The Directed Life

Date read: 2/2/2023

Loved Freeman’s biography of Alexander the Great and wanted to continue reading his work.

In the prologue Freeman includes Caesar’s attributed quote before he crossed the Rubicon, on fate and chance, proclaiming “Let the dice fly high.” (9)

Caesar did not grow up among Rome’s elite bur rather in Rome’s Suburba, a lower-class neighborhood, for over 30 years. (19)

In ancient Rome the men entered adulthood by putting on the toga virilus — the “toga of manhood.” A boy dedicates what he has loved thus far to the gods and acknowledges he’s entering a new phase in his life—this was around Caesar’s 16th birthday. (29)

The civic crown that Caesar was awarded for his bravery at Mytilene helped “launch his political and military career.” (34)

There was no central taxing agency in Rome. The government “sold taxation contracts to private firms.” The private individuals paid the treasury up front, then made it a goal to collect more than what they had paid up front to reach a profit. (36)

The Senate was the most powerful Roman political body—essentially an “independent gathering of the most powerful men in Rome.” Senate decrees were not binding but honored. Once granted a part of the Senate, you were a member for life unless you fell into poverty or did something unjust / abhorrent. (46)

Money lenders often lent to those they thought might become a future leader of the Republic. A man might look for a loan to enact some benefit of public service, the construction of a road, building, or hosting a ceremony all to gain favor with the public. Lenders ‘invested’ in the ones they thought they might profit from financially as well as connection-wise if they rose up the political ranks. (47)

Freeman notes Caesar’s attribute of clementia, or mercy he bestowed on even bitter rivals, throughout the entirety of his political rising. (50)

When Caesar was still relatively young, early thirties, he visited the temple of Hercules and statue of Alexander the Great. A local seer interpreted a dream he had and foretold to him that one day he would rule the world like how Alexander had. (54)

Freeman on the durability and enduring properties of Roman roads:

They were in fact a sermon in stone to the world—Romans do not yield. (56)

In 64 B.C. Cato took hold of the treasury position and purged it of the corruption that normally ran rampant throughout it. (65)

Caesar was deeply in debt and gambled by running for the office of pontifex maximus to provide some political and financial leverage, which ended up working out for him. (67)

Caesar had an affair with the mother of Brutus, his future murderer. (78)

Caesar gave up the honor of a triumph in order to be able to run for Consul, another political gamble that ended up paying off in the long run. (88-90)

On the Romans remembering their mortality even in glory:

Even in the midst of such glory, however, the Romans dared not offend the gods. A slave would stand in the chariot behind Caesar during the whole parade whispering in his ear, “Remember you are mortal.” (89)

Caesar cleaned up the tax policies in the eastern Asian provinces granting reduction of debt, which also helped him among other Roman tax collectors and investors. This is an example of many where Caesar used policy and reform to garner large goodwill among Rome’s elite. (102)

Caesar anticipated and warned Gaul as a threat to Rome. He looked for volatility, in this case trouble from the German tribes, and positioned himself in a way to benefit from disorder compared to the masses general lack of anticipation of disaster until it’s too late. (110)

In Gaul, Massalia was the hub to “a vast trade network in tin, gold, amber, and slaves.” The Gauls imported wine from the Mediterranean. (114)

Caesar’s swiftness and efficacy in crossing the Saône:

Whereas it had taken the Gaulish invaders twenty days to build a bridge across the Saône, Caesar did it in one and immediately began moving his army across. (125)

Rome’s most feared enemies at the time (58 B.C.) were the Gauls and the Germans. Caesar effectively defeated them both, marking the beginning to his further campaigns motivated by desire to be a great conqueror and expand Rome. (142)

The relationship Caesar had to his troops, where he demanded excellence and pushed them but they were extremely loyal to him:

During the first two years of the war in Gaul, Caesar was quite consciously training his troops to a new standard of military performance and personal loyalty. No Roman general ever pressed his troops harder than Caesar, but no army ever followed its leader more willingly. (152)

Caesar’s first siege in Gaul was a massive success, resulting in surrender from the Belgic tribes. Surrender was highly profitable because it provided tribute and taxes at the loss of no lives. (153-154)

Caesar held off on killing the remaining men and enslaving the women and children of the Nervii tribe, partly out of mercy and partly to set an example that no other tribe should try to take advantage of Rome. (157)

The importance of tinkering even in war—the more battles you fight in the more exposed you are to any potential risk, including new technology, etc. Freeman explains here:

Caesar was learning a lesson that Roman generals had been taught many times in previous centuries—new foes have unexpected weapons and techniques must be overcome through ingenuity and adaptation. (167)

• New challenges present opportunities for increased adaptation and heightened robustness

Another lesson Caesar learned:

One lesson Caesar had learned from Roman military history was that the best commanders knew how to recover from disaster. (185)

Caesar was consistently in the business of risky moves for advancing his political position—this was apparent in his solution of a northern strike to induce panic and undermine Vercingetorix. (216)

Caesar’s army was his leverage. He didn’t have nobility backing him, but the common people and soldiers who developed an intense reverence and loyalty to him—he rested his fate on the development of his army. (229)

Quote from Caesar on fortune / fate:

In all of life, but especially war, the greatest power belongs to fortune. (243)

Another quote from Caesar:

Human nature is such that we become either too confident or too fearful when circumstances change. (261)

Caesar again on fortune:

If fortune doesn’t go your way, sometimes you have to bend it to your will. (267)

Caesar was prone to the completely unexpected in especially dire situations. To resist Pompey from gaining an upper hand in their power struggle, he crossed as many of his men as possible across the Adriatic in the middle of winter. (268-269)

Caesar on his political enemies’ overconfidence of their defeat of him:

They fought over honors or rewards or money or how to avenge themselves on their enemies, thinking only of what they could gain from victory and never how to win the battle at hand. (278)

• Reminded me of when the Roman soldiers were casting lots for Jesus’ garments, so concerned with the rewards of today and not thinking about ends

Caesar was such a good general because of his ability to identify the weak spots of his opponents, even when he was vastly outnumbered. (280)

When Caesar arrived in Alexandria, the museum was “home to the greatest scholars of the age”, acting as a “research and study center for scientists and writers.” Lectures in the morning, dinner and drinking parties in the evenings. (289)

Caesar’s meeting and affair with Cleopatra. (290-292)

Freeman recounting a story of Caesar’s admonition to his men to dig for water in Alexandria:

The Alexandrians piped in all their water from the Nile because the population was too large to reply on wells—but there was always fresh water for those willing to do a little digging. The Roman soldiers took heart from Caesar’s words and dug enthusiastically through the night. By morning they had struck an abundant vein of sweet water. (297)

Caesar acting as a model to his men:

It was only Caesar’s inexhaustible energy and good cheer that kept the men going during those first dark days of the campaign. (319)

Caesar defeated his rival Scipio at last. Caesar’s troops took advantage of the disorganized structure of Scipio’s army and slaughtered over 10,000 troops. However, Caesar pardoned almost everyone willing to surrender. (324-235)

During one of Caesar’s triumphs, the axle of his chariot snapped directly in half right across the temple of Fortune—a mysterious omen that the end may be near and that no one can escape the claws of death. (329)

How and why the Senate gave Caesar absolute power:

So many Romans had died during the previous three years of civil war that the people were now willing to grant Caesar anything he wanted as long as he would promise peace. Because of this desperate longing for stability as well as a very real fear of what he might do next, the senators now outdid themselves in bestowing upon Caesar honors and privileges unknown to any previous leader. (332)