“These and similar events caused him to keep everything under his own direction: as one many read elsewhere, ‘Caesar was all in all’ [Lucan, Pharsalia, III. 108]”. (30)
This quotation is significant because the author, Jocelin, was comparing Abbot Samson to Caesar. He wanted to compare the two to show that Abbot Samson was a powerful ruler of the Abbey just as Caesar was an all-powerful ruler of the Roman Empire. The examples the author gives include how Abbot Samson took control of the management of all the manors including their equipment and livestock. He was also appointed a judge by the pope, so this gave him more control over the people who lived in the Abbey.
This is a very interesting comparison that I did not pick up on while I was reading the book. The fact that the narrator would compare Abbot Samson to Caesar is intriguing because that just goes to show how much power and influence Samson really had over the Abbey. Caesar was the emperor of on of the largest empires of all time, so comparing him to Samson really shows the power he had at that time.
I think this quote is very interesting as well. The comparison to Caesar, who was so well known that the Russian Czar and German Kaiser are both named after him. This makes the comment of Samson being very much like Caesar high praise, and I think just as importantly the quote could signify Jocelin believes Samson will rise to even higher positions just as Caesar did.