Many upper-class Romans were probably bilingual. Greece had a long history of interactions with Romans and many Romans evidently admired certain aspects of Greek culture, such as the Greek myths they adopted for their own Roman gods, though other practices were more controversial. Education in Greek would have likely formed a part of many wealthy Roman youths education, particularly because Greece was the lingua franca of the Eastern Mediterranean among the successor kingdoms, as well as being used in parts of Southern Italy and in literature. It makes sense when you consider the wider picture of the Mediterranean world at the time.

Suetonius, Plutarch and Dio report various versions of what Caesar purportedly said in his final moments, some suggest it was Greek and others that it was Latin. More importantly is the fact that Plutarch takes Caesar’s ability to speak Greek for granted.