CAESAR, Gaius Julius, the greatest repre sentative of the genius of Rome, a man of con summate ability alike as a general, a construc tive statesman and a writer. He was born, ac cording to all the ancient authorities, 12 July 100 a.c., but Mommsen, in his 'History of Rome,' considers that the year should be given as 102. Of purest patrician ancestry, and with a family tradition intimately associated with the rule of the senatorial oligarchy, he was yet, from early youth, a champion of the popular party. His aunt Julia had married Marius, and when, upon the latter's death in 86, Cinna became the leader of the Populares, Caesar entered into intimate relations with him and in 83 married his daughter Cornelia. But the following year Sulla returned from the East and overwhelmed the foes of the Senate. A reign of terror for the Marian party followed. With character istic boldness, Caesar refused to divorce his wife at the order of the dictator, and lost, in consequence, his property, his position as priest of Jupiter and almost his life. The famous story that Sulla pardoned him with the remark that °he would one day be the ruin of the aristocracy, for in him there was many a Marius," though vouched for by both Suetonius and Plutarch, seems strikingly inconsistent with Sulla's usual remorseless logic. •Partly to avoid further trouble, and partly to gain that military experience which was at Rome deemed a pre requisite to an official career, he now went Asia, and, as a staff officer, served with distin guished bravery at the siege of Mytilene, and afterward against the pirates in Cilicia, but re turned home upon receiving news of Sulla's death in 78. As pleading in the courts was the natural avenue to popular favor, we presently find him acting as prosecutor in two cases in volving extortion in provincial administration. But the culprits, Dolabella and Antonius, be longed to the senatorial order, and his elo quence, though it won applause, failed to move juries composed of senators. He determined to perfect himself in oratory by studying under the most famous teacher of the age, Apollonius Molo of Rhodes. On the way thither he fell into the hands of pirates near Miletus, and was held for a ransom of 50 talents (over $55,000). During a stay of almost 40 days he won the admiration of his captors by his coolness and wit, and laughingly promised to crucify them all as soon as he should obtain his freedom, a threat which he promptly carried out to the letter. He studied under Molo only a short time, however, for the renewal of hostilities by Mithridates against the Roman province of Asia brought him into the field with some hastily levied troops, and, after brief but effec tive service, he returned to Rome in the winter of 74-73. He had been elected pontif ex in his absence, and now took part, with the utmost energy, in the attempts that were being made to overthrow the Sullan constitution. This was accomplished in the year 70, though in a totally unexpected manner, by the legislation of porn oey and Crassus, both of whom had, previous to that time, been supporters of senatorial pre rogative. Meanwhile Caesar, by his unfailing courtesy and good will, and a lavish generosity that soon plunged him deep into debt, had been winning all hearts. In 69 he was elected quastor, and was assigned to the province of Further Spain. But before his departure he lost his aunt Julia and his wife, Cornelia. At the former's funeral he caused busts of Marius to be carried in the procession, to the great de light of the populace, and in the two memorial addresses which he delivered in the forum he eulogized the aims and leaders of the people's party. In Spain he must have noted with ap
preciation the work of the great Marian gen eral, Sertorius, the first man who tried to romanize the provincials. Upon his return, in 67, he entered into friendly relations with Pompey, and supported the Gabinian and Manilian laws, by which the latter was to re ceive the supreme command against the pirates and Mithridates, with powers unprecedented in the history of the republic. In 65 he was zdile, and met the demands of his office with unheard of magnificence in buildings and games. In particular, he stirred the people to frantic en thusiasm by secretly erecting in the capitol new trophies of Marius, to replace those which Sulla had destroyed. In 63 he was chosen pontif ex maximus, an office of great prestige and prominence in a state in which religion and politics had always been closely associated. That he had knowledge of the Catilinarian con spiracy of this year is by no means unlikely. But he took no part in it, and the aristocracy was unable to persuade Cicero to include him in the list of the conspirators. In 62 he was praetor, and in the following year went as governor to Further Spain, where for the first time he commanded an army and became con scious of his military genius. Toward the end' of 61 Pompey returned to Rome, a victor over the entire East, but was coldly received by the distrustful Senate, which refused to ratify his acts in Asia and to make the ssignments of lands promised to his vetera Caesar, return ing from Spain, seized ' cs opportunity, and about the time of his election to the consulship, reconciled Pompey and Crassus, whose enor mous wealth made him indispensable, and formed with them the so-called First Trium virate. The alliance was strengthened by the marriage of Pompey with Caesar's daughter Julia. During his consulship in 59 Caesar car ried, among other measures, a popular agrarian bill, the ratification of Pompey's acts, and a stringent law against extortion in the provinces, while he won to his support the whole eques trian order, to which the collectors of the pub lic revenues belonged, by modifying the terms of their last contract with the state. His popu larity enabled him to secure the assignment to himself for five years (subsequently increased to 10) of the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul, Illyricum and Transalpine Gaul, together with four legions. The following eight years (58 51) witnessed those brilliant campaigns which ended in the complete subjugation of Gaul, and its acceptance of the laws, language and civiliza tion of Rome. The first three years of war brought all Gaul to his feet, but the love of liberty was still too strong in this brave people, and dangerous revolts broke out year after year. In 55 he crossed the Rhine on the famous bridge, and later made his first expedition to Britain, he invaded again the following year. Vinally, in the winter of 53-52, Ver cingetorix, Gaul's greatest hero, and a born leader of men, organized a general uprising of all the tribes. The flame of insurrection swept over the whole country. The campaign cul minated in the siege of Alesia (Alise in Bur gundy), an almost impregnable fortress into which the Gallic chieftain had thrown himself with 80,000 men. Caesar invested the place with less than 60,000, and was presently himself in vested by an enormous army of relief, estimated at over 240,000 men. But he completely routed this vast host, and Vercingetorix, worn out by hunger, surrendered. By the end of the fol lowing year Caesar was at last able to address himself to the peaceful organization of the new territory.