The rest of Pompey's life is closely connected with that of Caesar. His wife, Julia, was Caesar's daughter, and thus far the relations between the two men had been friendly.
Pompey's absence in the East was marked at Rome by the rise to political importance of CAESAR and CICERO, and by the conspiracy of CATILINE.
CHAPTER XXVII. CAESAR.—CICERO.—VERRES.
The Caesars were a family belonging to the Julian gens, which claimed descent from IÚLUS, the son of AENÉAS. Eight generations of Caesars had held prominent places in the commonwealth. They had been Consuls, Praetors, Censors, Aediles, and were aristocrats of the moderate wing. The direct ancestry of GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR can be traced no further back than his grandfather. This gentleman, of the same name as the great Caesar, married Marcia, who claimed descent from Ancus Marcius, the fourth King of Rome. They had three children, Gaius Julius, the father of the Dictator, Sextus Julius, and Julia, who became the wife of Marius. Gaius Julius held no higher office than Praetor. He was married to Aurelia, a stately woman of simple and severe tastes. Their son Gaius was born on July 12th, 100.
During Cinna's consulship (86), Caesar is first mentioned as a youth, tall, slight, handsome, with dark, piercing eyes, sallow complexion, and features refined and intellectual. The bloody scenes attending the proscription of his uncle Marius, to whose party his father belonged, must have made a deep impression upon him. One of his most intimate companions was CICERO, who was six years his senior.
Marius had seen in his nephew the materials which make great men, and determined to help him to promotion. He made him, when scarcely fifteen, a priest of Jupiter (flamen dialis), which sacred office carried with it a handsome income.
Shortly after the death of his father, in 84, Caesar married Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna. By this marriage he was connected more closely with the popular party, whose champion he remained.
When Sulla returned to Rome from his Eastern campaign, Caesar was but eighteen. In the wholesale murders that followed, his party was ruined, his nearest friends dispersed or killed. He himself was yet free from proscription, for Sulla wished to win such a promising young man to his own side. He made proposals that Caesar divorce his wife and marry one whom he might select. Caesar refused. Force was then tried. His priesthood was taken from him, and his wife's dowry. His estate was confiscated, and, when this had no effect, he was himself declared an outlaw, and a price was set on his head. Influential friends, however, interceded in his behalf, and the Dictator was finally persuaded to pardon him; but with reluctance, and with the remark that in Caesar was the making of many a Marius. The youth then left Italy, and joined the army in Asia.
Here Caesar served his apprenticeship as a soldier. He joined the forces of the Praetor Thermus, who had been sent against the pirates that were making their head-quarters in Lesbos. The Praetor, finding his troops insufficient to accomplish his work, sent Caesar to Nicomédes, a Roman ally and the King of Bithynia, to obtain additional forces. He was successful in his mission, and, upon his return to Lesbos, distinguished himself for his bravery in the attack upon Mityléne, and was awarded the oak wreath, a coveted honor, for saving the life of a fellow-soldier.