How Did Julius Caesar Gain Power

The Roman Republic allowed for many courageous leaders to expand Rome’s borders significantly, gain power, and attempt to please the people. On the other hand, these same leaders used forms of violence, deception, bribery, and several other mischievous tactics to gain this power. Often times, and especially in the case of Julius Caesar, these leaders gained too much power, causing chaos and hatred among the people and other political powers. The several forms of violence, loopholes, and corruption that were present in the Roman Republic, as well as the lack of power that the people possessed, ultimately led to its downfall.
Cato the Younger, the first example of unfair tactics, was a powerful man who was known for his speaking ability. He believed and was …show more content…
During this time period, Julius Caesar became known as dictator for life. Caesar was not able to gain this amount of power without the help of Pompey the Great and Crassus, known as the first triumvirate. Crassus funded Caesar with his money while Pompey aided with his popularity among the people. Cato, aware of this, had a man named Bibulus running against Caesar and basically countering him in every way possible. In order to stop this, when a vote was being called, Caesar basically created his own Council of Plebs consisting of Pompey’s veterans. He filled the entire forum where the vote was to take place with this council. When Bibulus arrived, the veterans dumped feces on top of his head forcing him to leave and go home. On top of this, when Cato was on stage attempting to filibuster, the veterans grabbed him off of the stage and carried him out of the forum. Using violence and unjust tactics, Caesar was able to stop Cato and Bibulus and won the vote. Not only did Caesar use violent tactics, he was also a master of propaganda, which allowed for him to become a popular Consul and eventually, dictator for