave a free feast
to the Roman people,

706
00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:54,440
with some frightfully posh fish
on the menu,

707
00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:59,520
all laid out on 22,000 tables.

708
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:01,880
<font color="

709
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:06,520
feel like it was a vast,
free outdoor restaurant.

710
00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,440
All courtesy of Julius Caesar.

711
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:17,240
But in the Forum, you could find
more than fights and feasts.

712
00:43:17,240 --> 00:43:21,040
This was the seedy city centre
of Caesar's Rome,

713
00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:24,600
<font color="
pick up a prostitute,

714
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,640
or simply hang out
and watch the world go by.

715
00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:34,600
The Forum was also the place
where Rome put itself on display.

716
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:38,600
It was here that big Roman funerals
happened.

717
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,360
<font color="
just over there.

718
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:47,760
And it was through here that the
soldiers marched with their generals

719
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:52,320
after some particularly big
or bloody victory.

720
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,160
My guess is that Caesar's squaddies

721
00:43:56,160 --> 00:44:00,200
must really have enjoyed
<font color="

722
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:02,240
when they passed this way.

723
00:44:02,240 --> 00:44:06,280
"Romans, lock up your wives,"
they sang,

724
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:10,560
"the bald adulterer
is back in town!"

725
00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:28,240
I'm sorry to say, gentlemen,

726
00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:32,680
but most Romans thought
that baldness was rather silly

727
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:34,960
<font color="

728
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,560
So when Caesar began to thin on top,

729
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:40,560
he was awfully keen to cover it up.

730
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:44,280
Like countless men
over the last 2,000 years,

731
00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:47,360
he became a master of the comb-over.

732
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:50,120
But he had other tricks
up his sleeve.

733
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:54,280
<font color="
to wear a laurel wreath

734
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:56,760
on any occasion he fancied,

735
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:59,920
Caesar was absolutely delighted,

736
00:44:59,920 --> 00:45:03,240
not so much because
it was a very special honour,

737
00:45:03,240 --> 00:45:07,720
but because it allowed him
to cover up that bald patch.

738
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:10,400
Thank you.

739
00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:12,960
<font color="

740
00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:14,920
You look Cesare. Thank you.

741
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,800
Caesar may have been embarrassed
by his baldness,

742
00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:27,040
but my guess is he'd be quite
flattered to be called an adulterer.

743
00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:29,800
Rome was certainly a macho culture.

744
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:32,160
It was full of willy-waving,

745
00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:37,400
<font color="
must've been decidedly unsavoury.

746
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:42,520
But even in Rome,
Caesar was a bit of an extreme case.

747
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:46,040
Was there anyone in the city
he hadn't slept with?

748
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:48,480
Women, men.

749
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:50,880
And not just in Rome.

750
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:53,680
He had an affair with Cleopatra

751
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:57,280
<font color="
with Mark Antony.

752
00:45:57,280 --> 00:46:01,360
Makes me think of big men
ever since.

753
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:05,520
They can't keep their hands
off women or off power.

754
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,360
It wasn't long before Caesar decided
that a year

755
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:13,680
perhaps wasn't a long enough term
<font color="

756
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:16,080
Perhaps ten years would be better.

757
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:19,400
And with that kind of time span,
he began to think bigger.

758
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:27,120
What strikes me is how Caesar's
virtues came to reinforce his power.

759
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:30,680
One of the qualities he always
boasted about was his mercy,

760
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:31,960
<font color="

761
00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:36,520
He had a history of surprising acts
of kindness.

762
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:39,440
But there's more to that
than meets the eye.

763
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,800
As for his defeated enemies
in the civil war,

764
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:47,520
they must've expected that they'd be
strung up in the Forum.

765
00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:51,840
<font color="
publicly pardoned

766
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:54,760
in what was almost
a general amnesty.

767
00:46:56,200 --> 00:47:01,320
But of course, that kind of mercy
is always authoritarian.

768
00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:05,000
And it's only the powerful
who could issue pardons.

769
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:09,240
But more to the point, it tells us
<font color="

770
00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:13,160
Not that he was kind,

771
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:15,760
but that he was colossally
self-confident.

772
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:24,720
And it was
this colossal self-confidence

773
00:47:24,720 --> 00:47:28,520
that was to leave
a permanent mark on our world.

774
00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:33,200
You see, we think of dictators
<font color="

775
00:47:33,200 --> 00:47:34,440
state terror,

776
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:37,400
secret police, mass killings.

777
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:41,120
In fact, dictators
have much cleverer strategies.

778
00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:45,320
The most successful of them
change the natural order,

779
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:50,200
so that what wasn't natural before
now seems it.

780
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:52,760
<font color="

781
00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:57,040
I bet that not many people know
that our month of July

782
00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:01,040
takes its name from Julius Caesar.

783
00:48:01,040 --> 00:48:05,400
The Romans decided to rename the
month that had been called rather

784
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:10,120
unsexily Quintilis as Julius
or July,

785
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:12,240
<font color="

786
00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:17,240
But that is as nothing
to Caesar's real legacy -

787
00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:19,560
the modern Western calendar.

788
00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:24,080
Before Julius Caesar,

789
00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:30,600
the Roman calendar year
had weirdly been only 355 days.

790
00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:34,160
That wasn't actually long enough,
<font color="

791
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:36,800
they had to add another month in.

792
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:40,800
The problem was they were pretty
hopeless at doing the calculations,

793
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:45,440
so the months of the calendar got
increasingly out of sync with the

794
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:47,280
natural seasons.

795
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:51,240
What I mean is that it would be
<font color="

796
00:48:51,240 --> 00:48:53,760
and you'd want to celebrate
your harvest festival,

797
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:56,920
but the vines would only be just
coming in to leaf.

798
00:48:56,920 --> 00:49:01,400
Or it would be in the middle of
apparently wintry December,

799
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:04,560
and there'd be bunches of grapes
<font color="

800
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:07,120
Caesar solved this.

801
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:09,720
With the help
of a few tame scientists,

802
00:49:09,720 --> 00:49:12,520
he pulled the plug on the old system

803
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:18,280
and he launched the 365-day year
that we now have.

804
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:23,480
In all kinds of ways, it was a
<font color="

805
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:29,520
But it also reveals something
that only dictators can do -

806
00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:31,760
change time.

807
00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:34,640
As one of his friends
wryly observed,

808
00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:38,480
"He'll be bossing the stars
in the sky around next."

809
00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:44,000
Caesar was becoming a dictator
<font color="

810
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:47,480
a man who puts himself
above the political process,

811
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:53,080
a man who reorders the world around
him, a man who can change time.

812
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:58,680
And he used public celebrations
to reflect his status,

813
00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:01,640
though we can dictate certain
<font color="

814
00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:08,200
This is a version of a 15th-century
painting which shows just how

815
00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:10,720
preoccupied later ages were, too,

816
00:50:10,720 --> 00:50:13,720
with the image
of the triumphant Caesar.

817
00:50:13,720 --> 00:50:18,800
What you've got here is
Julius Caesar thinning a bit on top,

818
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:23,080
<font color="
triumphal chariot.

819
00:50:23,080 --> 00:50:26,520
And there's placards and spoils
and loot being processed

820
00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:29,560
through the streets in front of him.

821
00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:32,160
But there's a moral here, too,

822
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:35,720
in these figures,
Caesar on the chariot,

823
00:50:35,720 --> 00:50:39,320
<font color="

824
00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:43,040
who's about to crown him
with a laurel wreath.

825
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:48,880
And we know from Roman writers that
what this slave did throughout the

826
00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:54,320
procession for every victory parade
was he whispered into the ear of the

827
00:50:54,320 --> 00:50:59,480
general all the time, "Remember
<font color="

828
00:50:59,480 --> 00:51:01,480
"remember you're a man."

829
00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:05,440
The idea was that anybody
who had this kind

830
00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:10,280
of lavish ceremonial would be
very likely to forget

831
00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:13,920
that they were
just an ordinary human being.

832
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:15,840
So this, in a way,

833
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:20,920
<font color="
not to get above himself.

834
00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:26,520
All the same, Caesar was aware of
the popular power of a good military

835
00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:30,280
parade, something later leaders
have been quick to adopt.

836
00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:35,000
Even in the democratic West,

837
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:39,520
displays of military might have long
<font color="

838
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:42,240
from Trooping the Colour
to Bastille Day.

839
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:49,240
Caesar's power over Rome
by now seemed almost absolute.

840
00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:53,320
His military image only strengthened
his popular appeal.

841
00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:56,800
He was central to almost
<font color="

842
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:02,600
Statues put up later would emphasise
this power and authority.

843
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:06,480
Like this one, still standing
in Rome's City Hall,

844
00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:10,680
overhearing traffic regulation
and planning disputes.

845
00:52:10,680 --> 00:52:14,400
But it's what's written underneath
<font color="

846
00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:16,920
that's even more to the point,

847
00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:21,200
because it gives Caesar
his official title -

848
00:52:21,200 --> 00:52:24,080
perpetual dictator

849
00:52:24,080 --> 00:52:27,200
He's dictator forever.

850
00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:32,520
Now, the Romans wouldn't have found
the word dictator remotely shocking.

851
00:52:32,520 --> 00:52:39,400
<font color="
traditional short-term office

852
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:43,200
that was used for coping
with particular emergencies.

853
00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:48,000
What they would have found shocking
is the idea that Caesar took that

854
00:52:48,000 --> 00:52:50,640
power forever.

855
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:54,960
It's a bit like how we would feel
<font color="

856
00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:58,240
Prime Minister for life.

857
00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:04,280
And it's in that way that Caesar
has given us the modern sense

858
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:06,440
of the word dictator.

859
00:53:09,720 --> 00:53:14,800
What happened is that Caesar made
sure that his term as dictator was

860
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:19,640
extended, not just from one year
<font color="

861
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,600
The dictatorship was only one way

862
00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:27,760
in which Caesar disrupted
Roman politics.

863
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:31,600
Roman democracy was based
on free elections,

864
00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:37,240
but Caesar managed to make sure that
you knew the outcome in advance.

865
00:53:37,240 --> 00:53:41,960
<font color="
of putting himself above the rest

866
00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:44,280
of the political class.

867
00:53:44,280 --> 00:53:47,760
It wouldn't have made a blind bit of
difference to the women and men in

868
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:49,560
the Roman street,

869
00:53:49,560 --> 00:53:53,480
but his fellow politicians
got very worked up

870
00:53:53,480 --> 00:53:56,200
<font color="
to rise from his chair

871
00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:58,040
when they came into the room.

872
00:53:58,040 --> 00:54:03,840
And anyway, that chair was beginning
to look suspiciously like

873
00:54:03,840 --> 00:54:05,720
a golden throne.

874
00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:09,200
For Caesar's enemies,

875
00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:13,160
his appointment as
effectively a perpetual dictator

876
00:54:13,160 --> 00:54:14,960
<font color="

877
00:54:17,760 --> 00:54:20,440
It was a watershed -

878
00:54:20,440 --> 00:54:23,120
the point at which leader
became tyrant,

879
00:54:23,120 --> 00:54:26,640
a subversion of the ideals
of freedom and democracy.

880
00:54:28,720 --> 00:54:31,680
He may have been popular
with the people

881
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:35,120
and he may have commanded
<font color="

882
00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:36,400
but for Caesar,

883
00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:40,880
the price of tyranny was paid in
blood here, in the Senate House.

884
00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:45,960
Perhaps this should be the real
lesson for modern leaders.

885
00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:48,640
Be careful what you wish for -

886
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:52,040
too much power comes at a cost.

887
00:54:52,040 --> 00:54:55,840
<font color="
in the wings.

888
00:55:00,720 --> 00:55:05,560
The version that we have of Caesar's
assassination makes it a heroic and

889
00:55:05,560 --> 00:55:08,720
successful fight for freedom
against tyranny.

890
00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:12,320
In reality,
it was nothing of the sort.

891
00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:16,920
For a start,
<font color="

892
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:19,720
it was for
a few privileged politicians.

893
00:55:19,720 --> 00:55:23,320
Ordinary Romans wept
at Caesar's death.

894
00:55:23,320 --> 00:55:26,080
But you also can't really call it
successful.

895
00:55:27,240 --> 00:55:33,360
The problem of assassinations always
is that it's easy enough to take the

896
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:38,560
<font color="
to know what to do next.

897
00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:42,440
Assassins always risk bringing about
the very thing they thought

898
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:44,080
they were fighting against.

899
00:55:45,160 --> 00:55:48,440
In this case,
once the deed was done,

900
00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:52,800
the conspirators turned out
<font color="

901
00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:56,040
What they got was civil war,

902
00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:59,840
which ended up producing
one-man rule,

903
00:55:59,840 --> 00:56:05,040
emperors, or, if you like,
dictators forever after.

904
00:56:07,840 --> 00:56:11,760
So Caesar's assassination
only served to strengthen

905
00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:15,520
the very thing it meant to destroy.

906
00:56:15,520 --> 00:56:20,800
<font color="
the absolute rule of one man -

907
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:24,880
Caesar's heir
and great-nephew Octavian.

908
00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:28,920
The Republic of Rome
was now ruled by an emperor.

909
00:56:28,920 --> 00:56:32,160
What I'm interested in
is that people come

910
00:56:32,160 --> 00:56:34,480
and they still leave
<font color="

911
00:56:34,480 --> 00:56:36,640
This is where Julius Caesar
was cremated.

912
00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:38,840
And so what they do
is...round here is...

913
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:42,240
The temple of Julius Caesar,
they put up after his death.

914
00:56:42,240 --> 00:56:45,480
And so you've got flowers
and occasional c...

915
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:47,120
<font color="

916
00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:50,400
Caesar would forever after
be celebrated

917
00:56:50,400 --> 00:56:54,080
as the originator
of the imperial dynasty.

918
00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:00,640
All later emperors took his name.

919
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:04,760
From that moment on, Caesar
wasn't just a surname any more,

920
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:06,640
it became synonymous with leader.

921
00:57:09,240 --> 00:57:11,360
<font color="

922
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:16,640
The term tsar and Kaiser go back to,
you've guessed it, Caesar.

923
00:57:17,840 --> 00:57:21,880
And leaders ever since have done
more than just take his name.

924
00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:23,320
For good or bad,

925
00:57:23,320 --> 00:57:27,920
they have used the template
he created to ground their own rule.

926
00:57:27,920 --> 00:57:29,720
<font color="

927
00:57:29,720 --> 00:57:34,160
And more than 2,000 years
after his bloody assassination,

928
00:57:34,160 --> 00:57:40,160
Julius Caesar is still with us
in all kinds of surprising ways.

929
00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:44,160
So every time you put your hand in
your pocket for some loose change,

930
00:57:44,160 --> 00:57:46,680
or have a party in July,

931
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:51,920
<font color="
or hear a snappy political slogan,

932
00:57:51,920 --> 00:57:55,160
when you next think
about a caesarean section,

933
00:57:55,160 --> 00:57:59,240
or here a political betrayal
described as backstabbing,

934
00:57:59,240 --> 00:58:04,440
spare a thought for the man
who inspired all this and more.

935
00:58:04,440 --> 00:58:08,440
<font color="
to the idea of Julius Caesar,

936
00:58:08,440 --> 00:58:10,200
the great conqueror.

937
00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:13,400
But if you have to choose
just one Roman

938
00:58:13,400 --> 00:58:18,080
who's still absolutely embedded
in the way we think,

939
00:58:18,080 --> 00:58:21,800
talk, act and judge,

940
00:58:21,800 --> 00:58:25,840
then it's got to be
<font color="

941
00:58:25,840 --> 00:58:28,960
perpetual dictator

942
00:58:28,960 --> 00:58:32,520
You can kill him,
but you can't get rid of him.