l education.

Apparently Caesar was not a prodigy when a young man, and there seemed
little to distinguish him from any other young nobleman who went about
the city in dandified apparel with hair oiled and perfumed,--but Caesar
had quietly made up his mind to be the first man in Rome and to surpass
all others in greatness. Occasionally he showed this resolution. And
once on his birthday, when passing the statue of the great conqueror,
Alexander, he wept because he had reached an age when Alexander had
conquered the entire world, while he, Caesar, as yet had done nothing.

Rome, in Caesar's boyhood, was embroiled in civil war, and the leaders
of the Roman armies were constantly fighting among themselves. There
had been a great public man named Marius who championed the rights of
the common people, or the plebeians, and who was greatly loved by the
more humble men of Rome, but Marius had been overthrown by a fierce,
cruel nobleman named Sulla, who made himself the head of the Roman
State and slew every one who stood in his way.

Here appeared the first sign that Caesar possessed the qualities of
greatness--for while still a young man, he dared to defy the terrible
Sulla. Caesar had just married Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, and was
ordered by Sulla to divorce her. But he resolutely refused to allow the
word of the dictator to come between him and his wife, and was obliged
to leave Rome by night to escape Sulla's vengeance. He fled into
Samnium, but was followed there by Sulla's soldiers, taken prisoner and
brought back to Rome. And Sulla would certainly have put him to death
if some powerful men had not interceded for him and asked for his life.
"I will grant this boon," said Sulla, with a glance that made them
quail, "but take heed for this young man who wears his belt so
loosely," meaning that he saw in Caesar dangerous qualities that might
one day threaten the elaborate machine of Roman government.

As all young Romans were obliged to serve in the army, and as Caesar was
not safe in Rome where Sulla at any time might send assassins to murder
him, he went to the far east where a Roman army was waging war against
a king named Mithridates. At the siege of a town called Mytelene Caesar
so distinguished himself for bravery that he won the civic crown, for
saving the life of a fellow soldier in the face of the enemy.

When Sulla died, Caesar returned to Rome, and became one of the leaders
of the party that had been ag