Summary of Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Caesar was very ambitious, and when he returned to Rome after serving with Marcus Thermus in Asia, he began trying to advancement. He was offered a lot of positions by Marcus Lepidus, but he turned them down. He had little confidence in Lepidus’ abilities, and he found the political atmosphere less promising than he had been led to believe. #2 When he became a military tribune, Caesar was assigned to Further Spain, where the praetorian governor sent him on an assize circuit. He was heard to sigh impatiently when he saw a statue of Alexander the Great in the Temple of Hercules. The soothsayers interpreted this dream to mean that he was destined to conquer the earth. #3 During his aedileship, Caesar began to plan a revolution in Rome. He wanted to limit the number of gladiators that anyone could keep in Rome, but his opponents rushed through a bill limiting the number of gladiators that anyone could keep in Rome. #4 After the Catilinarian conspiracy, the entire Roman Senate, with the exception of Caesar, demanded the death of those involved. Caesar only wanted them to be imprisoned and their estates confiscated. He so browbeat those senators who took a sterner line that Decimus Silanus, as consul-elect, felt obliged to interpret his own proposal more liberally.