But the holder was entitled to be called “Military Tribune of the People” for life, and the office was often an early step on the political ladder for young men of good family.

The significance of the office of the tribunes had been largely abolished by the dictator Sulla, who had forbidden them from publicly addressing meetings of the people, one of their ancient rights. Caesar was foremost among those who sought to restore these privileges, once again openly demonstrating that he took his stand with the popular party. (Three years later all restrictions on the tribunate were lifted.) All our Latin sources mention Caesar’s election to military tribune because this post was filled by popular vote. It was the first office in which the people had shown their favor toward Caesar. In the year 70, Plautius, one of the tribunes, laid a bill before the people to grant an amnesty to all those followers of Marius and Cinna who had been exiled during the Sullan regime. Again the Populates were seen to be in the ascendant, and Caesar himself spoke out—for the first time—to the Roman people, advocating the amnesty and mentioning his brother-in-law Lucius Cinna who was among those who had been banished. The return of all these exiled followers of Marius immeasurably strengthened the popular party, and marked the turn of the political tide.

But Caesar’s life in Rome was far from being that of a totally dedicated politician. Indeed many of his future opponents assumed that he was a political lightweight because of his luxurious style of living and his constant pursuit of women. One of the reasons for his popularity with women was undoubtedly his elegance and charm—something which, one suspects, was singularly lacking in most Roman husbands. (Cicero has a scathing reference to the meticulous arrangement of Caesar’s hair and his habit of adjusting his parting with one finger.) But his womanizing, though it may have infuriated some members of his own class (for obvious reasons), can only have amused the masses while he endeared himself to them by his extravagant expenditure.

Plutarch writes on this score:

 

He was so profuse in his expenses, that before he had any public employment, he was in debt thirteen hundred talents. [Impossible to calculate in the shifting values of modern currencies, but many thousands of pounds sterling.] Many thought that by incurring such expense to be popular, he changed a solid good for what would prove but a short and uncertain return; but in truth he was purchasing what was of the greatest value at an inconsiderable rate. When he was made surveyor of the Appian way, he disbursed, besides the public money, a great sum out of his private purse; and when he was aedile (magistrates superintending trade, money, streets and buildings, the games etc.) he provided such a number of gladiators, that he entertained the people with three hundred and twenty single combats, and by his great liberality and magnificence in theatrical shows, in processions, and public feastings, he threw into the shade all the attempts that had been made before him, and gained so much upon the people, that every one was eager to find out new offices and new honors for him in return for his munificence.

 

Between the years 72-70 Caesar disappears from the view of his ancient biographers. Some of his subsequent biographers have found it impossible to believe that during this period he was inactive, for these were the years of the great revolt of the slaves under Spartacus, when this former Thracian bandit was leading an army which ravaged Italy and two consuls and one Roman army after another were defeated. Yet we can be very sure that his biographers would have been quick to tell us if he had been in any way involved, since they detail much more trivial parts of his life. It would seem that Caesar, now rising thirty, was absorbed by indolence and luxury, only disturbed by a passion for internal politics and in laying the foundations for his future career by what amounted to bribing the masses. It may well be that at this time in his life he was making amends to himself for his hard years under Sulla and his self-exile in the eastern empire at a time when most young men of his class were enjoying the pleasures of Rome.

Certainly, he did not stint himself now, and tales of his wild extravagance lulled to rest any fears there may ever have been among the Optimates that Caesar was another Marius. Abstemious with regard to drink, he also seems to have been more or less indifferent to the quality of food, but he was a passionate collector of every form of art: gems, statues, carvings, and paintings by the masters. Suetonius writes that, “so high were the prices he paid for slaves of attainments and good character that he was ashamed of his extravagance and would not have the sums put down in his accounts.” He was a connoisseur of pearls, particularly of the fresh water variety (later given as one of his reasons for invading Britain where they were said to be plentiful). He gave Servilia, the mother of Marcus Brutus so prominent among his murderers, a pearl of almost inestimable value—60,000 gold pieces—and she is described as “the woman whom Caesar loved best.” (It is possible that he was Brutus’ father.) But he loved many, and Suetonius lists a number of the wives of the nobility whom he seduced at one time or another, among them those of most of his friends, including Pompey, Crassus and Gabinius—and that at a time when they were the leaders of the party to which he subscribed and whose goodwill he needed. This “descendant of Venus” seems to have had a nature as passionate as the goddess herself, though even more contradictory. Sir Charles Oman summed up this aspect of his life: “He was the inevitable co-respondent in every fashionable divorce, and when we look at the list of the ladies whose names are linked with his, we can only wonder at the state of society in Rome which permitted him to survive unscathed to middle age. The marvel is that he did not end in some dark corner, with a dagger between his ribs long before he attained the age of thirty.”

In the year 68 Caesar emerges again into history, and the year was marked by three important events. First of all his aunt Julia died. The death of the widow of the great Marius could not be allowed to pass without public notice, and Caesar made the very most of it. He had recently been appointed a quaestor (one of the state treasurers and paymasters), an office which brought with it membership of the senate. As a member of the College of Pontiffs and now as a senator, he was in a position to ask for a ritual eulogy of his aunt, a public procession which included musicians, a choir of mourners, an effigy of the dead on a state hearse and then further mourners and relatives. The procession much resembled a modern state funeral. On this occasion, however, Caesar with his instinct for showmanship did something for which there was no precedent, and which was at the same time a deliberately provocative gesture to the Optimates. In the procession, occasioning gasps among the citizens thronging the route, was borne the family statue of the great Marius, which it had been forbidden to show in public ever since Sulla had declared him an enemy of the state. When the procession stopped and the image of his dead aunt was placed as was customary in front of the orator’s platform, Caesar mounted it and pronounced the eulogy on the woman who had been Marius’ wife. It was now that he also saw fit to extol the virtues of his own family, laying claim to their descent from the kings of ancient Rome and the goddess Venus.