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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: INTRODUCTION. Caius Julius Caesar, one of the most distinguished characters in Roman history, was the son of C. Julius Caesar and Aurelia? a woman not unworthy of being ranked with Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi?and was born on the 12th of Quintilis (July), in the year B. c. 100. He lost his father at the age of sixteen, but his mother was still living at the time of his victorious career in Gaul. By her his education was superintended with the utmost care; and the facility with which he comprehended the most difficult subjects submitted to him, and the zeal he displayed in the acquisition of knowledge, produced a strong conviction that he would one day exercise great influence on the affairs of his country. Beyond this, little is known respecting his early youth, for the two biographies which we have of him by Plutarch and Suetonius are unfortunately defective, the beginning being wanting in both. The period at which Caesar appeared was towards the close of the Roman republic, when an eminently favourable opportunity was offered for the display of great and varied talents. The state was torn asunder by contending factions; the virtue of the ancient re- public had departed; and ambitious men were fiercely struggling for family aggrandisement, and aiming at sovereign power. On the one hand were an aristocracy exclusive in spirit, and euriched by the plunder of the provinces; on the other a populace, ignorant, demoralised, and ready on all occasions to clamour for, and give support to, those who were the most lavish in their bribes and public entertainments. Sulla, the champion of the nobles, supported by the senate, had just achieved a signal triumph over Marius, the leader of the popular party, and had been raised to the dictatorship?an office which gave him the first autho..