How did JuliusCaesar help the poor?

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2026-04-25 17:30

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.Early in his political career (65 BC) Caesar had the office of Aedile, responsible for the public games (paid for out of his own pocket). He went heavily into debt to ensure the games and exhibitions were extraordinary. As these were free it can argued that he entertained the poor, among others. His first act as Consul (-59) was to push through a land reform bill to pay Pompeii's Veterans, Something Pompeii had been trying to achieve for some time. The majority of these men, and their families, certainly would have become the poor without this. Passing the first land bill proved to be very difficult to do, probably harder than Caesar imagined when he started it. It's a story with lots of twists and turns, some quite amusing (like Caesar's chief rival or the moment, his co-Council Bibulus, getting a bucket of poop dumped on his head in the middle of the forum). However by the time the bill was passed all political opposition were in full retreat, making the passing of other bills very easy. Not being one to ever miss an opportunity, Caesar immediately followed the land bill with another, more radical, land bill, this one awarding land to any citizen with more than 3 children. This act clearly helped the poor. Overall It is difficult to make a case for Caesar caring for the poor. He was directly responsible for the deaths of about 2 million, 100,000 of them Roman citizens, in a civil war that he caused, More hundreds of thousands died and were enslaved in his previous Gallic war. A war initiated by Caesar to gain him glory, wealth, and possibly more territory for Rome. This seems to cast Caesar in a harsh light by today's standards. It's more accurate to say he was a man of his times as far as consideration for his fellow man is concerned. Don't forget that these are the times when every nation and empire had slaves, and sports were death matches.

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