Expert: Maria - 7/14/2004

Question
Dear Maria,

I would just like to know how Caesar had achieved enough 'Dignitas' to enable him to contest the minor offices of the Cursus Honorum...  

If possible, can you point me towards some primary sources?

Many Thanks in advance.


Answer
Hello Demetri,

First of all  the primary sources for Julius Caesar's life are the ancient biographies of Suetonius and Plutarch, along with Caesar's own account of his military campaigns (De Bello Gallico; De Bello Civili).

It is of course in Suetonius , The Twelve Caesars, Vita Divi Iuli (Life of Caesar), and in Plutarch, Parallel Lives, Life of Julius Caesar, that we read several details on all magistracies Caesar held, including the minor offices of the Cursus Honorum, i.e. quaestorship, aedileship and the praetorship, held by Caesar in 69 BC, in 65 BC and in 62 BC respectively.

As for ‘Dignitas' Caesar had achieved so that he could be competing first for these minor offices, later for consulship, you must keep in mind that Caesar  was a patrician who enjoyed great popularity from the time  he had entered real politics  as a lawyer, in 77 BC .
Therefore he  polled a lot of votes in the Assembly of the People (Latin, ‘comitia ‘) that elected the magistrates.

This in short, of course, as you can  learn more about this matter by consulting  the first chapters of Plutarch (45 - 125 AD) and Suetonius ((c.69-after 122 AD) where there are many interesting particulars of Caesar's career:

PLUTARCH, The Parallel Lives.
'Life of Julius Caesar'
Translated by John Dryden
See :http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/caesar.html

C. SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS, The Twelve Caesars.
'Vita Divi Iuli'
See:
http://www.gmu.edu/departments/fld/CLASSICS/suet.caesar.html

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0061&que...

Hope these suggestions can be helpful to you.
Best regards
Maria