crimes, but have never ceased to admire the frightful and almost
superhuman energy with which they committed them.



CHAPTER II.

CAESAR'S EARLY YEARS.

[Sidenote: Caesar's resolution.]

Caesar does not seem to have been much disheartened and depressed by his
misfortunes. He possessed in his early life more than the usual share of
buoyancy and light-heartedness of youth, and he went away from Rome to
enter, perhaps, upon years of exile and wandering, with a determination
to face boldly and to brave the evils and dangers which surrounded him,
and not to succumb to them.

[Sidenote: His person and character.]

Sometimes they who become great in their maturer years are thoughtful,
grave, and sedate when young. It was not so, however, with Caesar. He
was of a very gay and lively disposition. He was tall and handsome in
his person, fascinating in his manners, and fond of society, as people
always are who know or who suppose that they shine in it. He had seemed,
in a word, during his residence at Rome, wholly intent upon the
pleasures of a gay and joyous life, and upon the personal observation
which his rank, his wealth, his agreeable manners and his position in
society secured for him. In fact, they who observed and studied his
character in these early years, thought that, although his situation was