Young Julius Caesar

By Jim Riva

Set in Rome in the early part of the first century B.C., this three-chapter historical novel takes the reader into the life of Julius Caesar when he was a ten-year-old child prodigy with the Social War looming; a married, eighteen-year-old recently stripped of his position of the High Priest of Jupiter following Sulla’s victory over Mithradates; and a twenty-year-old fugitive on the run from the forces of Sulla—with a flying carpet.

Yes, there is a flying carpet. That’s what makes this a historical novel. Nevertheless, it is heavy on history and provides a good look at what Rome was like back in those days, when it had one million inhabitants, one-fourth of whom were slaves.

With an undercurrent of the feud between Marius and Sulla that began in the years following the Jugurthine War, the focus is on young Julius, a charismatic patrician kid whose family’s claim to fame (on his father’s side) was that they could trace their ancestry back to the Trojan hero Aeneas, who was believed to be the son of the Greek Goddess Aphrodite, whom the Romans called Venus. Being a descendant of Venus was a pretty hard to beat, and the Caesars didn’t hesitate to play that card.

Roman history buffs will enjoy this novella, which can easily be read in one sitting. People interested in learning more about the life and times of Julius Caesar will enjoy it as well.

This story moves like a chariot race, but there’s nothing like a flying carpet to make a story really take off.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jim Riva
• Release date: Sep 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005566647

Jim Riva

Jim Riva was the class clown in his boyhood days. He became a serious student of philosophy at the undergraduate and graduate levels before coming to the philosophical conclusion that the best outlook on life is to take humor seriously.An off-the-beaten-track world traveler who spent the better part of fourteen years in Japan, Jim has written nine novels that fall into the Humor category and more than thirty-five audio sketches that are on The Champion of Reason Podcast.He lives and laughs (and continues to write) in Oregon with his Japanese wife and their daughter.

Book preview

Young Julius Caesar

Published by Soaring Sparrow Press at Smashwords

Copyright 2020, Jim Riva

Cover art by Young-eon Kim

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Young Julius Caesar

Rome, 90 B.C.

The last class of the day ended and the boys, in their sleeveless, knee-length, off-white tunics, headed for the frescoed doorway of their school near the Forum. Ten-year-old Gaius Julius Caesar was in the biggest hurry to get home. His father had been appointed governor in Asia Minor, and Gaius’s idol, his uncle Marius, was coming to help celebrate the appointment. Gaius couldn’t wait to hear more stories from Marius, a retired, or at least semi-retired, alpha male who had been one of Rome’s greatest generals—and a six-time consul.

In high-cut, red, leather sandals, Gaius dashed between pedestrians on the Argiletum, a main road that ran east from the Forum to the old Roman district of Subura, where Gaius lived with his parents, his two elder sisters, and the family’s slaves. In his haste, he accidently knocked down a little boy, but he kept on running—until he was grabbed by the back of his tunic so forcefully that the pocket containing his amulets swung around on its gold chain to the back of his neck.

Does knocking down a five-year-old child make you feel tough, Caesar? said a pretty, ten-year-old girl with ringlets in her hair and an amulet hanging from a neck-chain worn over her stola.

Gaius knew who she was, for patricians knew the patricians and there were only about thirty patrician-families left in all of Rome. Her name was Servilia Capionis and she was not intimidated by this good-looking, smart patrician kid whose family on his father’s side traced their ancestry back over a thousand years to the Trojan hero Aeneas, who was believed to have been the son of the goddess