Explanation: When Caesar was a young man, and a relative unknown, just a fellow from a well-known patrician family, he was captured by pirates and held for ransom. When he heard they were asking for a mere 20 talents of silver, he demanded they increase the ransom to 50 talents - over a ton and a half! A man has to know what he’s worth!
The best part is Caesar would threaten to have them crucified all the time and the pirates thought he was joking. So, once the ransom was paid and Caesar was set free, he went about raising a naval force, captured them, and crucified the lot.
What a joker that Caesar was.
Dohohohoho!
It’s okay. They were pirates. Vile and dissolute creatures, the lot of them!
Eh. He’d be like a six in New York, but he’s a seven in Scranton.
I know the story, but not the motivation for the increase in ransom: just vanity?
More likely to be prestige. Caesar was, at the time, trying to make a name for himself. Having a high ransom paid for him makes him more notable, which helps his political ambitions.
Also may have made the pirates more inclined to tolerate his nonsense aboard their ship instead of cutting his throat and throwing him overboard, lmao
Also may just be a story and told that way because it grows the legend of Cesar
