For centuries, Julius Caesar has endured in our collective imagination as a favorite among historians and scholars, playwrights and poets. In legend he lives as the great conqueror of Rome's immense empire, a remarkable diplomat and writer, an unrivaled heartbreaker, and a man of relentless determination who met a seemingly tragic end.

Originally published : United Kingdom : HarperCollins, 1995. Translation of the 3rd German pbk. ed. Includes index.

1. Caesar and Rome: Two Realities -- 2. Caesar's Fascination -- 3. Crisis and Outsiders -- 4. Birth and Family -- 5. Youth in Rome -- 6. The Second Decade: Experience of the Civil War and First Commitment -- 7. The First Test: the Experience of Rome in the Decade after the Restoration (78-70 BC) -- 8. The Political Rise of the Outsider (69 to 60 BC) -- 9. Crisis and Tensions: Cato's Authority, Pompey's Difficulty, Caesar's Problem -- 10. The Consulship (59 BC) -- 11. Achievement in Gaul -- 12. The Process of the Crisis without Alternative, Caesar's Right to the Civil War, his Greatness -- 13. The Civil War (49-46 BC) -- 14. Failure after Victory.