Both mother and daughter, it is
remarkable, perished prematurely, and at critical periods of Caesar's life;
for it is probable enough that these irreparable wounds to Caesar's
domestic affections threw him with more exclusiveness of devotion upon the
fascinations of glory and ambition than might have happened under a
happier condition of his private life. That Caesar should have escaped
destruction in this unequal contest with an enemy then wielding the whole
thunders of the state, is somewhat surprising; and historians have sought
their solution of the mystery in the powerful intercessions of the vestal
virgins, and several others of high rank amongst the connections of his
great house. These may have done something; but it is due to Sylla, who
had a sympathy with every thing truly noble, to suppose him struck with
powerful admiration for the audacity of the young patrician, standing out
in such severe solitude among so many examples of timid concession; and
that to this magnanimous feeling in the Dictator, much of his indulgence
was due. In fact, according to some accounts, it was not Sylla, but the
creatures of Sylla (_adjutores_), who pursued Caesar.
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