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BOOK REVIEW: The Assassination of Julius Caesar—A People’s History of Rome
by Michael Parentih
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by Judy Mitchell, W A M M
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WAMM Book Club selection for June 2006
The Assassination of Julius Caesar presents Parenti’s take on the history of the Roman Republic and gives his rationale for why Roman senators assassinated their fellow aristocrat and ruler, Julius Caesar. Most historians have presented this episode as senatorial assassins being intent upon restoring republican liberties by murdering a despotic ruler and it is Parenti’s stand that even today’s scholars continue this bias that perpetuates the wealthy class’ interpretation of history. Parenti’s explanation is that Caesar was a leader of the people whose reforms threatened the wealthy ruling group’s privileged interests. He also points out that other popular leaders before Caesar who had tried to bring about reforms had met a similar fate.
Parenti explains the class distinctions spawned by the Roman Republic’s ruling class. The desire of the wealthy was to preserve its privileges. They generally despised the common people and viewed them as infringing on class prerogatives and therefore on all social order. Welfare for those in need was seen as undermining moral fiber, encouraging indigents’ wasteful ways and dragging down those who were responsible and stable. Democratic social programs addressing land redistribution, rent control, debt cancellations, etc., were seen by the ruling class as being too costly and therefore detrimental to the entire society. Any attempt to democratize was viewed as subversive and when unable to openly counter popular reforms that might restrict their own greed, the wealthy ruling class attacked the reformers and their motives. It was in these cases that assassinations then took place.
Parenti also talks of the design and manipulation of the government and constitution by the ruling class. Procedures and laws were designed to protect class privilege for the Roman nobility for whom accumulation was a major preoccupation. The ruling class departed from the constitution that has been handed down through the years and pushed repressive actions when it determined expediency to be necessary.
The pursuit of warfare to ensure the power of the ruling group is also commented on by Parenti. The wealthy ruling class pursued a policy of almost continuous warfare. This brought wealth to the ruling class but placed a heavy burden on the common Roman citizenry. Indeed, Caesar’s war-weary legionnaires began to feel that the wars would never stop and commented on losing the enjoyment of life because they have spent all their days fighting. The Republic eventually became a military dictatorship.
While Parenti presents his view of the Roman Republic as a people’s history, he does say that he leaves it to readers to draw any connection of this history to current situations in the world. |
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© 2006 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete July/August 2006 Index - click here
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