far outdid all his predecessors.  At one of the shows which he exhibited, three hundred and twenty pairs of gladiators fought in the arena; and a gladiator, with his armor and weapons, and the long training which he had to undergo before he could fight in public, was a very expensive slave.  The six hundred and forty would cost, first and last, not less than a hundred pounds apiece, and many of them, perhaps a third of the whole number, would be killed in the course of the day.  Nor was he content with the expenses which were more or less necessary.  He exhibited a great show of wild beasts in memory of his father, who had died nearly twenty years before.  The whole furniture of the theater, down to the very stage, was made on this occasion of solid silver.

For all this seeming folly, there were those who discerned thoughts and designs of no common kind.  Extravagant expenditure was of course an usual way of winning popular favors.  A Roman noble bought office after office till he reached one that entitled him to be sent to govern a province.  In the plunder of the province he expected to find what would repay him all that he had spent and leave a handsome sum remaining.  Caesar looked to this end, but he looked also to something more.  He would be the champion of the people, and the people would make him the greatest man at Rome.  This had been the part played by Marius before him; and he determined to play it again.  The name of Marius had been in ill repute since the victory of his great rival, Sulla, and Caesar determined to restore it to honor.  He caused statues of this great man to be secretly made, on which were inscribed the names of the victories by which he had delivered Rome from the barbarians.  On the morning of the show these were seen, splendid with gilding, upon the height of the Capitol.  The first feeling was a general astonishment at the young magistrate’s audacity.  Then the populace broke out into expressions of enthusiastic delight; many even wept for joy to see again the likeness of their old favorite; all declared that Caesar was his worthy successor.  The nobles were filled with anger and fear.  Catulus, who was their leader, accused Caesar in the Senate.  “This man,” he said, “is no longer digging mines against his country, he is bringing battering-rams against it.”  The Senate, however, was afraid or unwilling to act.  As for the people, it soon gave the young man a remarkable proof of its favor.  What may be called the High Priesthood became vacant.  It was an honor commonly given to some aged man who had won victories abroad and borne high honors at home.  Such competitors there were on this occasion, Catulus being one of them.  But Caesar, though far below the age at which such offices were commonly held, determined to enter the lists.  He refused the heavy bribe by which Catulus sought to induce him to withdraw from the contest, saying that he would raise a greater sum to bring it to a successful end.  Indeed, he staked all on the struggle.  When on the day of election he was leaving his house, his mother followed him to the door with tears in her eyes.  He turned and kissed her, “Mother,” he said, “to-day you will see your son either High Priest or an exile.”