I remember in the movie "True Romance" the girl "Alabama" is being held by a mafia hitman, and he talks about killing for the first time, that it was "a bitch" but got much easier with repetition. This subject got me to thinking about Julius Ceasar. What was his first kill, and do we know.
Do we know anything about Gaius Julius Ceasar's first kill?
How old would he have been, teenager, pre-teen? About 20-21. Then he was about 16 years old his family won a sweet position of high priest of Jupiter for him. But, house Caesar was related with Marius, and then Sulla took over Rome, he lost he position (and nearly lost his head) and decided to leave Rome for a time. He joined acting army in Greece and participated in siege of Mytilene (81BC)and was decorated with corona civica(1)- award given specifically for slaying an enemy(2). There is no detailed description surviving so thats pretty much all we know. Was there a tradition in Rome for getting their young aristocrats "blooded" Military service was necessary for political career, so in that sense- yes.
(1)During the rest of the campaign he enjoyed a better reputation, and at the storming of Mytilene Thermus awarded him the civic crown Suetonius. The Lives of the Twelve Caesars. Book I http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Julius*.html#2
(2) These laws are to the effect that the life of a fellow-citizen must be preserved, and an enemy slain; that the spot where this takes place must have been held by the enemy that same day; that the person saved shall admit the fact, other witnesses being of no use at all; and that the person saved shall have been a Roman citizen. Pliny the Elder. The Natural History Book XVI, Chapter 5 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D16%3Achapter%3D5