[1] After this, Philip, who had married the mother, and Marcellus, who had married the sister of the young Caesar, came with the young man to Cicero and made a compact that Cicero should give Caesar the influence derived from his eloquence and political position, both in the senate and before the people, and that Caesar should give Cicero the security to be derived from his wealth and his armed forces. For already the young man had about him many of the soldiers who had served under the elder Caesar.
[2] It was thought, too, that there was a stronger reason why Cicero readily accepted the young man’s friendship. For it would appear that while Pompey and Caesar were still living Cicero dreamed that someone invited the sons of the senators to the Capitol, on the ground that Jupiter was going to appoint one of their number ruler of Rome;
[3] and that the citizens eagerly ran and stationed themselves about the temple, while the youths, in their purple-bordered togas, seated themselves there in silence. Suddenly the door of the temple opened, and one by one the youths rose and walked round past the god, who reviewed them all and sent them away sorrowing. But when this young Caesar advanced into his presence the god stretched out his hand and said:
O Romans, ye shall have an end of civil wars when this youth has become your ruler.
[4] By such a dream as this, they say, Cicero had impressed upon him the appearance of the youth, and retained it distinctly, but did not know him.
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The next day, however, as he was going down to the Campus Martius, the youths, who had just finished exercising there, were coming away, and the youth of his dream was seen by Cicero for the first time, and Cicero, amazed, inquired who his parents were.
[5] Now, his father was Octavius, a man of no great prominence, but his mother was Attia, a daughter of Caesar’s sister. For this reason Caesar, who had no children of his own, willed his property and his family name to him. After this, it is said, Cicero took pains to converse with the youth when they met, and the youth welcomed his kind attentions; and indeed it happened that he was born during Cicero’s consulship.
Cicero. Plutarch. Bernadotte Perrin (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1919.
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