Today someone sent me a message containing the following quotation:
"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.”
-William Shakespeare
Well, my bogus-detector went off like crazy. I searched on the web and found the citation on fifty or more websites, usually attributed to Julius Caesar (the man, not the play).
One Latin discussion website pointed out a few flaws with attributing it to Big Julie. Like: what word were they translating “patriotism,” since that isn’t found in Latin? Like: why the big “I am Caesar?” It wasn’t a title in JC’s time, just a name. It would be like saying “And I am Bush,” to select a moniker at random. Like: Roman armies weren’t big on drums, etc. (This according to the Latin experts, not me).
The quotation did appear once on the Straight Dope board, in a message from Obidiah on this thread.
So, my question: can anyone find a source for this quotation? Shakespeare? Julius Caesar? Sid Caesar? Can anyone find a citation of it that dates back before September 2001?
One of the reasons I’m sceptical is that, whenever I see the quote, it’s always the same, and uses slightly complex words where there are simpler ones…like “infused” rather than filled, and words like embolden. If this were an actual quote, you’d see more diverse translations…it looks like, in this case, people are copying the quote from each other.
Also, the term “double-edged sword” bothers me, because I don’t think it was a common Roman phrase…I think the metaphor is newer. For one thing, Romans didn’t tend to use edged swords. Roman swords had blunt edges and sharp points…they fought by stabbing.
I just scanned through Caesar’s Gallic War Commentaries, one of his two major works, and the quotation is not from there. Throughout that text, Caesar always refers to himself in the third person.
And I just scanned through Caesar’s Civil Wars, his other major work, and the quotation is not from there either. As with the Gallic Wars, Caesar always refers to himself in the third person.
By the way, it is fascinating to read eyewitness accounts of battles fought more than 2000 years ago.
And I just scanned through Caesar’s Civil Wars, his other major work, and the quotation is not from there either. As with the Gallic Wars, Caesar always refers to himself in the third person.
By the way, it is fascinating to read eyewitness accounts of battles fought more than 2000 years ago.
This came up about half a year ago. Several people were skeptical but nothing was conlclusive. Certainly it doesn’t appear this is a direct quote from work by Caesar. It’s harder to say that he was quoted in another source, especially since Caesar doesn’t necessarily mean ol’ Julius.
I did submit the quote to snopes and asked them to check it out but it doesn’t appear as though they have done anything on it. If more people submit this to them they may get around to it.
Oh, and just so this isn’t solely a hijack - there were a number of Caesars (8 - without checking), so it would be worth seeing if it was one of the others. My guess is that it wasn’t Tiberius or Caligula (I think he was a Caesar, although I know he was nephew of Tiberius so maybe not). Could be a Claudius…?
“Ceasar” was Gaius Julius’ nickname, and I think (emphasis think) it meant “redhead”, just like the Cicero in Marcus Tullius Cicero’s name was a nickname that meant “chickpea”. After Julius Ceasar, the name “Ceasar” became a title for whoever was emperor.
What makes me suspicious is the number of hackneyed expressions and cliches that are crammed into this “quote”:
*bangs the drums of war
whip … into a patriotic fervor
double-edged sword
narrows the mind
fever pitch
blood boils
*
“Infused” is a strange word choice also. And what does “the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry” mean? Shouldn’t it say “no need to seize”, not “no need in seizing”, which doens’t make sense.
Actually Caesar was his third name, which acted kind of like out middle name. Originally Romans had 2 names but eventually the a third was added to distinguish provide more distinction. His full name was Gaius Julius Caesar (or Iulius to be most precise). They were especially useful due to the Roman habit of naming their kids for the number of their birth like Quintus and Sextus for fifth and sixth born.
Well, I should qualify: it had its origins as an informal name like our nicknames, but it eventually came to be passed down like other family names. Caesar’s dad was also Gaius Julius Caesar. So in that, yes, I can see how it’s like our middle names.
There were twelve Caesars, according to Suetonius, but only six had the name Caesar. Suetonius stopped at twelve because that brought him up to his present day.
Gaius Julius Caesar was the son of Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcia, and was never Emperor (he was assassinated because the conspirators feared that he wanted to be Emperor).
Gaius was his personal name or praenomen. Julius was his last or surname. “Caesar” was his cognomen, a way of nicknaming his branch of the Julii family
The Julian dynasty started with Augustus and ended with Nero.
Galba, Otho, & Vitellus were one-offs, different families, no dynasty.
Vespasian (who built the Colosseum - the Flavian Amphitheatre) started the Flavian Dynasty, which ended with Domitian.
try this link
…oh yes, and the quote in the OP belonged to none of them - try reading Robert Graves introduction to Suetonius about the difficulty of English/Latin translation when words change their meaning and usage so rapidly.