Marc Antony delivers Caesar's funeral oration. Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. In military campaigns to secure Roman rule over the province of Gaul (present day France) he gained much prestige. The Roman senate, fearing his power, ordered him to disband his army, but Caesar refused, crossed the Rubicon River, returned to Rome with his army, and made himself dictator. On a subsequent campaign in Asia, he reported to the senate, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Caesar was assassinated by his friend Brutus and others on the Ides of March in 44 BC. Marc Antony (83-30 BC) was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar. In his speech, he made accusations of murder and ensured a permanent breach with the conspirators. Antony snatched the toga from Caesar's body to show the crowd the stab wounds, pointing at each and naming the authors, publicly shaming them. He also read Caesar's will, which left most of his property to the people of Rome. That night, the Roman populace attacked the assassins' houses, forcing them to flee for their lives.
