CE.SAR, CAIUS Jvcius, the first Roman emperor, 13 one of the most extraordinary diameters that have appeared in the history of the world. t'oesar v, as of tut illuatrions family, though his immedi-te a tors had been Ina little distinruished. The Julian family I id ( lain, high antiquity ; and the refined flatten t s, NS were patronized by the liberality of h etc co; these pret. lisions by the clega•it prodo( tions cf their genius, and talight us to t t.te Julia lantily as lineally descended from the son of Julius, a origin denti.sum nom( Julo. Nirc, We know little of the parents of C.csar ; all that we know respecting his lat.ter is, tl at he dropt down oc.d one morning when he was potting on his s .ocs ; a. d of his mother Aurelia, it is said, that she was• a matron of noble fintily, and great pi opt iety of manners; and that sne bestowed the utmost Lttention on the education of her son. The youth or Caesar scented, to ordinary ob servers, to afford no imitations of his future greatness ; it was spent in turbul( rice, profusion, and profligacy. lie was notorious for the most unmanly and disgusti delraucnery ; and all the splendouis which aftt t oat ds surrounded his name and his family , have not! z.ble to screen his vier s from the lash of satire. With the habits of a rake and a coxcomb, few people apprehend ed any danger to the rcpubtic from his cautions; even Cicero, after he began to entertain some suspicions of his intentions, was deceived by these appearances, and said, that he could not conceive the state I.ad any thing to fear from a man so finical in his cress; and so much afraid of deranging the economy of his hair, that he scratched his head with one finger.
Ile had given early proofs of aspiring ambition; and his connections at first were suet , as to promise the attainment of his object wit little trouble. Marius was married to his aunt ; and, to strengthen his interest with that party, he himself married Cornejo, the daughter of Cinna. Through the influence of tl.e.e powerful lead ers, he was chosen Thimen Dialis, or priest of Jupiter, when lie was ouly ahout seventeen years of age. On
the ruin of this at ty, Cxsar became an object of jea lousy to Sylla, who nad sufficient penetr,tion, even at that early period, to appreciate his chai_cter. When those around the dictator represented Cxsar as too in significant to excite any apprehensions, lie replied, with a kind of prophetic sagacity, that he saw many Mariuses in that dissolute youth. Indeed, he gave at that time a plow or intrepidity, unexampled in that reign of terror; he had the boldness to resist the command cf Sylla to divorce his wife, by means of whom he v as so closely connected with the opposite faction ; and chose to go into a voluntary exile, rather than purchase security by a dishonourable sacrifice, or yield obedience to a tyrant's NN As Cxsar seldom did any thing which had rot a ten dency 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 conju gal fidelity. Ile married Cornelia for political pur poses, by breaking his engagemeLts with another; and he would have parted with her with the sank could his views have been promoted by the measure. But i, seems to have been his wish to appear as a mar tyr to the cause of Marius, which had always been popular with the multitude, 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, he resolved to 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, unless he had riches to bribe the unprincipled, or eloquence to protect the de fenceless. By the judicious application of the latter quality, Cicero had raised himself to the highest honours of the state ; but Cxsar, who looked far beyond the le .