The film starts with a twenty-six year-old Gaius Julius Caesar under the captive of Cilician pirates, who are demanding ransom. He is knocked unconscious and the movie flashes back to his early years as a sixteen-year-old who is comforted by his mother, Aurelia Cotta, after the death of his father. He is visited by his uncle Gaius Marius, the great Roman leader. He gives him a motivational talk.
Marius, a staunch populist, is opposed by his former protege, Sulla during the Roman Social War. Sulla returned to Rome after a war campaign, seeking vengeance. Marius is killed. Sulla becomes dictator of Rome and targets all Marius allies to be eliminated, including young Caesar. Caesar is on the run and chased by Sulla's men. After his capture, he is freed after an intervention from Aurelia and the Vestal Virgins. Sulla reluctantly let him go, saying, he saw "many a Marius in Caesar".
The film returns to the present, and Caesar gains the confidence to not worry about the pirates. He even goes so far as to mock the pirates. Caesar gains the ransom needed and pays off the pirates.
