
Gaius Julius Caesar Pleads Against Norm-Breaking–Weekend Reading - behrlich95
https://www.bradford-delong.com/2020/07/gaius-julius-caesar-pleads-against-norm-breakingweekend-reading.html
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082349872349872
Context: G. Julius Caesar would break norms himself in -49.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Rubicon#Julius_Ca...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Rubicon#Julius_Caesar)

Interestingly, the work in which this pleading occurs appears to not have been
written until _after_ the results of _alea iacta est_ had settled down, in
Caesar's favour.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallust#The_Conspiracy_of_Cati...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallust#The_Conspiracy_of_Catiline)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar%27s_Civil_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar%27s_Civil_War)

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jbdelong
It is not clear what game Sallust is playing in his _Cataline's Conspiracy_
here. Is Caesar wisely warning against norm-breaking? Is Caesar trying to cut
Cataline & co. a break? Or is Caesar warning Cicero of what he Caesar, will do
in -49, and what his adopted son Octavian will do to Cicero in -43?

There may be many layers of irony here...

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golem14
Reading the classics often make me feel we achieved very little improving our
base instincts in the last 2000 years.

Robert Harris has a number of pretty cool historical fiction books about
Cicero (Imperium, Pompeii, Conspirata) that are a good read also and put much
of the goneby times in context.

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behrlich95
Those Robert Harris books are a great read. And surprisingly historically
accurate as well.

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behrlich95
All the credit here to Brad DeLong. Just wanted to share something
interesting.

