Julius Caesar (3 page)

Nicomedes IV of Bithynia had given his allegiance to Rome when he came to power and remained faithful to his masters during all the intrigues and power struggles initiated by Mithridates. Since his kingdom controlled the Asiatic shores of the Bosphorus, Nicomedes with his powerful fleet had a tight hold on all the traffic and shipping in the Dardanelles. His court was one of extreme luxury, and since he profited by the protection of Rome he had no desire to see any trouble in Asia. He may have poisoned his father, not an uncommon practice in the East when heirs felt they had waited too long for the throne, and he was renowned as a sodomite, again not uncommon in the East.

The propraetor’s aristocratic young messenger was naturally given an effusive welcome by Nicomedes, sensible that he had been dilatory in dispatching the promised fleet and eager to curry favor with his Roman protectors. On learning Caesar’s mission, the King immediately offered him his own sleeping quarters so that he could refresh himself after his tiring journey. There was nothing to this in itself—but Caesar’s enemies were to make much of it in the years to come. “The King’s guards,” Cicero was to say, “escorted him there, and he slept on a bed of gold with a purple covering.” On the following day, while the fleet was being rapidly readied for dispatch southward, an elaborate feast was given in the King’s palace to do honor to the propraetor’s emissary, as well as to a delegation of Roman merchants who happened to be in Bithynia. Caesar, forgetful perhaps of the dignity of his mission, joined in the mood of the moment and performed the role of cup-bearer to Nicomedes during the banquet. In doing so he put himself in the same company as a number of elegant and effeminate youths who formed part of the well-known seraglio of the King. Cicero was later to maintain in several letters that Caesar, “descendant of Venus, lost his virginity in Bithynia.” This accusation was widely repeated by his opponents in years to come, although why so much importance was given to the imputation it is hard to see since homosexuality was hardly unknown in the Rome of that day. It was, however, loosely associated by the old conservative aristocrats (such as Caesar’s own parents), with the degeneracy of Greece and with the effeminacy of the rich and indolent East.

The incident became widely known in Rome, having presumably been reported by the merchants who were present at the banquet, and certainly had a damaging effect on Caesar’s reputation. Years later, on the occasion of his Gallic triumph, his soldiers following his decorated chariot through the city chanted ribald songs, as they were privileged to do on such occasions. One of them, as will be seen, referring to Nicomedes and Caesar, was enough to make him lose his temper.

On this occasion, Caesar protested vigorously and swore that the whole story was false, but he was never allowed to forget it even though he later became known as one of the most notorious womanizers in Rome. Cornelius Dolabella, who had every reason to hate Caesar since the latter had, unsuccessfully, prosecuted him for maladministration in Macedonia, called him “the female rival of Bithynia’s queen,” and “the bottom half of the royal bed.” C. Scribonius Curio, who was consul in 77, called him “Nicomedes’ bride,” “the brothel of Bithynia,” and “every woman’s husband and every man’s wife.” Years later, when Nicomedes was dead, Caesar, speaking in the senate in defense of some dependents of the late King, reminded his audience that he was obligated to Nicomedes, “for numerous favors.” Cicero interrupted him with “Let us pass over that, I pray you, since there is no one who is unaware of what he gave you and what he received in return.” Suetonius quotes two lines from a satirical poem by Licinius Calvus, a well known orator and poet of the time:

The riches of Bithynia’s King

Who Caesar on his couch abused.

The truth of the matter will never be known, and it seems of small relevance in the light of Caesar’s life. Like many a young man he may have passed through a homosexual phase. It bothered nineteenth-century historians but need not trouble us today, although Caesar himself was to suffer from the scandal. He did in fact compound the error that gave rise to it, by returning to Bithynia after seeing the fleet safely to the blockade of Mitylene; “on the pretext of having to deliver a sum to some client of his,” Suetonius writes.

It is clear though that Caesar, unlike many of the young nobles who hung around the courts of generals and propraetors, took his military duties seriously. After the successful storming of Mitylene in 80 he was decorated with the civic crown by Minucius Thermus. The
corona civica
was a wreath of oak leaves awarded to those who had saved the life of a fellow soldier in battle, and although some commanders gave them away too freely, it is doubtful if Caesar’s was anything other than a genuine award, since Minucius Thermus was a supporter of Sulla and the
Optimates.
The holder of this highly honored decoration, which might be worn on all festive occasions, was entitled to sit next to the senators at the public games, and when he appeared on the scene all the spectators, senators included, rose to their feet. It had long been established that the award in the case of senators’ sons gave them a preferential position in the “Honors List,” which may explain (something which has puzzled many commentators) why Caesar was able to become consul in 59 at the age of forty, when forty-two was usually the minimum age for the consulate.

The Mitylene campaign was soon over and the troops of Minucius Thermus were to be dismissed. Hearing that the governor of Cilicia, the southeasternmost corner of Asia Minor, was about to embark on a campaign against the pirates who haunted the creeks and river-mouths of the area, Caesar went to offer him his services. He was already with the Governor’s forces when, in 78, the news reached him that Sulla was dead and Caesar left immediately for Italy. He hoped no doubt to take advantage of the confusion that would follow the dictator’s death, but he arrived to find that, as Suetonius put it, “the political atmosphere was less favorable than he had been led to believe.” An insurrection had begun, led by one of the consuls, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had assumed the leadership of the
Populares.
This might have seemed to appeal to Caesar, especially when he was earnestly asked to join it and “magnificent offers” were made to him. However, with remarkably cool judgment for a young man of twenty-two, he appraised the situation carefully—and correctly. The Sullans still had a large majority in the senate while Lepidus did not have the strength of character or capabilities to achieve success. When the whole enterprise collapsed in ruins Caesar’s judgment was confirmed and he himself emerged completely unscathed.

Caesar had been away from Rome for three years and now was his first chance to renew his acquaintanceship with public affairs and to cast around for the direction in which his ambitions might find fulfilment. It is clear that he had no desire for the career for which he had early been trained, the priesthood, and he was neither rich enough, nor temperamentally inclined, to idle away his days as did many young upper-class Romans. He needed first of all to get himself known, and inevitably turned toward the Forum. One path to a political career, the one which Cicero adopted, was that of rhetoric and the law. Caesar had received an excellent education, and his acute mind, coupled with his training in

Greek and Latin rhetoric, made him look for a cause where he could acquire the most publicity, as well as laying the foundation of a solid reputation. He made his start by prosecuting Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella (the same who, inflamed with hatred, would accuse him of homosexual relations with Nicomedes). Dolabella was one of the leading Sullans—the dictator had nominated him for the consulship in 81—and had recently been accorded a triumph in Rome for some rather obscure military exploits. Subsequently he had been governor of Macedonia where he had exceeded in his rapacity even the limits normally extended to governors of provinces, who were expected to make their fortunes during this summer period of their lives. The only action that could be taken to redress the complaints of the governed and overtaxed (robbed, would be more accurate) was for a Roman citizen to come forward as prosecutor. A complaint was formally laid before the tribunal outlining the intended form of the indictment and backed by evidence from the complainants. In the event, the wealthy Dolabella secured the services of two of the greatest lawyers of the day, one of whom, Aurelius Cotta, was a kinsman of Caesar, and managed with their help to get acquitted. Caesar had lost his first case, but he had achieved his main object: he had won great credit as an orator, and the very fact that the accused had felt himself in need of such eminent men to secure his acquittal added luster to Caesar’s reputation.

It is clear that his Greek clients were also impressed by his performance (his speeches survived in document and were regarded in Rome as a literary masterpiece), and the following year he was entrusted with the case against another Sullan. This was Gaius Antonius Hybrida, who, during Sulla’s campaign in Greece, had looted and pillaged a great number of Greek cities. So skillfully did Caesar work up his case and deliver his indictment that Antonius was forced to appeal to the people’s tribunes over the head of the judging praetors who had considered the complaint well-founded. He was acquitted, but the acquittal in itself caused a scandal. Again, Caesar had not won, but his reputation was now made and he became recognized as one of the greatest orators of his time and second only to Cicero. He had won many friends in Greece, many friends in Rome (as well as enemies), and he had established his position, by his attacks on two notorious Sullans, as a follower of his uncle Marius and an up-and-coming man in the popular party. By these two actions Caesar had laid the foundations of his political career.
 

3

A Greek Adventure

AFTER two years in Rome Caesar suddenly traveled to the East again. It has often been said by historians that this was because he feared reprisals from Dolabella and the other Sullans, but this is somewhat doubtful. In the days of the dictator he had merely gone into hiding—and there was no equal to Sulla now. According to Suetonius—”he decided to visit Rhodes until the ill-feeling against him [in Rome] had died down and take a course in rhetoric from Apollonius Molon, the greatest exponent of the art.” Plutarch, although somewhat weak about this period of his life, gives an important clue: “In his pleadings at Rome, his eloquence soon obtained him great credit and favor, and he won no less upon the affections of the people by the affability of his manners and address, in which he showed a tact and consideration beyond what could have been considered at his age; and the open house he kept, the entertainments he gave, and the general splendor of his manner of life contributed little
by
little to create and increase his political influence. His enemies slighted the growth of it at first, presuming it would soon fail when his money was gone…” The probability is that Caesar’s money had indeed gone. The Julii, as has been said, were not rich, while Sulla had confiscated his wife’s dowry and other personal moneys and there is no evidence that the) had been returned. Historians basing their conclusions on Suetonius, that he sailed for Rhodes to take lessons from Apollonius Molon, have ignored a very salient point in the story of Caesar’s voyage through the Aegean. This is that “winter had already set in when he sailed for Rhodes and was captured by pirates off the island of Pharmacussa.” But there were regular sailings between Italian ports and the important Aegean island of Rhodes, while the small island of Pharmacussa was off the Asian coast hard by the city of Miletus—a long way to the north of Rhodes. It is inconceivable, even in the wintry Aegean, that any vessel could have strayed so far off its course, and suggests that Caesar had not adopted the normal course of taking a Rhodes-bound ship from Italy, but had embarked from Greece on a Miletus-bound vessel. He could almost certainly have gone from Brundisium to Dyrrachium (Brindisi-Durazzo), the usual route for visitors to Greece. After the prosecutions, unsuccessful though they were, of Dolabella over his embezzlement in Macedonia and Antonius for his shameless plundering of Greek cities, Caesar had many indebted clients in Greece who may have owed him money; certainly they owed him hospitality, for his two actions had brought to light the conduct of important Romans in Greece and had almost certainly had a restraining effect upon the activities of other Roman soldiers and governors. Caesar was a Graecophile, in any case, and it would have been natural for him to visit a country where he was certain of hospitality even if not financial reward. Wherever he embarked on the Aegean coast for his second sea journey, possibly Athens, he could again have sailed direct for Rhodes through the Cyclades; instead his ship was clearly destined for Miletus, which, as Gerard Walter has pointed out in his
Caesar
, was “on the way which leads via Pergamos straight to the kingdom of Nicomedes IV.”

There was a very good reason for Caesar to go to Bithynia: the King had recently died and being childless, and mindful of the protection that Rome had afforded him as well as of his country’s fate at the hands of Mithridates if the succession was disputed, he had bequeathed Bithynia to the Romans. Marcus Juncus, the governor of Asia Minor, was about to take over Bithynia’s affairs and make an inventory of the whole estate. It is more than likely, though no correspondence exists between Caesar and Nicomedes, that the attractive young Roman aristocrat expected to be mentioned in the King’s will. There was every reason then for Caesar, after his visit to Greece, to make his way to the court of this prosperous and important kingdom; far more than to visit the renowned Greek rhetorician in Rhodes, who in any case could be included later during his visit to the Aegean.