194 



e m s A R. 



us to consider the Julian family as lineally descended 

 from the son of jEneas. 



Julius, a magne demitsum nomen Julo. VIROIL, 



We know little of the parents of Caesar ; all that 

 we know respecting his father is, that he droptdown 

 dead one morning when he was putting on his shoes; 

 and of his mother Aurelia, it is said, that she was a 

 matron of noble family, and great propriety of man- 

 ners ; and that she bestowed the utmost attention on 

 the education of her son. The youth of Caesar seem- 

 ed, to ordinary observers, to afford no indications of 

 his future greatness ; it was spent in turbulence, pro- 

 fusion, and profligacy. He was notorious for the 

 most unmanly and disgusting debauchery ; and all 

 the splendours which afterwards surrounded his name 

 and his family, have not been able to screen his 

 vices from the lash of satire. With the habits of a 

 rake and a coxcomb, few people apprehended any 

 danger to the republic from his exertions ; even Ci- 

 cero, after he began to entertain some suspicions of 

 his intentions, was deceived by these appearances, 

 and said, that he could not conceive the state had 

 any thing to fear from a man so finical in his dress ; 

 and so much afraid' of deranging the economy of his 

 liair, that he scratched his head with one finger. 



He had given early proofs of aspiring ambition ; 

 and his connections at first were such, as to promise 

 the attainment of his object with little trouble. Ma- 

 rius was married to his aunt ; and, to strengthen his 

 interest with that party, he himself married Cornelia, 

 the daughter of Cinna : Through the influence of 

 these powerful leaders, he was chosen Flamen Dialis, 

 or priest of Jupiter, when he was only about seven- 

 teen years of age. On the ruin of this party, Caesar 

 became an object of jealousy to Sylla, who had suffi- 

 cient penetration, even at that early period, to ap- 

 preciate his character. When those around the dic- 

 tator represented Caesar as too insignificant to excite 

 any apprehensions, he replied, with a kind of prophe- 

 tic sagacity, that he saw many Mariuses in that dis- 

 solute youth. Indeed, he gave at that time a proof 

 of intrepidity, unexampled in that reign of terror ; 

 he had the boldness to resist the command of Sylla 

 to divorce his wife, by means of whom he was so 

 closely connected with the opposite faction ; and 

 chose to go into a voluntary exile, rather than pur- 

 chase security by a dishonourable sacrifice, or yield 

 obedience to a tyrant's will. 



As Caesar seldom did any thing which had not a 

 tendency directly or indirectly to the great object of 

 his life his advancement to power, it is probable,, 

 that his opposition to the will of Sylla, is to be set 

 down to the score of his ambition, rather than 

 ascribed to conjugal fidelity. He married Cornelia 

 for political purposes, by breaking his engagements 

 with another ; and he would have parted with her 

 with the same facility, could his views have been 

 promoted by the measure. But it seems to have been 

 his wish to appear as a martyr to the cause of Ma- 

 rius, which had always been popular with the multi- 

 tude, through whose means he intended to climb to 

 power. 



Finding it expedient to leave Rome, which was at 

 that time entirely under the dominion of his enemies, 



6 



heresolvedto prosecute those studies, for which he was 

 so eminently qualified by nature, and which were ab- 

 solutely necessary for every one who wished to make 

 a figure in the state. In that age of Rome, scarcely 

 any man could hope for influence, unles. he had 

 riches to bribe the unprincipled, or eloquence to pro- 

 tect the defenceless. By the judicious application of 

 the latter quality, Cicero had raised himself to the 

 highest honours of the state ; but Caesar, who look- 

 ed far beyond the legitimate honours which satisfied 

 Cicero, wished to combine in his own person every 

 qualification which could smooth the way to abso- 

 lute authority. He saw that eloquence was necessa- 

 ry to give eclat to wealth, or to justify, its misappli- 

 cation. Crassus, the richest man in Rome, never 

 had been respected, because he was known to be of 

 sordid habits and mean capacity ; and though he had 

 ambition to aspire to absolute power, and money suf- 

 ficient to have bought it, yet, as he wanted abilities 

 to wield such a cumbersome and dangerous instru- 

 ment, he never became an object of jealousy to the 

 state. Unfortunately, all these qualities were com- 

 bined in Caesar : his ambition knew no bounds ; his 

 wealth, which waa considerable, was most profusely- 

 lavished on the needy and undeserving ; whilst his 

 abilities ranked him with the first characters that 

 Rome or the world ever produced. 



To improve his eloquence, he resolved to spend 

 the time of his retreat from Rome, under Apollo- 

 nius Molo, a celebrated rhetorician at Rhodes, who 

 had also been the master of Cicero ; and who thus 

 had the honour of having for his pupils two of the 

 most extraordinary men who have figured on the 

 theatre of the world. On his way to Rhodes, he 

 was taken by pirates, with whom he lived upwards 

 of a month, till he could procure money to purchase 

 his freedom. During this interval we are told by 

 Plutarch, that he lived very much at his ease, en- 

 gaging in all the exercises and diversions of the pi- 

 rates, delivering orations -to- them j and calling them 

 brutes and barbarians, when they did not appreciate 

 the merit of his compositions. He also threatened 

 to crucify them all, as soon as he should obtain his 

 liberty : the pirates laughed at these threats, and 

 considered him as a pleasant fellow : it was not long, 

 however, before he had an opportunity of carrying 

 them into effect. He manned a few vessels in the 

 port of Miletus, and attacked the pirates whilst they 

 were lying at anchor in perfect security. He took 

 the greater part of them prisoners, and immediately 

 applied to Junius Silanus, pro-consul of Bithynia, 

 for an order for their execution ; this being refused, 

 he hastened to the place where he had left them, and 

 had them all nailed to the cross, before instructions 

 could arrive to prevent it. 



After the fears excited by the proscription were 

 removed, and the vanquished Marian party began to 

 think of again lifting its head, Caesar was earnestly 

 solicited by his friends to return to Rome, that the 

 party might be supported by his known talents and 

 intrepidity. He began his political career in the way 

 common amongst young patriots at Rome, as well 

 as in other countries, by professing great zeal for 

 the purity of the administration ; and by publicly 

 impeaching some persons of great influence, and high 



