Author: Francisco Uría
- Non-Fiction
- Editorial Berenice
- ISBN: 978-8411318242
- Release Date: 10-03-2023
-Reviewed by: José María Manuel García-Osuna Rodríguez
This is an outstanding work about one of the most conspicuous and, why not say it, paradoxical figures of the Ancient Age. Gaius Julius Caesar was a figure of enormous stature, with far more light than shadow. He was already prominent among his fellow citizens because he was very different from the crowd that surrounded him.
Gaius Caesar displayed a semi-divine facility in everything he did: a charming man of the world with perfect manners, beloved by women, worthy of every magistracy, one of the finest orators of his time, a classic of Latin literature, an invincible general—one of the greatest military men of all time, according to his biographer Goldsworthy—and, ultimately, an eminent statesman, the first man of Rome, the most powerful in all of its history since its founding. A dandy, extravagant in the way he dressed, frugal with his food, nondrinker, covetous of riches for the pleasure of spending them lavishly, he acted with the determination of a man of action in its purest form, based on an almost boundless self-confidence.
He did not hesitate to take unheard-of risks, when necessary, because he was convinced that chance was invariably on his side: he could afford to be bold to the point of recklessness, because he knew he had good luck, a kind of Fortune’s favorite. Whenever it appealed to him, he would halt the hectic course of his career. Tired of war, drawn to Cleopatra, he spent a few months in Egypt, with no outside communication, while the world waited in suspense for news of him.
