Gaius Julius Caesar: The Early Years

I am Gaius Julius Caesar. I was born to the house of the Julii, decedents of Aeneas and son of the goddess Venus. My parents were Gaius Julius Caesar, the first, and Aurelia Cotta, who raised me after my father died when I was 15 years of age. I became head of my family at 16. My aunt married Gaius Marius, who would later be known as Marius the Great. At the same time, my uncle Marius was fighting a civil war with Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Marius gained influence over the Rome, and it was then that I became a high priest of Jupiter. After becoming high priest, I married my first wife, Cornelia, who was the daughter of my uncle’s ally by the name of Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Lucius and Marius’ influence did not last long, and eventually, Sulla defeated them. Because I was family to the defeated, I became a threat to Sulla’s new regime. Sulla took everything from me from my inheritance to Cornelia’s dowry. Moreover, I lost my position as a high priest of Jupiter. I did not divorce Cornelia, which forced me to seek refuge. Thanks to some of my family and the Vestal Virgins who were supporters of Sulla, I was no longer considered a threat in Sulla’s eyes. Some say that Sulla still felt threatened by me because he sensed much of my uncle in me. It was after this incident that I left Rome to join the army. I gained recognition in King Nicomedee’s court after assisting the king’s fleet in Bithynia, and I spent awhile there. However, I deny any rumors that I had an affair with the king. I believe the defeat of my uncle and Lucius Cornelius Cinna to be fate. If I had remained a high priest of Jupiter, I would not been able to have a military career. I did not return to Rome until years later (78 B.C.E.) after I obtained word that Sulla had died, and I knew that it was safe to return.

Sources Used:

 

Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Penguin Classics Revised Edition, December 18, 2007. Print.

Plutarch, Lives: Demosthenes and Cicero, Alexander and Caesar, Harvard University Press, January 31, 1919. Print.