The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

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The Roman A rmy
whose task was to round off the eastern war begun by Sulla and keep the peace.
One of Caesar’s tasks was to persuade King Nicomedes of Bithynia to provide
ships for the Roman fleet, a mission that he was supposed to have fulfilled by
agreeing to a homosexual relationship with the king. Whether or not this was
true or stemmed from malicious rumor cannot be proven one way or the other,
but the story was never forgotten, despite the fact that Caesar developed a reputation
as one of the greatest womanizers in Rome.
Bringing Nicomedes’s ships to join the Roman fleet, Caesar played his part
in the attack on Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. His actions were noted, and
he earned the corona civica, awarded for saving the lives of Roman citizens in
battle. Little else is known of him during this period, except that he remained in
the east until Sulla’s death in 78 bc. The Dictator had resigned in 79, saying that
his work was finished, an action that Caesar later described as ludicrous, implying
that once he gained power on that level, he did not intend to let it slip.
After the death of Sulla, an attempt at revolution by Marcus Aemilius Lepi
dus was foi l ed by Pom pey, who was short ly afterw a rd given the com m a n d
against Sertorius in Spain. In Rome, like other aspiring politicians, Caesar built
up a rep ut a ti on in the law co u rt s , bri n ging a case against Gn aeus Corn el iu s
Do l a bell a , who had served in the east and used every opportu n i ty to en ri ch
himself at the expense of the Greek states. Caesar lost his case, but was asked by
other Greeks to prosecute Gaius Antonius for extortion. The man was so plainly
guilty that he had to appeal to the tribunes of the plebs to pull strings to avoid
condemnation. Caesar lost again, but morally he had proved his worth. In 75
bc, he went to Rhodes to study, the Roman equivalent of going to University.
This is the context of one of the more fantastic anecdotes about Caesar. He was
c a ptu red by pira tes who opera ted from the harbors and bays of Ci l i c i a . Th ey
held him to ransom, but typically Caesar protested that he was worth a lot more
than the figure they had set. He spent a month with the pirates while his colleagues
persuaded the coastal cities of Asia to raise the money for him. It is said
that he promised the pirates that once he was free he would come back and crucify
every last one of them, and he kept his promise. He assembled a small fleet
by borrowing ships from the cities that had ransomed him, attacked the pirates,
and brought his captives to Pergamum, where he did indeed crucify the lot of
them. He was twenty-six years old at the time and held no official post. The fact
that he was able to carry out such a mission speaks volumes for the power of
Rome and the audacity of the man.
In 73 bc, Caesar was co-opted to the priesthood after his mother’s kinsman
Gaius Aurelius Cotta died, leaving one of the fifteen posts vacant. This was a significant
honor and suggests that Caesar had friends in high places. He was not
yet a senator, but his position as one of the college of priests definitely marked
the start of his political career. He first entered the Senate in the consulship of
Pompey and Crassus in 70 bc, when he was appointed quaestor for the follow-