'The Roman Dictator' - Julius Caesar

... Classics Essay James Fish Webster 'The Roman Dictator' - Julius Caesar The Roman republic was beginning to break down in the years after Marius's victories over the German barbarians. A saviour of the country (Marius) was driven into exile, a consul (Sulla) led an army into Rome itself to restore order, and a successful general;s (Lucullus's) own troops mutinied against him at the height of his campaigns in foreign fields. Law and order could not be maintained without the help of an army. Corruption ran riot through Rome in high places, and governors of foreign provinces seemed anxious only to line their own pockets with wealth. Clearly, this state of affairs could not continue if the Roman empire, which was already enormous, was to grow or even to survive. Kingship had been tried and discarded. An aristocratic republic had not worked, nor had a democratic one. Dictatorship seemed the only

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