Julius Caesar was captured by pirates in 75 BC, while he was still a young man. He entertained them with poetry until he was released. Tacticus would argue that is exactly the reason they released him—so that they didn't have to listen to it any longer!
Poems by Julius Caesar are mentioned by several sources but only a single, incomplete line of his poetry survived intact, and it is about an ointment! He wrote: "We lubricate our bodies with soothing telinum."
Tacticus thought their loss is a happy accident for the rest of us. He said: "For Caesar and Brutus wrote poems, and put them in their friends' libraries too. They were no better than Cicero, but have been luckier, for their poetry is less known."
The titles of two works Caesar wrote as a young man are known. They are 'Laudes Herculis' (Praises of Hercules) and the verse tragedy Oedipus. Augustus quickly put a stop to their planned publication in a letter he wrote to Pompeius Macer. A third title, 'Iter' (The Journey), was written by Julius Caesar in 46 BC while he was on a trip from Rome to Spain during the civil war.
We will never know for sure, but looking at the reactions to his literature it seems we can be grateful it's been lost to the ages.
