fabric the world has ever seen. There have been
other generals, statesmen, authors, as great as Caesar; but the
extraordinary combination of powers in this one man goes very far toward
making good the claim that he was the most remarkable man in history.

He was born 100 B.C., a member of the great Julian _gens_, which claimed
descent from AEneas and Venus, the glories of which are celebrated in
Vergil's immortal epic. Thus the future leader of the turbulent
democracy, and the future despot who was to humble the nobles of Rome,
was by birth an aristocrat of bluest blood. His life might easily have
come to an untimely end in the days of Sulla's bloody ascendency, for he
was connected by marriage with Marius and Cinna. Sulla was persuaded to
spare him, but clearly saw, even then, that "in Caesar there were many
Mariuses."

All young Romans of rank were expected to go through a term of at least
nominal military service. Caesar's apprenticeship was in Asia Minor in 80
B.C. He distinguished himself at the storming of Mytilene, and
afterwards served in Cilicia. He began his political and oratorical
career by the prosecution of Cornelius Dolabella, one of the nobility,
on a charge of extortion. About 75 B.C. he was continuing his studies at
Rhodes, then a famous school of eloquence. Obtaining the quaestorship in
67 B.C., he was assigned to duty in the province of Further Spain. Two
years later he became aedile. At the age of thirty-seven he was elected
_pontifex maximus_ over two powerful competitors. Entirely without
religious belief, as far as we can judge, he recognized the importance
of this portion of the civil order, and mastered the intricate lore of
the established ceremonial. In this office, which he held for life, he
busied himself with a Digest of the Auspices and wrote an essay on
Divination.

After filling the praetorship in 62 B.C., he obtained, as propraetor, the
governorship of his old province of Further Spain, which he was destined
to visit twice in later years as conqueror in civil war. His military
success at this time against the native tribes was such as to entitle
him to the honor of a triumph. This he was obliged to forego in order to
stand at once for the consulship, which office he held for the year 59
B.C. He had previously entered into a private agreement with Pompey and
Crassus, known as the First Triumvirate. Caesar had always presented
himself as the friend of the people; Pompey was the most f