Told through various letters and fragments, "Gaius Octavius (which was his original birth name)" begins when Gaius Octavius Thurinus is 17 and is called away from his mother by his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, who reveals he intends to groom the boy to be his successor. Gaius Octavius spends a few years with three young men around his own age, Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and Quintus Salvidienus Rufus. When he is 19 Gaius Octavius receives a letter from his mother informing him that Caesar has been murdered and urging him to renounce the will which will name him as Caesar's adopted son. Ignoring her council the four young men make a pact to protect Gaius Octavius and avenge Caesar. They go to Rome unarmed and are thus assumed not to be a threat by Caesar's assassins. The friends are particularly suspicious of Marc Antony, a friend of Caesar's whom they view as disloyal.