rces of
Spartacus from Italy to Sicily, but faithlessly sailed away with his
money and without his men. From times immemorial the Mediterranean had
been ravaged by pirate fleets, which made the inlets of Asia Minor and
the isles of the Archipelago their places of shelter, whence they dashed
out on rapid raids, and within which they vanished when attacked.

This piracy reached its highest power during and after the Social and
Civil Wars of Rome, the outlaws taking prompt advantage of the
distractions of the times, and gaining a strength and audacity unknown
before. Their chief places of refuge were in the coast districts of
Cilicia and Pisidia, in Asia Minor, while in the mountain valleys which
led down from Taurus to that coast they had strongholds difficult of
access, and enabling them to defy attack by land.

They were now aided by Mithridates, who supplied them with money and
encouraged their raids. So great became their audacity that they carried
off important personages from the coast of Italy, among them two
praetors, whom they held to ransom. They ravaged all unguarded shores,
and are said to have captured in all four hundred important towns. The
riches gained in these raids were displayed with the ostentation of
conquerors. The sails of their ships were dyed with that costly Tyrian
purple which at a later date was reserved for the robes of emperors;
their oars were inlaid with silver, and their pennants glittered with
gold. As for the merchant fleets of Rome, they made their journeys under
constant risk, and there was danger, if the pirates were not suppressed,
that they would cut off the entire grain-supply from Africa and Sicily.

The most interesting story told in connection with these marauders is
connected with the youthful days of Julius Caesar, afterwards so great a
man in Rome.

In the year 76 B.C. Caesar, then a young man of twenty-four, and
seemingly given over to mere enjoyment of life, with no indications of
political aspiration, was on his way to the island of Rhodes, where he
wished to perfect himself in oratory in the famous school of Apollonius
Melo, in which Cicero, a few years before, had gained instruction in the
art. Cicero had taught Rome the full power of oratory, and Caesar, who
was no mean orator by nature, and recognized the usefulness of the art,
naturally sought instruction from Cicero's teacher.

He was travelling as a gentleman of rank, but on his way was taken
prisoner by pirat