# Caesar — Discourses on Livy character guide

> Caesar in Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0004-i

## Snapshot

The general whose ambition toppled the Republic, dissected by Machiavelli as the supreme case study in how liberty dies at the hands of one man.

## Who they are

Caesar haunts the Discourses as the shadow cast over every free state: the citizen whose military glory and popular favor make him irresistible to himself. Machiavelli treats him less as a villain than as a structural warning, showing how a republic that fails to check its most successful captains invites its own enslavement. His rise frames the book's central question of whether liberty can survive the very talents it rewards.

## Relationships

### [Pope Alexander VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters/pope_alexander_vi)

_psychological_

Machiavelli uses Caesar as a model of ambition and Pope Alexander VI as a master of deceit, linking them as exemplars of ruthless power acquisition.

### [Marcus Antonius](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters/marcus_antonius)

_friendship_

Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were political allies and military partners, with Antony serving as Caesar's trusted lieutenant during the Gallic Wars and civil war.

## In the story

### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/x)

Cited as a destroyer of Rome, contrasted with Romulus the restorer; his glory is said to be exaggerated by corrupt historians.

### [Chapter XVII: That a corrupt people obtaining freedom can hardly preserve it](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xvii)

Became head of the Marian faction and blinded the multitude, leading to the loss of freedom.

### [Chapter XXVIII: Whence it came that the Romans were less ungrateful to their citizens than were the Athenians.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xxviii)

Not directly mentioned but implied in the context of Sylla and Marius; however, no direct reference in the excerpt.

### [Chapter XXIX: Whether a people or a prince is the more ungrateful](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xxix)

Referenced as an example of how ingratitude in a corrupt state leads to tyranny; he took by force what ingratitude denied him.

### [Chapter XXXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xxxiii)

Cited as an example where fear of his power led to remedies that accelerated the destruction of the republic.

### [XXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xxxiv)

Mentioned as an example of a tyrant who cloaked usurpation under the constitutional name of dictator.

### [XXXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xxxvii)

Headed the Marian party, defeated Pompey, and became the first tyrant of Rome, ending its liberty.

### [XLVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xlvi)

Quoted via Sallust: 'all ill actions have their origin in fair beginnings,' used to illustrate how ambition starts with seemingly honorable acts.

### [LII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/lii)

Mentioned as the great captain whose veterans and heir (Octavianus) were central to the senate's miscalculation.

### [LIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/lix)

Mentioned as the victor over Pompey at Thessaly.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/vi)

Referenced as one who, with an army, could make himself master of his country by open force.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xiii)

Quoted regarding his campaigns against Afranius and Petreius (army without a captain) and against Pompeius (captain without an army).

### [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/chapters/xxiv)

Mentioned as the one who overthrew the liberties of his country due to the practice of extended commands.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters/caesar
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/discourses_on_livy_se/characters