Talk:Julius Caesar

Graffiti
Where should the graffiti versions of "Veni, vidi, vici" ("Vidi, vici, veni", "Vici, veni, VD") be put? -- Jimregan 18:56, 14 Sep 2003 (UTC)


 * Probably on List of misquotations. Nanobug 14:34, 15 Sep 2003 (UTC)


 * How about a separate page for Famous graffiti? Such as 'Kilroy was here', etc. with a bit of history. -- Gaurav 17:56, 26 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Julius Caesar's last words will always be a forum of great debate......graffiti shouldn't be (A Adamson)

This is what I have done, and I am Caesar.
Does anybody know whether the following quote is actually by Julius Caesar?

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done, and I am Caesar."


 * This statement has also been wrongly attributed to William Shakespeare, but the actual author is unknown. The article on it at Snopes.com states : "No record of this quote has been found prior to its appearance on the Internet in late 2001." I have now added a "Misattributions" section with this in it. ~ Achilles † 06:23, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Question
I recall Caesar saying something about war giving the right to the victors to give whatever conditions they want to the vanquished (or something along those lines). Any further information on this?
 * That was Brennus -- the Latin is "Vae Victis" Jhf 01:02, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

"Iacta alea est" or "Alea iacta est"?
Since both versions of this phrase have a lot of currency, I looked around and discovered an online source in Latin of Suetonius' Divus Iulius, which shows in Paragraph 33 that the phrase is "Iacta alea est." This is also the version used in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. I will include a link to the Suetonius in my revision of the quote. - InvisibleSun 13:45, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

GNU Fortune
I love treason but hate a traitor. -- Gaius Julius Caesar

Unsourced
Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable, precise and verifiable source for any quote on this list please move it to Julius Caesar. --Antiquary 16:12, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
 * As a rule, men worry more about what they can't see than about what they can.


 * Ignavi coram morte quidem animam trahunt, audaces autem illam non saltem advertunt.


 * It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.

In regards to this quote, (it is easier) I found several sources dating back to at least 1910 of a harvard professor. The latin for this quote is "qui se ultro morti offerant facillus reperiuntur quam qui dolorem patienter ferant" from Caesar's bellum gallicum book 7. I don't know how to properly insert this on his wiki page so please assist


 * The future of the world rests on my shoulders and the gods of the seas rest in my hand.


 * To prefer my friendship to that of those who have always been his and my bitter enemies, by whose machinations the country has been brought to its present impasse.
 * In a request from Caesar to Pompey for a resolution to the impending civil war.

"Fear itself"
Moved from the main article, because this alleged quote has no source, neither primary nor a secondary source referring to the origin of this legend. —85.178.66.138 16:27, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Nihil nobis metuendum est, praeter metum ipsum. [Nota bene: Which is the historical source from Antiquity that contains this Latin saying, allegedly by Caesar? It seems to be completely unkown/invented/dubious. There is a similar one by Seneca (Ep. Mor. ad Luc. 3.24.12: scies nihil esse in istis terribile nisi ipsum timorem), but Seneca is not Caesar.]
 * We have not to fear anything, except fear itself.
 * By legend [Nota bene: What legend? A modern internet legend? 19th century false scholarship? Shakespeare again? Mediaeval legend about Caesar? An ancient rumor? Sources please.] Caesar told it to his wife Calpurnia, who was praying him not to go to the Senate, where, as she saw in dream, he would die.

Defeat at the hands of Belgae
When exactly was Julius Caesar defeated by the the Belgae? I can't seem to trace a single historical reference to this fact.


 * This is the wrong place for such a question and also I don't know the answer. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 21:48, 1 September 2015 (UTC)


 * It is not the wrong place to ask, because the user is referring to a dubious remark that is currently in the article, viz. that "Caesar suffered his greatest military defeat at the hands of the Belgae, the humiliation reaching Rome, and infuriating the man who then set out on one of Rome's biggest campaigns to crush the Republic's most feared rebels once and for all." In fact, Caesar defeated the Belgae, not the other way around. ~ DanielTom (talk) 22:06, 1 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Yes, DanielTom, the question likely refers to that quotation in the article; I didn't notice this. This being known, the question originally asked is in fact relevant. I removed the commentary for it being unsourced and 'dubious' as you say. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 00:23, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

Gallia est pacata.
This raised an eyebrow for me because it's not S-O-V, which, while not impossible, isn't really typical or "good form." I looked it up, and I can't find any reliable source that mirrors this exact wording.

However, this appears to be an abbreviation and S-V-O shortening of "His rebus gestis[,] Gallia omni pacata est," or, "These things having been accomplished/these things having been done, all Gaul is pacified." Not going to lie, I find "all Gaul was pacified," is much cooler a quote anyway, but wouldn't it be more accurate to put this on the page?

It's supported by these sources:


 * https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0002%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D34%3Asection%3D1 (primary)
 * https://www.jstor.org/stable/641011
 * https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/360180 (appears to be ibid, a shorter excerpt)

If there are no objections to this, I'm adding it to the page. I should add that my Latin isn't great, and I find conflicting information about the exact translation. Seeing "est" makes me think it should be "all Gaul is pacified" but this is likely just a construction I don't recognize since my Latin is so rusty. As a result I'm adding it as "was," but if anyone with more experience has confidence in manual translation I would appreciate it. Delukiel (talk)

Editing this later to say that I double checked this with people who know way more than me and it should be was. Delukiel (talk)