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Livy's History of Rome; Book 1

• According to Livy the beginning of Rome started way before with a line of Kings and with the destruction of Troy. There were almost no survivors but the ones that were alive were allowed to live and they were to help Aeneas and Antenor take over other cities, countries, or regions. This happened and Aeneas gained a lot of power. He got married and a son was born, when he did his son was not old enough to be king so his wife. His so was named Ascanius and had sons and his line went on with a series of deaths in which the Abula river became the Tiber. Ascanius succesors ended up being Numitor and Proca. Numitor was king because he was older but Proca held ad revolt against him and Numitor was exiled. His daughter was to become a priestess in some sorts but she ended up having twins, she said their father was the god Mars so she would not get in to much trouble. Proca had the twins cast in to the river tiber but because it was over flowing the people he sent to kill the babies just pushed them in at the banks and hoped that would do the job. It did not and the story goes that a she-wolf found them and nursed them and a head-flocksman found them, named Flaustulus. Flaustulus's wife was called a she-wolf by the other herders so that is were the she-wolf would have come from. When the boys got older they were ambushed and killed their attackers. Romulus got away but Remus was caught. Numitor who was the elder in the town was to punish Remus for the crime but when he figured out his age and how he had a twin, and some other evidence he discovered these were his grandsons. Romulus and Remus ended up killing Proca, the king, and Numitor was in power. When Numitor died it was between either of the two, but because they were twins it was hard to figure out who would be in charge. They people split down the middle taking sides and eventually Remus was killed and Romulus took charge and the city became Rome. Romulus tried to make Rome big by sending out people to other places to talk about Rome and he picked 100 senators to be called "Patrys" later called "Patricians"

The End of the Republic: Tacitus

• Rome was first ruled by kings, than a consul, and then dictators. At first dictators were only meant to be temporary but that failed in the republic. When people started fighting for power and becoming corrupt by it the republic came to an end

The Battle at Cannae

• In the battle at Cannae it was the Romans with the two current consuls, Caius Terentius and Aemilius, against Hannibal and his motley army. The Romans far outnumbered Hannibal's army but Hannibal was better when it came to strategy. He put the Romans in suspense and made them attack first. Hannibal's army won mostly by surrounding the Romans and fighting them from the outside in, like when he had the Romans chase the Celts into one of his lines and then the line surrounded the Romans. It seemed to go back and forth in the battle that the Romans would win, but their moral was low and Hannibal was good when it came to strategy. Retreating romans were killed, Romans losing individual fights were taken prisoner, and only some Romans got away including one of the consuls Caius Terentius, it was quite shameful for him to run off especially when his fellow consul had died in the battle. Before the battle even started though, Amelius left many infantry in his camp so that they would kill those who were left in Hannibal's camp while he was distracted. They were doing this while the battle was almost over but Hannibal saw this and had them killed or taken prisoner.

The lives of the Caesars: Suetonius

• The first Ceasar was basically ran out of Rome but the current man in charge, was still on the lookout for him. Caesar was not listening to the authority and because he had not married whom he was supposed to he was run out of Rome. Many in charge begged Sulla to forgive Caesar and Caesar was allowed back to Rome although Sulla warned he would be the end to the aristocracy that they worked for. Caesar was then to be in charge over Asia were at first people thought he was being a traitor but for the rest of the time his reputation was fine. When word of Sulla's death reached him he tried to gain some more power but failed and then tried to go to Rhodes to finish working but was taken by Pirates. After his ransom was paid he went to go help the allies of Rome. When he was military Tribune he worked with others to give tribunes power over commons. When he was quaestor, financial administrator, he visited Hispania Ulterior and saw a statue of Alexander the Great. He was upset that he had not done anything very important at his age when Alexander had done so much, he quit his job in hopes to gain more power because soothsayers had given him good omens. He eventually became an aedile, a magistrate in charge of public happenings, and although he worked with another man he got all the credit and the love of the people. He tried to use his popularity to gain control over Egypt but failed. Caesar eventually became Praetor elect, which is a magistrate right below the consul, through many bribes which got his enemies out of the way. Caesar seemed to like pushing his authority to the edge until his power could be taken away and did this a couple times, the people always begged him for help though and he would come back. Caesar really wanted power so when it was time for new consuls, the two people up for it were Lucius Lucceius and Marcus Bibulus, Caesar said that since he had the people on his side he could join the one who was willing to pay enough and that person would truly win. Bibulus and Caesar became consul and Caesar immediately wanted everything written down. Caesar was so overpowering that when the two Consuls ever disagreed Bibulus would be run out of court to his home so that Caesar was basically the only consul. Caesar was not stupid though and was strategic, he married Calphurnia and formed an alliance with her father and married off his daughter and formed an alliance with his son in law. Caesar did however make some mistakes when he was outwardly opposed to some people gaining power instead of secretly, he almost was taken to trial and could have been impeached. He started to pick enemies and friends carefully. As Caesar's consulship was coming to an end he started to pay of the debts of many and give to everyone so that he would have everyone on his good side. He wanted his consulship to be extended since he was away at war and could not be back for elections. He made some new alliances by forming marriages within his families with his friends. By accident however, Pompeius, the man who would probably become the next consul, formed a new decree that candidates for any offices had to be there to be elected, and forgot to put an exception for Caesar until it was too late. Caesar started a civil war when he felt that the tribunes he was allies with were being continuously ignored and put down when they brought up different subjects. It is said he had other reasons like he did not want to be put on trial for suspicious things he had done during his first consul ship. He fought Pompeious all the way into Egypt and when he heard word of Pompeious's death he attacked King Ptolemy because he had gotten word that Ptolemy wanted him gone. Ptolemy was gone and Caesar gave Egypt to Cleopatra. He defeated all of Pompei's armies and marched into Rome as the winner. He had many parties and gave a lot of land to his soldiers and when all this was done he fixed the calender that had become disorganized. He refilled the senate and made sure that the people also had a choice in who had power over them. He made laws to bring up the population of Rome and laws that made penalties of crimes more serious. He also set up a bunch of projects to make Rome "look" better, such as building a beautiful temple to mars. Suetonious than goes a bit in depth of Julius Caesar's appearance. He is tall with dark eyes and is light skinned. He is mostly healthy until near the end when it was figured that he had epilepsy. He was careful about his appearance and was insecure about the fact that he was balding especially when he found out people made fun of him for it. Caesar was very meticulous when it came to things in his household and severely punished his servants for any mistakes they made. Although there were no words of him ever having affairs with people before marriage there were rumors that he had a physical encounter with King Nicomedes. During his marriage, Caesar was not quite about how he seduced many women including some senators and other's wives. He even had affairs with queens. It also said that he was not one to get shameful for he would beg for money and ransack villages for money when he was in debt. Caesar of course though would not have gotten anywhere with his oratory skills that he seems to have had all his life. Caesar would not have gotten were he was without his military greatness. He was strategic and daring but never did anything without careful thought. He fought along side his men who treated with respect and discipline. By treating his men like this they willingly joined his side during the civil war. He was close to his friends but also close to his enemies who although they would argue he would back them up when they were right. He had the people on his side and because of this got many awards and honors which eventually got to his head. His power started to go down hill when the Senate approached him with a problem and he did not have the deceny to stand up. Also once more during a festival someone adorned his statue with a white laurel that symbolized royalty and when they were thrown in jail for that he was angry that the authorities did not like that or that he did not get to publicly rebuke them first. During a Lupercal festival he was offered the crown several times and said no while the people cheered him on. Many conspirators joined to kill him because they believed he was getting to much power. There were many omens such as bad dreams, and a bird carrying a laurel getting devoured by other birds. The most clear sign was when a Greek stone was discovered saying if the stone was to be moved a great son would be killed by his kin. All these together made Caesar wonder whether or not he should go to the Senate or stay at home. Brutus though, a close friend of Caesar, urged him to go outside and Caesar listened. The conspirators stabbed him numerous times and his body lay there until a few slaves found him and took him away. The conspirators were going to dump him in the Tiber and take all of his belongings but they were in fear of Marc Antony and Lepidus. A great funeral was held and Marc Antony spoke and riled the people up so that they set fire to Brutus and Cassius's homes. They even killed a man who had the same name as one of the conspirators but was not one. He died at 56 and none of his conspirators lived beyond three years after the crime. His place of murder was walled up and even at the first games after his death there was a comet in the sky for about a week. The people put Caesar among the gods.