I think people are missing the incredible achievement this story is.<p>At this point, Caesar was pretty much an unknown, and had to leave Rome to escape Sulla.<p><i>However, the ransom arrived from Miletus and, as soon as he had paid it and been set free, he immediately manned some ships and set sail from the harbor of Miletus against the pirates</i><p>Think about this. Somehow, this unknown person, on the wrong side of the Mediterranean Sea, known to be in debt, and known to have lost to pirates once before managed to persuade those in Miletus to let him command their ships to go up against the pirates (who presumably they knew well, and probably had some kind of informal agreement with).<p>Once he had the ships, he defeated the pirates (which is a huge feat in itself). Then he delivered them to the governor, and once he had decided the supreme ruler in the region wasn't going to do what he wanted he executed them himself.<p>That's not really that different to someone hijacked by Somali pirates raising a ransom, going to Kenya, raising a navy and going back to wipe them out. Even Rambo wasn't as impressive.<p>The scary thing is that Caesar was just getting started. Genghis Khan and Alexander may have been more impressive commanders, but I think perhaps only Napoleon rivals Caesar in terms of sheer self-drive.
<i>"...deputies ought to be sent to Pompey, to propose a reconciliation; as he [Caesar] did not regard what Pompey had lately asserted in the senate, that authority was acknowledged to be vested in those persons to whom ambassadors were sent, and fear implied in those that sent them. That these were the sentiments of low, weak minds: that for his part, as he had made it his study to surpass others in glory, so he was desirous of excelling them in justice and equity."</i> <a href="http://sacred-texts.com/cla/jcsr/civ1.htm" rel="nofollow">http://sacred-texts.com/cla/jcsr/civ1.htm</a><p>Supreme self confidence and magnanimity were some of his good traits.
The story of Ceasar and the pirates is one of my favorites' stories in Ceasar's life. It represents well the his character: he was somewhat nuts.