> Sad that the product of two of histories great geniuses had to be killed by Octavian to protect his claim to the empire. Though the child seldom matches their parents, seems like an irreplaceable genetic loss.
I think this statement jumps on the "nature" bandwagon, but I'd argue that at least Caesar wasn't born a political and military genius, but got there by:
1. Good tolerance of failure. Great Roman military commanders like Pompey and Caesar were known to have an uncanny ability to learn from their defeats.
2. Luck. Certain decision making like going to Britain twice and making the same mistake almost to his end played out well for Caesar. Also decisions to march to save his garrisoned legion during the greater Gallic rebellion during wintertime, while admirable (the safety of his soldiers was of supreme importance to him), worked out where they seemed like they shouldn't most of the time.
3. Stupidity of his enemies. How many times did Caesar attack the Pompeans during the Civil War during winter? They never learned. It's remarkable really. One can also look at Caesar's merciful treatment of enemies during the civil war as evidence of his genius -- he won so many by being gentle, even though he had to fight Ahenobarbus like 4 times because he kept letting him go.
With that, Caesar turned into an absolute master by making reasonable calculated risks and surviving them. By the point he was clearing the last of the Pompeans in Africa at the end of the Civil War, he didn't even leave his tent to give commands -- so confident and expertised in warfare that he didn't even have to see the field of battle.
This is a bit of a ramble. I really admire Julius Caesar and think there's so much to learn by studying his life and habits.