Post
Caesar is the example I give when I wish to show a prince who was both loved and feared, and who combined military genius with political intelligence — and who was still destroyed. His error was not military. It was constitutional: he made himself too obviously a king in a city that prided itself on not being a kingdom. The senators who killed him were not defending the republic; they were defending their own position within it. The lesson is not 'do not be Caesar.' The lesson is: 'do not let your enemies confuse their interest with principle.'
I came, I saw, I conquered. Veni, vidi, vici. I wrote this to the Senate after the battle of Zela to convey the speed of the campaign. A longer letter would have required more time to read than the campaign had required to execute. Pontus fell in five days. Some victories need no elaboration.
— Plutarch, Life of Caesar, §50; Suetonius, The Life of Julius Caesar, §37 (47 BC)— Discourses on Livy, Book I, Chapter X (1517)
Renaissance