懂你英語 Level 6 Unit 2 Part 3 Listening The Murder of Caesar

In this course, we have tried to prepare you to understand and discuss important topics that are often in the news.

Sometimes?the?news?is?good?news?,but?all?too?often?we?learn?of?problems and?crises.

Once?in?a?while,?an?event is?extraordinary?and?will?change?the?world.

In?this?lesson,?we?focus?on?an?event?that?changed?history?forever.

This historic event was the assassination of the Roman leader, Julius Caesar.

We will never know how history might have been different had this event not taken place.

But we can speculate what caused it and how it might have been prevented.

One of the most famous assassinations in history was the assassination of Julius Caesar.

At the time of his death in 44 B.C, he was the leader of the Roman Empire.

His?title?was?”Dictator?for?Life”?which?meant?he?had?absolute?authority?fof r?as?long?as?he?lived.

He had gained this power through his successes as a military commander.

In fact ,some historians consider him to be one of the greatest military commanders in history.

Once?gaining?power,?he?fought?against?corruption?and?began?to?restructure?the?government.

For?example,?he?increased?the?number?of?senators?and?changed?how?they?were?chosen.

Instead?of?being?elected,?they?could?be?appointed,?even?if?they?were?not?from?Rome.

These?actions?reduced?the?power?of?individual?senators?and?shifted?the?power?to?Caesar?himself.

In?doing?so,?he?created?many?enemies,?especially?among?the?aristocracy.

However,?he?also?had?many?admirers?who?supported?his?efforts?to?end?corruption.

Caesar?was?stabbed?to?death?by?agroup?of?Roman?senators?on?March15,44B.C.

He?was?scheduled?to?leave?Rome?3?days?later?to?fight?in?another?war

He?had?appointed?members?of?his?army?to?rule?the?Empire?while?he?was?away.

This?action?angered?many?in?the?Roman?senate?who?didn't?want?to?take?orders?from?Caesars?subordinates

He?should?have?been?aware?that?many?of?the?senators?hated?him,?but?he?dismissed?his?security?force?not?long?before?the?assassination

If?he?hadn't?dismissed?it,?the?assassination?attempt?might?not?have?succeeded.

(He?appointed?members?of?his?army?to?rule?while?he?was?away?from Rome .)

(He shouldn't have dismissed his security force.)

On?the?day?of?his?assassination,?it?is?reported?that?Caesar?may?have?been?handed?a?warning?note?as?he?entered?the?senate.?

If?he?did?receive?such?a?note, he?didn't?read?it.?

It?seems?as?if?he?was?in?a?state?of?denial?and?refused?to?recognize?the?danger?that?was?facing?him.?

Once?he?had?entered?the?senate,?he?was?surrounded?by?senators?holding?daggers,?or knives.

The first blow hit Caesar in his neck and drew blood.

Then the other senators joined in and stabbed him repeatedly until he fell to the floor and died

In total, he suffered 23 knife wounds.

With his death, power shifted to his adopted son, Octavian, who vowed revenge against the assassins.

Eventually, several of the leading assassins were either killed or committed suicide.

After a power struggle, Octavian strengthened his position as leader and ruled the Empire for many years.

In the end ,Caesar’s attempts to end corruption failed.

(He may have been over confident and unaware of the magnitude of the danger facing him)