His worst enemies admitted that from the gluttony, the
drunkenness, and the viler forms of sensuality, which were then so common,
he was totally free. For the rest, it is certain that no friend ever
permanently quarrelled with him on any question of domestic injury; and
either there was a general indifference on such subjects, which lightens
the character of the sin, or popular scandals in old Rome were of no
sounder material than we find them composed of in other countries and in
other times.
Turning from scandal to reality, we come now to a curious incident, which
occasioned a fresh political convulsion, where Caesar appears, not as an
actor in an affair of gallantry, but as a sufferer.
Pompey was still absent. Caesar had resumed his duties as praetor, and was
living in the official house of the Pontifex Maximus, with his mother
Aurelia and his wife Pompeia. The age was fertile of new religions. The
worship of the Bona Dea, a foreign goddess of unknown origin, had recently
been introduced into Rome, and an annual festival was held in her honor in
the house of one or other of the principal magistrates. The Vestal virgins
officiated at the ceremonies, and women only were permitted to be present.
This year the pontifical palace was selected for the occasion, and
Caesar's wife Pompeia was to preside.
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