When Caesar 'was at leisure and was reading from the history of Alexander, he was lost in thought for a long time, and then burst into tears,' Plutarch wrote. When he was in Spain, Caesar took time to read what he could about the history of Alexander the Great. A pattern emerged where Caesar was elected or named to a position, spent large amounts of his own money on public projects, games or other benefits, and then was elected or named to another office.Ĭaesar also served as a Roman governor controlling part of Iberia from 61 to 60 B.C., where he commanded an army that fought against tribes who opposed Roman rule. 'He was unsparing in his outlays of money, and was thought to be purchasing a transient and short-lived fame at a great price, though in reality he was buying things of the highest value at a small price,' Plutarch wrote. When his first wife, Cornelia, died in 69 B.C., Caesar used her funeral to grow his support by breaking with tradition and giving an oration that appealed to the people and showcased his caring side.Ĭaesar also spent lavishly, going into debt so that he could continue to give out gifts and buy political support. 'He a large and gradually increasing political influence in consequence of his lavish hospitality and the general splendour of his mode of life,' Plutarch wrote.Ĭaesar was an eloquent speaker who was even able to turn personal tragedies into political gains. He caught them, too, still lying at anchor off the island,' Plutarch wrote, adding that Caesar 'took the robbers out of prison, and crucified them all, just as he had often warned them.' Caesar's growing influenceĬaesar's political career gradually took off after his return to Rome around 74 B.C., and he used his family's wealth and skills to help grow his power.

After the ransom was paid and Caesar was released, he 'immediately manned vessels and put to sea from the harbour of Miletus against the robbers. However, Caesar's threats to kill the pirates were no joke. The pirates were delighted at this, and attributed his boldness of speech to a certain simplicity and boyish mirth,' Plutarch wrote. He 'wrote poems and sundry speeches which he read aloud to them, and those who did not admire these he would call to their faces illiterate barbarians, and often laughingly threatened to hang them all.

While the money was being collected, Caesar spent time with the pirates. How much a Roman talent could weigh at a given time is a subject of debate among historians but was likely somewhere between 60 to 100 pounds (27 to 45 kilograms) in Caesar's time. Plutarch doesn't say what the talents were made of, but silver is likely. 'When the pirates demanded twenty talents for his ransom, he laughed at them for not knowing who their captive was, and of his own accord agreed to give them fifty,' Plutarch wrote (translated by Bernadotte Perrin). At some point on his journey he was captured by pirates, who, at least according to several near-contemporary writers, fatally underestimated Caesar. (Image credit: imageBROKER/Mara Brandl via Getty images)Ĭaesar was able to return to Rome after Sulla died in 78 B.C., but he left soon after to study oratory on Rhodes, an island near modern-day Turkey. Caesar was en route to Rhodes when he was kidnapped by pirates and held for ransom. At one point he was captured by Sulla's soldiers but escaped by paying a bribe. Sulla was fond of having his opponents murdered, and the teenage Caesar was forced to flee Rome, Plutarch wrote. 116) in his book 'Parallel Lives.' One of Sulla's most prominent opponents, Gaius Marius, had married into Caesar's family, and this may have influenced Caesar's decision. While his family was not particularly powerful at the time Caesar was born, some of his ancestors had held positions as senior officials in the Roman Republic, Goldsworthy noted.Ĭaesar was politically active as a teenager, opposing Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who became dictator of Rome in 82 B.C., according to the ancient Greek author Plutarch (lived A.D. Members of his family were 'patricians, which meant that they were members of the oldest aristocratic class at Rome, who in the early Republic had monopolized power, ruling over the far more numerous plebeians,' wrote Goldsworthy. Caesar was born into a wealthy family with a noble lineage.

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