Chains bound Caesar to the oars, and his words bound the pirates to himself.

That night he supped with the captain.

The second day his knowledge of currents, coasts and the route of treasure-ships made him first mate; then he won the sailors over, put the captain in irons, and ruled the ship like a king; soon after, he sailed the ship as a prize into a Roman port.

If this incident is credible, a youth who in four days can talk the chains off his wrists, talk himself into the captaincy, talk a pirate ship into his own hands as booty, is not to be accounted for by his eloquent words.

His speech was but a tithe of his power, and wrought its spell only when personality had first created a sympathetic atmosphere.