From LinkBack in Rome in 78 BC, when Sulla died, Caesar began his political career in the Forum at Rome as an advocate, known for his oratory and ruthless prosecution of former governors notorious for extortion and corruption. Aiming at rhetorical perfection, Caesar traveled to Rhodes in 75 BC for philosophical and oratorical studies with the famous teacher Apollonius Molo.
On the way, Caesar was kidnapped by Cilician pirates in the Mediterranean Sea. When they demanded a ransom of twenty talents, he laughed at them, saying they did not know who they had captured. Instead, he ordered them to ask for fifty. They accepted, and Caesar sent his followers to various cities to collect the ransom money. In all he was held for 38 days and used the time to write speeches and practice his rhetoric on his captors. If they failed to admire his work, he would call them illiterate savages to their faces, and would often laughingly threaten to have them all crucified. They were much taken with this and attributed his freedom of speech to a kind of simplicity in his character or boyish playfulness. But, true to his word, as soon as he was ransomed and released, he organized a naval force from the harbor of Miletus, captured the pirates and their island stronghold and put them to death by crucifixion as a warning to other pirates. However, since they had treated him well, he had their throats cut before they were crucified to lessen their suffering.