for all i love the ides of march memes, something to remember today is that a) killing Caesar wasn’t about overthrowing a tyrannical dictator and b) it ultimately didn’t save the republic.
a) Caesar was a well liked leader among the common people. he distributed food to the populace, land to his soldiers, and it looked to them like he protected the borders in Gaul. the average person in Rome didn’t really care if they were ruled by a senate or a dictator, so long as their lives were tolerable. the senate didn’t kill Caesar for the people, they did it for themselves. it was just about putting the power back in the hands of many autocrats, rather than one.
b) Caesar’s assassination directly led to TWO civil wars, with Augustus, who inherited Caesar’s name, money and soldiers, coming out on top becoming the first emperor. all the damage that was done by subsequent power-mad emperors was his legacy. but if Caesar had just grown old and died in his bed, the republic probably would have reformed in his wake.
in conclusion, if you’re gonna violently kill a bad politician, i support you, but please keep the energy up after that and make sure society as a whole gets better, instead of just letting someone else step in to fill the vacuum and continue their shitty legacy.
or, you know, use your access to democracy, which the common Romans did not have, and vote tyrannical politicians out. then make it stick by doing something continuously to help out on the ground.
amhrancas 