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Quotes/entries for ‘Caesar, Julius’

 

All bad precedents begin with justifiable measures.

Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
“On the Punishment of the Catiline Conspirators,” 9 (63 BC)

Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 14-Feb-11
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It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.

Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
(Attributed)

Added on 6-Aug-07 | Last updated 6-Aug-07
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People readily believe what they want to believe.

Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
De Bello Gallico, III, 18 (49 BC)

Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 1-Feb-04
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But, you may say, who will complain of a decree which is passed against traitors to their country? Time, I answer, the lapse of years, and Fortune, whose caprice rules the nations. Whatever befalls these prisoners will be well deserved; but you, Fathers of the Senate, are called upon to consider how your action will affect other criminals. All bad precedents have originated in cases which were good; but when the control of the government falls into the hands of men who are incompetent or bad, your new precedent is transferred from those who well deserve and merit such punishment to the undeserving and blameless.

Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
In Sallust, The War with Cataline [tr. Loeb Classical Library (1921, rev. 1931)]

Full http://penelope.uchicago.edu/thayer/e/roman/texts/sallust/bellum_catilinae*.html.

Added on 11-May-12 | Last updated 11-May-12
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My wife should be as much free from suspicion of a crime as she is from a crime itself.

[Meos tam suspicione quam crimine iudico carere oportere.]

Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) Roman general and statesman [Gaius Julius Caesar]
In Suetonius, Life of Caesar

Popularly, "Caesar’s wife must be above reproach" or "beyond reproach."

Caesar was called to be a witness against Clodius, who was charge with having  defiled sacred rites and having an affair with Pompeia, Caesar's wife.  Caesar said he had investigated and found out nothing to prove the Pompeia's fidelity.  When asked why, then, he had divorced her, he gave this answer.

Alt. trans. "I judge it necessary for my kin [meos refers to both male and female kin] to be as free from suspicion as from the charge of wrongdoing."

Added on 3-Mar-11 | Last updated 3-Mar-11
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