JULIUS CAESAR, THE FINAL MOMENTS

It is 44 BC. The streets of Rome are booming with activities, merrymaking, and revelries. The common citizens are rejoicing the triumphant return of their valiant Caesar. Caesar is returning after defeating Pompey's sons, a decisive, monumental victory. The people are ecstatic and jubilant. They are so intoxicated in the celebration that they disregard their chores and engage in decorating Caesar's statues all along the city. They garland his busts, they sing his praises, they are exhausting all means of expressing their admiration and regard for the charming and benevolent warrior. His victory in Spain meant more spoils, more money, more resources, and that meant Rome's prosperity. Their merrymaking was not unfounded or unreasonable. But among the hullabaloo of the reveling commoners, two noble-dressed men seem to dislike all the commotion. They seem to be at unease, their furrows deepened, and their expression livid. When they could no longer stand the sight of honoring the most powerful man in Rome- the man who was just like them, the man who was physically crippled with sporadic bouts of epileptic fits, the man who was one among them but has now risen to such heights that he was beyond their reach- they split and castigate the commoners for the delinquency for such a frivolous purpose as to watch Caesar's victory parade. Caesar had risen to such heights that his own senate was intimidated by the influence, power, and authority he wielded. They try to disperse the thronging crowd and remind them that Caesar's victory was not a war won against an enemy but a fellow Roman, a Roman General who served in the Roman Army when Rome was helmed by the Dictator and Consul Sulla.

Julius Caesar, the controversial Roman Emperor, the captivating speaker, the brave general, the benevolent dictator, the man who was the high priest of an extravagant cult, had been held a captive by notorious pirates, who seduced the enigmatic Egyptian princess Cleopatra, the man who had the audacity to seduce the wives of his political rivals, a rebel with a cause who was condemned by his own senate and finally was brutally stabbed to death by his own senators. The story of Julius Caesar is an extraordinary tale of resilience, struggle for survival, greed for power, betrayal, debauchery, and unbelievable chutzpah. The riveting tale of Caesar's assassination on the fateful ides of March is both agonizing and heart-wrenching.