Julia’s death is like that tragic forced cinematic event that puts plot in motion. With her alive just for a few more years there would have been no civil war, no principate, the whole history would be different.
Pompey, the jovial and direct man-of-action enamored with the crowd’s adoration; and Caesar, the flamboyantly humble* schemer. What a duo they would have made - what a duo they did make, even with Crassus as the awkward third wheel.
It’s interesting to think of what might have come. Whether their ambitions would clash, or synergize to make something better of the Republic - or conversely (if less likely), worse than the Principate. History is full of unknowable hypotheticals which is why we need to hurry up and invent time travel to answer these burning what-ifs
*seemingly contradictory, but I mean that Caesar always had a flair for the dramatic and presentation, but also that he went out of his way (usually successfully) to make people feel like he was not trying to put himself above them - both early and late in his political career. He craved power more than the appearance of power, I think, even if he understood the power of appearance!
Julia’s death is like that tragic forced cinematic event that puts plot in motion. With her alive just for a few more years there would have been no civil war, no principate, the whole history would be different.
Pompey, the jovial and direct man-of-action enamored with the crowd’s adoration; and Caesar, the flamboyantly humble* schemer. What a duo they would have made - what a duo they did make, even with Crassus as the awkward third wheel.
It’s interesting to think of what might have come. Whether their ambitions would clash, or synergize to make something better of the Republic - or conversely (if less likely), worse than the Principate. History is full of unknowable hypotheticals
which is why we need to hurry up and invent time travel to answer these burning what-ifs*seemingly contradictory, but I mean that Caesar always had a flair for the dramatic and presentation, but also that he went out of his way (usually successfully) to make people feel like he was not trying to put himself above them - both early and late in his political career. He craved power more than the appearance of power, I think, even if he understood the power of appearance!