Traces Caesar's rise to prominence as a brilliant military tactician. Includes his complex relationships with his mentor General Pompey and his second wife Calpurnia. His ideological tiltings with Senator Cato, who advocates democracy over Caesar's dictatorial ambitions. Explains Caesar's violent epileptic seizures, his megalomania, his casually calculated cruelties, and his bigamous relationship with Egyptian queen Cleopatra. His nephew, Brutus, finally kills Caesar at March 15, 44. B.C. (the Ides of March) at the age of 55, starting an era of civil wars.