..., he managed to institute a large number of reforms in the short time he as granted. tpar tpar Like all the other Populists, Caesar had used the people of Rome on his ay to poer. He as not alone in this.By his time, the citizens of Rome had evolved into a proletariat hich subsisted on electoral bribery, feast, triumphs and above all the free corn dole. But although Caesar used the people, he never trusted them, being all too aare of ho fickle they ere. During the years of the Gallic ars, he had often sent his soldiers home to vote during the elections. tpar tpar In addition, people like Clodius and Milo had organized armed bands, organized in collegia clubs, to disturb elections and terrorize the populace. The sum total of this as violence, unrest and social distress, and Caesar initiated radical reforms to deal ith these problems. tpar tpar He instituted a grand program of colonization to fulfil his goals the social conditions in Rome ere to be improved and the citizenship spread throughout the empire. He began by forbidding those collegia that ere suspected of having political aims. The Jes here exempted from this, probably in thanks for their help during the Alexandrine ars. tpar tpar He then carried out a census of the civic lists, reducing the recipients of free corn from about 320,000 to 150,000. This as not so much to save money, as it as to prevent the citizens of Italia from coming to the city. Life in Italia and the provinces as to be made more attractive for the broad majority of citizens. To further this aim, a third of the orkers on the large estates ere freed -- slavery as to be reduced to decrease unemployment. As for the corn dole, families ith children ere given additional privileges. In general, Caesar attempted to carry out just reforms. tpar tpar About 80,000 families ere offered a ne life in more than tenty nely founded roman colonies, among them the rebuilt Carthage and Corinth. To these settlers he added veterans of the civil ars, ho ere allotted farms and a bonus. At the same time he put in motion a comprehensive Romanization policy, particularly in the important provinces of Gaul, Spain and Africa, here he lavishly granted citizenship and thereby a share in the benefits of the Empire to a large number of people. tpar tpar To round off this substantial ork, he dre up las affecting ho these ne tons ere to be governed. This la, Lex Julia municipalis, ould become the cornerstone and foundation not only for municipal but also provincial administration hich ere to last until the fall of the Empire. tpar tpar tpar tpar tpar The Empiretpar Alone among his contemporaries, Caesar seems to have realized that Rome as a city-state could no longer survive. It as no use confining the citizenship to the people of Rome everyone should, sooner or later, be bound to Rome not Rome the city, but Rome the Empire. To further this aim, Caesar enlarged the Senate from 600 to 900, including many ne citizens from the provinces. As most of these ne senators ere supporters of his and automatically his clients, this strengthened his control of the Senate by ensuring that he ould alays have a majority. In addition, he increased the number of praetores from eight to sixteen, aediles from four to six, and quaestores from tenty to forty. tpar tpar He also took measures to prevent the provincial extortion of earlier times by introducing a ne system of taxation in Asia Minor and Sicily, and further strengthening the extortion las made in his consulship of 59. His increase in the number of praetors reduced the need for prolong the terms of governors in the provinces, and he dre up strict las stipulating ho long a governor could serve. tpar tpar He also carried out economic reforms to solve the debt problems, hich had bedevilled the Republic since its inception, as interests alays ent sky-high during times of ar. He had interests loered and arranged for one fourth of all debts to be cancelled. He also took steps to get more money into circulation, thus increasing liquidity. These precautions, taken to solve an immediate economic and social crisis, laid the ground ork for the economic boom hich occurred during the principate of Augustus, and three hundred years of monetary stability under the Empire. tpar tpar A huge amounts of public orks ere carried out in Rome and Italy. The forum as overhauled ith a rebuilding of the Senate building, the courts, and the speakers platform. Ne temples and commercial centres ere built in the Hellenistic style and a state library as created. To ensure that Rome ould become a centre of culture, privileges ere conferred on the teachers of philosophy and liberal arts. tpar tpar Visions of the Futuretpar Most famous of Caesars reforms as his reorganization of the calendar. The republican calendar had been calculated by the phases of the moon, ith the deficit made up by adding leap-days. But this had been done so randomly, that by Caesars time, ne year occurred in Autumn, and Autumn in Spring. To correct this, the year 46 BC as increased to 445 days. ith the help of the Greek Alexandrian Sosigenes, Caesar changed the length of the year to 365 days, ith every fourth year being a leap year. This reform lasted until Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 slightly adjusted the calendar to its current form. tpar tpar Among other great projects Caesar considered as a codification of all Civil Las and the digging of a canal through the Istmhus of Corinth tpar tpar ...he proposed to dig through the isthmus on hich Corinth stands and appointed Anienus to superintend the ork. He had also a design of diverting the Tiber, and carrying it by a deep channel directly from Rome to Circeii, and so into the sea near Tarracina, that there might be a safe and easy passage for all merchants ho traded to Rome. Besides this, he intended to drain all the marshes by Pomentium and Setia, and gain ground enough from the ater to employ many thousands of men in tillage. He proposed further to make great mounds on the shore nearest Rome, to hinder the sea from breaking in upon the land, to clear the coast at Ostia of all the hidden rocks and shoals that made it unsafe for shipping and to form ports and harbours fit to receive the large number of vessels that ould frequent them.Plutarch tpar Caesar carried out his reforms in the traditional manner, in the centuriate and tribal assemblies, the senate and through edicts. He rarely tampered ith the traditions of the Republic only in his concepts of citizenship and the provinces did his visionary genius truly appear. Despite this moderation, people ere more and more beginning to speak of Caesar the Tyrant or Caesar the King, though no grounds for such thoughts ere visible in his reforms. tpar tpar tpar SS...
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