By Brooke C. Stoddard

Few men’s names resonate after two thousand years, for it is a very long stretch of time. And yet at the sound of the name “Caesar” everyone knows who he was and roughly what he did. Flawed, terrible, majestic; soldier, general, orator, administrator, author—he strode large in his time, so large that he still treads in ours.

So who is Julius Caesar? Two episodes in his early life are telling. While still a teenager, he was commanded by Rome’s dictator Sulla to divorce his wife, Cornelia. He refused. Murderous Sulla confiscated Caesar’s fortune and marked him for death. The rebellious teenager fled and joined the army. Somewhat later, when about 25, Caesar was captured by pirates who vowed to free him for a large sum of money. He said he was worth more than twice as much and sent for it, promising to hang the pirates as soon as he could. The ransom arrived and the pirates freed their captive. Caesar hired ships, caught the pirates, and crucified them—after mercifully slitting their throats.

Julius Caesar: Facts from Fiction

Do we see herein a fearless and ruthless man, ready to defy convention and smash his way to a destiny? Love him or hate him, he ran through life in bold strokes. He was a bisexual rake. Curio said of him, “He was a husband to every woman and wife to every man” in Rome. In Gaul, his soldiers sang songs in jestful warning that wives be locked indoors until he left town.

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