wT 
 
Cesar's Character 
 
 OR 
 
 IN DEFENSE OF THE 
 STANDARD OF MANKIND " 
 
 BY 
 WILLIAM WADDELL 
 
 '"'What profiteth a man if he gain the 
 whole world and lose his own soulf'' 
 
 New Yor4'\nd Washington 
 THE NJ|ALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 »907 
 
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 /} 
 
 USR'^RY of congress] 
 Two Cooles Recelvad ! 
 
 AUG H '90^ 
 . Cooyncht Entry 
 
 cU^A xxc/no. 
 
 COPY li. 
 
 Copyright, 1907, by 
 THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
'^^ff 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 ' ' The public will expect, in choosing a patron 
 for this work, the writer should address him- 
 self to some person of illustrious rank, and 
 bearing a principal share in the great affairs of 
 the nation. ' '^ 
 
 Will it, then, be too bold to have dedicated this 
 poor volume to the right honorable Governor 
 Folk, of Missouri, for the uprightness of pur- 
 pose displayed in his position, by his ''most 
 passionate admirer and most devoted, humble 
 servant" T 
 
 ^Middleton. ^Steele. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This work has a single purpose. It was not 
 written to display any merits (and if the latter 
 exist it is the author's wish that they be made 
 subordinate to his cause), but was called forth 
 by the good in humanity. 
 
 The following incident will be of interest to 
 those who may desire to know the circumstance 
 that proved the immediate spur to the writing 
 of this work. 
 
 One day at high school, the instructor in 
 Latin, speaking of Caesar, said: ^'Caesar's char- 
 acter has never been satisfactorily explained, 
 but undoubtedly he was one of the greatest 
 monsters that ever lived." The writer, who 
 was well acquainted with history, had prev- 
 iously thought along this same line, and had 
 held similar ideas, and having his own thought, 
 as it were, repeated to him, it doubly impressed 
 him. He determined, therefore, to write on this 
 man's character and clear up some facts that 
 were not clear, at that time, in his own mind, 
 nor in the minds of others. He then began 
 to collect the original sources, but his work did 
 not begin in earnest until two years later, and 
 has progressed from that time to the present. 
 
8 Preface, 
 
 In short, he then set out to establish what Steele 
 so well states, ^^ There is no greater monster 
 in being than a very ill man of great parts/ '^ 
 That is, a man morally very sick, but possess- 
 ing great abilities, is harmful to the world. 
 
 The original authorities were all consulted 
 before going to the modern writers. The main 
 original sources drawn from have been Plu- 
 tarch, Suetonius, Appian, Dion Cassius, Cicero 's 
 Letters, and Lucan. Suetonius was always con- 
 sidered a reliable authority by Mommsen, and 
 is commended in the following terms by Trol- 
 lope: ^'For the character of Cassar generally 
 I would refer readers to Suetonius, whose life 
 of the great man is, to my thinking, more 
 graphic than any that has been written since. 
 * * * There was enough of history, of biog- 
 raphy, and of tradition to enable him to form 
 a true idea of the man. He himself as a narra- 
 tor was neither specially friendly nor specially 
 hostile. He has told us what was believed at 
 the time, and he has drawn a character that 
 agrees perfectly with all that we have learned 
 since. "^ Lucan, although a poet, made history 
 the subject of his poem, and should be taken as 
 authority, for, as Merivale says, ^'he sat at the 
 feet of statesmen and philosophers, and knew 
 much of history."^ 
 
 Appian and Dion Cassius are usually taken 
 as reliable authorities on this period of history. 
 
 'Steele— "De Coverly Papers," chap. III. 
 ^'Trollope— "Cicero," Vol. I, p. 267. 
 "Merivale — "Roman Triumvirs," p. 123. 
 
Preface, 9 
 
 Plutarch needs no reference, and Cicero^s Let- 
 ters on this period of Roman history are an in- 
 exhaustible fountain of information. 
 
 We liave used the same sources that the wor- 
 shipers of Caesar have used, but *^our opin- 
 ions, '' in the language of Cato, ''are extremely 
 different. ' ^ We have probably shown what dif- 
 ferent results can be obtained from the same 
 material. Let us say, with Fronde: "Sueto- 
 nius shows, nevertheless, an effort at veracity, 
 an antiquarian curiosity and diligence, and a 
 serious anxiety to tell his story impartially. 
 Suetonius, in the absence of evidence direct or 
 presumptive to the contrary, I have felt myself 
 able to follow."^ So have we. 
 
 The worshipers of Caesar, are dealt with in 
 the work, but mention should here be made of 
 one of them. The writer considers Fronde's 
 volume to be probably the worst work on Caesar 
 that has ever been written, and it was his origi- 
 nal intention to deal with that work separately, 
 but the final plan of his work prevented it. 
 However, Froude 's work is dealt with under the 
 subjects with which it treats. 
 
 In his notes the author has used an arrange- 
 ment that he thought would be to the conven- 
 ience of the reader, as it does not compel him 
 to break off in the reading. The notes ^, ^, etc., 
 are authorities only, or brief notes; (1), (2), 
 etc., are the notes proper, or a comment on the 
 subject. 
 
 In concluding his preface the writer wishes 
 
 iFroude— "Caesar," Preface, VIII. 
 
10 Preface 
 
 to say that if those who perceive the purpose 
 of this work feel it is not satisfactory, it will 
 not be surprising, for it has not always come up 
 to the expectations of its author. A man may 
 have a grand thought, but to find one who can 
 express it just as he means it, is a rare thing. 
 However, as the work stands, he feels himself 
 capable of saying with another, ^'So long as 
 misery and ignorance remain on earth, books 
 like this cannot be useless."^ 
 
 iPreface to "Les Miserables." 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 The Simplicity of Man 13 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 The Conspiracy of Catiline 39 
 
 Beginning of the Civil War 51 
 
 Caesar and Cleopatra 68 
 
 Victory Over Pharnaces 80 
 
 Caesar's Government 83 
 
 Moral Character of Caesar 90 
 
 Traits of Caesart^ Character, and Effect of 
 
 this Type of Men Upon World 123 
 
 Caesar's Death 140 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 Triumph of the Good in Cato 148 
 
 Some Comparisons 160 
 
 Importance of the Moral Sense 177 
 
 Some Disjointed Eeflections 200 
 
 An Address to the Good in Humanity 229 
 
 Conclusion 233 
 
 11 
 
BOOK I 
 
 "Will the world stop long enough in its terrific pace to 
 listen to our mild speech?" 
 
 THE SIMPLICITY OF MAN 
 
 THE AEGUMENT 
 
 Pakt I. — All humanity is divided into two 
 classes. Why the author took up this work. How 
 it came to be written. Caesar's character has 
 never been definitely settled. The writers who 
 have condemned Caesar are innumerable. A 
 noteworthy fact of the great moralists and phi- 
 losophers of this world. Good often arises out 
 of evil. The age in which Caesar lived. Caesar 
 could never have flourished in a virtuous age. 
 A difference between history and biography. 
 Men's opinions concerning Caesar at various 
 times. In Dante 's time ; in Shakespere 's time. 
 
 Part II. — A few reflections. The ignorance 
 and simplicity of mankind. Men who are natu- 
 rally passionate and men who are only occasion- 
 ally so. A point in the characters of Alexander 
 and Caesar. How many men are as Johnson de- 
 scribes? The lot of the pioneer of truth, as 
 shown by past history. Typical way of the 
 
 13 
 
14 C Cesar's Character 
 
 world in receiving the truth. The principle by 
 which men live. One characteristic of the 
 world's great literary works. The power of evil 
 men over literature. A fault of the ancients and 
 the deterioration of nations. Force and con- 
 demnation are the best weapons in handling 
 evil ; some examples. A tale of a young man and 
 a sceptical audience. 
 
 PART I 
 
 The whole of humanity is divided into two 
 classes : the good and the evil ; no more, no less. 
 This has often been stated before, but no man 
 knows what it means. If in this work mankind 
 obtains some conception of this great truth, we 
 have done a thing of inestimable service to 
 mankind. 
 
 Of all wars and conflicts, the war of the good 
 and the bad is the greatest, and includes all 
 others. 
 
 There was a bandit who, with his followers, 
 had for many years terrorized the country in 
 which they roamed, and who during a large part 
 of these years had been pursued by a band of 
 men, sent out by a governor who was known 
 throughout this country as a man of strong 
 moral purpose. After some twelve years of this 
 wild and evil life, the leader of these bandits 
 was caught. Upon being taken to prison he was 
 lodged in a cell with one of his followers who 
 had been captured some time previously. Their 
 
The Simplicity of Man 15 
 
 talk, naturally, was about their capture and the 
 governor who had effected it. Upon his com- 
 panion making some remarks about the traits 
 of this governor, the leader of the bandits said, 
 dejectedly, '^I don^t know what this thing mor- 
 als is, but I do know it's something powerful." 
 
 If he had been impressed as well by his ob- 
 servation as by his experience, he would have 
 seen that men give up their lives, countries be- 
 come engaged in war, and that there is a con- 
 tinual conflict going on in the world about this 
 '' something powerful." 
 
 Our subject, then, being above all others, em- 
 braces the human race, and is intended to be of 
 world importance, for it assuredly deals with 
 the most vital matter that concerns mankind. 
 
 The world will probably demand to know, 
 then, why we arise from the depths of nowhere 
 to speak of important and embracing matters. 
 Firstly, the author sets forth clearly his be- 
 lief that as a man lives but once in this world, 
 be he rich or poor, high or low, of noble or mean 
 birth, he should give his life to the betterment 
 of the world. Secondly, the author has not 
 taken up this task backed by a knowledge of his 
 abilities, but has been irresistibly spurred on 
 by a deep-seeing conscience. So that if a cer- 
 tain class of men learn nothing else from the 
 work, they may observe and learn what a pow- 
 erful thing a conscience is. 
 
 If there are traces of a certain forwardness 
 in this work, the author wishes to say that he 
 is naturally neither bold nor forcible, but when 
 
16 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 he saw in the first place that the world possesses 
 little real merit, and in the second place that 
 men in general are either wholly deceived by 
 certain men, or are of the same nature them- 
 selves, or at least have much in common with 
 them which causes them to have a degree of 
 sympathy for these men, which fact is detrimen- 
 tal to the sympathizer, the sympathized, and the 
 world in general — when the writer's mind was 
 opened to these facts, although he perceived 
 great obstacles to be overcome, and realized the 
 immensity of his task, he determined to step 
 forth and give his opinions on the matter. When 
 a bashful nature like Demosthenes can be 
 aroused, when a timid man like Cicero is spurred 
 on to arise before men, when a naturally quiet 
 nature like Luther is compelled to arise before 
 the world and wield the weapon of righteous- 
 ness, men may form some conception of the 
 depths and far-reaching effects of evil. 
 
 We admit we have been given the offer to 
 undertake this work, and have accepted it, but 
 we have no intention of arousing men from their 
 natural torpor by exciting their grosser appe- 
 tites ; our tune will spring from a higher string, 
 such as is found in the Great Work and in the 
 teachings of Christ, in whose service we write. 
 If mankind cannot hear this tune, does not de- 
 scry its meaning, does not recognize its air, and 
 does not accept it, then mankind will hurl upon 
 itself one of the most terrible condemnations 
 that humanity has ever received; our purpose 
 being not to war with the world, but to teach it, 
 
The Simplicity of Man 17 
 
 CaBsar's character has never been settled defi- 
 nitely, and various opinions have been given of 
 it. Three things have entered into the question 
 which influenced men in deciding the point. 
 Firstly, the matter throws itself upon the moral 
 nature of the historians and readers, for it has 
 been noted that bad and immoral men always 
 decide in favor of Caesar, whereas good and 
 honest men invariably decide against him. Sec- 
 ondly, according to the government under which 
 they themselves lived. Thirdly, according to the 
 beliefs then prevailing. 
 
 Caesar has followers for two reasons, namely : 
 there are many immoral people, and such re- 
 semble him more or less in their character, and 
 follow him, just as there are people who choose 
 Satan instead of Christ for their leader ; men in 
 general are very easily deceived, and admire 
 without comprehending, for men do not stop to 
 analyze before they admire. It is true that men, 
 like paintings, look better at a distance; but 
 if one be composed of the right metal he will 
 bear the analysis. 
 
 Writers have condemned Caesar in every form 
 of literature known. In every form of prose, 
 history, biography, satire and invective, besides 
 poetry, has Caesar been denounced by writers of 
 both ancient and modern times. 
 
 The writers, we repeat, that have condemned 
 Caesar at various times and pointed out his glar- 
 ing errors, are beyond number. It is possible 
 that this work could have been made up entirely 
 of quotations from historians and biographers, 
 
18 C Cesar's Character 
 
 with remarks to explain the passages/ When 
 it is possible to make such a statement one may 
 realize the amount of material we have to back 
 us up. 
 
 The works of these writers have not had the 
 effect that it was intended they should have. As 
 we make quotations from the most weighty au- 
 thorities, it is sufficient here to say that the writ- 
 ers most depreciated are Lucan in ancient times 
 and Middleton in modern times. Among oth- 
 ers who have noticed and complained of this 
 matter is Channing, who in his life of Napoleon 
 says: '^ These reproaches are as little more 
 than sounds and unmeaning commonplaces. 
 They are repeated for form's sake. Wlien we 
 read or hear them we feel that they ivant depth 
 and strength/''^ This faulty however, lies not 
 in the writers, but in the world, for it did not 
 wish to bring to the surface the points brought 
 out by those writers. There may be readers 
 who will be inclined to consider this as humor- 
 ous, but we wish to assure them this is no book 
 of humor, and have only to ask them if this 
 world is perfect! A negative answer being re- 
 ceived, we will ask the nature of the world's 
 imperfection. Aside from the example of Christ, 
 almost all the great moralists and champions of 
 truth have either been killed or exiled from 
 their country. Agis and Socrates, of Greece ; the 
 Gracchi, Cato, Cicero, and Seneca, all died for 
 their opinions. Can creatures tvho kill such men 
 
 ^A large part of the work is made up of quotations. 
 ^Channing— "Works," p. 523. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 19 
 
 read the weaker statements^ of the same hind of 
 men and voluntarily give them credit? We are 
 aware that the annals of history are corrupt 
 from end to end, that the great deeds of this 
 world have been largely derived from bad mo- 
 tives, that a great part of the good that has 
 come into this world has been derived from the 
 bad (1). Yet we are not dismayed. It does 
 not prevent us from condemning it, from point- 
 ing out its faults, from showing the proper 
 course and encouraging men to follow the latter. 
 
 The stories of the immorality of the age with 
 which we deal, as told by the writers who lived 
 during that time, are not a bit overdrawn. It 
 is always the tendency of people to hide and 
 lessen matters of this kind because they are un- 
 pleasant, but that is a very strange way of giv- 
 ing the truth of things. ' ' Truth is stranger than 
 fiction,'^ and it should be added, there is noth- 
 ing more terrible. A passage or two, however, 
 will suffice for our purpose. 
 
 Of this period Middleton says: ^'In the de- 
 clining state of the Republic, the elections were 
 carried on not only by the most shameful and 
 
 '^Weaker because the former mentioned tried to force 
 their ideas upon the world, whereas the latter confined 
 themselves merely to the pen and were easier to meet. 
 
 (1) The good part of history is made up in this manner, 
 but a few instances will suffice. Was not the Reformation, 
 started by Luther, caused by the indulgences and licentious- 
 ness of the people? Was not Christ's coming upon earth 
 with the object of reforming its corrupt, depraved inhabi- 
 tants? And so "The Divine Comedy," "Pilgrim's Progress," 
 and "Paradise Lost" were written to uplift the world from 
 its awful depth of wickedness. 
 
20 C Cesar's Character 
 
 avowed bribery, but by the several mobs of the 
 respective candidates. These, it may well be 
 imagined, were both disposed and prepared to 
 commit every outrage that the cause of their 
 leaders should require."^ Mommsen, after rail- 
 ing against this ^'unnatural world, in which the 
 sexes seemed as though they wished to change 
 parts," says of this period: *'To be poor was 
 not merely the sorest disgrace and the worst 
 crime, but the only disgrace and the only crime ; 
 for money the statesman sold the state and the 
 burgher sold his freedom; the post of the oJSicer 
 and the vote of the juryman were to be had 
 for money; for money the lady of quality sur- 
 rendered her person, as well as the common 
 courtesan ; falsifying of documents, and perjur- 
 ies had become so common that in a popular 
 poem of this age an oath is called 'the plaster 
 for debts.' Men had forgotten what honesty 
 was ; a person who refused a bribe was regarded 
 not as an upright man, but as a personal foe."^ 
 We can well apply to this age what another had 
 occasion to apply to a later period, "A time 
 when dishonor and shame may arrive at high 
 honors ; all evil repute and disgrace is knighted 
 and ennobled ; when a marriage is suffered that 
 is in a forbidden degree, or has some other de- 
 fect. There is a buying and a selling, a chan- 
 ging, blustering and bargaining, cheating, lying, 
 robbing and stealing, debauchery and villainy, 
 and all kinds of contempt of right. "^ 
 
 ^Middleton — "Cicero," p. 386 (one-volume edition). 
 ^Mommsen — "Rome," B. V, chap. XI. 'Luther. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 21 
 
 In short, this and the age following were prob- 
 ably the most corrupt that the world has ever 
 seen, and it had to be so for Caesar to prosper, 
 for in a more virtuous age he would have had 
 too many Catos, Ciceros and Catulli to over- 
 come, and not enough Catilines, Curios and An- 
 tonys to help him; for it must be remembered 
 that his army was made up almost solely of this 
 kind of men. Cicero, in his letters of this time, 
 says repeatedly that Caesar had all the criminal 
 and obnoxious of all Italy in his army. Caelius 
 says the army was composed solely of dishon- 
 orable men, ' ' all of whom had causes for appre- 
 hension in the past and criminal hopes for the 
 future. ' ' Furthermore, in a better age the gov- 
 ernment would not have been corrupt and weak, 
 and could not have been overthrown. 
 
 In history, the life of a man is not sufficiently 
 dwelt upon, because history must take only the 
 broader lines of affairs and take what is on the 
 surface, often skipping over all that is beneath, 
 but which is of vital importance. This is not 
 a fault of history; it is the nature of it. Biog- 
 raphy, however, stops and goes into the nature 
 of a man, and speaks of the different phases of 
 his character. This is the reason that the biog- 
 raphies of Caesar are so damaging to his char- 
 acter ; while the histories state the performance 
 of his deeds, but do not stop sufficiently long to 
 explain the means by which those deeds were 
 performed. And in this period, as Meyers says, 
 "events gather about a few great names, and 
 the annals of the Eepublic become biographical 
 
22 C Cesar's Character 
 
 rather than historical."^ The author, perceiv- 
 ing this, has made his work not less historical 
 than biographical, but more biographical than 
 historical. 
 
 The purpose of the writer, let it be made clear, 
 is not to war with the dead nor with the fame 
 of a man, but it is to war with the evil effects 
 of that fame, which is not confined to one man, 
 but which concerns the whole of humanity. As 
 has been said before, there are three facts which 
 influence men in their judgment of Ca3sar: the 
 internal force or the moral sense of men as indi- 
 viduals, and the two external forces, namely, 
 the government under which they themselves 
 live and in accordance with the beliefs prevail- 
 ing at the time. 
 
 In Dante's time men's minds were concerned 
 with things that were holy, and Caesar was con- 
 sidered to have founded the Holy Roman Em- 
 pire. 
 
 Dante, with Milton, wrote one of the most 
 helpful, uplifting works humanity has received, 
 but he had no insight into the character of 
 Julius Caesar. He believed that the latter was 
 divinely appointed to rule over earthly affairs. 
 Whether he was deceived by Caesar's bluff of 
 being descended from the gods, we know not; 
 but wherever he got the theory, as soon as com- 
 mon sense is applied to it, it goes up in the air. 
 But Dante's misconception of Caesar made him 
 send Brutus and Cassius to the depths and the 
 
 ^Meyers — "Ancient History," p. 467. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 23 
 
 lower regions, whereas they most assuredly be- 
 long to the upper world. 
 
 We then come to a period in which Shake- 
 spere was involved, and w^ho, in the opinion of 
 the writer, was an anti-Csesar man. During and 
 after the Renaissance, when the people were 
 lifted out of their ignorance, a decided stand 
 was made against Caesar and in favor of Cato, 
 Brutus, Pompey, and the defenders of the Re- 
 public. The influence of this period prevailed 
 at the time Shakespere lived, but to those who 
 will not accept the statements of the critics 
 Schlegel and Gildon that the play is pro-Brutus, 
 and are not impressed by Oman's positive state- 
 ment, ^ ' It needs but a glance through this trag- 
 edy to see that Brutus is the hero,"^ to those, 
 we repeat, we will direct a few questions. Does 
 not Shakespere make his readers sympathize 
 with the conspirators % Does he not make Caesar 
 out as a braggart, and does he not make his 
 pride go directly t3efore a fall? Does he not 
 praise Pompey, to Caesar's detriment; and does 
 he not exalt Brutus'? There is but one answer. 
 Then could they have been expressed by any 
 other than an anti-Caesar manT 
 
 But the strongest argument in showing that 
 this play was an anti-Caesar play is the fact that 
 at this time of which we speak there lived two 
 of the greatest m.en, not only of England, but 
 of the world, both of whom wrote decidedly 
 
 ^Oman — "Seven Roman Statesmen— Caesar." 
 -An expression of Shakespere that has been distorted by 
 the followers of Caesar will be dealt withi later. 
 
24 Caesar's Character 
 
 against Julius Cassar. These men were Francis 
 Bacon and Ben Jonson. The work of the for- 
 mer was ''A Civil Character of Julius Caesar/' 
 and was well received. The work of Jonson 
 was a drama named *' Catiline/' in which he 
 gives Caesar a part in the conspiracy of Catiline. 
 The play was well received by the people, and 
 Jonson considered it one of his best works. 
 Who is it, then, who will say that in this age in 
 which the people were so averse to Caesar, 
 Shakespere would not write so as to find an echo 
 in the people? 
 
 And so the attitude toward Caesar has 
 changed according to the times and inclinations 
 of men. But the time when the principle of 
 right and wrong is employed in judging Caesar — 
 when it is asked, did he do lawful? were his 
 actions proper? was his life honest and his 
 means pure ? — that time has not yet come. The 
 author, although taking into account those 
 things that have influenced other men, will try 
 to follow out this last principle so far as it is 
 within the power of one man. 
 
 PAET II 
 
 In the great works of the world, the passions 
 of men — weak men, evil men, imfortunate men 
 and fallen man — are the themes that are most 
 popular. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 25 
 
 Life is a disappointment, in tliat its pleasures 
 are not permanent. 
 
 Pleasure is a disappointment that is why so 
 many pleasure-seekers are so sour. 
 
 In inequalities of the intellect and financial 
 inequalities, the one that cannot be prevented 
 nor averted is striven against, while the other, 
 which can be prevented or averted, is allowed 
 to exist to such an extent that while some men 
 own palaces and mansions, and throw away 
 money on clothes, cigars and beer, others have 
 not enough bread. 
 
 Business is a good thing for tramps, bums 
 and broken sports. 
 
 One of the worst evils of this world, in its 
 effects, is the way evil and misfortune impresses 
 most men. They exaggerate it, bewail their fate, 
 become indifferent to their own fate or the wel- 
 fare of others. 
 
 Men, in their present state, do not like to ad- 
 mit the facts of life ; for, as they must live, they 
 want it to be as pleasant as possible. This atti- 
 tude, however, induces them to become hypo- 
 crites, and say things when they know different. 
 
 The petite passions of men rule business, and 
 it follows that it (business) is loaded with self- 
 interest. 
 
 Men were more of their own nature in ancient 
 times than they are to-day. For civilization has 
 brought much polish with it that makes hypoc- 
 risy easy and desirable. In ancient times, aside 
 from man's original nature, hypocrisy was un- 
 known; now, all are hypocrites. In earlier 
 
26 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 times, hypocrisy was natural to some individ- 
 uals ; now, it is a system. 
 
 All men are evil ; the difference only being in 
 the type and the depth, which, however, offers a 
 great variety. 
 
 There is a degeneration going on in this coun- 
 try. First, its inhabitants fought for this coun- 
 try and posterity (1776). Then they fought be- 
 tween one another in the Civil War (1861). 
 Now, through the spirit of money-making, they 
 %ht one another, to get the money (1907). 
 Money leads to luxury and pleasure, and the 
 latter means the downfall of a countrj^, as it 
 did for Persia, Greece and Eome. And neither 
 the gold of the East nor the resources of the 
 West can prevent this. (Rome was extended 
 over the world when she went down.) This 
 thing will not happen in a day, nor a week nor 
 a month, but it will happen, and is happening 
 to-day. 
 
 The world is a place where defects are howled 
 about much louder than merits are appreciated. 
 
 It is very seldom that you find a man who is 
 willing to agreeably surprise one. 
 
 The world is crooked from top to bottom, in- 
 side and out; and its inhabitants, with a little 
 variety, are all crooked. Probably that's why 
 the world is round. 
 
 Burglars;, grafters, thieves, murderers and 
 whores get the bulk of attention and notoriety 
 here. 
 
 The highest and purest motives have the less 
 chance of succeeding. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 27 
 
 In this world, pleasure is that feeling which 
 we receive when pain leaves us. 
 
 The good, in this world, is derived in this 
 way : Take the worst and compare it to the bad. 
 The bad is better than the worst — this is the 
 good. 
 
 Life is a game that is not played on the level ; 
 and it is a desperate game, at the best. 
 
 What are the beliefs and practices of one age 
 are the ridicule of another. Every age, like man, 
 must believe that it is right, and the others 
 wrong; otherwise it could not flourish. In the 
 case of individual men, if this illusion did not 
 exist, existence would be unendurable. 
 
 It is quite difficult to teach the present age of 
 what things are good, for it is wrapped up in 
 the present, and its case is analogous to that of 
 man in passion, who sees its merits only, but no 
 defects or consequences. The past, the only 
 place where these lessons can be learned, they 
 will not turn to long enough to take their eyes 
 off what is before them. Are not men of the 
 past made up of the same bone, blood and flesh 
 as men of the present! However, they (men of 
 the present) can easily be taught the different 
 varieties of worldly pleasure and personal gain. 
 
 There is not a passion man is heir to that is 
 not delusive. If it were as strong as it, in its 
 height, appears to be, then he would have some- 
 thing, but, as it is, it is like a gas balloon, with 
 nothing to it. Similarly, are man's hopes so 
 much so in fact that frequently he is best off 
 who has no hopes. 
 
28 CcBsar's Character 
 
 A man who exposes vice and crime is fre- 
 quently called a scandal-monger, etc., pure as 
 liis intention and purpose might be, while those 
 who did the act get off scot-free. Such is the 
 judgment of men. But the point is, has he no 
 right to condemn this condition and ask men to 
 better it? 
 
 If the principle brought out by the writer, in 
 this work, is not satisfactory to the world, and 
 does not coincide with that law of the world, 
 ''The world is the all in all, the ruler of all 
 things, superior to and above all else; what is 
 satisfactory, alone, is accepted; what is not, is 
 rejected. ' ' This is a law, dear reader, by which 
 the world has unsuccessfully tried to rule itself. 
 If the principle brought out by the writer does 
 not coincide with this law, and is not satisfac- 
 tory to the world, it is no fault of the writer. 
 It is his work simply to proceed. 
 
 The ancient Greeks were the most heautifid 
 race the world has produced, and mankind will 
 probably never produce a race of people their 
 equal. In the arts, science, literature, the Greeks 
 were the first of heroes, painters, poets and phil- 
 osophers. The ancients, until the end of time, 
 will be admired by mankind for more things of 
 depth than any other age. The reason is that 
 they possessed a finer quality and a greater 
 quantity of nervous force than men of to-day 
 and, as a result, were the more gifted; but they 
 misused their powers, and the human race de- 
 teriorated and left us the remnants of a once 
 glorious race. The men of to-day misuse their 
 
The Simplicity of Man 29" 
 
 powers by siiniliar means, and to-day the hu- 
 man race is deteriorating'. 
 
 People deny many of the dark things of this 
 life, because they have to live here and want it 
 to seem as pleasant as possible. But that is get- 
 ting at neither truth nor facts ; it is simply add- 
 ing another illusion to the many that already 
 exist. 
 
 As has been said, Cassar has been condemned 
 by writers innumerable, and their failure in not 
 haying been effective we have traced, not to the 
 writers, but to the world. Aside from the prin- 
 ciple of the strong and the weak, which reigns 
 supreme in the world, there are two reasons for 
 this condition. 
 
 The first is the ignorance, simplicity, and gul- 
 libility of mankind, for men frequently admire 
 what they do not understand, and likewise con- 
 demn what is beyond their comprehension. The 
 minds of most people are very simple, and the 
 two characteristics, we repeat, of simplicity of 
 mind, are to admire before comprehending and 
 to reject all that is beyond its own small intel- 
 lectual field of action. This shows ignorance of 
 the lowest type, for a cow can do that good. 
 
 The unrestrained admiration of idiots, crimi- 
 nals, and even the insane, by the people of all 
 ages, is one of the best examples of the simplic- 
 ity and depravity of mankind. On this condi- 
 tion of the human being, Homer expresses him- 
 self as follows : 
 
30 CcBsar^s Character 
 
 '^For oh, what is there of inferior birth 
 That breathes or creeps upon the dust of earth, 
 What wretched creature of what wretched kind 
 Than man more weak, calamitous and blind?" 
 
 Bacon says on this subject: ^'The common 
 people understand not many excellent virtues; 
 the lowest virtues draw praise from them, the 
 middle virtues work in them astonishment or 
 admiration, but of the highest virtues they have 
 no sense or perceiving at all."^ The world is, 
 furthermore, filled with folly and ridiculousness, 
 and men are ruled by evil passions ; but let the 
 advice be given, rather than have men controlled 
 by the latter let them have reason. There is 
 nothing more solid and reliable, and in times of 
 distress and misfortune nothing will help us 
 more, for to be without reason is like being 
 without a home. 
 
 Man, however, must be dealt with as he is. 
 Men that are naturally passionate and lose their 
 control, or indulge in some desperate act, are 
 regarded by people as doing properly and natu- 
 rally, and are seldom blamed; whereas, a man 
 that seldom loses his self-control, upon some 
 occasion arousing him, even though it be in his 
 own defense, he is abhorred and condemned 
 by all. Which fact shows the ignorance and un- 
 fairness of mankind. For in the latter case of 
 a man who seldom resorts to a desperate or vio- 
 lent act, he is little experienced, and as a result 
 his action is extremely awkward and unskillful, 
 
 ^Bacon — "Works," p. 485. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 31 
 
 and men condemn it. In the former case of 
 the man who is naturally given to acts of pas- 
 sion, there is a smoothness and naturalness 
 about it that makes it acceptable to men; but 
 this naturalness has come by experience and 
 practice! In the same way, men's faults are 
 attacked not so much for their corruption as 
 for their easiness of approach. Some men will 
 commit the worst crimes possible, and cover 
 them up so well that few will attempt to expose 
 them; others will commit a lesser crime, and 
 by not showing concealment, but rather remorse, 
 make it an attractive object of attack, and all 
 shout their condemnation. This is the case in 
 the characters of Julius Caesar and Alexander 
 the Great. Let historians and biographers lift 
 their heads and take notice. 
 
 Men, as has been said, judge faults not by 
 their corruption, but by their weakness; like- 
 wise, men assist the strong and crush the weak, 
 for how many men are not of that kind that 
 Johnson describes, who "look with unconcern 
 on a man struggling for life in the water, and 
 when he has reached ground encmnber him with 
 help ' ' ? We think we are not overstating it when 
 we say that the majority of mankind are of that 
 sort. Nor do we disparage Johnson when we 
 say so, for the author is a too decided pro- 
 Johnson man to consciously depreciate the lat- 
 ter by applying to the mass of humanity what 
 he had occasion to apply to one man. 
 
 The world has not only abused its best men 
 by exile or death, and harbored its worst men, 
 
32 C Cesar's Character 
 
 but it has seldom recognized its best men until 
 long after they were gone. ' ' After death, ' ' says 
 Lombroso, ^'they receive monuments and rhet- 
 oric by way of compensation."^ Very few of 
 the pioneers of truth have been recognized as 
 such during their lifetime. When a matter is 
 set before the world, let it be the emblem of 
 truth itself, following is the way the world re- 
 ceives it: First, it is sneered at, made fun of, 
 rejected, and opposed. The world is always un- 
 willing to receive it or give it any credit; then, 
 after it has been rejected without receiving the 
 semblance of consideration, it is attacked in 
 various unfair ways and its promoters abused; 
 and lastly — and this depends largely upon the 
 condition of the people when the matter is in- 
 troduced — the matter is cautiously considered, 
 as if it were some reptile that might bite; but 
 seeing that the arguments and evidence are 
 sound, the investigators summon courage to pro- 
 ceed, and finally, having criticised, examined, 
 and analyzed the matter, see that it is, on the 
 whole, sound and true. And then the investi- 
 gators establish the truth of the matter. Thus 
 the very thing that had been sneered at, laughed 
 at, rejected without consideration, attacked 
 without fairness, and lastly, analyzed in a hos- 
 tile spirit, is finally established.^ 
 
 Why don't men see these things'? Why don't 
 they stop and think about these matters? Why 
 
 ^Lombroso— "Man of Genius," Preface. 
 2 The writer knows of no great discovery, theory, or truth 
 in the world that has been an exception. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 33 
 
 don't they consider them? Is there danger in 
 thought! Is it something poisonous? 
 
 It is sometimes the case that when men are 
 compelled to think, it is like labor in its effects, 
 for they turn upon the one that put them to 
 work and vent their clownish rage. We hope 
 this will not be the case with those we address, 
 for that would be driving them from one form 
 of stupidity to another. 
 
 The second reason for the condition stated is 
 that men do not live by the principle of right 
 and wrong, but by the principle of ''what we 
 want." The world only accepts what it wants, 
 and the greatest works of literature describe 
 worldly pleasures and human passions in their 
 worst forms; works possessing more strength 
 than merit hold their place at first, but the works 
 of real merit are seldom readily accepted, but 
 must find their way to the hearts and minds of 
 men by a slow and oft obstructed process. Even 
 after they have established themselves, the loose 
 expressions are taken advantage of, the best 
 passages distorted from their intended mean- 
 ing, and the author condemned in places where 
 neither can be done. The power that evil men of 
 this world have over literature does not extend 
 only to the suppression of works in favor of 
 justice, that were not of the greatest strength, 
 but to construing the various passages in the 
 works of the greatest and best writers. The pas- 
 sages we refer to are intended to teach a moral 
 lesson, set forth the weakness of mankind or 
 expose the use of guile and craft in men ; in any 
 
34 CcBsar's Character 
 
 case, they were not intended for arguments in 
 favor of immoral life. Yet these passages are 
 distorted by evil men to be used in their argu- 
 ments in defense of the evil lives and practices 
 of men. Instances of this are given later from 
 the works of Shakespere, Milton, and Dante. 
 
 Schlegel, in speaking of Shakespere, says: 
 ^'He has, in fact, never varnished over wild and 
 bloodthirsty passions with a pleasing exterior, 
 never clothed crime and a want of principle with 
 a false show of greatness of soul; and in that 
 respect he is in every way deserving of praise. ' '^ 
 Men have not seen that Shakespere was teach- 
 ing a moral lesson when he exposed the vices of 
 evil men and made them repulsive ; but for these 
 very things he has been called ^'barbarian," 
 ^ ignorant," and "unpolished." Thus it is 
 throughout his works (and the works of other 
 great writers suffer a similar fate) that when 
 he moralizes in any form, if his meaning can- 
 not be distorted from the purpose intended, he 
 is condemned in some such form as has been 
 shown. 
 
 The description of worldly pleasures and hu- 
 man passions in their worst forms, we repeat, 
 are the two chief qualities in the great works ad- 
 mired by the world. We have in mind a certain 
 passage from Lucretius which the world has 
 been accustomed to praise and admire. We will 
 not allow the passage to be seen in our pages. 
 
 ^Schlegel — "Ijectures on Dramatic Art and Literature," p. 
 367. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 35 
 
 but the last two lines, in particular, have been 
 admired : 
 
 ' '■ Thy charms in that transporting moment try. 
 And softest language to his heart apply.'' 
 
 Men admire this without thinking that this 
 identical thing is done by every harlot and low 
 woman all over the world. Yet the world would 
 care very little for Lucretius, Catullus, Ovid, 
 Goethe, if these two elements were taken out of 
 their works. JSFevertheless, there is much to be 
 laid at the door of those authors who give divine 
 beings and the leaders of the human race de- 
 graded qualities. 
 
 The ancients were more gifted than men of 
 to-day, but the great fault of the ancients was 
 their wasting of the vital forces in various ways. 
 Particularly appalling was the abuse to which 
 they subjected the sexual instinct; so much so, 
 in fact, that it is a wonder the human race did 
 not become extinct. When we look upon the 
 facts given us, and consider Lombroso's grave 
 words, ^'It is permitted to no one to expend 
 inore than a certain quantity of force without 
 being severely punished on the other side,"^ it 
 is no difficult thing to see why we have become 
 such little men. For since man put his powers 
 and gifts to evil purposes, is it not proper that 
 he should not have the powers and gifts that he 
 formerly had ! ^ ' Say not thou, What is the cause 
 that the former days were better than these? for 
 
 ^Lombroso— "Man of Genius/' p. 30, 
 
36 CcEsar's Character 
 
 thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this."^ 
 Men admit the deterioration of nations and 
 races, caused by the evil of its inhabitants — the 
 Persians, Greeks, and Romans, for example — 
 for it is impossible to deny it. Is it too far for 
 men to see that the human race, as a whole, for 
 the same reasons, should deteriorate ? The fact 
 is that it does. But our point is that this de- 
 terioration of the human race is caused by the 
 evil of its inhabitants. It is not a punishment, 
 it is not the Divine Hand ; it is the natural and 
 inevitable outcome; but this does not make the 
 fact the less positive. 
 
 A/^Tlien one wishes to set men's faces in the 
 right direction he must first draw them away 
 from their wrong and crooked paths. Next to the 
 actual use of force, condenmation is the most ef- 
 fective thing to check the wicked career of men. 
 All the praising of good men in the world does 
 not affect the downward course of humanity. 
 
 Cato the Elder is better known for his con- 
 demning the Greek luxuries and customs and 
 the prosperity of Carthage than for any praise 
 he bestowed upon mankind; Cato the Younger 
 spoke much louder in condemning Julius Caesar 
 than he did in praising the actions of Cicero or 
 Pompey ; Demosthenes is best known for his in- 
 vectives against Philip of Macedon; Cicero 
 came out in his best colors when denouncing 
 Catiline and Antonj^ And is this a wonder 
 when we recollect that there is so much to con- 
 demn and so little, comparatively, to praise? 
 ^pcclesiastes vii, 10. 
 
The Simplicity of Man 37 
 
 The immediate cause of this condemnation, as 
 has been said, is the fact that good men realize 
 that all the praise in the world has no effect 
 upon the downward career of men. That is the 
 reason that Charlemagne had to use force to put 
 down and convert to Christianity the heathen 
 Saxons and infidels. ''Soft persuasion," as a 
 Saxon writer afterward said in his defense, 
 "and sage argument" had no effect. Not that 
 the writer advises the stamping out of one evil 
 by the use of another, but to call attention to 
 the fact that that is the most effective way of 
 doing so. Only in small sections of the world, 
 however, can force be used advantageously ; the 
 pen must be relied upon to reach all parts of it. 
 
 We have spoken of writers having severely 
 condemned our subject, but not having the de- 
 sired effect upon the world. We will conclude 
 by giving an example that can well be applied 
 to this case. A young man who was known for 
 his sound and forcible moralizing was to read a 
 written speech before an audience of some 
 thirty people. As has been said, he was known 
 for his forcible moralizing and had thereby in- 
 curred the displeasure of many. When he faced 
 the audience, he perceived a certain positive at- 
 titude in them and a feeling that he knew well, 
 but which he had never before experienced so 
 strongly, came over him. He had the paper in 
 both hands, opened, and was ready to read it 
 when he seemed to pause, then quickly folded 
 the paper and, crushing it in his left hand, said : 
 "I perceive a certain feeling as if some fifty 
 
38 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 people were trying to push me back into the 
 wall; what does it mean? I will tell yon. It 
 means that you are not willing to hear what I 
 wished to say. This attitude has but one mean- 
 ing; it means that you have closed your minds, 
 that you may not see what I wished to impart. 
 But let me inform you, fellow-beings, men's 
 minds can never receive the truth in that atti- 
 tude. It was my intention to give a written 
 speech, but I have given one extempore." We 
 wish to be more patient, and hope men are in 
 that position to receive our written speech. 
 
BOOK II 
 THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE 
 
 THE AKGUMENT 
 
 The opinion of important authorities on this 
 matter, both ancient and modern. The speech of 
 Cato. Caesar narrowly escaped being convicted 
 of complicity in this plot. Mommsen on the 
 Conspiracy of Cataline. 
 
 As THIS subject is important, beyond making 
 a few remarks we will say nothing, but will 
 place before men the opinions of important au- 
 thorities on the matter. 
 
 Warde Fowler says of it: ^'It has always 
 been and always will be a debatable question 
 how far Csesar and Crassus were concerned in 
 it [the plot]. We incline here to the conclusion 
 that they had some knowledge of it, as of the 
 earlier plot, but inwardly reserved the right to 
 betray it if it should seem good to them. They 
 might use it, if it were successful, for their own 
 ends; when it promised to be a failure they 
 probably gave information about it to the gov- 
 ernment."^ 
 
 ^W. Fowler — "Csesar," p. 79. 
 39 
 
40 CcBsar's Character 
 
 De Quincey: ^^It is familiarly known that 
 he [Caesar] was engaged pretty deeply in the 
 conspiracy of Catiline, and that he incurred 
 considerable risk on that occasion ; but it is less 
 known, and has indeed escaped the notice of 
 historians generally, that he was a party to at 
 least two other conspiracies. '^^ 
 
 Wilkinson: ^'The mere existence of the sus- 
 picion tends to show how active [in a bad sense] 
 and how unscrupulous in politics Caesar was 
 held to be."- And then refers to Mommsen's 
 statements on the matter. 
 
 Lamartine: '^With the general impression 
 of so extensive a plot, of which the chiefs 
 alone were concealed, but of which the exist- 
 ence was everywhere avowed by the members.''^ 
 As Catiline was surely not concealed, Lamar- 
 tine means no other than Caesar and Crassus. 
 
 TroUope: ''If Caesar joined the plot we can 
 well understand that Crassus should have gone 
 with him. We have all but sufficient authority 
 for saying that it was so, but authority insuffi- 
 cient for declaring it. That Sallust should not 
 have implicated Caesar was a matter of course, 
 as he wrote altogether in Caesar's interest. 
 That Cicero should not have mentioned it is 
 also quite intelligible. He did not wish to pull 
 down upon his ears the whole house of the aris- 
 tocracy. If Caesar and Crassus could be got 
 to keep themselves quiet he would be willing 
 
 ^De Quincey — "The Csesars," p. 51. 
 
 ^Wilkinson— "College Latin Courses in English," p. 57. 
 
 ''Lamartine — "Memoirs of Celebrated Characters," p. 355. 
 
The Conspiracy of Catiline 41 
 
 enough not to have to add them to his list of 
 enemies."^ On this point Plutarch has the fol- 
 lowing embracing passage to offer: "Caesar, 
 then a young man, and just in the dawn of pow- 
 er, both in his measures and his hopes, was tak- 
 ing that road which he continued in until he 
 turned the Eoman commonwealth into a mon- 
 archy. This was not observed by others, but 
 Cicero had strong suspicions of him. He took 
 care, however, not to give him a sufficient han- 
 dle against him. Some say the consul had al- 
 most got the necessary proofs [speaking of the 
 plot], and that Caesar had a narrow escape. Oth- 
 ers assert that Cicero purposely neglected the 
 information that might have been had against 
 him, for fear of his friends and his great in- 
 terest. ''- 
 
 Middleton: ''Thus ended this famed conspi- 
 racy, in which some of the greatest men in 
 Rome were suspected to be privately engaged, 
 particularly Crassus and Caesar. They were 
 both influenced by the same motives, and might 
 hope, perhaps, by their interest in the city, to 
 advance themselves, in the general confusion, 
 to that sovereign power which they aimed at. 
 Crassus, who had always been Cicero's enemy, 
 by an officiousness of bringing letters and intel- 
 ligence to him during the alarm of the plot, 
 
 iTrollope— "Cicero," Vol. I, p. 217. 
 
 ^Plutarch — "Cicero," chap. 20. It must be remembered 
 that Crassus and Caesar, at that time, were two of the most 
 powerful and influential men of Rome. But for this they 
 would have been convicted on the spot, along with Catiline, 
 Cethegus and the rest. 
 
42 Caesar's Character 
 
 seemed to betray a consciousness of some guilt 
 and Ccesar's ivhole life made it probable that 
 there could hardly be any plot in ivhich he had 
 not some share/- and in this there was so gen- 
 eral a suspicion upon him, especially after his 
 speech in favor of the criminals, that he had 
 some difficulty to escape with his life from the 
 rage of the knights who guarded the avenues of 
 the senate. "- 
 
 Ben Jonson, who is considered by some as 
 second to Shakespere, in his ^' Catiline'^ gave 
 Caesar a place in the conspiracy. Frances Ba- 
 con makes the positive statement that Caesar 
 ^'secretly blew the coals" of Catiline's conspi- 
 racy! 
 
 Thomson: ^^The extreme degree of profli- 
 gacy at which the Romans were now arrived is 
 in nothing more evident than that this age gave 
 birth to the most horrible conspiracy which oc- 
 curs in the annals of humankind, viz., that of 
 Catiline, This was not the project of a few des- 
 perate and abandoned individuals, but of a num- 
 ber of men of the most illustrious rank in the 
 state; and it appears, beyond doubt, that Jidius 
 Ccesar tvas accessory to the design, which was no 
 less than to extirpate the senate, divide 
 amongst themselves both the public and private 
 treasures, and set Rome on fire. The causes 
 which prompted to this tremendous project, it 
 is generally admitted, were luxury, prodigality, 
 
 ^The present writer has taken the liberty of emphasizing 
 quoted passages, etc. 
 
 -Middleton — "Cicero," p. 62 (one-volume edition). 
 
The Conspiracy of Catiline 43 
 
 irreligion, a total corruption of manners, and, 
 above all, as the immediate cause, the pressing 
 necessity in which the conspirators were in- 
 volved by their extreme dissipation."^ 
 
 Plutarch offers the following passage on the 
 intention of the conspirators, following it with 
 an account of the speeches for and against the 
 conspirators: "Their scheme was nothing less 
 than to burn the city, and destroy the empire, 
 by the revolt of the colonies and foreign wars. 
 Upon the discovery of this conspiracy, Cicero, 
 as we have observed in his Life, called a council ; 
 and the first that spoke was Silanus. He gave 
 it as his opinion that the conspirators should 
 be punished with the utmost rigor. This opin- 
 ion was adopted by the rest until it came to 
 Caesar. This eloquent man, consistent with 
 whose ambitious principles it was rather to en- 
 courage than to suppress any threatening inno- 
 vations, urged, in his usual persuasive manner, 
 the propriety of allowing the accused the privi- 
 lege of truce, and that the conspirators should 
 only be taken into custody. The senate, who 
 were under apprehensions from the people, 
 thought it prudent to look into this measure; 
 and even Silanus retracted, and declared he 
 thought of nothing more than imprisonment, 
 that being the most rigorous punishment a citi- 
 zen of Rome could suffer. 
 
 "This change of sentiments in those who 
 spoke first was followed by the rest, who all 
 gave in to milder measures. But Cato, who was 
 
 ^Thomson — "Suetonius," p. 57. 
 
44 Ccesar's Character 
 
 of a contrary opinion, (1), defended that opinion 
 with the greatest vehemence, eloquence and en- 
 ergy. He reproached Silanus for his pusil- 
 lanimity in changing his resolution. He at- 
 tacked Ccesar^ and charged him with a secret 
 design of subverting the government, under the 
 plausible appearances of mitigating speeches 
 and a humane conduct; of intimidating the sen- 
 ate by the same means, even in a case ivhere he 
 had to fear for himself, and ivherein he might 
 think himself happy if he could be exempt from 
 every imputation and suspicion of guilt; he who 
 had openly and daringly attempted to rescue 
 from justice the enemies of the state, and shown 
 that, so far from having any compassion for his 
 country, when on the brink of destruction, he 
 could even pity and plead for the wretches, the 
 unnatural wretches, that meditated its ruin, and 
 grieve that their punishment should prevent 
 their design."^ One of the passages of this 
 speech of Cato, as recounted by Sallust, is as 
 follows: ^^He [Caesar] accordingly proposed 
 Hhat the property of the conspirators should 
 be confiscated, and themselves kept in custody 
 in the municipal towns'; fearing, it seems, that, 
 if they remain at Eome, they may be rescued 
 either by their accomplices in the conspiracy, or 
 by a hired mob, as if, forsooth, the mischievous 
 
 (1) According to Sallust, Cato opened his speech with 
 the following words: "My feelings, conscript fathers, are ex- 
 tremely different." 
 
 ^Attacked him by name in the senate. 
 ^Plutarch— "Cato," chaps. 22 and 23. 
 
The Conspiracy of Catiline 45 
 
 and profligate were to be found only in the city, 
 and not through the whole of Italy, or as if des- 
 perate attempts would not be more likely to suc- 
 ceed where there is less power to resist them. 
 His proposal, therefore, if he fears any danger 
 from them, is absurd ; but if, amid such univer- 
 sal terror, he alone is free from alarm, it the 
 more concerns me to fear for you and myself.'^ 
 A significant statement ! 
 
 Sallust tells us that ''when Cato had resumed 
 his seat all the senators of consular dignity, 
 and a great part of the rest, applauded his opin- 
 ion, and extolled his firmness of mind to the 
 skies. With mutual reproaches, they accused 
 one another of timidity, while Cato was re- 
 garded as the greatest and noblest of men; and 
 a decree of the senate was made as he had ad- 
 vised."^ History says that after his speech, 
 and its masterly counterpart, Caesar barely es- 
 caped with his life when leaving the senate, and 
 "absented himself from the senate-house dur- 
 ing the remainder of that year ' ' !^ 
 
 Suetonius proceeds to tell us that ''he soon 
 got into fresh trouble, being named amongst the 
 accomplices of Catiline, both before Novius Ni- 
 ger the quaestor, by Lucius Vettius the inform- 
 er, and in the senate by Quintus Curtius; to 
 whom a reward had been voted, for having first 
 discovered the designs of the conspirators. 
 Curtius affirmed that he had received his in- 
 formation from Catiline. Vettius even en- 
 
 ^Sallust— "Catiline," LIII. 
 ^Suetoiii us— "Julius Cgesar," XIV. 
 
46 CcBsar's Character 
 
 gaged to produce in evidence against him his 
 own handwriting, given to Catiline. Caesar, feel- 
 ing that this treatment was not to be borne, ap- 
 pealed to Cicero himself, whether he had not 
 voluntarily made a discovery to him of some 
 particulars of the conspiracy; and so balked 
 Curtius of his expected reward. He, therefore, 
 obliged Vettius to give pledges for his behavior, 
 seized his goods and, after heavily fining him 
 and seeing him almost torn in pieces before the 
 rostra, threw him into prison; to which he like- 
 wise sent Novius the quaestor, for having pre- 
 sumed to take an information against a magis- 
 trate of superior authority."^ 
 
 Following is the opinion of Mommsen, the 
 Roman historian, on the Conspiracy of Catiline. 
 The reader need not be reminded that Mommsen 
 was one of the four greatest admirers^ of Julius 
 Caesar. 
 
 Of the first conspiracy Mommsen says: '^As 
 to the main matter — the participation of Caesar 
 and Crassus — the testimony of their political 
 opponents certainly cannot be regarded as suf- 
 ficient evidence of it. But their notorious ac- 
 tion at this epoch corresponds with striking ex- 
 actness to the secret action which that report 
 ascribes to them. The attempt of Crassus who, 
 in this year, was censor, officially to enroll the 
 Transpadones in the burgess-list was itself 
 directly a revolutionary enterprise. [Crassus 
 
 ^Suetonius — "Julius Csesar," XVII. 
 
 2 This expression refers to literary men. 
 
The Conspiracy of Catiline 47 
 
 and Caesar wished to get the help of the Trans- 
 padones in their conspiracies.] 
 
 ^'It is still more remarkable that Crassus, on 
 the same occasion, made preparations to enroll 
 Egypt and Cyprus in the list of Roman do- 
 mains, and that Csesar, about the same time 
 (689 or 690), got a proposal submitted by some 
 tribunes to the burgesses, to send him to Egypt 
 in order to reinstate King Ptolemgeus, whom 
 the Alexandrians had expelled. " [It seems that 
 Caesar and Crassus had intended to make Eg^^pt 
 the headquarters of the democracy; Mommsen 
 speaks of this on the next page.] These machi- 
 nations suspiciously coincide with the charges 
 made by their antagonists. ''There is great 
 probability, ' ' he says further on, "that Crassus 
 and Caesar had projected a plan to possess 
 themselves of the military dictatorship during 
 the absence of Pompeius; that Egypt was se- 
 lected as the basis of the democratic military 
 power; and that, in fine, the insurrectionary 
 attempt of 689 had been contrived to realize 
 these projects, and Catiline and Piso had thus 
 been tools in the hands of Crassus and CcBsar/'^ 
 
 Of the second conspiracy Mommsen says: "It 
 is important to keep in view that tlie blow fell 
 by no means merely on the anarchists proper, 
 who had conspired to set the capital on fire and 
 
 ^Mommsen — "Rome," Vol. IV, chap V. Mommsen here re- 
 fers to the first conspiracy of Catiline, which Suetonius 
 describes fully, and tells, in plain and unmistakable lan- 
 guage, that "Crassus was to assume the office of dictator, 
 and appoint Caesar his master of the horse." 
 
48 CcBsar's Character 
 
 had fought at Pistoria, but on the whole demo- 
 cratic party. That this party, and in particular 
 Crassus and Cassar, had a hand in the game on 
 the present occasion, as well as in the plot of 
 GSSy"- may be regarded not in a juristic, but in 
 an historical point of view as an ascertained 
 fact. That they were accused of complicity by 
 Catullus, and that Csesar spoke and voted 
 against the judicial murder of the prisoners, is, 
 of course, no proof; but there are other facts 
 of greater weight. ' '- 
 
 Prepare yourself, dear reader, to hear the 
 opinion of one of Csesar 's greatest admirers on 
 his complicity in the conspiraicy of Catiline. 
 ^'(1) Crassus and Caesar supported the candi- 
 dature of Catiline for the consulship. (2) When 
 Cnesar, in 690, brought the executioners of Sul- 
 la before the commission for murder he allowed 
 the rest to be condemned, but the most guilty 
 and infamous of all, Catiline, to be acquitted. 
 (3) In his revelation to the senate Cicero did not, 
 indeed, include the names of Caesar and Cras- 
 sus; but it is known that he erased the names 
 of many innocent persons,' and in later years 
 he named CcEsar as among the accomplices.^ (4) 
 The turning over of Gabinius and Statilius to 
 Caesar and Crassus. [These were two of the 
 conspirators, and this was done to see if they 
 
 iHe means both conspiracies of Catiline. 
 
 2The present writer has quoted from both the "Rome" 
 and the "Roman Republic." 
 
 3 Suetonius mentions a letter, and Plutarch spoke of an 
 oration, in which Cicero states that Caesar was implicated 
 in this conspiracy. 
 
The Conspiracy of Catiline 49 
 
 would let them (the former) go, which, of 
 course, would establish their complicity ; where- 
 as, if they retained them, they would have to 
 bear the criticism of their accomplices.] (5) 
 After the arrest of Lentulus, a messenger from 
 him to Catiline was arrested and brought be- 
 fore the senate; but when, in his evidence, he 
 mentioned Crassus as having commissioned 
 him, he was interrupted, his whole statement 
 was canceled at the suggestion of Cicero, and 
 he was committed to prison until he should con- 
 fess who had suborned him. The senate was 
 clearly afraid to let the revelations go beyond 
 a certain limit. The general public was less 
 scrupulous, and Caesar narrowly escaped with 
 his life when he left the senate on the 5th of 
 December. (6) When Caesar had made himself 
 head of the state he was in close alliance with 
 Publius Sittius, the only surviving Catilinarian 
 and the leader of the Mauritanian banditti. (7) 
 The facts that the government offered no seri- 
 ous hindrance to the conspiracy until the last mo- 
 ment; that the chief conspirator [Catiline] was 
 allowed to depart unmolested; that the troops 
 sent against the insurrection were put under 
 the command of Antonius, who had been deeply 
 concerned in the plot, all point to the suspicion 
 that there were powerful men behind the scenes 
 who threw their protection over the conspiracy 
 while they themselves kept in the background. ' ' 
 The author dropped Mommsen's argument 
 here, but the latter goes on with additional ar- 
 guments. One of the things he says is: ^^When 
 
50 C Cesar's Character 
 
 Caesar had got the upper hand [became Dicta- 
 tor] the veil was drawn all the more closely 
 over the darker years of his life, and even spe- 
 cial apologies for him were written with that 
 purpose."^ 
 
 This, dear reader, is the judgment of Momm- 
 sen, the king of Eoman historians, on Caesar's 
 connection with the conspiracies of Catiline, 
 and we consider it of sufficient weight to con- 
 clude with it, informing the reader that these 
 plots against the government were Caesar's first 
 steps toward imperial power. 
 
 ^Mommsen considers that Sallust's "Catiline" is such an 
 apology. 
 
BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 THE ARGUMENT 
 
 The writer has the historians speak of this 
 matter. Appian on the Beginning of the Civil 
 War. A few remarks. Cicero's letters on this 
 period. 
 
 This, again, is an important matter, and 
 again we will say little, but have our authorities 
 speak of the matter. 
 
 Appian: ''CaBsar induced the tribunes to 
 bring in a law to enable him to stand for the 
 consulship a second time while absent. Caesar 
 suspected that the senate would resist the pro- 
 ject, and feared lest he should be reduced to the 
 condition of a private citizen and exposed to his 
 enemies. So he tried to retain his power until 
 he should be elected consul, and asked the sen- 
 ate to grant him a little more time in his pres- 
 ent command of Gaul, or of a part of it. 
 
 ^'Pompey and the senate ordered that Caesar's 
 command must come to an end immediately on 
 its expiration. The bitterest enemies of Caesar 
 were then chosen consuls for the ensuing year, 
 Emilius Paulus and Claudius Marcellus, cousin 
 
 51 
 
52 C Cesar's Character 
 
 of the Marcellus before mentioned. Curio, who 
 was also a bitter enemy of Caesar, was chosen 
 tribune. Caesar was not able to influence Clau- 
 dius with money, but he bought the neutrality 
 of Paulus for 1,500 talents and the assistance of 
 Curio with a still larger sum, because he knew 
 that the latter was heavily burdened with 
 clebt."^ Curio then proceeded to work secretly 
 for Caesar. 
 
 ^^When Claudius proposed the sending of suc- 
 cessors to take command of Caesar's provinces, 
 Curio, speaking for Caesar, said that Pompey 
 ought to resign his provinces and army, just 
 like Caesar; for, in this way, he said, the com- 
 monwealth would be made free and be relieved 
 from fear in all directions. Many opposed this 
 as unjust, because Pompey 's term had not yet 
 expired. ' '^ 
 
 The senate had asked Caesar to give up his 
 army tvhen his term expired. Caesar then de- 
 manded that Pompey also give up his army be- 
 fore his term expired. And so when the senate 
 would not grant Caesar more time in his prov- 
 ince than his term specified, because Pompey 
 would not give up his army at Caesar's com- 
 mand, when he had a perfect right to it, Caesar 
 pushed on the civil war and made that bid for 
 the supreme head of the Roman state that he 
 had been planning and waiting for for years. 
 
 When Caesar sent the two legions to Rome, 
 
 that the senate and Pompey had ordered him to 
 
 ^"Roman History," B. II, chap. IV. 
 2Ibid. 
 
Beginning of the Civil War 53 
 
 give up for the Syrian expedition, Appian says 
 of these soldiers: "They knew what his [Caes- 
 ar's] designs were, but stood by him neverthe- 
 less. '^ They knew that Caesar intended to over- 
 throw the existing government, and instead of 
 feeling compunction were attached to Caesar on 
 account of the promise of plunder; they had 
 also been bribed to stand by him before he let 
 them go. 
 
 When Curio's term as tribune expired he 
 fled to Caesar, where he told the latter of the 
 weak state of Pompey's conmiand, and urged 
 him to march to Rome at once. The latter sent 
 him back to the senate with a letter, in which 
 he said ''that he would lay down his command 
 at the same time with Pompey, but that if Pom- 
 pey should retain his command he would not lay 
 down his own, but ivould come quickly and 
 avenge his country's ivrongs and his oivn/' 
 
 It has already been shown how little right 
 Caesar had in demanding that Pompey should 
 give up his army, but he already looked upon 
 himself as Dictator, and commanded the senate 
 to have Pompey lay down his command, and 
 then adds that if his demands are not fulfilled 
 he ''would come quickly and avenge his coun- 
 try's wrongs."^ 
 
 ^Caesar never made a more ridiculous statement; it was 
 he (J. Caesar) that, all his life, plotted and fought against 
 his own country; then he speaks of "avenging his country's 
 wrongs"! As Cicero says of this time: "He strove on with 
 the war with all his might, and at the same time talked of 
 nothing but peace." (But this is only one instance of the 
 man's duplicity — he played a double game all his life.) 
 
54 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 It should be remarked that Caesar declared 
 in this letter that he would come quickly and 
 avenge his wrongs ; in other words, declare war 
 upon his own country. After the war was be- 
 gun, Caesar declared that "his wrongs'' were 
 the insult (as he called it) offered to the tri- 
 bunes, his lieutenants Antony and Cassius. But 
 his lieutenants assumed fear, and flight to 
 Caesar, and their being shown in disguise to his 
 soldiers did not happen until after he was go- 
 ing to "come quickly and avenge his country's 
 wrongs ' ' ! 
 
 ^ ^ When this letter was read, as it was consid- 
 ered a declaration of tear, a vehement shout 
 was raised on all sides that Lucius Domitius be 
 appointed Caesar's successor. Domitius took 
 the field with 4,000 of the new levies." This let- 
 ter was considered as a declaration of war be- 
 cause every one knew that Pompey would not 
 give up his command before his term expired 
 merely because Caesar said that unless he did so 
 there would be war. That is the way J. Caesar 
 pushed on the civil war. 
 
 It should be emphasized that Caesar requested 
 things of the senate that nobody short of the 
 Eoman Dictator had authority to ask. He asked 
 the senate that he might run for the consulship 
 while not in Rome, for a prolongation of his 
 term in office, that Pompey disband his army 
 before his term expired, an extension of his 
 provinces, and more legions for his army. 
 
 It is important that this fact should be em- 
 phasized, because Caesar gives as one of the two 
 
Beginning of the Civil War 55 
 
 immediate causes of the war the fact that the 
 senate would not acquiesce to his unjust re- 
 quests. 
 
 Since Antony and Cassius, who succeeded 
 Curio as tribune, agreed with the latter in 
 opinion, the senate became more bitter than 
 ever, and declared Pompey's army the protec- 
 tor of Eome, and that of Caesar as the public ene- 
 my. (It must be remembered that all the his- 
 torians state these facts.) 
 
 "The consuls, Marcellus and Lentulus, ordered 
 Antony and his friends out of the senate, lest 
 they should suffer some harm, although they 
 were tribunes. Then Antony sprang from his 
 chair in anger, and with a loud voice called gods 
 and men to witness the indignity put upon the 
 sacred and inviolable office of tribune, etc. Hav- 
 ing spoken thus, he rushed out like one pos- 
 sessed, predicting war, slaughter, proscription, 
 banishment, confiscation, and various other im- 
 pending evils, and invoking direful curses on 
 the authors of them. Curio and Cassius rushed 
 out with him, for a detachment of Pompey's 
 army was already observed standing around 
 the senate-house. ' '^ 
 
 Antony "rushed out like one possessed, pre- 
 dicting war, slaughter, proscription, banish- 
 ment, confiscation," etc. Antony, like the sol- 
 diers Caesar had sent to Kome for the Syrian 
 expedition, ''knew ivhat his designs were.'' 
 When he spoke as he did he knew that the 
 
 ^"Roman History," B. II, chap. V. 
 
56 CcBsar's Character 
 
 war was as good as begun, and that as soon 
 as Cassius, Curio and himself — Caesar's lieu- 
 tenants — got back to CtTsar's army actual hos- 
 tilities would begin. "The tribunes made their 
 way to Caesar the next day with the utmost 
 speed, concealing themselves in a hired car- 
 riage and disguised as slaves. Caesar showed 
 them in this condition to his army, whom he 
 excited by saying that his soldiers, after all 
 their great deeds, had been stigmatized as pub- 
 lic enemies, and that distinguished men like 
 these, who had dared to speak out for them [the 
 soldiers], had been thus driven with ig-nominy 
 from the city. The war had now been begun on 
 both sides and already openly declared. ' '^ 
 
 The fact must be emphasized that Caesar 
 crossed the Kubicon and took possession of Ari- 
 minum he fore he knew that the tribunes, An- 
 tony and Cassius, had departed from Rome, 
 for it was there that he met them. He, there- 
 fore, started hostilities for one of two causes, 
 either of which is a thread and a very ragged 
 one. 
 
 Suetonius says that Caesar received intelli- 
 gence that the tribunes had been rejected and 
 had fled from the city. There were many re- 
 ports and rumors rife in Italy at this time, but 
 this one suited Caesar's j)urpose so well that he 
 thought it a sufficient cause to commence hos- 
 tilities; or (2), the sending of the tribunes to 
 Rome, their assumed fear and flight was a fixed 
 
 ^Appian — "Roman History," B. II, chap. V. 
 
Beginning of the Civil War 57 
 
 affair, certain persons being employed to in- 
 form Caesar immediately npon the flight of his 
 lieutenants, so he could advance with his army. 
 
 This fact, his crossing the Rubicon and tak- 
 ing possession of Italian towns before he knew 
 if his embassy had succeeded, coupled with his 
 reasons for commencing the war, namely, that 
 the senate would not comply with his unjust and 
 out-of-place demands, and the ''insult of the tri- 
 bunes, ' ' show probably better than anything else 
 the anxiety that Cassar had to push on the civ- 
 il war, which thing he had plotted and intrigued 
 for all his life. 
 
 Plutarch says of Caesar and Gaul before the 
 civil war : ' ' In the meanwhile the wars in Gaul 
 lifted Caesar to the first sphere of greatness. The 
 scene of action was at a great distance from 
 Rome, and he seemed to be wholly engaged with 
 the Belgae, the Suevi, and the Britons ; but his 
 genius all the while was privately at work 
 among the people of Rome, and he was under- 
 mining Pompey in his most essential interests. 
 His IV ar ivitJi the barbarians ivas not his prin- 
 cipal object. He exercised his army, indeed, in 
 those expeditions, as he would have done his 
 own body in hunting and other diversions of 
 the field; by which he prepared them for higher 
 conflicts and rendered them not only formida- 
 ble but invincible.''^ 
 
 Again, in the ''Life of Caesar,'' he tells us 
 that, "Caesar, from the first designing to ruin 
 his rivals, had retired at a distance, like a cham- 
 
 1" Life of Pompey.'* 
 
58 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 pion, for exercise. By long service, and great 
 achievements in the wars in Gaul, he had so im- 
 proved his army, and his own reputation, too, 
 that he was considered upon a footing with 
 Pompey; and he found pretenses for carrying 
 his enterprise into execution in the times of the 
 misgovernment at Eome." 
 
 Suetonius says of Caesar's attitude in the be- 
 ginning of the civil war : ' ' Some think that, hav- 
 ing contracted, from long habit, an extraordi- 
 nary love of power, and having weighed his own 
 and his enemies ' strength, he embraced that oc- 
 casion of usurping the supreme power; which, 
 indeed, he had coveted from the time of his 
 youth. ' ' And this seems to have been the opin- 
 ion of most of the ancient historians. It should 
 be remembered that the same historian, speak- 
 ing earlier of Caesar and the men he gathered, 
 says: "He offered, also, singular and ready 
 aid to all who were under prosecution or in 
 debt, and to prodigal youths; excluding from 
 his bounty those only who were so deeply 
 plunged in guilt, poverty, or luxury, that it was 
 impossible to effectually relieve them. These, 
 he openly declared, could derive no benefit from 
 any other means than a civil war"!^ 
 
 Of the beginning of the civil war Lamar- 
 tine, the French historian, speaks as follows: 
 "Caesar, tired of waiting to receive from Pom- 
 pey and the senate gratifications corresponding 
 to his ambition, at length decided on making 
 war on his country. Descending from the Alps 
 ^Suetonius — "Julius Caesar," XXVII. 
 
Beginning of the Civil War 59 
 
 upon lower Italy, at the head of several legions, 
 he had crossed the Rubicon, a little rivulet 
 which formed the legal boundary of his govern- 
 ment of Gaul, the forcible passage of which 
 declared him a public enemy. ' The die is cast, ' 
 was Caesar's exclamation on spurring, after 
 long hesitation, his horse into the waters of the 
 Eubicon. That exclamation was the end of the 
 Republic." Lamartine goes on to say that lib- 
 erty could now no longer exist, and Italy be- 
 came the prey and the sport of ambition. "All 
 Italy," he goes on, "nevertheless shuddered at 
 Caesar's attempt. One universal cry of horror 
 and indignation ivos raised^ from the Rubicon 
 to Rome, and from Rome to the remotest prov- 
 inces under her dominion." He then explains 
 that the people no longer believed in virtue; 
 they believed in shame. "But the shameless 
 crime of the Rubicon made the very soil of 
 Italy tremble. It was for a moment expected 
 that the ground would open up and swallow the 
 wretch who had dared to turn the arms of Rome 
 against Rome herself. 
 
 ' ' Caesar was astonished at the general excite- 
 ment produced by his audacity, and endeavored 
 to allay it by representing to the populations of 
 the districts through which he passed that he 
 was a victim of the ingratitude of Pompey and 
 of the senate; and that he came not to enslave 
 his country, but to demand justice for his sol- 
 diers and himself. He pretended to negotiate, 
 to offer and to discuss temperate conditions of 
 concord and peace, while his lieutenants and 
 
60 CcBsar's Character 
 
 emissaries, by presents and intimidation, were 
 bargaining, decoying, and buying Rome itself 
 within its own walls.'" 
 
 The thorough, if plodding, Middleton has an 
 embracing passage on the beginning of this 
 war: 
 
 "The senate, at Scipio's motion, had just 
 voted a decree that Caesar should dismiss his 
 army by a certain day, or be declared an ene- 
 my; and when M. Antony and Q. Cassius, two 
 of the tribunes, opposed their negative to it, as 
 they had done to every other decree proposed 
 against Ca3sar, and could not be persuaded by 
 the entreaties of their friends to give way to 
 the authority of the senate, they proceeded to 
 that vote which was the last resort in cases of 
 extremity, that the consuls, praetors, tribunes, 
 and all who were about the city with pro-consu- 
 lar power, should take care that the Republic 
 received no detriment. As this was supposed 
 to arm the magistrates with an absolute power 
 to treat all men as they pleased, whom they 
 judged to be enemies, so the two tribunes, to- 
 gether with Curio, immediately withdrew them- 
 selves from it and fled, in disguise, to Caesar's 
 camp, on pretense of danger and violence to 
 their persons, though none was yet offered or 
 designed to them." — Ep. Fam., XVI, 11. 
 
 "It is certain," says Middleton, "that An- 
 tony's flight gave the immediate pretext to it 
 [civil war], as Cicero had foretold." — Plutarch. 
 
 ^Lamartine — "Memoirs of Celebrated Characters," p. 387. 
 
Beginning of the Civil War 61 
 
 ^^ ^Caesar/ says lie, 'will betake himself to 
 arms, either from our want of preparation or 
 if no regard be had to him at the election of 
 consuls ; but especially if any tribune, obstruct- 
 ing the deliberations of the senate, or exciting 
 the people to sedition, should happen to be cen- 
 sured, or overruled, or taken off, or expelled, 
 or pretending to be expelled, run away to 
 him.' ''— Ad. Att., VII, 9. 
 
 ''In the same letter he gives a short but true 
 state of the merits of his own cause [to be read 
 as if addressed to Caesar]. 'What,' says he, 'can 
 be more impudent? You have held your gov- 
 ernment ten years not granted to you by the 
 senate, hut extorted by violence and faction. 
 
 " 'The full term is expired, not of the law, 
 but of your licentious will : but allow it to be a 
 law, it is now decreed that you must have a suc- 
 cessor. You refuse and say, "Have some regard 
 to me. ' ' Do you first show your regard to us. 
 Will you pretend to keep an army longer than 
 the people ordered, and contrary to the will of 
 the senate!'" (Ad. Att., VII, 9). But Cesar's 
 strength lay not in the goodness of his cause, 
 but in his troops (Veil. Pat., II, 49), a consid- 
 erable part of which he was now drawing to- 
 gether toward the confines of Italy, to be ready 
 to enter into action at any warning. The flight 
 of the tribunes gave him a plausible handle to 
 begin, and seemed to sanctify his attempt. ' ' But 
 his real motive," says Plutarch, "was the same 
 that animated Cyrus and Alexander before him, 
 to disturb the peace of mankind : the unquench- 
 
62 Ccesar's Character 
 
 able thirst of empire, and the wild ambition of 
 being the greatest man in the world, which was 
 not possible till Pompey was first destroyed/' 
 — Plutarch, in Anthony. 
 
 '^ Laying hold, therefore, of this occasion, he 
 presently passed the Rubicon, which was the 
 boundary of his province on that side of Italy, 
 and marching forward in a hostile manner, pos- 
 sessed himself, without resistance, of the next 
 great towns in his way — Ariminum, Pisaurum, 
 Ancona, Aretium, etc.'' 
 
 Following is a letter written after the city 
 had fallen into the hands of Caesar: "What, I 
 beseech you, is all this? Or what are people 
 about? For I am quite in the dark. ^We have 
 got possession,' you say, 'of Cingrelum; we 
 have lost Anconis ; Labienus has deserted from 
 Caesar.' Are we speaking of a Eoman general 
 or of Hannibal? wretched man, and void of 
 understanding, ivho has never knoivn even the 
 shadow of ivhat is truly honorable! Yet he pro- 
 fesses to do all this for honor's sake. But how 
 can there be honor where there is not rectitude? 
 Or is it right, then, to have an army without any 
 public appointment? To occupy the towns of 
 Roman citizens, in order to get a readier access 
 to his own country? To cancel debts, to recall 
 exiles, to institute six hundred other wicked 
 practices, 'in order to obtain (as Eteocles says) 
 the greatest kingdom of the gods ' ? I envy him 
 not his fortune."^ 
 
 "You see the nature of this contest. It 
 
 ^Ad. Att, VIL 11. 
 
Beginning of the Civil War 63 
 
 is a civil war of such a kind as does not 
 arise from divisions among the members of 
 the state, hut from the audacity of one aban- 
 doned citizen. He is powerful from his army; 
 he retains many by hopes and promises, but 
 really aims at i:)ossessing everything belonging 
 to everybody. To this man has the city been di- 
 vided up, full of supplies and without a garri- 
 son. What is there that you may not dread from 
 one who regards those temples and houses not 
 as his country, but as his prey!"^ 
 
 Caesar tried to coax Cicero to help him, as is 
 seen in the letter that follows : 
 
 ^^I have done both according to your ad- 
 vice: having ordered my discourse so that 
 he should rather think well of me than thank 
 me; and having adhered to my intention of 
 not going to the city. I was mistaken in sup- 
 posing that he would easily be persuaded. I 
 never knew anybody less so. He said that he 
 stood condemned by my resolution; and that 
 others would be slower to comply, if I refused 
 to attend. I replied that their case was different 
 from mine. After a good deal of discussion, 
 'Come, then,' said he, 'and propose terms of 
 peace.' 'At my own discretion!' said I. 'Have 
 I,' said he, 'any right to prescribe to youT 
 'This,' I replied, 'is what I shall propose. 
 
 " 'That it is not agreeable to the senate that 
 troops should be sent to Spain ^ or that an army 
 should be transported into Greece; and / shall 
 lament at some length the situation of Pom- 
 
 ^Ad. Att, VII, 13. 
 
64 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 peius/ Then he, 'But I do not like that to be 
 said.' 'So I supposed/ said I; 'and for that 
 reason I wish to absent myself, because I must 
 either say this, and much more, which it will be 
 impossible for me to withhold if I am there, or 
 else I must stay away.' The conclusion was 
 that, if he wished to get rid of the subject, he 
 desired I would consider of it. This I could not 
 refuse. So we parted. I imagine he was not 
 much pleased with me; but I am pleased with 
 myself, which I have not been for some time 
 past. As for the rest, good heavens ! what a fol- 
 lowing he has! Quite an 'Inferno,' as you are 
 fond of describing it. It contained, among oth- 
 ers, Celer's man Eros [freedman]. 0, the utter 
 villainy — the gang of desperadoes ! [Cicero, dear 
 reader, is describing the animals that composed 
 Caesar's army, called, by some historians, his 
 troops.] What do you say to a son of Sulpi- 
 cius and another of Titinius being actually in 
 an army besieging Pompeius! He is himself 
 extremely vigilant and daring. I see no end of 
 evil. Now, at least, you must deliver your opin- 
 ion. What I have mentioned was the last thing 
 that passed between us; yet what he said last, 
 which I had almost omitted, was ungracious: 
 that if he was not permitted to use my advice, 
 he ivould use whose he could, and shoidd think 
 nothing beneath him. You see the man there. As 
 you expressed it, 'Were you grieved?' Un- 
 doubtedly. 'Pray, what followed?' He went 
 directly to Pedanum, I to Arpinum. Thence I 
 look for your warbler [an expression probably 
 
Beginning of the Civil War 65 
 
 used by Atticus, and meant tO' denote the fore- 
 runner of spring"]. 'Plague on it,' you will 
 say; 'do not act over again what is past; even 
 he whom we follow has been much disap- 
 pointed. ' But I expect your letter ; for nothing 
 is now as it was before, when you proposed that 
 we should first see how this would turn out. The 
 last subject of doubt related to our interview; 
 in which I question not that I have given Caesar 
 some offense. This is a reason for acting 
 quicker. Pray let me have a letter from you, 
 and a political one. I am very anxious to hear 
 from you. ' '^ 
 
 As it is necessary to place before our read- 
 ers the question of Caesar's suing for the con- 
 sulship in his absence, we will quote Middleton 
 on the matter : 
 
 ' ' Pompey, when he was consul the third time, 
 in the year 701, procured a law empower- 
 ing Csesar to offer himself as a candidate for 
 the consulship, without appearing personally at 
 Rome for that purpose. This was contrary to 
 the fundamental principles of the Roman consti- 
 tution and proved, in the event, the occasion of 
 its being utterly destroyed.'' This, Middleton 
 goes on to say, ' ' furnished Csesar with the only 
 precious pretense for turning his arms against 
 the Republic." 
 
 ''He [Pompey] proposed a law to dispense 
 with Caesar's absence in suing for the consul- 
 ship, of which Caesar, at that time, seemed very 
 desirous. Caelius was the promoter of this law, 
 
 ^Ad. Att., IX, 18, 
 
66 CcEsar^s Character 
 
 engaged to it by Cicero, at the joint request of 
 Pompey and Caesar, and it was carried with the 
 concurrence of all the tribunes, though not ivith- 
 out cUificiiUy and obstruction from the senate."^ 
 
 The historians have never taken Caesar's 
 claim of the mistreated tribunes seriously. 
 
 Trollope says of these tribunes: '^ Shall we 
 forgive a house-breaker because the tools which 
 he himself has invented are used at last upon 
 his own door?" 
 
 Caesar threatened to kill Metellus for defend- 
 ing the treasury. Of this Arnold says : 
 
 ^^Thus, within the space of six months, the 
 man who had attacked his country, under pre- 
 tense of avenging the insults offered to the tri- 
 bunal power, was himself guilty of a more vio- 
 lent outrage upon that power, when exercised 
 in as just a cause as could, on any occasion, have 
 required its protection."^ 
 
 Oman probably sums up this matter best: 
 ^^His ingenious pleas will not stand examina- 
 tion — least of all, his solemn complaint that the 
 Optimates had violated the constitution by dis- 
 regarding the vetoes of his friends — the tri- 
 bunes, Antony and Cassius. To any one who re- 
 members how Caesar himself had treated tri- 
 bunes and their vetoes during his consulship in 
 
 ^The senate was the only body that had the right to grant 
 any such permissions. Therefore, when Caesar demanded 
 this permission, that had been given him not only without 
 but against the will of the senate, what legal right did he 
 have in claiming it? So his "only precious pretense" can be 
 seen to have been a very thin shadow. 
 
 2" History of the Roman Commonwealth," p. 245, 
 
Beginning of the Civil War 67 
 
 B. C. 59, it must appear ludicrous tliat lie should 
 urge this particular grievance against his ad- 
 versaries."^ 
 
 Of Caesar's treatment of this tribune (Metel- 
 lus) and his robbing of the treasury, hear Lu- 
 can : 
 
 He [Caesar] attempted to get money out of 
 the treasury. Metellus resisted, but Cotta per- 
 suaded the latter to yield. "Forthwith, Metel- 
 lus led away, the Temple was opened wide. Then 
 did the Tarpeian rock re-echo, and with a loud 
 peal attest that the doors were opened; then, 
 stowed away in the lower part of the Temple, 
 was dragged up, untouched for many a year, the 
 wealth of the Roman people, which the Punic 
 wars, which Perseus, which the booty of the con- 
 quered Philip, had supplied ; that which, Rome, 
 Pyrrhus left to thee in his hurrying flight; the 
 gold for which Fabius did not sell himself to 
 the king; whatever you saved, manners of our 
 thrifty forefathers; that which, as tribute, the 
 wealth}^ nations of Asia had sent and Minoian 
 Crete had paid to the conqueror Metellus ; that, 
 too, which Cato brought from Cyprus over dis- 
 tant seas. Besides the wealth of the East, 
 the remote treasures of captive kings, which 
 were borne before him in the triumphal proces- 
 sions of Pompey, were carried forth. The Tem- 
 ple was spoiled with direful rapine; and then, 
 for the first time, was Rome poorer than 
 Caesar. ' '^ 
 
 ^Oman — "Seven Roman Statesmen." 
 ^Lucan — "Pharsalia," B. III. 
 
C^SAR AND CLEOPATRA 
 
 THE AKGUMENT 
 
 The death of Pompey. Caesar's crocodile 
 tears. Caesar infatuated with Cleopatra and un- 
 able to break away. Lucan on Caesar and Cleo- 
 patra. The effect of Caesar's folly. 
 
 The Death of Pompey. — After Pompey had 
 been defeated at the battle of Pharsalus he fled 
 to Egypt as a refuge, where he met his death 
 in the following manner: 
 
 Appian: ''The king was then about thir- 
 teen years of age, and was under the tutelage of 
 Achilles, who commanded his army, and the 
 eunuch, Pothinus, who had charge of the treas- 
 ury. These took counsel together concerning 
 Pompey. 
 
 ' ' There was present also Theodotus, a rheto- 
 rician of Sarnos, the boy's tutor, who' offered the 
 infamous advice that they should lay a trap for 
 Pompey and kill him, in order to incur favor 
 with Caesar. His opinion prevailed. 'Theodotus 
 argued' (says Plutarch) 'that if they should 
 give shelter to the fugitive they would have 
 
Ccesar and Cleopatra 69 
 
 Caesar for an enemy and Pompey for a master; 
 if they should send him away he would be of- 
 fended by their want of hospitality, and Caesar 
 would be angry with them for letting him es- 
 cape. The best way would be to send for him 
 and kill him! In that way they would gratify 
 the one and need not fear the other. He added 
 with a smile that dead men do not bite."^ 
 
 This advice was taken, and Pompey the Great 
 was murdered as he stepped ashore from his 
 boat. Theodotus carried the head of Pompey 
 concealed in a mantle, to Caesar, and made a 
 speech to the latter that the deed had been done 
 justly. Let Lucan tell it: "Thus having said, 
 he uncovered the concealed head and held it up. 
 The features, now languid in death, had 
 changed the expression of the well-known face. 
 Not at the first sight did Caesar condemn the 
 gift and turn his eyes away; his looks were 
 fixed upon it until he recognized it. And when 
 he saw there was truth in the assertion of the 
 crime, and thought it safe notv to be an affec- 
 tionate father-in-law, he poured forth tears that 
 fell not of their own accord, and uttered groans 
 from a joyous heart. "^ 
 
 To any who doubt the truthfulness of Lucan 's 
 statement, that Caesar shed crocodile tears over 
 Pompey 's head, hear Dio Cassius: "Caesar, at 
 the sight of Pompey 's head, wept and lamented 
 bitterly, calling him countryman and son-in- 
 law, and enumerating all the kindnesses they 
 
 ^"Roman History," B. II, chap. XII. 
 2"Pharsalia," B. IX. 
 
70 Cmsar's Character 
 
 had shown each other. He said that he owed no 
 reward to the murderers, but heaped reproaches 
 upon them; and the head he commanded to be 
 adorned and, after proper preparation, to be 
 buried. For these he received praise, but for 
 his pretenses he was made a laugliing-stock. 
 
 "He had, from the outset, been thoroughly 
 set upon dominion; he had always hated Pom- 
 pey as his antagonist and adversary; besides all 
 his other measures against him, he had brought 
 on this war tvith no other purpose than to se- 
 cure his rival's ruin and his oivn leadership ; 
 he had but now been hurrying to Egypt with no 
 other end in view than to overthrow him com- 
 pletely if he should still be alive : yet he f eigTied 
 to miss his presence and made a show of vexa- 
 tion over his destruction."^ 
 
 Speaking further of this incident, Lucan 
 says: ''He who, with features unmoved, had 
 trodden upon the limbs of senators, who with 
 dry eyes had beheld the Emathean plains, to 
 thee, Magnus, alone, dares not refuse a sigh. 
 most unhappy turn of fate ! Didst not thou, Caes- 
 ar, pursue him with accursed warfare who was 
 worthy to be bewailed by thee ? Do not the ties 
 of the united families influence thee, nor thy 
 daughter and grandchild bid thee mourn! Dost 
 thou suppose that among the people who love 
 the name of Magnus this can avail thy cause? 
 
 "Perhaps thou art moved with envy of the 
 tyrant, and art grieved that others have had 
 
 ^"Roman History," B. 42, chap. 8. 
 
CcBsar and Cleopatra 71 
 
 this power over the vitals of the ensnared Mag- 
 nus, and dost complain that the revenge of war 
 has been lost, and that thy son-in-law has been 
 snatched from the power of the haughty victor. 
 
 ''Whatever impulse compels thee to weep, far 
 from, true affection does it differ. With this 
 feeling, forsooth, art thou hunting over land 
 and sea, that nowhere thy son-in-law, cut off, 
 may perish ! 0, how fortunately has this death 
 been rescued from thy award ! How much crim- 
 inality has sad Fortune spared the Roman 
 shame ! In that perfidious man she did not suf- 
 fer thee to have compassion on Magnus when 
 still alive !"^ 
 
 After the affair of Pompey, Caesar made 
 no attempt to return to Rome. "The rea- 
 sons, '' says Dio, "why he was so long in com- 
 ing there [Rome], and did not arrive immedi- 
 ately after Pompey 's death, are as follows : The 
 Egyptians were discontented at the levies of 
 money [made by Cgesar] and highly indignant 
 because not even their temples were left un- 
 touched. They are the most excessively religi- 
 ous people on earth, and wage wars against one 
 another on account of their beliefs, since their 
 worship is not a unified system, but different 
 branches of it are diametrically opposed one to 
 another. As a result, then, of their vexation at 
 this and their further fear that they might be 
 surrendered to Cleopatra, who had great influ- 
 ence with Caesar, they commenced a disturb- 
 ance. 
 
 ^"Pharsalia," B. IX. 
 
72 C Cesar's Character 
 
 ^^For a time the princess liad urged her claim 
 against her brother, through others who were 
 in Caesar's presence, but as soon as she discov- 
 ered his disposition (which was very susceptible, 
 so that he indulged in amours with a very great 
 number of women at different stages of Ms 
 travels), she sent word to him that she was be- 
 ing betrayed by her friends, and asked that she 
 be allowed to plead her case in person. 
 
 ' ' She was a woman of surpassing beauty, es- 
 pecially conspicuous at that time because in the 
 prime of youth, with a most delicious voice and 
 a knowledge of how to make herself agreeable 
 to every one. Being brilliant to look upon and 
 to listen to, with the power to subjugate even a 
 cold-natared or elderly person, she thought that 
 she might prove exactly to Caesar's tastes and 
 reposed in her beauty all her claims to advance- 
 ment. She begged, therefore, for access to his 
 presence, and, on obtaining permission, adorned 
 and beautified herself so as to appear before him 
 in the most striking and pitiable guise. When 
 she had perfected these devices she entered the 
 city from her habitation outside, and by night, 
 without Ptolemy's knowledge, went into the 
 palace. Caesar, upon seeing her and hearing her 
 speak a few words, was forthwith so completely 
 captivated that he at once, before dawn, sent for 
 Ptolemy and tried to reconcile them."^ 
 
 Plutarch's account of this matter is similar, 
 but he adds an incident in connection with Cleo- 
 
 1 ''Roman History," B. 42, chap. 34. 
 
Ccesar and Cleopatra 73 
 
 patra's method of entering the palace. First 
 speaking of the war which sprang up when 
 Caesar was in their country, Plutarch says 
 ( ' ' Life of Caesar " ) : ' ' As for his Egyptian war, 
 some assert that it was undertaken without ne- 
 cessity, and that his passion for Cleopatra en- 
 gaged him in a quarrel which proved both preju- 
 dicial to his reputation and dangerous to his 
 person. Others accuse the king's ministers, 
 particularly the eunuch, Photinus, who had the 
 greatest influence at court, and who, having 
 taken off Pompey and removed Cleopatra, pri- 
 vately meditated an attempt against Caesar. 
 Hence, it is said that Caesar began to jDass the 
 night in entertainments among his friends, for 
 the greater security of his person. The behav- 
 ior, indeed, of this eunuch in public, all he said 
 and did with respect to Caesar, was intolerably 
 insolent and invidious. The corn he supplied 
 his soldiers with was old and musty, and he told 
 them 'they ought to be satisfied with it, since 
 they lived at other people's cost.' He caused 
 only wooden and earthen vessels to be served 
 up at the king's table, on pretense that Caesar 
 had taken all the gold and silver ones for debt. 
 For the father of the reigning prince owed 
 Caesar seventeen million ^\q hundred thousand 
 drachmas. Caesar had formerly remitted to his 
 children the rest, but thought fit to demand the 
 ten millions at this time for the maintenance 
 of his army. Photinus, instead of paying the 
 money, advised him to go and finish the great 
 affairs he had upon his hands, after which he 
 
74 C Cesar's Character 
 
 should have his money with thanks. But Caesar 
 told him 4ie had no need of Egyptian counsel- 
 ors/ and privately sent for Cleopatra out of 
 the country. 
 
 ''This princess, taking only one friend, Apollo- 
 dorus, the Sicilian, with her, got into a small 
 boat, and in the dusk of the evening made for 
 the palace. As she saw it was difficult to enter it 
 undiscovered, she rolled herself up in a carpet ; 
 Apollodorus tied her up at full length, like a 
 bale of goods, and carried her in at the gates 
 to Caesar. This stratagem of hers, which was 
 a strong proof of her wit and ingenuity, is said 
 to have first opened for her the way to Caesar's 
 heart; and the conquest advanced so fast, by 
 the charms of her conversation, that he took it 
 upon him to reconcile her brother to her, and 
 insisted that she should reign with him. 
 
 "An entertainment was given on account of 
 this reconciliation, and all met to rejoice on the 
 occasion, when a servant of Caesar's, who was 
 his barber, a timorous and suspicious man, led 
 by his natural caution to inquire into everything 
 and to listen everj^iere about the palace, 
 found that Achillas, the general, and Photinus, 
 the eunuch, were plotting against Caesar's life. 
 Caesar, being informed of their design, planted 
 his guards about the hall and killed Photinus. 
 But Achillas escaped to the army, and involved 
 Caesar in a very difficult and dangerous war; 
 for with a few troops he had to make head 
 against a great city and a powerful army. 
 
 ' ' The first difficulty he met with was the want 
 
Ccesar and Cleopatra 75 
 
 of water, the Egyptians having stopped up the 
 aqueducts that supplied his quarters. The sec- 
 ond was the loss of his ships in harbor, which 
 he was forced to burn himself, to prevent their 
 falling into the enemy's hands ; when the flames, 
 unfortunately spreading from the dock to the 
 palace, burned the great Alexandrian library. 
 The third was in the sea-fight near the isle of 
 Pharos, when, seeing his men hard pressed, he 
 leaped from the mole into a little skiff, to go 
 to their assistance. The Egyptians making up 
 on all sides, he threw himself into the sea, and 
 with much difficulty reached his galleys by 
 swimming. Having several valuable papers, 
 which he was not willing either to lose or to 
 wet, it is said he held them above water with 
 one hand and swam with the other. The skiff 
 sank soon after he left it. At last, the king join- 
 ing the insurgents, Caesar attacked and defeated 
 him. Great numbers of the Egyptians were 
 slain, and the king was heard of no more. This 
 gave Caesar opportunity to establish Cleopatra 
 queen of Egypt. Soon after she had a son by 
 him, whom the Alexandrians called Caesario." 
 
 On this point Lucan says ("Pharsalia," p. 
 387, B. X) : ^'This pride did that night create 
 which first united on the couch with our chief- 
 tains the unchaste daughter of Ptolemy. Who 
 will not, Antony, grant thee pardon for thy fran- 
 tic passion, when the hardy breast of Caesar 
 caught the flame, and in the midst of frenzy and 
 the midst of fury, and in a palace haunted by 
 the shade of Pompey, the paramour, sprinkled 
 
76 CcBsar's Character 
 
 with the blood of the Thessalian carnage, ad- 
 mitted Venus amid his cares, and mingled with 
 his arms both illicit connection and issue not by 
 a wife?^' 
 
 P. 388, B. X: '^0, shame! forgetful of Mag- 
 nus, too thee, Julia; did he give brothers by an 
 obscene mother? And suffering the routed fac- 
 tion to unite in the distant realms of Lybia, he 
 disgracefully prolonged his stay for an amour 
 of the Nile, while he was preferring to pre- 
 sent her with Pharos, while not to conquer for 
 himself. ' '^ 
 
 Cleopatra pleads before Caesar to be rein- 
 stated to the throne of Egypt. 
 
 *^In vain would she have appealed to the ob- 
 durate ears of Caesar, but her features aid her 
 entreaties, and her unchaste face pleads for 
 her. ... A night of infamy she passes, the 
 arbitrator being thus corrupted. . . . When 
 peace was obtained by the chieftain [the differ- 
 ence between Ptolemy and Cleopatra was, for 
 the time being, patched up by Caesar], and pur- 
 chased with vast presents, feasting crowned the 
 joyousness of events so momentous, and Cleo- 
 patra, amid great tumult, displayed her lux- 
 uries." 
 
 ' ^ Cleopatra, " B. X. : ' ' Having immoderately 
 painted up her fatal beauty, neither content with 
 a sceptre her own, nor with her brother her hus- 
 band, covered with the spoils of the Eed Sea 
 
 ^He devoted his time to reinstating Cleopatra on the 
 Egyptian throne, instead of marching against Cato, Scipio 
 and Juba, the partisans of Pompey. 
 
Ccesar and Cleopatra 77 
 
 [pearls] upon her neck and hair, Cleopatra 
 wears treasures, and pants beneath her orna- 
 ments. Her white breasts shine through the 
 Eidonian fabric, which, wrought in close tex- 
 ture by the sky of Eeres, the needle of the work- 
 men of the Nile has separated and has loosened 
 the ways by stretching out the web. Here do 
 they place circles [tables] cut from the snow- 
 white teeth in the forests of Atlas, such as not 
 even when Juba was captured came before the 
 eyes of Caesar.'' 
 
 P. 391, B. X.: '^ After pleasure wearied with 
 feasting and with wine had put an end to the 
 revelry, Caesar began, with long discourse, to 
 prolong the night." 
 
 P. 399. Pothinus (tutor of the young king), 
 in a speech to Achillas (commander-in-chief of 
 army), says : '' Cleopatra has surprised the pal- 
 ace. Nor has Pharos [Egypt] been betrayed 
 only, but given away.^ The guilty sister is mar- 
 ried to her brother. Guilty^ I say, for already 
 is she married to the Latin chieftain [Caesar] ; 
 and, running to and fro between her husbands, 
 she sways Egypt and has won Rome. Cleopatra 
 has been able to subdue an old man [Caesar com- 
 pared to the boy Ptolemy] by sorceries; trust, 
 wretched one, a child; whom if one night shall 
 unite with her, and he shall once, submitting to 
 her embraces with incestuous breast, satisfy an 
 obscene passion under the name of affection, 
 probably between each kiss he will be granting 
 
 ^Egypt has not only been betrayed to Caesar, but has been 
 given by him as a spoil to Cleopatra. 
 
78 Ccesar's Character 
 
 to her myself and thy own head. By crosses 
 and by flames shall we atone for it if his visits 
 shall prove beasteous (and if the brother and 
 sister are reconciled, our death will be the cer- 
 tain consequence). No aid remains on any side; 
 on the one hand there is the king and the hus- 
 band ; on the other, Caesar the paramour. ' ' 
 
 The modern historians have usually accepted 
 what is told of these matters by the original 
 authorities, seldom disputing any of the main 
 points. 
 
 The following passage from Middleton is 
 typical of them on the point with which we deal : 
 
 "Caesar, instead of directly pursuing his 
 victory, suffered himself to be diverted by a 
 war entirely foreign to his purposes, and in 
 which the charms of Cleopatra carried him fur- 
 ther than he intended. This gave the Pompei- 
 ans an opportunity of collecting their scattered 
 forces and of forming a very considerable army 
 in Africa.^' 
 
 Oman says of this matter: "The whole 
 episode is unworthy of Caesar. The conqueror 
 of Gaul should not have placed himself in the 
 position to be besieged for months by a Levan- 
 tine rabble, and saved by an Oriental condot- 
 tiere like Mithridates of Pergamus. Still less 
 should he have lapsed into his silly and undig- 
 nified entanglement with Cleopatra. It was his 
 Alexandrian dangers and dalliance which al- 
 lowed his adversaries in the west and south to 
 recover their spirits and rally their armies. If 
 he had sailed for Africa in August, B. C. 48, 
 
Ccesar and Cleopatra 79 
 
 Thapsus would have been fought eighteen 
 months sooner, and Munda would never have 
 been fought at all."^ Oman goes on with the 
 subject, but the point the present writer wishes 
 to bring out is that Caesar, by his amours with 
 Cleopatra, not only delayed the war he was then 
 engaged in, but was the cause of others. 
 
 ^"Seven Roman Statesmen." 
 
VICTORY OVER PHARNACES 
 
 Some of the worshipers and followers have 
 done much boasting over Caesar's victory of 
 Pharnaces; his "veni, vidi, vici^' victory. Prob- 
 ably many of them do not know how that battle 
 was fonght. Following is an historical account, 
 by two of the main sources, of this battle : 
 
 Pharnaces had defeated Caesar's lieutenant, 
 Domitius. According to the Commentaries, 
 Pharnaces sent ambassadors to Caesar ''to en- 
 treat that Caesar would not come as an enemy, 
 for he would submit to all his demands." Caesar, 
 in his reply, ordered that ''he [Pharnaces] 
 must quit Pontus nnmediately, send back the 
 revenues of the farmers and restore to the Ro- 
 mans and their allies what he unjustly obtained 
 from them. If he should do this he might then 
 send the presents which successful generals 
 were wont to receive from their friends. 
 
 ' ' Pharnaces promised everything, ' ' but Caesar 
 "was in haste to be gone." "That he might 
 the sooner set out upon more urgent affairs at 
 Rome. ' ' Further down the writer says : ' ' Caesar 
 did what he was usually wont to do through in- 
 clination, and resolved to decide the affair as 
 soon as possible by a battle." 
 
 80 
 
Victory Over Pharnaces 81 
 
 Csesar lingered away nine months at Alexan- 
 dria in the embraces of Cleopatra when his 
 presence was sorely needed in Rome. Now, 
 when he wished to make up for his lost time, 
 he compelled Pharnaces to take the conse- 
 quences. 
 
 Following is Appian's account (B. II, chap. 
 XIII) : ^'On the approach of Csesar he became 
 alarmed, and repented of his deeds, and when 
 Csesar was within two hundred stadia he sent 
 ambassadors to him to treat for peace. They 
 bore a golden crown, and foolishly offered the 
 daughter of Pharnaces in marriage. When Cses- 
 ar learned what they were bringing, he moved 
 forward with his army, walking in advance and 
 chatting with the ambassadors, until he arrived 
 at the camp of Pharnaces, when he merely said : 
 ^Wliy should I not take instant vengeance on 
 this parricide r Then he sprang upon his horse, 
 and, at the first shout, put Pharnaces to flight 
 and killed a large number of the enemy, al- 
 though he had with him only about one thousand 
 of his own cavalry, who had accompanied him in 
 the advance." 
 
 Of this battle he wrote to Rome the words: 
 *^I came, I saw, I conquered.'' That is the way 
 Julius Caesar won his ''veni, vidi, vici" victory 
 — by pure perfidy.^ 
 
 ^The account of Dio Cassiiis is the same ("Roman His- 
 tory," B. 42, chap. 47): "The first and second sets of 
 envo3^s he treated with great kindness, in order that he 
 might fall upon the foe in a state quite unguarded, through 
 hopes of peace." 
 
82 CcBsar's Character 
 
 Dio Cassius (B. 42, chap. 47), speaking of 
 this victory, says that Caesar attacked Pharnaces 
 unexpectedly, and states that "Caesar took 
 great pride in the victory, in spite of the fact 
 that it had not been very glorious.'' 
 
CESAR'S GOVERNMENT 
 
 THE ARGUMENT 
 
 Caesar's purpose in becoming Dictator. Hu- 
 morist Froude on Caesar's Government. A few 
 questions on Caesar's Government. Effect of 
 Caesar's rule upon those that followed. A de- 
 fense of Augustus. 
 
 In speaking of the character of Caesar we feel 
 it our duty to speak of the government set up 
 by him, and the results it had upon the Roman 
 people and the emperors that succeeded him. 
 This can be done very briefly. 
 
 As everyone knows, Caesar usurped the su- 
 preme command in Rome and attempted to 
 build a government referring to no one but him- 
 self. ''With the establishment of the mon- 
 archy," Boissier says, p. 298, ''an important 
 change in all public employments was accom- 
 plished. The magistrates became subordinate 
 officials. Formerly, those elected by the popu- 
 lar vote had the right to act as they pleased 
 within the sphere of their functions. From the 
 aedile to the consul all were supreme within 
 
 83 
 
84 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 their own limits. Tliey could not be so under 
 an absolute government. Instead of governing 
 on their own account, they were only the chan- 
 nels, so to say, by which the will of a single man 
 acted to the ends of the earth. ' '^ 
 
 Arnold, '' History of Roman Commonwealth," 
 p. 331. After Caesar had become Dictator, Ar- 
 nold says of him: ''Caesar's policy was entirely 
 selfish : he could not pretend to act for the bene- 
 fit of the aristocracy, or of the lower classes. 
 There were no grievances in the old constitu- 
 tion which could be redressed only by his des- 
 potism ; there had been no offense committed by 
 the senate and people of Rome which deserved 
 that their liberties should be surrendered into 
 the hands of one profligate individual.'' 
 
 Those who try to defend Caesar's action in 
 usurping the supreme power at Rome by saying 
 that he wished to prevent anarchy need be 
 asked. If Caesar wished to prevent anarchy at 
 Rome why did he himself flame anarchy at that 
 place? Were plots, intrigues and wars against 
 his country preventing anarchy ? One must un- 
 derstand Caesar's desire to be king, to be head 
 of the Romans, to see that it was he who plot- 
 ted and warred against his country and ivas the 
 main cause of the anarch^/ at Rome. 
 
 Boissier, p. 292: ''It has been asserted that 
 Caesar sought to reconcile parties. He did not 
 reconcile them, he annihilated them. In the mon- 
 archical system that he wished to establish, the 
 
 'Boissier — "Cicero and His Friends." 
 
C Cesar's Government 85 
 
 old parties of the government had no place. He 
 had cleverly used the dissensions of the people 
 and the senate to dominate both; the first re- 
 sult of his victory was to put them both aside, 
 and we may say that, after Pharsalus, there was 
 only CaBsar on one side and the vanquished on 
 the other. This explains how it was that, once 
 victorious, he made use indifferently of the par- 
 tisans of the senate and those of the demo- 
 crats." 
 
 Trollope, ' ' Cassar, " p. 63 : ^ ' Caesar humiliated 
 the aristocracy, but only for his own advantage. 
 He took the executive power out of the hands of 
 the senate, but only to put it in his own. He 
 established equality between all the orders, but 
 it was an equality of servitude, and all was 
 henceforth reduced to the same level of obedi- 
 ence." 
 
 Froude ('' Caesar," p. 548), in his anxiety to 
 defend his hero, the government he founded and 
 everything connected with him, among other 
 wild and reckless statements, makes the follow- 
 ing, concerning the empire of the Caesars : ' ' The 
 nations were neither torn in pieces by violence 
 nor were rushing after false ideals and spurious 
 ambitions." We wish to correct Froude, as the 
 nations certainly ivere torn by violence, and if 
 we allow tjiat there were no false ideals, it was 
 because there were no ideals; as for the "spuri- 
 ous ambitions," Kome was flooded with them. 
 
 After Cassar had crushed the power of the 
 senate and the people, and raised his own upon 
 their ruin, he made some attempts at reform, to 
 
86 CcBsar's Character 
 
 gain the good will of the latter. He failed. He 
 attempted to enforce the much needed corn laws 
 of the Gracchi, but did not succeed. He enacted 
 a law, says Middleton (''Cicero," p. 496), which 
 "regulated the expenses of the Romans, not 
 only with regard to their tables, but also their 
 dress, equipages, furniture and buildings; but 
 Caesar seems to have found it a much easier 
 task to corrupt than to reform; for, though he 
 was very desirous of enforcing this salutary 
 law, yet it appears to have been extremely ill 
 observed. ' ' 
 
 Oman ("Seven Roman Statesmen,'' p. 355) 
 says: "As to the legislation concerning debt 
 and 'luxury,' which the Dictator introduced, 
 we cannot take it very seriously; it was a 
 case of 'Satan rebuking Sin.' His own 
 astonishing loads of indebtedness which he had 
 contracted, prevented him from attacking the 
 problem with any moral weight." Oman strikes 
 the reason why Caesar, although attempting re- 
 forms, could not succeed. A man must be moral 
 himself, and the spirit of reform must flow in 
 his veins, before he can have the will (which 
 comes before the power) to reform. We can 
 thus understand why Caesar's attempted re- 
 forms failed and why Middleton observed: 
 "Caesar found it easier to corrupt than to re- 
 form. ' ' 
 
 Now a word concerning the enjoyment of his 
 sovereign power. Boissier ("Cicero and His 
 Friends," p. 385) probably has told it best: 
 "That sovereign power that he [Caesar] had 
 
C Cesar's Government 87 
 
 sought after for more than twenty years with 
 an indefatigable persistence, through so many 
 perils and by means of dark intrigues, the re- 
 membrance of which must have made him 
 blush, did not answer to his expectations and 
 appeared unsatisfying to him, though he had so 
 eagerly desired it., 
 ' ' He might well have said, with Corneille : 
 
 ' ' ' I desired the empire, and I have attained it ; 
 But I knew not what it was that I desired. 
 In its possession I have found, instead of de- 
 lights. 
 Appalling cares, continual alarms, 
 A thousand secret enemies, death at every 
 
 turn, 
 No pleasure without alloy, and never re- 
 pose/' 
 
 But to come to the government he founded, 
 and to leave the man and the position. Aside 
 from the fact that the Roman people killed J. 
 Caesar because he had taken away their liber- 
 ties and proceeded to rule them in a tyrannical 
 manner, let us ask a question or two concern- 
 ing the government established by him. Whify 
 if the government Caesar established was 
 most satisfactory to the people, did his suc- 
 cessor, Augustus, form a government that, at 
 least outivardly, was a Republic? Why, after 
 the death of that emperor, did the Republican 
 spirit revive? Why, later on, were Pompey, 
 Cato, Brutus and Cicero exalted by the writers ! 
 Why did the government and army become cor- 
 rupt and the emperors powerless if the form of 
 
88 C Cesar's Character 
 
 government established by Caesar was the best! 
 We will let Oman take up the subject at this 
 point. 
 
 ' ' Seven Eoman Statesmen, ' ' p. 336. As to the 
 form of government founded by Caesar, Oman 
 says : ' ' Caesar could give no moral impulse to 
 the world. The empire was a time of lost ideals, 
 because its founder was himself a man who had 
 lived down, or had never possessed, any govern- 
 ing enthusiasm, save that of personal ambition. 
 Nations, like men, need an aim and an ideal to 
 keep them sound." 
 
 P. 338. Going on with the subject, he says: 
 ^^ Caesar, in short, put an end to urban sedition 
 and provincial misgovernment. 
 
 ' ' Butlie and his great nephew gave the world, 
 instead of its old anarchy, a period of mere 
 soulless material prosperity. 
 
 ' ' If the barbarians had never resumed the at- 
 tack from without; if Christianity had never 
 arisen, to give new ideals from within, the Eo- 
 man Empire would have gradually sunk into a 
 self-satisfied, stationary civilization of the Chi- 
 nese type." 
 
 What say you, worshipers of Caesar, to that! 
 Then who would have heard of ' ' the divine Caes- 
 ar, the founder of the Holy Roman Empire ' ' ? 
 
 With the exception of the laws and customs, 
 the good the world has derived from the Eoman 
 Empire is that good injected into it, firstly, hy 
 the German conquest and, secondly, hy the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 Let Oman proceed: "Whether it [the govern- 
 
C Cesar's Government 89 
 
 ment] be considered as a despotism or a bureau- 
 cracy, it was a magnificent failure. Already, by 
 the end of the second century, before the Ger- 
 man attack grew dangerous, it had lapsed into 
 moral impotence. On the civil side it was over- 
 governed and overtaxed; on the military side 
 it had developed a denationalized army, which 
 had begun to sell the diadem to the highest bid- 
 er. It is hardly necessary to recall the fact that 
 between the death of Commodus and the acces- 
 sion of Diocletian — a period of no more than 
 ninety years — some thirty emperors (not to 
 speak of unrecognized usurpers and Hyrants') 
 came to violent ends at the hands of their own 
 soldiery. The first Caesar 'had taken the sword' 
 — a clear majority of his successors 'perished 
 by the sword. ' ' ' 
 
 Such was the result upon the ages following 
 of the form of government founded by Julius 
 Caesar. It is the author's opinion that, with the 
 exception of Augustus, Rome and the world 
 would have been better off had the Caesar line 
 never existed. 
 
 In conclusion the author wishes to say a word 
 in defense of Augustus. He has no intention 
 of making a long or elaborate defense, but it is 
 his opinion that Augustus was not a bad man 
 at heart, that he was bad outwardly to keep 
 pace with his time. He was bad through policy, 
 not natural inclination. Instances of this could 
 be given, but the author is content to make his 
 statement suffice. The impetus Aug-ustus gave 
 to literature will be forever remembered. 
 
MORAL CHARACTER OF C^SAR 
 
 THE AEGUMENT 
 
 Pakt I. — Caesar's character has been hidden 
 behind a screen for many years because mod- 
 ern writers refrain from speaking of his gross 
 immorality. Authorities, ancient and modern, 
 on the subject. Caesar's ''contempt of riches" 
 and his personal immorality. Froude on the 
 subject. Catullus on the Moral Character of 
 Caesar. Suetonius on the same subject. Caesar's 
 two dominant passions. 
 
 Pakt II. — Caesar's moral character as shown 
 by his career. Appian and Dio Cassius on the 
 cause of the war in Spain. Caesar's purpose 
 in getting the consulship, and his conduct in 
 that office. The forming of the Triumvirate. 
 Its purpose, as given by the ancient historians, 
 and its effect. Caesar gets possession of Gaul 
 as a result of his holding the consulship. The 
 Gallic wars. The causes as given by Caesar and 
 Plutarch. Boissieur on Caesar's career. A con- 
 clusion to this chapter by Middleton and Arnold. 
 
 PART I 
 
 On these matters we will quote our authori- 
 ties, firstly, because we have no inclination to 
 paint the pictures ourselves, and secondly, be- 
 
 90 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 91 
 
 cause giving our authorities is of greater 
 weight. 
 
 Arnold: ^'Whilst Caesar was thus giving to- 
 kens of his fear of the danger which the aristoc- 
 racy had to apprehend from his political career, 
 he almost lulled their fears by the unbounded 
 infamy of his personal character. We will not 
 and cannot repeat the picture which ancient 
 writers, little scrupulous on such i3oints, have 
 drawn of his debaucheries; it will be sufficient 
 to say that he was stained with numerous adul- 
 teries committed with women of the noblest 
 families; that his profligacies on other points 
 drew upon him general disgrace, even amid the 
 lax morality of his own contemporaries, and are 
 such that their very flagitiousness have, in part, 
 saved them from the abhorrence of posterity, be- 
 cause modern writers cannot pollute their pages 
 with the mention of them. ' '^ But this is the point 
 that the present writer wishes to emphasize. 
 This is one of the reasons why men have not 
 fully come to understand the real nature of J. 
 Caesar. Writers have held aloof from speaking 
 of the man as he actually was, on account of his 
 extreme immorality in various directions. 
 
 Appian. Of his early profligacy in money 
 matters, Appian says the following: ^^ While 
 yet a^dile and praetor, he [Caesar] had incurred 
 great debts and had made himself wonderfully 
 agreeable to the multitude, who always sing the 
 praises of those who are lavish in expendi- 
 tures. . . . 
 
 ^"History of the Roman Commonwealth," p. 149. 
 
92 C Cesar's Character 
 
 ''Caesar, who had been chosen praetor for 
 Spain, was detained in the city by his creditors, 
 as he owed much more than he could pay, by 
 reason of his political expenses. He was re- 
 ported as saying that he needed 25,000,000 
 sesterces ($1,250,000), in order to have nothing 
 at all. However, he arranged with those who 
 were detaining him as best he could and pro- 
 ceeded to Spain. '^^ 
 
 Allen and Greenough's ''Caesar" : "His aedile- 
 ship surpassed all before it in magnificence; but 
 he left it, as he remarked with grim humor, 
 worth more than a million dollars less than 
 nothing. ' ' 
 
 Oman ("Seven Eoman Statesmen," p. 303) : 
 ' ' The more useless and extravagant was his out- 
 lay, the better the urban multitude was pleased. 
 After this, one begins to understand the freaks 
 of Caligula and other descendants of the Caesar 
 family. ' ' 
 
 In speaking of Caesar's early life he says: 
 "Of all the rakes of Rome he was by far the 
 most notorious. ' ' In speaking of his numerous 
 adulteries and the husbands thereby injured, he 
 says: "The marvel is that he did not end in 
 some dark corner with a dagger between his 
 ribs long before he reached the age of thirty." 
 He goes on with his subject's infamous life, and 
 says: "It is grotesque to have to remember 
 that, in spite of his own career, he was the au- 
 thor of the famous dictum that 'Caesar's wife 
 must be above suspicion,'" and winds up by say- 
 
 i"Roman History," B. II, chap. II. 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 93 
 
 ing : ' ' These are certainly odd beginnings for a 
 savior of society/' 
 
 P. 301. ''If there was any other point of Caes- 
 ar's character even more strongly marked than 
 his licentiousness, it was his power of getting 
 through money — especially other people's 
 money." Oman has written an accurate book, 
 but he does not make a more truthful statement 
 than the one just quoted. Is it not humorous, 
 then, to hear Diodorus Siculus speak of ''Caes- 
 ar's contempt of riches"? 
 
 "Caesar," p. 168. Froude speaks of Caesar's 
 adulteries, especially that of Mucia, the wife of 
 Pompey. Following is his attempted denial 
 (Froude has a method of attempting to deny a 
 charge against Caesar, and then admitting it) : 
 ' ' Two points may be remarked about these leg- 
 ends : first, that on no single occasion does Caes- 
 ar appear to have been involved in any trouble 
 or quarrel on account of his love affairs; and 
 secondly [with exceptions], there is no record of 
 any illegitimate children as result of these 
 amours." Then his admittance of its possibil- 
 ity: " He was a man of the world, living in an 
 age as corrupt as has ever been known." 
 
 P. 103. "Long afterward, when Roman cul- 
 tivated society had come to hate Caesar, and any 
 scandal was welcome to them which would make 
 him odious, it was reported that on this occasion 
 he entered into certain relations with Nico- 
 medes [now comes his attempt to pass it over] 
 of a kind indisputably common at the time in 
 the higher patrician circles." 
 
94 Caesar's Character 
 
 Further down he tries to console himself of 
 this particular charge by saving that it is a 
 common feature of human nature to believe evil 
 of men who have risen a few degrees above their 
 contemporaries, and laments that it is ''re- 
 peated through many generations," and winds 
 up with his usual admittance that ''this par- 
 ticular accusation against Caesar gains, perhaps, 
 a certain credibility from the admission that it 
 was the only occasion on which anything of the 
 kind could be alleged against him. ' ^ 
 
 Froude, further in his work, properly contra- 
 dicts himself when he quotes Suetonius for 
 what the elder Curio said of these matters: 
 " 'Omnium mulierum vir et omnium virorum 
 mulier^; he had mistresses in every country 
 which he visited, and he had liaisons with half 
 the ladies in Rome. That Csesar's morality was 
 altogether superior to that of the average of 
 his contemporaries is, in a high degree, im- 
 probable. He was a man of the world, peculi- 
 arly attracted to women, and likely to have 
 been attracted by them." 
 
 P. 535. "Two intrigues, it may be said, are 
 beyond dispute. His connection with the mother 
 of Brutus was notorious. Cleopatra, in spite of 
 Oppius,^ was living with him in his house at 
 the time of his murder." 
 
 The following is from Oman ("Seven Eoman 
 Statesmen," pp. 291 and 292) : 
 
 ' ' To represent Caesar, even in his later years, 
 as a kind of saint and benefactor who had lived 
 
 ^Oppius tried to deny Caesar's adulteries with Cleopatra. 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 95 
 
 down Ms early foibles is wholly untrue to the 
 facts of liis life. The man is consistent all 
 through his career; the dictator of B. C. 45 
 was but the debauched young demagogue of 
 B. C. 70 grown older, riper and more wary. 
 Those who represent him as a staid and divine 
 figure, replete with schemes for the benefit of 
 humanity, need to be reminded that at the age 
 of fifty-four, in the year of the victory of Phar- 
 salus, he was ready to lapse into undignified 
 amours with a clever and worthless little Egyp- 
 tian princess. It is worse still that two years 
 later, aged fifty-six, he should condescend to 
 write and publish his 'anti-Cato.' To pen a sa- 
 tire — and a poor satire at that — on an honest 
 and worthy enemy, whose ashes were hardly 
 yet cold, was worthy of a second-rate society 
 journalist. The monarch of the world was, at 
 bottom, the same man as the clever young 
 scamp whose epigrams and adulteries had scan- 
 dalized Rome thirty years back." Caesar was 
 severely condemned in his own age^ — corrupt as 
 it was — for his extreme immorality. Follow- 
 ing is a specimen or two from the poet, Catul- 
 lus: 
 
 P. 22.^^ That he [Catullus] was not indiffer- 
 ent to public wrongs is proved by the vehem- 
 ence with which he assailed Caesar in the plen- 
 itude of his power." (Introduction.) 
 
 P. 28 (^To Caesar on Mamurra"). ^^Who can 
 behold this, who can endure it, save a lewd rep- 
 robate, and an extortioner, and a reckless squan- 
 derer, that Mamurra should have all the fullness 
 
96 CcBsar's Character 
 
 of trans-Alpine Gaul and farthest Britain? Vi- 
 cious Caesar [used in its grossest sense], wilt 
 thou behold and tolerate such things I Thou art a 
 lewd reprobate, and an extortioner, and a reck- 
 less squanderer. And shall he now, proud and 
 profuse, perambulate all men's beds, like the 
 wjiite dove of Venus or Adonis? Vicious Caes- 
 ar, wilt thou behold and tolerate such things? 
 Thou art a lewd reprobate, and an extortioner, 
 and a reckless squanderer. Is it for this, sole 
 and unrivaled emperor, that thou hast been to 
 the extremest island of the west, that this worn- 
 out lecher of thine should not live in bound- 
 less extravagance? ^What matters it?' says 
 thy ill-placed liberality. Has he, then, made 
 away with little? Has he devoured little? First 
 his patrimony was spent; next, the spoil of 
 Pontus ; then, thirdly, that of Iberia, which the 
 auriferous Tagiir knows. He is the terror of 
 Gaul, the terror of Britain. Why dost thou 
 cherish this wretch? Or what can he do but 
 devour fat inheritances? Was it for thee, sole 
 and unrivaled emperor, that both of you — father- 
 in-law and son-in-law — ruined the world?" 
 
 *'No debauchees were better pair'd 
 Than vile Mamurra and his lord; 
 Nor can we think it strange ; 
 
 The Roman's and the Formean's name, 
 With equal infamy and shame 
 Deep staint, no time can change. 
 
Moral Character of CcBsar 97 
 
 ^Vicious alike, one couch they press; 
 A little learning both possess; 
 Both rank adulterers are: 
 No debauchees were better pair 'd 
 Than vile Mamurra and his lord. 
 Twin rivals of the fair.'' 
 
 P. 283: 
 
 ' ' So little I for Caesar care, 
 
 Whatever his complexion be, 
 That whether dark, or whether fair, 
 I vow 'tis all the same to me ! ' ' 
 
 [Remaek.] Catullus never wrote a good 
 word for Caesar. He speaks well of Cicero and 
 Cato, however, in the little he says. 
 
 Probably no one has dealt with this side of 
 Caesar's character more fully than the biogra- 
 pher Suetonius, and he is taken as authority. 
 
 ^'J. Caesar," II: ''His first campaign was 
 served in Asia, on the staff of the praetor, M. 
 Thermus; and, being dispatched into Bithynia, 
 to bring thence a fleet, he loitered so long at 
 the court of Nicomedes as to give occasion to 
 reports of a criminal intercourse between him 
 and that prince; which received additional 
 credit from his hasty return to Bithynia, un- 
 der the pretext of recovering a debt due to a 
 freedman, his client," 
 
 XLIX. Further in this Life, Suetonius says 
 that this ''stain upon his chastity stuck to him 
 all the days of his lifej and exposed him to 
 
98 C Cesar's Character 
 
 much bitter raillery. I will not dwell upon 
 those well-known verses of Calvus Licinius : 
 
 '' 'Whatever Bithynia and her lord possess 'd, 
 Her lord whom Caesar in his lust caress 'd.' 
 
 'M pass over the speeches of Dolabella, and 
 Curio, the father, in which the former calls him 
 'the queen's rival, and the inner side of the 
 royal couch/ and the latter 'the brothel of Ni- 
 comedes, and the Bithynian stew.' I would 
 likewise say nothing of the edicts of Bibulus, 
 in which he proclaimed his colleague under the 
 name of 'the queen of Bithynia,' adding that 
 'he had formerly been in love with a king, 
 but now coveted a kingdom. ' At which time, as 
 Marcus Brutus relates, one Octavius, a man of 
 crazy brain, and, therefore, the more free in his 
 raillery, after he had, in a crowded assembly, 
 saluted Pompey by the title of king, addressed 
 Caesar by that of queen. Caius Memmius like- 
 wise upbraided him with serving the king at 
 table, among the rest of his catamites, in the 
 presence of a large company in which were 
 some merchants from Rome, the names of 
 whom he mentions. But Cicero was not con- 
 tent with writing in some of his letters, that 
 he was conducted by the royal attendants into 
 the king's bedchamber, lay upon a bed of gold 
 with a covering of purple, and that the youth- 
 ful bloom of this scion of Venus had been 
 tainted in Bithynia — ^but upon Caesar's plead- 
 ing the cause of Nysa, the daughter of Nico- 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 99 
 
 medes, before the senate, and recounting the 
 king's kindnesses to him, replied: ^Pray, tell 
 us no more of that; for it is well known what 
 he gave you, and you gave him/ To conclude, 
 his soldiers in the Gallic triumph, amongst 
 other verses, such as they jocularly sung on 
 those occasions, following the generars chariot, 
 recited these, which since that time have been 
 extremely common: 
 
 ' ' ' The Gauls to Cassar yield, Caesar to Nicome- 
 
 des, 
 Lo ! Caesar triumphs for his glorious deed. 
 But Caesar's conqueror gains no victor's 
 
 meed.' " 
 
 L. ''It is admitted by all that he was much ad- 
 dicted to women (1), as well as very expensive 
 in his intrigues with them, and that he de- 
 bauched many ladies of the highest quality; 
 among whom were Posthumia, the wife of Ser- 
 vius Sulpicius ; Lollia, the wife of Aulus Gabin- 
 ius ; Tertulla, the wife of Marcus Crassus ; and 
 Mucia, the wife of Cneius Pompey. For it is 
 certain that the Curios, both father and son, and 
 many others, made it a reproach to Pompey, 
 'that to gratify his ambition he married the 
 daughter of a man upon whose account he had 
 divorced his wife after having had three chil- 
 dren by her, and whom he used, with a deep 
 
 (1) Cesar's greatest worshipers have been compelled to 
 admit this. Following is an example of how they do so: 
 Long, in his "Decline of the Roman Republic," V, says 
 there is ''evidence, and so much of it, as to Caesar's licen- 
 tious habits with women, that we cannot refuse to receive 
 it." 
 
 L OF C. 
 
100 CcBsar's Character 
 
 sigh, to call ^gisthus." But tlie mistress lie 
 most loved was Servilia, tlie mother of Marcus 
 Brutus, for whom he purchased, in his first con- 
 sulship, after the commencement of their in- 
 trigue, a pearl which cost him six million of 
 sesterces; and in the civil war, besides other 
 presents, assigned to her, for a trifling consid- 
 eration, some valuable farms when they were 
 exposed to public auction. Many persons ex- 
 pressing their surprise at the lowness of the 
 price, Cicero wittily remarked : ' To let you know 
 the real value of the purchase, between our- 
 selves, Tertia was deducted.' " For Servilia was 
 supposed to have prostituted her daughter, Ter- 
 tia, to Csesar (1). 
 
 LT. "That he had intrigues, likewise, with 
 married women in the provinces, appears from 
 this distich, which was as much repeated in the 
 (lallic triumph as the former: 
 ** 'Watch well your wives, ye cits; we bring a 
 blade, 
 
 A bald-pate master of the wenching trade. 
 
 Thy gold was spent on many a Gallic w e; 
 
 Exhausted now, thou com'st to borrow 
 more.' " 
 
 ^^gisthus, who debauched the wife of Agamemnon while 
 engaged in the Trojan War. 
 
 (1) Boissier — "Cicero and His Friends," p. 305: "Servil- 
 ia, the mother of Brutus, had been the object of one of the 
 most violent passions of Csesar. She always held a great 
 sway over him and took advantage of it to enrich herself 
 after Pharsalia by getting the property of the conquered, 
 etc. When she became old, and felt the powerful Dictator 
 slipping from her, in order to continue to rule him she fa- 
 vored his amours with one of her daughters — the wife of 
 Cassius," 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 101 
 
 LI/ 'In the number of his mistresses were also 
 some queens; such as Eunoe, a Moor, the wife 
 of Bogudes, to whom and her husband he made, 
 as Naso reports, many large presents. But his 
 greatest favorite was Cleopatra, with whom he 
 often reveled all night until dawn of day, and 
 would have gone with her through Egypt in dal- 
 liance, as far as Ethiopia, in her luxurious 
 yacht, had not the army refused to follow him. 
 
 ''He aftei^ward invited her to Rome, whence 
 he sent her back loaded with honors and pres- 
 ents, and gave her permission to call by his 
 name a son who, according to the testimony of 
 some Greek historians, resembled Ccesar both in 
 person and gait. Mark Antony declared in the 
 senate that Caesar had acknowledged the child 
 as his own, and that Caius Matias, Cains Oppius 
 and the rest of Caesar's friends knew it to be 
 true. . . . 
 
 "Helvius Cinna, tribune of the people, admit- 
 ted to several persons the fact that he had a bill 
 ready drawn, which Caesar had ordered him to 
 get enacted in his absence, allowing him, with 
 the hope of having issue, to take any wife he 
 chose, and as many of them as he pleased; and 
 to leave no room for doubt of his infamous char- 
 acter for unnatural lewdness and adultery. Cu- 
 rio, the father, says, in one of his speeches : 'He 
 was every woman's man, and every man's 
 woman.' " (1) These are the accounts Sueto- 
 nius gives us of Caesar's personal character. 
 
 (1) Caesar, when accused of being a woman, made no at- 
 tempt to deny it, but retorted (XXII) '• * Semiramis former- 
 
102 C Cesar's Character 
 
 Montaigne, p. 363, in speaking of men domi- 
 nated by this passion, says of Csesar : ' ' The sole 
 example of Julius Csesar may suffice to demon- 
 strate to us the disparity of those appetites, for 
 never was man more addicted to amorous de- 
 lights than he.'' Further on: ''Besides his 
 wives, whom he had four times changed, with- 
 out reckoning the amours of his childhood with 
 Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, he had the maid- 
 enhead of the renowned Cleopatra, queen of 
 Egypt; witness the little Csesario that he had 
 by her. He also made love to Eunoe, queen of 
 Mauritania, and at Rome to Posthumia, the wife 
 of Servius Sulpicius ; to Lollia, the wife of Ga- 
 binius; to Tertulla, the wife of Crassus, and 
 even to Mucia, wife to the great Pompey. 
 
 ''So that," he concludes, "I have reason, me- 
 thinks, to take him for a man extremely given 
 to this debauch, and of a very amorous consti- 
 tution; but the other passion of ambition, with 
 which he was exceedingly infected, arising in 
 him to contend with it, it was soon compelled 
 to give way. ' ' 
 
 Montaigne has summed up in a few words 
 what most historians state to have been the two 
 dominating passions of this man. Great as was 
 Ca3sar's sexual passion, and the world does 
 not record a worse case, yet greater was his 
 lust for power, which meant the loss of his coun- 
 try's liberties and the infinitely bad influence 
 his life has upon succeeding posterity. 
 
 ly reigned in Assyria, and the Amazons possessed great 
 part of Asia.'" 
 
MORAL CHARACTER OF C^SAR 
 PART II 
 
 Appian (''Roman History," Vol. II, B. II, 
 chap. II): "Caesar, who had been chosen 
 praetor for Spain, was detained in the city by 
 his creditors, as he owed much more than he 
 could pay, by reason of his political expenses. 
 He was reported as saving that he needed 25,- 
 000,000 sesterces ($1,250,000), in order to have 
 nothing at all. However, he arranged with those 
 who were detaining him as best he could and 
 proceeded to Spain. Here he neglected the 
 transaction of public business, the administra- 
 tion of justice, and all matters of that kind, be- 
 cause he considered them of no use to his pur- 
 pose, but he raised an army and attacked the 
 independent Spanish tribes one by one until he 
 made the country tributary to the Romans."^ 
 
 Dio's account of the beginning of this war 
 is similar: "He was eager for glory, emu- 
 lating Pompey and his other predecessors who 
 at one time had held great power, and he har- 
 bored no small designs ; it was his hope, in case, 
 at that time, he accomplished anything, to be 
 
 ^Nobody asked him to do this; it served his personal 
 ambition to do it. 
 
 103 
 
104 C Cesar's Character 
 
 immediately chosen consul and show the people 
 deeds of magnitude. That hope was based more 
 especially upon the fact that in Gades, when he 
 was praetor, he had dreamed of intercourse with 
 his mother, and had learned from the seers 
 that he should come to great power. Hence, on 
 beholding there a likeness of Alexander, dedi- 
 cated in the temple of Hercules, he had given a 
 groan, lamenting that he had performed no 
 great work as yet. 
 
 "Accordingly, though he might, as I have 
 said, have been at peace, he took his way to 
 Mount Herminium and ordered the dwellers on 
 it to move into the plain, pretendedly that they 
 might not rush down from their strongholds and 
 plunder, but really because he well knew that 
 they would never do what he asked, and that, as 
 a result, he should get a cause for war. This 
 also happened."^ And there, reader, you have 
 the way Cassar began the war in Spain. 
 
 After he had defeated these tribes in Spain, 
 and had taken away their wealth, * ' he thought, ' ' 
 as l)io says, "he had gained a sufficient means 
 of access to the consulship." Appian says that 
 after the war ' ' he sent much money to the pub- 
 lic treasury at Rome. For these reasons the 
 senate awarded him a triumph. '^ Further 
 down : "As Caesar was very anxious to secure 
 the office [of consul], and his procession [for his 
 intended triumph] was not yet ready, he sent 
 to the senate and asked permission to stand for 
 the consulship while absent. '^ 
 
 ^Dio's "Roman History," B. 37, chap. 52. 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 105 
 
 All readers of Roman history know how this 
 was resisted by Marcus Cato, who used up the 
 whole day in speaking; how Caesar gave up his 
 triumph, entered the city, formed the Trium- 
 virate and had himself forced into the consul- 
 ship. 
 
 ^^The senate had its suspicions of them 
 [Triumvirate], and elected Lucius Bibulus 
 as Caesar's colleague, to hold him in check." 
 (B. II, chap. II, s. 10.) "Strife sprang up be- 
 tween them immediately, and they proceeded to 
 arm themselves secretly against each other." 
 
 After Caesar had formed the Triumvirate, and 
 had himself put into the consulship, he pro- 
 ceeded to manage that office as if he owned it. 
 Appian says of it (B. II, chap. II) : 
 
 '^Caesar, ivho ivas a master of dissimulation, 
 made speeches in the senate to the interest of 
 harmony with Bibulus, as though he were tak- 
 ing care lest harm should come to the Republic 
 from their disagreement. As he was believed 
 to he sincere, Bibulus was thrown off his guard. 
 While Bibulus was unprepared, and suspecting 
 nothing, Caesar secretly got a large band of sol- 
 diers in readiness and brought before the sen- 
 ate measures for the relief of the poor by the 
 distribution of the public land to them. The 
 best part of this land, around Capua, which was 
 leased for the public benefit, he proposed to be- 
 stow upon those who were the fathers of at 
 least three children, by which means he bought 
 for himself the favor of a multitude of men. ' ' 
 
 Middleton, p. 367 : '^M.Calpurnius Bibulus was 
 
106 CcBsar's Character 
 
 joint consul with J. Caesar, A. U. 694. The sen- 
 ate secured the election of the former in order 
 to his being a check to the ambitious designs of 
 his colleague; and it was thought of so much 
 importance to the Eepublic that he should be 
 chosen that even Cato did not scruple upon this 
 occasion to employ methods of bribery for that 
 purpose. But Bibulus, after many vain efforts 
 of patriotism, and being grossly insulted in the 
 forum by Cagsar's mob, at length withdrew 
 from the functions of his office and voluntarily 
 confined himself (as Suetonius relates) to his 
 own house; though, by the expression which 
 Tully here uses, it rather seems as if Caesar had 
 employed some force to keep him there. After 
 which, as the same historian informs us, Caesar 
 governed the Eepublic without control."^ 
 
 Oman : ' ' His consulship was a sort of carni- 
 val of illegality and mob law, which made a fit- 
 ting close to the whole of his demagogic career. 
 He violated every rule of the constitution with 
 a cheerful nonchalance that surprised even his 
 own lieutenants. He openly displayed armed 
 men in the Comitia; he not only drove away 
 the partisans of the senatorial party by force 
 — that was now the ordinary rule in domestic 
 politics — but arrested and hurried off in cus- 
 tody everyone who dared to speak against his 
 
 ^Suetonius relates (chap. XX), of this circumstance, "that 
 some wags, when they signed any instrument, as witnesses, 
 did not add 'in the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus,' but, 
 'of Julius and Caesar'; putting the same person down twice, 
 under his name and surname." 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 107 
 
 proposals — even the respectable Cato himself. 
 His crowning act of illegality took place at the 
 passing of his Agrarian Laws: when Bibulus 
 put up three tribunes to veto it, Caesar quietly 
 disregarded them, and proceeded with his busi- 
 ness. The Optimate consul sprang to his feet 
 and began declaiming to the people that the 
 whole proceedings were null and void, and that 
 his colleague was violating the most funda- 
 mental laws of the constitution. Caesar had him 
 seized by his lictors, bundled him off the rostra, 
 and told the attendants to see that no harm 
 happened te him and to turn him loose in some 
 quiet street. Cato and the three dissentient tri- 
 bunes were treated in the same unceremonious 
 fashion. Then Caesar bade the proceedings go 
 on, and passed his law! // ever, majestus, the 
 open and deliberate commission of high trea- 
 son took place at Rome, this was the occasion. 
 A magistrate had disregarded the veto of his 
 own colleague and of three tribunes, and had 
 finally laid violent hands on their sacrosanct 
 persons and expelled them from the Assembly. 
 The Optimates wondered that the sky did not 
 fall then and there. But nothing happened, and 
 Caesar declared his bill to be law, and carried 
 out its provisions."^ 
 
 Plutarch: ^^ About this time Caesar returned 
 from his government [of Spain] to solicit the 
 consulship. Finding Crassus and Pompey again 
 at variance, he would not apply to either in 
 
 ^"Seven Roman Statesmen." 
 
108 C Cesar's Character 
 
 particular, lest he should make the other his 
 enemy; nor could he hope to succeed without 
 the assistance of one of them. In this dilemma 
 he determined, if possible, to effect a good un- 
 derstanding once more between them. For 
 which purpose he represented 'that by leveling 
 their artillery against each other they raised 
 the Ciceros, the Catulli and the Catos; who 
 would be nothing, if they were once real friends, 
 and took care to act in concert. If that were the 
 case,' said he, 'with your united interests and 
 counsels you might carry all before you. ' 
 
 ' ' These representations had their effect ; and, 
 by joining himself to the league, he formed that 
 invincible triple compact which ruined the sen- 
 ate and the people of Rome. Not that either 
 Crassus or Pompey gained any advantage from 
 their union; but Caesar, by the help of both, 
 climbed to the highest pinnacle of power. ' '^ 
 
 In his "Life of Pompey," Plutarch says of 
 the formation of this secret agreement: "At 
 this time Caesar, returning from his province, 
 undertook an affair, which rendered him very 
 popular at present, and in its consequences 
 gained him power, but proved a great prejudice 
 to Pompey and to the whole commonwealth. He 
 was then soliciting his first consulship, and 
 Crassus and Pompey being at variance, he per- 
 ceived that, if he should join the one, the other 
 would be his enemy of course; he therefore set 
 himself to reconcile them. A thing which seemed 
 
 '"Life of Crassus." 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 109 
 
 honorable in itself and calculated for the public 
 good; but the intention was insidious, though 
 deep-laid and covered with the most refined pol- 
 icy. For while the power of the senate was di- 
 vided it kept it in an equilibrium, as the bur- 
 den of a ship properly distributed keeps it from 
 inclining to one side more than another; but 
 when the power came to be all collected in one 
 part, leaving nothing to counterbalance it, it 
 overset and destroyed the commonwealth." 
 
 Caesar's power of deceiving, in this matter, is 
 best brought out by Plutarch in his Life of that 
 character: ^^As soon as he had entered the city 
 he went to work upon an expedient that de- 
 ceived all the world except Cato. It was the 
 reconciling of Pompey and Crassus, two of the 
 most powerful men in Rome. By making them 
 friends Caesar secured the interests of both to 
 himself and, while he seemed to be doing an 
 office of humanity, he ivas undermining the con- 
 stitution. For it was not what most people im- 
 agine, the disagreement between Caesar and 
 Pompey, that produced the Civil War, but rather 
 their union : they first combined to ruin the au- 
 thority of the senate, and, when that was ef- 
 fected, they parted, to pursue each his own de- 
 signs. Cato, who often prophesied what would 
 be the consequence, was then looked upon as a 
 troublesome and overbusy man; afterward he 
 was esteemed a wise, though not a fortunate, 
 counsellor. ' ' 
 
 Of the formation of this compact Florus 
 says; ^^ Crassus happened, at that time, to b^ 
 
110 C Cesar's Character 
 
 distinguished for family, wealth and honor, but 
 was desirous to have his power still greater. 
 Caius Cassar had become eminent by his elo- 
 quence and spirit and by his promotion to the 
 consulate. Yet Pompey rose above them both. 
 Caesar, therefore, being eager to acquire dis- 
 tinction; Crassus, to increase what he had got, 
 and Pompey to add to his, and all being equally 
 covetous of power, they readily formed a com- 
 pact to seize the government. Striving, accord- 
 ingly, with their common forces, each for his 
 own advancement, Caesar took the province of 
 Gaul, Crassus that of Asia, Pompey that of 
 Spain. They had three vast armies, and thus 
 the empire of the world was now held by these 
 three leading personages.''^ 
 
 Dio Cassius, after saying that Caesar had rec- 
 onciled Pompey and Crassus, continues: ''He 
 did not believe that without them he could 
 either attain permanent power or fail to offend 
 one of them some time, and had equally little 
 fear of their harmonizing their plans, and so 
 becoming stronger than he. For he understood 
 perfectly that he should master other people 
 immediately through their friendship, and a lit- 
 tle later master them through the agency of 
 each other. And so it was.'' 
 
 After explaining that this compact was of the 
 most secret sort, Dio gives the following signifi- 
 cant passage: "Yet Pleaven was not ignorant 
 of their doings, and it straightway revealed 
 
 ^Sallust — "Florus and V. PaterciUus," B. IV, chap. II. 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 111 
 
 plainly to those who could understand any such 
 signs all that would later result from their 
 domination. For, of a sudden, such a storm 
 came down upon the whole city and all the land 
 that quantities of trees were torn up by the 
 roots, many houses were shattered, the boats 
 moored in the Tiber, both near the city and at 
 its mouth, were sunk, and the wooden bridge 
 destroyed, and a small theatre built of timbers 
 for some assembly was overturned, and in the 
 midst of all this great numbers of human be- 
 ings perished. These portents appeared in ad- 
 vance — an image, as it were, of what should be- 
 fall the people both on land and on water. "^ 
 
 The forming of this compact was the thing 
 that gave Caesar the consulship and the prov- 
 ince of Gaul, and was the event from which ' ' all 
 the Roman ivriters date the origin of the civil 
 tvar.9 ivhich aftertvard ensued^ and the subver- 
 sion of the RepuhUc in which they ended.''" 
 
 Florus tells us that when that secret compact 
 was formed between Caesar, Pompey and Cras- 
 sus these men divided the world between them, 
 Caesar taking Gaul. Of the latter circumstance 
 Suetonius tells, which we will give in the words 
 of Middleton, p. 86: ^^But Caesar, who valued 
 no law or custom which did not serve his pur- 
 pose, without any regard to the senate applied 
 himself to his better friends, the people; and by 
 his agent, Vatinius, procured from them, by a 
 new and extraordinary law, the grant of Cisal- 
 
 ^"Roman History," B. 37, chap. 58. 
 2Middleton — "Life of Cicero," p. 78. 
 
112 CcBsar^s Character 
 
 pine Gaul, with the addition of Illyricum, for 
 the term of five years. This was a cruel blow to 
 the power of the senate and a direct infringe- 
 ment on the old constitution, as it transferred 
 a right to the people which they had never ex- 
 ercised or pretended to before. It convinced the 
 senate, however, that all opposition was vain; 
 so that when Caesar soon after declared a desire 
 to have Transalpine Gaul added to his other 
 provinces they decreed it to him readily them- 
 selves, to prevent his recurring a second time 
 to the people and establishing a precedent so 
 fatal to their authority." 
 
 Plutarch, after speaking of Pompey's suc- 
 cess, says of Caesar: "In the meantime the 
 wars in Gaul lifted Caesar to the first sphere 
 of greatness. The scene of action was at a great 
 distance from Rome, and he seemed to be wholly 
 engaged with the Belgae, the Suevi and the Brit- 
 ons; but his genius all the while was privately 
 at work among the people of Rome, and he was 
 undermining Pompey in his most essential in- 
 terests. His ivar ivith the barbarians was not 
 his principal object. He exercised his army, in- 
 deed, in those expeditions, as he would have 
 done his own body in hunting and other diver- 
 sions of the field, by which he prepared them 
 for higher conflicts, and rendered them not only 
 formidable but invincible."^ The ancient au- 
 thorities, it must be remembered, agree on these 
 things, and couch them in language that makes 
 
 *"Ufe of Pompey," 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 113 
 
 that of the modern historians, although the lat- 
 ter say the same things, look tame. The follow- 
 ing is typical of the latter : 
 
 Oman ( ' ' Seven Roman Statesmen " ) : ' ^ It 
 has only to be remembered that his final object 
 was not so much the conquest of Gaul as the 
 building up for himself of an unrivaled military 
 reputation and a devoted army." 
 
 Boissier has a significant passage on this mat- 
 ter that lacks weight no less than it does author- 
 ity: "Cresar's plans were settled even before he 
 entered public life ; in his youth he had formed 
 the design to become master. That, at least, 
 was the opinion of all the historians of an- 
 tiqidti//'^ He then proceeds to speak of a letter 
 that Cicero had written, etc. Then, speaking of 
 the Gallic war directly, he says, p. 228: '^Caesar 
 had evidently formed the plan of making him- 
 self master without employing arms; he reck- 
 oned upon destroying the Republic by a slow 
 and internal revolution and by preserving, as 
 much as possible in so illegal an attempt, the 
 outward form of legality. By multiplying dis- 
 sensions, by becoming the secret accomplice of 
 Catiline and Clodius, he wearied timid repub- 
 licans of a too-troubled liberty and prepared 
 them to sacrifice it willingly to repose. He 
 hoped in this way that the Republic, shaken by 
 these daily attacks, which exhausted and tired 
 out its intrepid defenders, would at last fall 
 without noise and without violence. But, to our 
 
 ^"Cicero and His Friends," p. 227. 
 
114 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 great surprise, at the moment when this skil- 
 fully planned design seemed on the point of suc- 
 ceeding, we see Caesar suddenly give it up. Af- 
 ter that consulship in which he had governed 
 alone, reducing his colleague to inaction and the 
 senate to silence, he withdraws from Rome for 
 ten years, and goes to attempt the conquest of an 
 unknown country. What reasons decided him to 
 this unexpected change? We should like to be- 
 lieve that he felt some disgust for that life of 
 base intrigues that he led at Rome, and wished 
 to invigorate himself in labors more worthy of 
 him ; but it is much more likely that, after hav- 
 ing seen clearly that the Republic would fall of 
 itself, he understood that he would require an 
 army and military renown to gain the mastery 
 over Pompey. It was then, without enthusiasm, 
 without passion, designedly and on calculation, 
 that he decided to set out for Gaul." We repeat 
 that this view is stated by the ancient authori- 
 ties without exception, and it is from them that 
 we get our knowledge of these matters. ' ' 
 
 After Caesar set out for Gaul he had an army 
 dependent on him, which De Quincey well ex- 
 plains (''The Caesars," p. 52): ''It is re- 
 markable that, even in his character of com- 
 mander-in-chief, when the number of legions 
 allowed to him for the accomplishment of 
 his mission raised him for a number of 
 years above all fear of coercion or control, he 
 persevered steadily in the same plan of provid- 
 ing for the day when he might need assistance 
 not from but against the state. For amongst 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 115 
 
 the private anecdotes that came to light under 
 the researches made into his history, after his 
 death, was this: that soon after his first en- 
 trance upon his government in Gaul he had 
 raised, equipped, disciplined and maintained, 
 from his own private funds, a legion amounting 
 perhaps to six or seven thousand men who 
 were bound by no sacrament of military obedi- 
 ence to the state, nor owed fealty to any aus- 
 pices except those of Caesar." 
 
 Having Gaul allotted to him, and raising an 
 army depending upon himself, his next step was 
 to secure active employment. He did not hesi- 
 tate long. He gave as his reason for commenc- 
 ing hostilities in Gaul that he wished to pro- 
 tect the Gauls from the Germans. Cato said, at 
 the time, that he was raising and drilling an 
 army to eventually overthrow the Roman com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 Long speaks of his getting territory, and says 
 if he could not find he could create active em- 
 ployment. 
 
 That he did create active employment is made 
 clear to us by the writers who have written on 
 this period of Eoman history. 
 
 Plutarch says of the beginning of the Gallic 
 War, in ''The Life of Cato": ''Caesar had fall- 
 en upon the Germans, though at peace luith the 
 Romans, and slain 300,000 of them." 
 
 Suetonius savs of the beginning of this war 
 C'J. CiBsar," XXIV): 
 
 ''From this period [after collecting army] he 
 declined no occasion of war, however unjust 
 
116 Ccesar's Character 
 
 and dangerous; attacking, without any provo- 
 cation, as well the allies of Eome as the bar- 
 barous nations which were its enemies; inso- 
 much that the senate passed a decree for send- 
 ing commissioners to examine into the condition 
 of Gaul." 
 
 Dio Cassius says the following of the begin- 
 ning of this war, and with this let us end, 
 so as not to take up any unnecessary space 
 (''Roman History," B. 38, chap. 31) : ''Ccdsar 
 found no hostility in Gaul: everything ivas ab- 
 solutely quiet. The state of peace, however, did 
 not continue, but to one war which at first arose 
 against him another was added, so that his 
 greatest wish was fulfilled, of making war 
 against and setting right ever^^thing at once." 
 
 A glance at the causes of these wars in Gaul, 
 according to Caesar's own account, will show 
 how little provoked they were. 
 
 In the first war Caesar took it upon him- 
 self to chastise what he considered the over- 
 aggressive Germans. 
 
 In the second war, "while Caesar was in win- 
 ter quarters in Hither Gaul frequent reports 
 were brought to him, and he was informed by 
 letters from Labienus that all the Belgae were 
 entering into a confederacy against the Roman 
 people." That was all Caesar needed, and the 
 war began. 
 
 Third war, Gauls uprise. Sufficient evidence, 
 dear reader, for Caesar to commence hostilities. 
 
 In the following year (fourth war) the Usip- 
 etes and Tenchtheri had crossed the Rhine. 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 117 
 
 The motive for crossing the river was that, hav- 
 ing been for several years harassed by the 
 Suevi, they were constantly engaged in war, 
 and hindered from the pursuits of agriculture. 
 Caesar considered this sufficient cause, firstly, 
 to punish the Tenchtheri and Usipetes for being 
 driven from Germany, and secondly, to chas- 
 tise the Suevi for doing so. War was the re- 
 sult. In the fifth year the reason he does not 
 have war with the Pirustse is because he suc- 
 cessfully bullied them; they gave hostages to 
 prevent CaBsar from "visiting their state with 
 war." In this year he again invades Britain, 
 which he had tried the year before, when he 
 gives the reason that the Britons had helped 
 the Gauls in their wars. (B. IV, chap XX.) 
 
 He does not tell us how many armies, what 
 amount of cavalry and how much provisions the 
 Britons had sent to the Gauls since the preced- 
 ing year, but, at any rate, he deemed it neces- 
 sary to again see the Britons. 
 
 Caesar's reason, of course, has no weight; 
 Caesar invaded Britain for the same reason that 
 he crossed the Rhine. 
 
 Plutarch: "His true nature was an avidity 
 of fame, to be the first Roman that ever crossed 
 the Rhine in a hostile manner." 
 
 In the sixth year Caesar raises additional 
 forces and starts warfare because, like the 
 criminal that kills on suspicion, he ^'expects a 
 greater commotion in Gaul." That is the way 
 Caesar began his wars. 
 
 The wars in Gaul are designated the "Gallic 
 
118 C Cesar's Character 
 
 War/' They should not be, because they were 
 not connected, but were a series of wars. 
 Strange as it may seem, at the end of each 
 winter the Gauls and Germans would become 
 mischievous, and it would become necessary to 
 *^ spank" them. 
 
 We know, however, that Csesar forced the 
 war in Spain during his prsetorship, in order to 
 obtain military glory and a bunch of money to 
 pay off his debts. We will conclude correctly 
 when we say that this and the purpose of drill- 
 ing his army to eventually overthrow the con- 
 stitution of his country was the cause of the 
 wars in Gaul. 
 
 As the causes of the Civil War have already 
 been shown, we have now reached a point where 
 we can make a statement that should carry 
 weight. 
 
 His mahing tvar in Spain and extorting money 
 from its inhabitants was done to secure to him- 
 self military glory and the consulship. 
 
 The consulship was secured in order to be 
 in a position to have the province of Gaul given 
 him. The plots and conspiracies in which he was 
 involved at Eome were used to weaken the gov- 
 ernment which he was planning to overthrow. 
 
 The province of Gaul was made nse of in 
 building up an army which was trained by and 
 devoted to him. 
 
 The Civil War was forced upon his own coun- 
 try by Julius Csesar, in order to fulfill his dream 
 
Moral Character of CcBsar 119 
 
 of universal dominion which he had planned for 
 from his youth, regardless of the detriment it 
 caused his countrymen and the number of lives 
 lost and suffering it caused humanity. 
 
 This surely is a plain and all-embracing pas- 
 sage, but it can afford to be so, for it has all the 
 historians of antiquity and the greatest of the 
 modern historians back of it. 
 
 In concluding we will give a passage or two, 
 to verify what has already been said, and at 
 the same time show the strength of language 
 used concerning this character. 
 
 Middleton ("Life of Cicero,^' p. 547): ''It 
 is certain that the Republic was well nigh re- 
 duced to a state of total anarchy when Caesar 
 usurped the command, but it is equally certain 
 that he himself had been the principal author 
 and fomentor of those confusions which ren- 
 dered an absolute authority the only possible ex- 
 pedient for reducing the commonwealth into a 
 state of tranquillity and good order. If this be 
 true [and it is], it seems no very intricate ques- 
 tion to determine what verdict ought to be 
 passed upon Caesar.'' 
 
 Same writer, p. 221 : ' ' Thus fell Caesar on the 
 celebrated Ides of March, after he had ad- 
 vanced himself to a height of power which no 
 conqueror had ever attained before him; 
 though to raise the mighty fabric he had made 
 more desolation in the ivorld than any man per- 
 
120 CcBsar's Character 
 
 haps who had ever lived in it. He used to say 
 that his conquests of Gaul cost about 1,200,000 
 lives, and if we add the civil wars to the ac- 
 count they could not cost the Republic much 
 less in the more valuable blood of its best 
 citizens. Yet, when through a perpetual course 
 of faction, violence, rapine and slaughter, he 
 made his way at last to empire, he did not en- 
 joy the quiet possession of it above five 
 months. ' ' 
 
 Arnold (''History of The Roman Common- 
 wealth," p. 367), in summing up the life and 
 character of this man, says of him : ' ' If from the 
 intellectual we turn to the moral character of 
 Cassar, the whole range of history can hardly 
 furnish a picture of greater deformity. Never 
 did any man occasion so large an amount of 
 human misery with so little provocation. In 
 his campaigns in Gaul he is said to have de- 
 stroyed 1,000,000 of men in battle and to have 
 made prisoners 1,000,000 more, many of whom 
 were destined to perish as gladiators, and all 
 were torn from their country and reduced to 
 slavery. The slaughter which he occasioned in 
 the civil wars cannot be computed; nor can we 
 estimate the degree of suffering caused in every 
 part of the empire by his spoliations and confis- 
 cations, and by the various acts of extortion 
 and oppression which he tolerated in his follow- 
 ers. When we consider that the sole objects of 
 his conquests in Gaul were to enrich himself 
 and to discipline his army, that he might be en- 
 abled the better to attack his country; and that 
 
Moral Character of Ccesar 121 
 
 the sole provocation on which he commenced 
 the Civil War was the resolution of the senate 
 to recall him from a command which he had al- 
 ready enjoyed for nine years, after having oh- 
 tained it in the beginning by tumult and vio- 
 lence; we may judge what credit ought to be 
 given him for his clemency in not opening lists 
 of proscription after his sword had already cut 
 olf his principal adversaries and leveled their 
 party with the dust ' ' ( 1 ) . 
 
 ^'His camp," says the same historian (p. 
 224), ''presented a place of refuge to the 
 needy, the profligate, the debtors, and even the 
 criminals, who found it convenient to retreat 
 from the capital (2). 
 
 ''When it is remembered that the object of 
 all this profusion was the enslaving of his coun- 
 
 (1) Speaking of Caesar not proscribing his enemies and 
 showing clemency toward them, Arnold speaks as follows 
 (p. 332) : "After the deaths of Pompey, of Scipio, of L. Do- 
 mitius, of M. Bibulus, of L. Lentulus and M. Cato, and of 
 all the most eminent citizens of the commonwealth, whom 
 could Caesar wish to proscribe?" 
 
 Further down: "If he had wished to get rid of all those 
 whose interests were incompatible with his own, he must 
 have destroyed every free citizen in the empire. Caesar's 
 policy was to draw a veil over the past, as far as possible; 
 and conciliate, by an apparent clemency, those whom he 
 held in subjection." 
 
 (3) That Caesar's army, both in the Gallic and the Civil 
 Wars, was made up of the criminals, obnoxious and profligates 
 of all Italy, we infer is well known. There were two rea- 
 sons for this: Firstly, these men were out of employment, 
 and had a poor or no home and were, therefore, more eas- 
 ily pressed into his service by promises of plunder; sec- 
 ondly, only men of criminal tendencies could be used in the 
 purposes he wished to use them; good men would never 
 have done in securing his ends. 
 
122 CcBsar's Character 
 
 try, and that the means which enabled him to 
 practise it were derived from the unprovoked 
 pillage of the towns and temples of Ganl and 
 the sale of those unfortunate barbarians who, 
 in the course of his unjust wars, became his 
 prisoners, it may be justly doubted 'whether the 
 life of any individual recorded in history was 
 ever productive of a greater amount of human 
 misery, or has been marked with a deeper stain 
 of tvickedness/' 
 
TRAITS OF C^SAE'S CHARACTER AND 
 
 EFFECT OF THIS TYPE OF 
 
 MEN UPON WORLD 
 
 THE AKGUMENT 
 
 The reason for some ridiculous statements 
 concerning Caesar's life and career. Those who 
 have been influenced by these statements. Com- 
 edian Froude says some more humorous things. 
 Traits of Caesar's character by the author. 
 Some of these traits in detail. Caesar's policy 
 in making use of inferior men. Caesar's career 
 was concentrated within the circle of his own 
 life. The difference of character in Cato, 
 Cicero, and Caesar, as shown in their belief in 
 an after life. Mommsen kindly convicts Caesar. 
 Great men are the leaders and models for the 
 rest of humanity; it, therefore, is important 
 what those men themselves are. The kind of 
 a great man Caesar was. Effectiveness one of 
 the dominant qualities in this character. The 
 question of his genius. This type of men can- 
 not build the standard of the human race. A 
 question or two concerning this type of men 
 and the standard of humanity. An incident at 
 a club. 
 
 133 
 
124 C Cesar's Character 
 
 The worshipers and followers of Cassar have 
 stated that Caesar was '^divinely sent" to be a 
 savior of society, that he was the founder of 
 the Holy Koman Empire, that he paved the way 
 for Christianity ! We will not take up space in 
 giving the writers who have rejected these state- 
 ments and made them look ridiculous, but will 
 do what is better, namely, get directly at the 
 origin of these assertions. 
 
 The followers of Caesar, knowing the impossi- 
 bility of defending Caesar's life, motives, and 
 means, have refrained from explaining and ex- 
 amining them entirely, and have come forth on 
 the other side with the absurd, ridiculous, out- 
 of-place declaration that he was divinely sent ! 
 But the absurdity of this apparently insane dec- 
 laration can be seen when we remember that 
 this is the only argument (if such a thing can 
 be called an argument) that Caesar's followers 
 have been able to set forth in defense of Caes- 
 ar's enormous personal vices and his treason 
 against his country. All can then understand, 
 let us repeat, why so depraved a character 
 should be deified. 
 
 The fact to be emphasized is that those who 
 have defended Caesar have kept scrupulously 
 away from his life, his motives, and his means, 
 and, in trying to find a means of defense for 
 him, have gone to the absurd lengths of deifying 
 him, which is the only defense they have ever 
 made that has had any weight, because it has 
 worked upon the ignorant, unlearned, unculti- 
 vated mkids of the masses, but is a thing, in 
 
Traits of Ccesar's Character 125 
 
 reality, that is as hollow as the inside of a 
 circle. 
 
 Froude, among those who have attempted to 
 defend Caesar, has been the most extravagant 
 in his statements, and has certainly made the 
 greatest mess of it. In speaking of the empire 
 under the CfBsars, Froude would have us be- 
 lieve it was not far from idealic, and says, as a 
 boost for Caesar, that if this condition had not 
 existed *' Christianity must have been stifled in 
 its cradle."^ What think you of that, Chris- 
 tians? It shows one thing, namely, to what absurd 
 lengths the worshipers of a man can be carried. 
 But we have compassion on Froude; for, in his 
 statement, he seems to have a concern for Chris- 
 tianity, and we wish to console him with the fact 
 that Christianity will not be stifled that easily. 
 
 Froude compares Christ and Caesar when he 
 says: ^'Strange and startling resemblance be- 
 tween the fate of the founder of the kingdom 
 of this world and of the Founder of the king- 
 dom not of this world. "^ He goes on to say: 
 ^^Each was denounced for making himself a 
 king; each was maligned as the friend of 
 publicans and sinners ; each was betrayed by 
 those whom he had loved and cared for; each 
 was put to death; and Caesar, also, was believed 
 to have risen again and ascended into heaven 
 and become a divine being. ' ' 
 
 Froude gets his statement of the divinity of 
 Caesar from a passage in Suetonius, which fol- 
 
 ^Froude's "Caesar," p. 548. 
 ^Ibid, p. 549. 
 
126 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 lows : ^ 'He was ranked among the gods, not only 
 by a formal decree, but in the belief of the vul- 
 gar. For during the first games which Augus- 
 tus, his heir, consecrated to his memory, a 
 comet blazed for seven days together, rising al- 
 ways about eleven o 'clock, and it was supposed 
 to he the soul of Ccesar, now entered into 
 heaven. ' '^ 
 
 We wish to repeat a thing that has been spoken 
 of before, and which cannot be overemphasized ; 
 nameh^, it was the vulgar, the simple-minded, 
 ignorant people upon whom Caesar, his friends 
 and his worshipers have worked, both in his 
 own time and upon posterity, and who gave 
 credit to such ridiculous circumstances. 
 
 These men of the Caesar type are devoid of 
 sentiment, do not possess a developed imagina- 
 tive faculty, are wanting in moral sense; in 
 short, are devoid of the higher mental faculties 
 which enable men to approach the divine. Action 
 was thewhole thingwith him ; he was not a great 
 thinker. His plans, although on a large scale, 
 were very simple and very plain ; they were not 
 the result of thought, but of passion. He used 
 identically that kind of thought that a criminal 
 uses in planning out in detail the murder of a 
 man! 
 
 Passion (evil passion) spurred him on in all 
 his projects, his thought was subservient to his 
 passion ; if there were mistakes, the animal was 
 there to cover them. Power was his great am- 
 
 ^"J. Caesar," chap. LXXXVIII. 
 
Traits of Ccesar's Character 127 
 
 bition, and this, it can plainly be seen, was based 
 upon fear. Fear, we repeat, was tlie foundation 
 upon which his power was built, for it was by 
 infusing it into those under him that he con- 
 trolled them. 
 
 Fear has a depressing and deadening etfect 
 upon men, but they that employ it are not con- 
 cerned about that ; whoever is depressed is sub- 
 missive, and that is the point they seek. But 
 the point is, what light can spring from fear, 
 what good is derived from it! Flowers do not 
 grow in the dark, nor will anything ever spring 
 from the human heart oppressed with fear. 
 And so it is even with this man's followers. 
 Caesar is not loved, he is feared — feared on ac- 
 count of his position. Those that pretend to 
 have love for him do not love the man but the 
 type of man he represents, which is self-love. 
 
 Probably the two most prominent traits in 
 these men of the Caesar type are their power of 
 destructiveness and the faculty of secretiveness. 
 The former power is used to pull down the mer- 
 its and works of others and to minimize the ac- 
 tions of their opponents. Their gain and glory 
 is attended not by setting themselves above that 
 which is already up, but by tearing down all 
 that is up, and setting themselves on top of it. 
 It thus becomes manifest, does it not, that when 
 these men flourish all others go down? 
 
 Caesar 's secretive faculty was strongly marked 
 and was shown in his ability to hide his real de- 
 signs and purposes, in his shrewdness, dupli- 
 city and deception. His approach to important 
 
128 CcBsar's Character 
 
 matters was always indirect, his real feelings 
 and passions never manifested themselves open- 
 ly, but always in secret; the murder of Vettius 
 and Lucius Caesar being the best examples/ 
 
 His appearance of justice and sincerity was 
 better than any honest man could ever attain to, 
 and was one of the means of his falseness being 
 discovered ! These traits were paraded by him 
 as a matter of policy, in order to draw people 
 away from his real designs, but in his eager- 
 ness to do this he overdid the thing. 
 
 Force, one of his prominent qualities, was bal- 
 anced by sharpness, and his boldness by caution. 
 
 One of the best examples of his duplicity was 
 when he shed tears over Pompey's head, and 
 shortly afterward, upon his defeat of Pharna- 
 ces, saying that Pompey did not do so much by 
 conquering men- that he could conquer with 
 such extreme ease. Probably the best example 
 of his deception was in drawing Pompey into 
 the Triumvirate. Caesar, who formed the 
 scheme, easily saw that the chief advantage 
 of it would necessarily rebound to himself. He 
 knew that the old enmity of the other two, 
 though it might be palliated, could never be 
 healed without leaving a secret jealousy between 
 them ; and as, by their common help, he was soon 
 to make himself superior to all others, so by 
 managing the one against the other he hoped to 
 gain a superiority, also, over them both.^ 
 
 ^'•'Dio Cassius," B. 43, chap. 12. 
 
 2Pharnaces was the son of Mithridates; the latter had 
 been conquered by Pompey. 
 ^Dio Cassius — "Roman History," B. 37, chap. 56. 
 
Traits of Ccesar^s Character 129 
 
 Middleton, p. 85 : ^ ' Pompey, by Ms alliance 
 with Caesar, lent his authority to the nurs- 
 ing up of a rival, who gained upon him daily 
 in credit, and grew too strong for him at last 
 in power. The people's disaffection began to 
 open his eyes and make him sensible to his er- 
 ror; which he frankly owned to Cicero, and 
 seemed desirous of entering into measures with 
 him to retrieve it. He saw himself on the brink 
 of a precipice, where to proceed was ruinous, 
 to retreat ignominious : the honest were become 
 his enemies, and the factious had never been his 
 friends ; but though it was easy to see his mis- 
 take it was difficult to find a remedy. Cicero 
 pressed the only one which could be effectual — 
 an immediate breach with Caesar — and used all 
 arguments to bring him to it. But Caesar was 
 more successful, and drew Pompey quite away 
 from him [Cicero], and, having got possession, 
 entangled him so fast that he could never dis- 
 engage himself until it loas too late/' 
 
 It should be remembered this attempt of Pom- 
 pey to get away from Caesar was made before 
 the latter allotted to himself the province of 
 Gaul. 
 
 This man's powers of deception were great; 
 but this very fact makes it the more difficult to 
 deny them. With exceptions (Cato and Cicero) 
 Caesar deceived the Eoman world in his own 
 time as to his real character and purposes, and 
 they were not discovered until he had made him- 
 self Dictator. The people (that is, the masses 
 
130 C Cesar's Character 
 
 and the senate) now were made aware of this 
 man's real intentions, with the known result. 
 
 Another faculty that was openly manifested 
 in the life of this man was his propensity to 
 punish men for what he considered the "evil in 
 men." Now, if this were true, why did he not 
 start with himself? The fact, dear reader, is 
 that every Roman was "evil" in the eyes of 
 Caesar, that came into conflict with his own pur- 
 poses. A trait that this propensity gave birth to 
 was one that is well developed in criminals and 
 desperadoes, namely, to shoot a man on suspi- 
 cion. Caesar never waited for evidence; he acted 
 on suspicion, and sometimes did not have even 
 that. 
 
 An analysis of Caesar's practices and the 
 means employed by him give us an insight into 
 the character of the man not to be obtained 
 otherwise. 
 
 Caesar not only never made an attempt to 
 check the weaknesses of others, but encouraged 
 them by making use of them as a means to gain 
 his own purposes. He, all his life, made use of 
 the weaknesses of his subordinates to gain his 
 own desires; if a man's vanity could not be 
 tickled he was offered gold, rank was given to 
 the ambitious; if women were a man's weak- 
 ness, they were accordingly furnished. In this 
 manner, the ivorst prinriple a man can make 
 use of, Julius Caesar used unsparingly through- 
 out his career. 
 
 Most historians have remarked that he made 
 use of only inferior men, usually beings of mean 
 
Traits of CcEsar's Character 131 
 
 ability, that he harbored criminals and profli- 
 gates, and when in power raised foreigners to 
 high positions in the Government. His worship- 
 ers have said that he thus showed sympathy 
 for the weak and unfortunate and, therefore, it 
 was a generous act. Let us see if it was. Could 
 Caesar possibly have done anything which would 
 secure more control over the senate and the dif- 
 ferent offices of the Government than by him- 
 self filling them up with Gauls and foreigners 
 rather than his oum discontented countrymen? 
 That is the way Julius Ca3sar ' ' helped the unfor- 
 tunate." This is characteristic of bad men in 
 power. They do not raise the worthless and the 
 unknown for the benefit of the latter ; but, being 
 better able to use them as tools than men of 
 worth and ability, by giving them appointments, 
 they make their oivn poiver more secure. 
 
 It is to be remarked that selfish men, who are 
 always evil, look with satisfaction upon inferior 
 persons (mentally and morally), for they can 
 use the latter for their own purposes. On the 
 other hand, there has never existed one of these 
 men who did not look with an evil eye upon all 
 men of ability and merit, and who did not do 
 everything in his power to drag them down. Is 
 this beneficial to humanity? Is there a greater 
 drawback, a worse weight upon mankind than 
 those men? Napoleon is a good example. War- 
 fare went up with him at the head, whereas lit- 
 erature went down. 
 
 Cjpsar employed, in his army, a system of re- 
 wards and punishments that is typical of this 
 
132 CcEsar's Character 
 
 type of men. It was done to induce his men to 
 exert themselves to the utmost and to make them 
 all have respect for their leader. ' ' Sometimes, ' ' 
 Suetonius relates, ''after a great battle ending 
 in victory, he would grant them a relaxation 
 from all kinds of duty, and leave them to revel 
 at pleasure; being used to boast 'that his sol- 
 diers fought none the worse for being well 
 oiled.' "^ Caesar's so-called "generosity to the 
 vanquished" has been made much of by his wor- 
 shipers. Probably it has been done unwisely, 
 for it has attracted the notice of many who 
 would have otherwise passed it unnoticed. 
 
 In the biography of M. Forsyth there is this 
 passage: "Let those who, like De Quincey, 
 Mommsen and others, speak disparagingly of 
 Cicero, and are so lavish in praise of Caesar, 
 recollect that Caesar never was troubled with a 
 conscience. ' ' 
 
 Crassus and Pompey occasionally showed 
 what, in criminal language, is called "a yellow 
 streak" — that is, a sig-n that they had a con- 
 science. Crassus did so when his heart failed 
 him in appearing at the first conspiracy; Pom- 
 pey several times did so. But the fact that these 
 men did show signs of that state of mind is to 
 their honor. It showed that* their conscience, 
 that which is the life of a man, although blunted, 
 yet had a spark of existence. 
 
 Caesar could commit crimes that the other two 
 together could not equal, but he never showed 
 the slightest glimmer of a conscience. 
 i"J. 0^sar,"LXVII. 
 
Traits of Gcesar^s Character 133 
 
 Caesar's thoughts were concentrated within 
 the circle of his own life. He worked not for 
 the future, nor regarded the past. It was natu- 
 ral, then, was it not, that this characteristic of 
 his nature, combined with his immoral charac- 
 ter, should not put credit in an after-life! 
 
 His belief, as expressed in his own words: 
 ^'What is, indeed, the truth, that in trouble and 
 distress, death is a relief from suffering, and 
 not a torment; that it puts an end to all human 
 woes; and that, beyond it, there is no place 
 either for sorrow or joy."^ 
 
 Attempts have been made to defend this be- 
 lief, saying that he lived in an immoral age, etc., 
 but they are too thin to handle. Caesar did not 
 believe in an after-life, because he did not wish 
 that there should be any. He did not care to 
 take the consequences of his enormous personal 
 sins and public crimes. Caesar was an Epicurean 
 and a worldly man, and that is the reason he 
 held no belief in an after-life. 
 
 Cato and Cicero both held a different opinion 
 on this matter, for they held a belief in an after- 
 life, and the lives and careers of these two, in 
 contrast with that of Caesar, is a lesson from 
 which mankind can profit. 
 
 Mommsen says of Catiline that he was (''Eo- 
 man History'^) ^^one of the most nefarious men 
 in that nefarious age; his villainies belong to 
 the criminal records, not to history." And then 
 he compares Caesar to him. P. 239: ^* Caesar 
 had been little more than what Catiline was. 
 
 ^Sallust's "Catiline." 
 
134 C Cesar's Character 
 
 The chief of a political party which had dwin- 
 dled almost into a club of conspirators." Then 
 he speaks of Curio, and compares those two. 
 P. 471 : "Although Curio had no military experi- 
 ence and was notorious for his dissolute life, 
 there was a spark of Caesar's own spirit in the 
 fiery youth. He resembled Caesar, inasmuch as 
 he had drained the cup of pleasure to the 
 dregs." (Mommsen goes on and tells in what 
 other ways Curio resembled Caesar.) Mommsen 
 does well in comparing such men as Catiline and 
 Curio with Caesar, but did he realize, when he 
 did so, that he condemned Caesar? 
 
 Schlegel, like Mommsen, also brings out the 
 resemblance of Caesar to Catiline and his hatred 
 of Marcus Cato. In fact Caesar himself admit- 
 ted it, but in doing so he unknowingly empha- 
 sized the two types of men upon which depends 
 the standard of mankind. 
 
 Is not the world to be judged by its men! Then 
 is not the standard of the world to depend upon 
 its first men 1 Many have said that ' ' the world 
 is evil." It is only such in that it is judged by 
 its evil men. Therefore, is it beyond the com- 
 prehension of any to see that it is neither 
 proper nor profitable that evil men should make 
 up the standard of the human race? 
 
 As great men are regarded as the leaders of 
 mankind, and therefore decide what hmnanity 
 shall be, it is of infinite importance what those 
 great men themselves are. 
 
 Caesar is called a great statesman and politi- 
 cian because he could cheat, falsify, deceive and 
 
Traits of Ccesar's Character 135 
 
 bribe better than anybody else; called a great 
 general because he could use more perfidy, trick- 
 ery and slaughter more of humanity than any 
 other general ; called a great writer because he 
 could speak of unprovoked wars against foreign 
 nations, and forcing war upon his own country 
 in a quiet, unpretending style. Are those kind 
 of great men beneficial to humanity! 
 
 But to come more directly to the character of 
 our subject: There is in this character with 
 which we deal no beauty, no sentiment, no scru- 
 ples, no virtue. No, absolutely none. Every- 
 thing is effectiveness, and that is concentrated 
 with great intensity upon himself, and himself 
 alone. Aside from this effectiveness there is 
 nothing in this man. This type of men never 
 get beyond themselves. All their effort is for 
 the purpose of self-gain. In different ways do 
 they desire this gain, which is immediate pleas- 
 ure and perishable. In some it is the desire of 
 power over nations, in others power over men. 
 The gain is concentrated with great intensity 
 upon one man — and one man alone — and this 
 makes necessary the loss of all others. Those 
 who claim that Caesar's fame has not perished 
 need be reminded that Caesar strove not for 
 fame, but for power over nations, men and their 
 affairs, and the fame accompanied the former. 
 This man's soul was in getting this nefarious 
 power, which proved detrimental both in his 
 own time and to posterity. Fame went with the 
 former, and he received them both, but the price 
 was not cheap. 
 
136 CcBsar's Character 
 
 That lie had great gifts is not to be doubted 
 but affirmed. If he possessed greater gifts than 
 others, for making them serve his evil purposes, 
 was he not that much the worse man! What evil 
 on earth is greater than that an evil purpose 
 should be backed by great genius 1 Does not, we 
 repeat, evil purpose backed by genius make him 
 the worse man"? Might was everything to him, 
 and his life was a continuous carnival of vio- 
 lence filled with dying humanity in the most 
 eastern countries, ruined countries in the west, 
 and his own country, after being splurged with 
 blood, and having its liberties taken away, rose 
 up against this demon and put an end to his 
 existence. 
 
 Militarism is the best that the name of Caesar 
 has ever stood for; that is, the right of the 
 sword, if such an expression can be conceived 
 without irony. ''Arms and laws do not flourish 
 together"^ is his own expression, and his life and 
 career show that he faithfully followed out this 
 dictum. History, probably, records no man who 
 trusted greater to the one or disregarded the 
 other more. However these men of might may 
 shake countries and take and bestow kingdoms^ 
 at will, they cannot build the standard of the hu- 
 man race. The reason of this is that this tjioe 
 of men do not embrace the human race, nor is 
 this the highest manifestation of the human 
 being. 
 
 ^Plutarch— "Life of Csesar." 
 
 ^He took Rome to himself and bestowed Egypt upon Cleo- 
 patra. 
 
Traits of Ccesar^s Character 137 
 
 In his life Caesar opposed and was opposed by 
 Pompey, who was the defender of his country; 
 Cato, Cicero and, lastly, Brntus. This fact 
 means that he had all the good men of his own 
 time opposing him. His own army was made 
 np of identically the same brand of men as Cati- 
 line had led, namely, criminals, robbers and 
 profligates. This fact history shows to be trne 
 and, in itself, is a thing of awful weight. It is 
 a thing that the most evil can neither erase nor 
 lessen and, if nothing else were proven against 
 this man, it would leave an indelible stain upon 
 his character that will remain as long as the 
 human race exists. v 
 
 Good men of the world, Christians and oth- 
 ers, do you accept this type of man — utterly de- 
 void of moral sense, having no sentiment or ten- 
 derness, having the faculty to destroy all, but 
 save none, as the type of man to uplift man- 
 kind? His faith never reached beyond what he 
 called ''men" — in this case, creatures that were 
 more brute than human — and his whole trust 
 was in ''soldiers and money." Do you consent 
 that the world's standard should be built on 
 "soldiers and money"! Will you look up to 
 that type of man as your savior, or your guide, 
 as one who benefits mankind, whoi works solely 
 for himself to the detriment of all others? 
 
 Not only do this type of men mirror their 
 character upon those under them and succeed- 
 ing posterity, but they corrupt the former by 
 harboring only those traits and characteristics 
 that are, in themselves, destroying all others. In 
 
138 C Cesar's Character 
 
 this way human life is made what it is, not only 
 by custom, habits and ideas, but by the influ- 
 ence men in power have over the masses. 
 
 'Not only was this man the corrupter of his 
 country, thus being an instance of a traitor un- 
 exampled in history, but the despoiler of pos- 
 terity, of mankind after him. There is no 
 greater evil, no more depressing influence upon 
 mankind than the life and character of this man 
 ^and the type of men he represents. 
 
 The author was at a club in which "the stand- 
 ard of humanity" was discussed. They brought 
 in the great men of the world to illustrate their 
 arguments. Men of the type of Caesar predomi- 
 nated. The men discussed, first, the deeds of 
 these men. Then their means were discussed, 
 and a discussion of their various qualities, traits 
 and characteristics followed. They observed 
 that men noted for their action were usually 
 considered the greatest, and that those, of all 
 men, were the most unscrupulous in their means. 
 Then their traits, such as secretiveness and de- 
 structiveness, were discussed, and it was shown 
 that practically their whole life depended on 
 these qualities ; the immorality and duplicity of 
 their lives were gone over in detail. The dis- 
 cussion was finally concluded by one of the mem- 
 bers, in which he finished thus: "Well, the 
 standard of mankind is pretty low, isn't it!" 
 And so it is throughout the world; such conclu- 
 sions will alwaj^s be arrived at as long as the 
 type of men represented by Julius Caesar are 
 used. 
 
Traits of Ccesar^s Character 139 
 
 A^^ien men possessing the faculties mentioned^ 
 are neglected and men of the former kind used 
 as examples, is it a wonder that the verdict is 
 returned, ''the standard of mankmd is low"f 
 It will always be low if men are judged by the 
 type we condemn. 
 
 'The higher mental qualities, including the moral sense, 
 imagination and sentiment. 
 
C^SAE'S DEATH 
 
 THE AKGUMENT 
 
 ^^All good men bore a part in the slaying of 
 Caesar." Almost universal discontent. Sue- 
 tonius on Caesar's death. The speech of Mark 
 Antony. The office of Dictator abolished, and 
 Cicero's remarks on the subject. The assas- 
 sination and the death of Caesar not the same 
 thing. The joke about ''Caesar's enemies be- 
 ing punished," answered. The morality of the 
 assassination of Caesar. 
 
 Of this event Floras says :^ "Thus he who had 
 deluged the world with the blood of his coun- 
 trymen deluged the senate-house at last with 
 his own." Thus ended the shameful career of 
 ''the Lucifer, the Protagonist, of all anti- 
 quity. ' '^ 
 
 Middleton, in his "Life of Cicero," p. 221: 
 "Thus fell Caesar on the celebrated Ides of 
 March, after he had advanced himself to a 
 height of power which no conqueror had ever 
 
 ^"Plorus," B. IV, chap. II. 
 'De Quincey — "The Caesars." 
 
 140 
 
Ccesar^s Death 141 
 
 attained before him ; though, to raise the mighty 
 fabric, he had made more desolation in the world 
 than any man, perhaps, who had ever lived in 
 it. He used to say that his conquests of Gaul 
 cost about 1,200,000 lives. And if we add the 
 civil wars to the account they could not cost the 
 Republic much less in the more valuable blood 
 of its best citizens; yet, when through a per- 
 petual course of faction, violence, rapine, 
 slaughter, he made his way at last to empire, 
 he did not enjoy the quiet possession of it above 
 five months." 
 
 Boissier — '^Cicero and His Friends," p. 300: 
 ^ ' The stab of Brutus ' dagger was not altogether 
 an unpremeditated incident or chance; it was 
 the general uneasiness of men's minds which 
 led to and which explains such a terrible catas- 
 trophe. The conspirators were but little over 
 sixty in number, but they had all Rome for their 
 accomplice." ''In truth," says Cicero, in his 
 Second Philippic, ''all good men, as far as it 
 depended upon them, bore a part in the slaying 
 of CsBsar. Some did not know how to contrive 
 it, some had not courage for it, some had no 
 opportunity, everyone had the inclination." 
 
 Boissier, continued, p. 192: "Among those 
 who killed Cassar were found, perhaps, his best 
 generals — Sulpicius Galba, the conqueror of the 
 Mistuates; Basilius, one of the most brilliant 
 cavalry officers ; Decimus Brutus and Trebonius, 
 the heroes of the siege of Marseilles." 
 
 P. 330: "The first idea of the plot [against 
 Caesar 1 had been formed at the same time in two 
 
142 C Cesar's Character 
 
 quite opposite parties : among the vanquished at 
 Pharsaha and among Caesar's generals them- 
 selves. These two conspiracies were probably 
 distinct in themselves, and each acted on its 
 own account ; while Cassius was thinking of kill- 
 ing CsBsar on the banks of the Cydnus, Trebon- 
 ius had been on the point of assassinating him 
 at Narbonne. They finally united." 
 
 Cicero, in his Second Philippic, p. Q%, says 
 the following : ' ' Brutus and Cassius have done 
 what no one else had done. Brutus pursued Tar- 
 quinius with war; who was a king when it was 
 lawful for a king to exist in Rome. Spurius Cas- 
 sius, Spurius Mselius and Marcus Manlius were 
 all slain because they were suspected of aiming 
 at regal power. These are the first men who 
 ever ventured to attack, sword in hand, a man 
 who was not aiming at regal power, but actually 
 reigning. ' ' 
 
 Middleton, in his ^'Life of Cicero," p. 244, 
 calls to notice what the latter says in his First 
 Philippic: ^'That to be dear to our citizens, to 
 deserve well of our country, to be praised, be- 
 loved, respected, was truly glorious; to be 
 feared and hated, alwa5^s invidious, detestable, 
 weak and tottering. That Caesar's fate was a 
 warning to them how much better it was to be 
 loved than to be feared. That no man could live 
 happily who held life on such terms that it might 
 be taken from him not only tuith impunity, but 
 with praise." — Phil. I, 14. 
 
 Middleton also brings in the statements of 
 Suetonius on this matter in the following pas- 
 
C Cesar's Death 143 
 
 sage, p. 222 : ' ^ Suetonius, who treats the charac- 
 ters of the Caesars with that freedom which the 
 happy reigns in which he lived indulged, upon 
 balancing his exact virtues and vices, declares 
 him, on the whole, to have been justly killed; 
 ivhicJi appears to have been the general sense 
 of the best and tvisest and the most disinter- 
 ested in Rome at the time ivhen the fact was 
 committed."^ 
 
 P. 222: "Caesar's friends charged them [con- 
 spirators] with base ingratitude for killing their 
 benefactor and abusing the power which he had 
 given, to the destruction of the giver. The other 
 side gave a contrary turn to it, and extolled the 
 greater virtue of the men for not being diverted 
 by private considerations from doing an act of 
 public benefit." Cicero takes it always in this 
 view, and says ^ ' that the Kepublic was the more 
 indebted to them for preferring the common 
 good to the friendship of any man whatsoever ; 
 that, as to the kindness of giving them their 
 lives, it was the kindness only of a robber who 
 
 ^Trollope — "Cicero," p. 175: "Cicero's form of government 
 [Trollope means the orator's idea of government] under 
 men who were not Ciceros had been wrong, and had led to 
 a state of things in which the tyrant might, for the time, 
 be the lesser evil ; but not on that account was Cicero 
 wrong to applaud the act which removed Caesar. Middle- 
 ton, in his "Life" (B. II, p. 435), gives us the opinion of 
 Suetonius on the subject, and tells us that the best and 
 wisest men in Rome supposed Caesar to have been justly 
 killed. Mr. Forsyth generously abstains from blaming the 
 deed, as to which he leaves his readers to form their own 
 opinion. Abeken expresses no opinion concerning its mor- 
 ality; as does Morabin." 
 
144 C Cesar's Character 
 
 had first done them the greater wrong by usurp- 
 ing the power to take it.'' — Phil. II, 3. 
 
 P. 226 : ^ ' We are not to imagine, however, as 
 it is commonly believed, that these violences 
 were owing to the general indignation of the 
 citizens against the murderers of Caesar, excited 
 either by the spectacle of his body, or the elo- 
 quence of Antony, who made the funeral ora- 
 tion; for it is certain that Caesar, through his 
 whole reign, could never draw from the people 
 any public signification of their favor; but, 
 on the contrary, was constantly mortified by the 
 perpetual demonstrations of their hatred and 
 disaffection toward him.'' 
 
 Appian—^^ Civil Wars," Vol. II, B. II, chap. 
 20, s. 144. Following is an account, in part, of 
 Antony's speech by Appian, with which the peo- 
 ple in general, and the historians in particular, 
 are too little acquainted : 
 
 ^ ' He began to read with a severe and gloomy 
 countenance, pronouncing each sentence dis- 
 tinctly and dwelling especially on those decrees 
 which declared Caesar to be superhuman, sacred 
 and inviolable, and which named him the father 
 of his country, or the benefactor, or the chief- 
 tain without a peer." And again: ^^He took his 
 position in front of the bier, as in a play, bend- 
 ing down to it and rising again, and sang, first, 
 as to a celestial deity. In order to testify to 
 Caesar's godlike origin, he raised his hands to 
 heaven, and with rapid speech recited his wars, 
 his battles, his victories, the nations he had 
 brought under his country's sway." Again; 
 
C Cesar's Death 145 
 
 ^'Carried away by extreme passion, he uncov- 
 ered the body of Caesar, lifted his robe on the 
 point of a spear and shook it aloft, pierced with 
 dagger-thrusts, red with the Dictator's blood. 
 Whereupon the people, like a chorus, mourned 
 with him in the most doleful manner, and from 
 sorrow became again filled with anger." 
 At the end: "While they [the people] 
 were in this temper [worked up by Antony's 
 arts], and were ready near to violence, some- 
 body raised above the bier an image of Caesar 
 himself, made of wax. The body itself, as it lay 
 on its couch, could not be seen. The image was 
 turned round and round by a mechanical device, 
 showing the twenty and three wounds in all 
 parts of the body and on the face, which gave 
 him a sliocking appearance. [Plainly a premed- 
 itated scheme.] The people could no longer 
 bear the pitiful sight presented to them. They 
 groaned, and girding themselves, they burned 
 the senate-chamber where Caesar was slain, and 
 ran hither and thither, searching for the mur- 
 derers, who had fled some time previously." 
 
 Middleton: ''What happened, therefore, at 
 the funeral was the effect of artifice and fac- 
 tion, the work of a mercenary rabble, the greater 
 part slaves and strangers, bated and prepared 
 for violence, against a party unarmed and pur- 
 suing pacific counsels, and placing all their trust 
 and confidence in the justice of their cause. 
 Cicero calls it a conspiracy of Caesar's f reed- 
 men (Att. XIV, 5) who were the chief managers 
 of the tumult, in which the Jews seem to have 
 
146 CcBsar\s Character 
 
 borne a considerable part, who, ont of hatred 
 to PomiDey for his affront to their city and tem- 
 ple, were zealously attached to Caesar." 
 
 P. 227: "Among other decrees he offered 
 one which was prepared and drawn up by him- 
 self, to abolish forever the name and office of 
 Dictator. This seemed to be a sure pledge of 
 his good intentions, and gave a universal satis- 
 faction to the senate, who 23assed it, as it were, 
 by acclamation, without putting it even to the 
 vote; and decreed the thanks of the house for 
 it to Antony, who, as Cicero afterward told him, 
 had fixed an indelible infamy by it on Caesar, in 
 declaring to the world that, for the o^ium of his 
 [Caesar's] government, such a decree was be- 
 come both necessary and popular." — Phil. I, 13. 
 
 Such a statement as his enemies "were pur- 
 sued by an avenging daemon till they were all 
 hunted down" might pass among barbarians 
 (necessarily very ignorant ones), or in an in- 
 sane asylum, and it must be stated that it has 
 been among the vulgar and unlearned that it has 
 had weight. But again we refrain from laying 
 the blame upon the latter, but upon the inven- 
 tors of that fable. 
 
 The assassination of Caesar had nothing to do 
 with the civil wars of Augustus and Antony, as 
 some worshipers of Caesar have ridiculously 
 stated. The death, not the assassination, of 
 Caesar was the cause of those wars for suprem- 
 acy, just as the death of Alexander and Charle- 
 magne was the cause of the civil wars for the 
 territory of those respective monarchs. 
 
C Cesar's Death 147 
 
 As to the much-mooted statement that all, or 
 nearly all, the conspirators of Caesar died violent 
 deaths, it does not mean that they were "pun- 
 ished" for their "crime" (killing a tyrant), as 
 some worshipers of Caesar have foolishly de- 
 clared. Practically all the men of any worth in 
 those days died violent deaths. Trollope, in the 
 introduction to his "Caesar," gives a large list 
 of names of men in Caesar's time who died vio- 
 lently, which includes all men of importaiice, 
 with the exception of Augustus. So the wor- 
 shipers of Caesar did not say very much 
 after all. As to the morality of Caesar's as- 
 sassination, aside from what has been said, 
 probably many men do not know that Livy, 
 probably Rome's greatest historian, openly 
 doubted, in the immediate age following, if 
 Julius Caesar had been of benefit to the Roman 
 commonwealth. After deliberating long upon 
 the matter, the author considers that, with the 
 exception of Augustus, Rome and the world 
 would have been better off if the entire Caesar 
 line had never existed. 
 
BOOK III 
 TRIUMPH OF THE GOOD IN CATO 
 
 THE ARGUMENT 
 
 CjBsar not judged by anything he cannot be 
 held to account for. The writer confines him- 
 self to Cesar's own age and picks out a char- 
 acter to contrast with him. Cato, Pompey, and 
 CsBsar. Middleton, Boissier, and other authori- 
 ties, both ancient and modern. The ' ' Cato ' ' of 
 Cicero and the ''Anti-Cato" of Caesar, and the 
 survival of Cato's name. Plutarch in defense 
 of Cato. Cato triumphs in spite of Csesar's 
 work. The characters and careers of Cato and 
 Caesar embraced in a single brief speech. An 
 example in the world's history. 
 
 Let no reader say that the writer condemns 
 Caesar, a pagan, by Christian principles. He 
 condemns the man by the principle of right and 
 wrong, a principle that existed and was ob- 
 served from the beginning of man; a principle 
 that was better observed by the ancients, as in- 
 dividuals, than by most Christians of to-day. 
 
 For where are the Christians of to-day to com- 
 
 148 
 
Triumph of the Good in Cato 149 
 
 pare with Plato, Socrates, P. Cato, Seneca, and, 
 in Caesar's own corrupt, depraved time, with Q. 
 CatuUus, M. Cato and M. Cicero? Those men 
 liad a sense of justice and a knowledge of what 
 is sincere that are almost unknown to us to-day, 
 and THAT is what a man is judged by. The ex- 
 ample of Socrates will suffice. ["The Nature of 
 Man," Metchenkoff, p. 167.] ''In truth," says 
 Socrates, "if I did not expect to find, in another 
 life, gods at once good and wise, and men bet- 
 ter than those of this life, it would be foolish of 
 me not to be disturbed by the approach of death ; 
 but I know that I look to finding myself among 
 good men. I do not fear to die, because I am 
 confident that something still remains after this 
 life, and that, according to the old belief, the 
 good will be treated better than the bad." 
 
 Christians ! Do you hear the honest, solid faith 
 of that ancient philosopher ? How many of you 
 have the sincerity and firmness of faith equal 
 to that "pagan" some two thousand years back? 
 
 Therefore, let it be repeated that, to show that 
 this type of man is to be regarded as a detri- 
 ment to man, it is not necessary to go be- 
 yond his own age, and to make this the more 
 manifest we will contrast him with a character 
 of his own time, a character of whom mankind 
 need in no wise be ashamed. 
 
 This character is Marcus Cato, the life-long 
 opponent of Julius Caesar. 
 
 Middleton, p. 416: "Marcus Cato.— This il- 
 lustrious Roman was great-grandson to Marcus 
 
150 C Cesar's Character 
 
 Cato, the Censor, to whom he was no less allied 
 
 in BLOOD THAN IN VIETUE. 
 
 "Perhaps a character equally perfect is no- 
 where to be found in the whole annals of pro- 
 fane history; and it may well be questioned 
 whether human philosophy ever produced, 
 either before or since, so truly great and good 
 a man. It is a just observation of Seneca: 
 'Magnum rem puta, unum hominem agere.' " 
 
 Though it may be doubted that Cato was more 
 moral than Cicero,' yet his character was more 
 firm and less complex than the latter, and there- 
 fore more easily understood by the people. 
 
 The characters of three of the leading men at 
 this time are nowhere better shown than by the 
 fact that, a good man, Cato, finding slight 
 faults in Pompey, regarded him as repulsive, 
 and openly kept away from him; Caesar, who 
 found his virtues repulsive, concealed his dis- 
 like, in order to make use of his weaker points. 
 Thus it was that Pompey, who was mostly a 
 good man, appeared to be an opponent of Cato, 
 a good man, and the friend of Caesar, a bad man. 
 This is as good an example as can be had, for 
 men to observe, how a matter can be one way 
 and appear to be the opposite. But upon the 
 Civil War breaking out, and Cato deciding for 
 Pompey, everything fell into its natural place. 
 
 But to speak more specifically of the charac- 
 ters of the two men. 
 
 ^Cicero's character was a union of intellectual and moral 
 abilities seldom met with. 
 
Triumph of the Good in Cato 151 
 
 C^SAR AND CATO 
 
 How far was Caesar from being able to say, 
 with Cato : ' ^ I, who never excused to myself, or 
 to my own conscience, the commission of any 
 fault, could not easily pardon the misconduct 
 or indulge the licentiousness of others." — Cato, 
 in his speech on the Conspiracy of Catiline. 
 
 Indeed, we are not overstating the fact when 
 we say that Caesar's conduct was the exact op- 
 posite to this. His own profligate, immoral 
 life was a model of wickedness, and all who came 
 in contact with him were corrupted, lured and 
 induced to live the same wretched existence. 
 
 Boissier, p. 288: '^Cato's virtues were those 
 that Caesar not only did not seek to acquire, but 
 which he could not even understand. How could 
 he have any feeling for his [Cato's] respect for 
 law, for his almost servile attachment to old cus- 
 toms ? He, who found a lively pleasure in laugh- 
 ing at ancient usages! How could a prodigal, 
 who had formed the habit of squandering the 
 money of the state, and his own, without reck- 
 oning; how could he do justice to those rigor- 
 ous scruples that Cato had in the handling of 
 the public funds, to the attention he gave to his 
 private affairs, and to that ambition, strange 
 for that time, of not having more debts than 
 assets? These were, I repeat, qualities that 
 CcFsar could not comprehend/^ 
 
 The contrast between these two lives, charac- 
 ters and careers naturally gave birth to great 
 
152 CcBsar's Character 
 
 opposition on the part of tlie one and intense 
 hatred on the part of the other. 
 
 Not only was Cato the staunch and unyielding 
 opponent of Caesar throughout his life, but his 
 very death formed an epoch in Koman history 
 that Caesar tried in vain to overcome. 
 
 Cato took his own life, it should be remem- 
 bered, rather than endure the despotism or re- 
 ceive the hollow magnanimity of Caesar. 
 
 Of his death Middleton, p. 485, speaks thus: 
 ''Thus died this truly great and virtuous Ro- 
 man! He had long stood forth the sole uncor- 
 rupted opposer of those vices that proved the 
 ruin of his degenerate commonwealth, and sup- 
 ported, so far as a single man could support, the 
 declining constitution. But when his services 
 could no longer avail he scorned to survive what 
 had been the labor of his whole life to preserve, 
 and bravely perished with the liberties of his 
 country. '^ That is the purport of that noble 
 eulogy which Seneca, in much stronger lan- 
 guage, has justly bestowed upon Cato. — De 
 Constant. Sapient. 
 
 Boissier — ''Cicero and His Friends," p. 287: 
 "His death made an immense impression in the 
 Roman world. It put to the blush those who 
 were beginning to accustom themselves to slav- 
 ery ; it gave a sort of new impulse to the discov- 
 ered republicans, and revived opposition. 
 
 " 'The battle raged around the body of Cato,' 
 says M. Mommsen,' 'as at Troy it had raged 
 around that of Patrocles.' 
 
 ^"Roman History." 
 
Triumph of the Good in Cato 153 
 
 ''Fabius Gallus, Brutus, Cicero and many oth- 
 ers no doubt, whom we do not know, wrote his 
 eulogy. ' ^ 
 
 P. 287: ''His book [Cicero's 'Cato^, that the 
 name of the author and the name of the hero 
 recommended at once, had so great a success 
 that Caesar was uneasy and discontented about 
 it. He took care, however, not to show his ill- 
 humor ; on the contrary, he hastened to write a 
 flattering letter to Cicero to congratulate him 
 on the talent he had displayed in his work.'' 
 
 Upon Cato's death, it should be remarked, 
 Caesar's attitude was similar to that manifested 
 by him upon being shown the head of Pompey ! 
 For, upon arriving at Utica and learning of 
 Cato 's death, he made a statement much similar 
 to the one he made over the head of his former 
 rival. Plutarch, "Life of Caesar": ''Cato, I 
 envy thee thy death, since thou enviedest me 
 the glory of giving thee thy life." And, as in 
 the former case, he was immediately condemned 
 by the historian giving the account.^ Plutarch 
 speaks thus of his present speech: "Neverthe- 
 less, by the book which he wrote against Cato 
 after his death ['The Anti-Cato'], it does not 
 seem as if he had any intentions of favor to him 
 before. For how can it be thought he would have 
 spared the living enemy, when he poured so 
 much venom afterward upon his grave?" 
 
 The contrast, as has been said, between these 
 
 ^See pages 69, 70 for the account of Dio Cassius and Lncan 
 upon the death of Pompey and Caesar's attitude on the 
 occasion. 
 
154 C Cesar's Character 
 
 two characters brought forth from the one great 
 opposition and from the other intense hatred. 
 
 Oman ("Seven Eoman Statesmen," p. 217) 
 has the following to say : "Of all the opponents 
 with whom he clashed during his stormy career, 
 Cato was the only one for whom he nourished a 
 real dislike. He showed it by publishing a very 
 bitter and unfair satire ['The Anti-Cato'] 
 against his memor^^ after he had fallen in the 
 Civil War — a deed that contrasts strangely with 
 his usual magnanimity to his adversaries.' ' 
 
 The explanation of this is that he compelled 
 the rest of his opponents to give in to his un- 
 just, unlawful desires to a more or less extent, 
 and then followed with what has been called his 
 ^ ' magnanimity '' ; Cato never gave in to his un- 
 lawful desires, and therefore called forth that 
 inner soul, but true nature, in Caesar that he 
 prided himself on keeping so well concealed 
 from others. 
 
 It will be of interest to know some of the 
 things Caesar said concerning Cato in this work. 
 
 Plutarch ("Life of Cato"): ''Among the 
 friends and followers of Cato some made a more 
 open profession of their sentiments than others. 
 Among these was Quintus Hortensius, a man of 
 great dignity and politeness. 
 
 "Not contented merely with the friendship of 
 Cato, he was desirous of a family alliance with 
 him; and for this purpose he scrupled not to 
 request that his daughter, Portia, who was al- 
 ready married to Bibulus, by whom she had two 
 children, might be lent to him as a fruitful soil 
 
Triumph of the Good in Cato 155 
 
 for the purpose of propagation. The thing it- 
 self, he owned, was uncommon, but by no means 
 unnatural or improper. For why should a wom- 
 an in the flower of her age either continue use- 
 less until she is past child-bearing, or overbur- 
 den her husband with too large a family"? The 
 mutual use of women, he added, in virtuous 
 families would not only increase a virtuous off- 
 spring, but strengthen and extend the connec- 
 tions of society. Moreover, if Bibulus should 
 be unwilling wholly to give up his wife, she 
 should be restored after she had done him the 
 honor of an alliance to Cato by her pregnancy. 
 Cato answered that he had the greatest regard 
 for the friendship of Hortensius, but he could 
 not think of his application for another man's 
 wife. Hortensius, however, would not give up 
 the point here; but when he could not obtain 
 Cato's daughter he applied for his [Cato's own] 
 wife, saying that she was yet a young woman, 
 and Cato's family already large enough. He 
 could not possibly make this request upon a sup- 
 position that Cato had no regard for his wife; 
 for she was, at that very time, pregnant. Not- 
 withstanding, the latter, when he observed the 
 violent inclination Hortensius had to be allied 
 to him, did not absolutely refuse him ; but said 
 it was necessary to consult Martia's father, 
 Philip, on the occasion. Philip, therefore, was 
 appealed to, and his daughter was espoused to 
 Hortensius in the presence of and with the con- 
 sent of Cato." 
 Later on (chap. LII) : ''As his [Cato's] fam- 
 
156 CcEsar's Character 
 
 ily, and particularly his daughters, wanted a 
 projDer superintendent, he took Marcia again, 
 who was then a rich widow; for Hortensius was 
 dead, and had left her his whole estate. 
 
 ^'This circumstance gave Caesar occasion to 
 reproach Cato with avarice, and to call him the 
 mercenary husband. 'For why,' said he, 'did 
 he part with her if he had occasion for her him- 
 self f And, if he had not occasion for her, why 
 did he take her again? The reason is obvious. 
 It was the wealth of Hortensius. He lent the 
 young man his wife that he might make her 
 a rich widow. ' ' ' That is what Caesar says, and 
 instead of pointing out the youth of Hortensius 
 and the superhuman power of Cato, attributed 
 to him by Caesar, to see the death of Hortensius 
 and his leaving Marcia a rich widow, we will 
 give the grand and conclusive defense Plutarch 
 makes of Cato. 
 
 "But, in answer to this, one need only quote 
 that passage of Euripides: 
 
 Call Hercules a coward! 
 
 For it would be equally absurd to reproach 
 Cato with covetousness as it would be to charge 
 Hercules with want of courage. ' ' 
 
 At another place (''Life of Cato," chap. XI) 
 Plutarch speaks of Cato being "left co-heir, with 
 Calpio's daughter, to his estate; but when he 
 came to divide it he would not charge any part 
 of the funeral expenses to her account. Yet, 
 though he acted so honorably in that affair, and 
 
Triumph of the Good in Cato 157 
 
 continued in the same upright path, there was 
 one [Julius Caesar, in his ^Anti-Cato']^ who 
 scrupled not to write that he passed his bro- 
 ther's ashes through a sieve, in search of the 
 gold that might be melted down. Surely that 
 writer thought himself above being called to ac- 
 count for his pen, as ivell as for his sword!' ^ 
 
 Boissier — ''Cicero and His Friends, p. 290: 
 ''The fragments of it [' Anti-Cato'] that survive 
 and the testimony of Plutarch show that he 
 [Caesar] attacked him [Cato] with extreme vio- 
 lence, and that he tried to make him at once 
 ridiculous and odious. 
 
 ' ' But it was useless ; it was lost labor. Peo- 
 ple continued, notwithstanding his efforts, to 
 read and admire Cicero's book. Not only did 
 Cato's reputation survive Caesar's insults, it in- 
 creased still more under the empire. In Nero 's 
 time, when despotism was heaviest, Thrasia 
 wrote his history again; Seneca quotes him on 
 every page of his books, and to the end he was 
 the pride and model of honest men who pre- 
 served some feeling of honor and dignity in the 
 general abasement of character. ' ' 
 
 Of Cicero's work and Caesar's reply Middle- 
 ton, p. 199, speaks as follows : ' ' These two rival 
 
 ^Of the "Anti-Cato" Froude says: "Of all the lost writings, 
 however, the most to be regretted is the 'Anti-Cato.' " 
 Froude should be thankful that the "Anti-Cato" has not 
 reached posterity. In that work Csesar came out in the in- 
 ner nature, in which was seen all the rottenness of his 
 spirit, which he thought he had cleverly hid from the 
 world; and we repeat that had that work reached posterity 
 Froude's misplaced admiration would have received a se- 
 vere jolt. 
 
158 C Cesar's Character 
 
 pieces were much celebrated in Rome, and had 
 their several admirers, as different parties and 
 interests disposed to favor the subject or the 
 author of each; and it is certain tliat they were 
 the principal cause of establishing and propa- 
 gating that veneration ivhich posterity has since 
 paid to the memory of Cato." 
 
 At another place (p. 534) the same author re- 
 marks : ' ' The character of Cato was, at this time, 
 the fashionable topic of declamation at Rome; 
 and every man that pretended to genius and elo- 
 quence furnished the public with an invective 
 or commendation upon that illustrious Roman, 
 as party or patriotism directed his pen. In this 
 respect, as well as in all others, Cato's reputa- 
 tion seems to have been attended with every ad- 
 vantage that any man tvho is ambitious of a 
 good name can desire/' 
 
 Plutarch (^'Life of Cato") ^'Wiat a noble 
 and embracing speech was that made by Cato 
 shortly before his death! After telling his 
 friends to take care of themselves, he says : 'For 
 my part, I have been unconquered through life, 
 and superior in the tilings I wished to be; for, 
 in justice and honor, I am Ccesar's superior. 
 Caesar is the vanquished, the falling man ; being 
 now clearly convicted of those designs against 
 his country which he had long denied.' '^ This 
 embraces the characters and careers of both 
 men. 
 
 Therefore, we wish to point out, in the cor- 
 rupt age with which we deal, the character of 
 Cato, although much abused by his enemies, tri- 
 
Triumph of the Good in Cato 159 
 
 umphed over all opposition in the age of great- 
 est adversity, and was steadily upheld by the 
 ages following. And, if we use repetition in 
 stating that a good man triumphed in one of the 
 most corrupt ages the world has seen, it should 
 be remembered that we say it in our exultation. 
 For this is as fine an example, in the world's his- 
 tory, that no matter how bad, how corrupt, the 
 world may become, the good cannot he blotted 
 out. 
 
 Let mankind take this as an example, that no 
 matter by what means or in what field the evil 
 may triumph, they shall be defeated in the 
 higher qualities, in their own life-time and age, 
 and shall receive, no matter how great their tri- 
 umph, a terrible condemnation by the better part 
 of posterity, and that there is no guile that can 
 cover and no force that can thwart and prevent 
 this. 
 
SOME COMPAEISONS 
 
 A man is good or bad, small or great, only in comparison 
 with other men; in other words, a man should not be 
 judged by himself. 
 
 THE ARGUMENT 
 
 A comparison of Pompey and Caesar. Corio- 
 lanus and Caesar. Poe and Caesar. Sulla and 
 Caesar. Cicero and Caesar. Washington and 
 Caesar. Napoleon and Caesar. Alexander and 
 Caesar. Christ and Caesar. The two classes of 
 the world's first men. A few prominent traits 
 in the character of one of these classes. This 
 type of men cannot be eliminated. What to do 
 with these natures. 
 
 In speaking of Pompey and Caesar it is only 
 fair to state that some writers (Liddel and 
 Thomson, for instance) have considered Pom- 
 pey the better general of the two, and stated 
 that had the latter been prepared, and not been 
 hampered by his subordinates, the result would 
 have been different. However that is, we will let 
 others judge; it is our work always to treat 
 with the man. Following is what Arnold says of 
 Pompey : 
 
 160 
 
Some Companions 161 
 
 '^ History of the Eoman Commonwealtli/ ' p. 
 298: ''.His [Pompey's] virtues have not been 
 transmitted to posterity with their deserved 
 fame; and while the violent republican writers 
 have exalted the memory of Cato and Brutus; 
 while the lovers of literature have extolled Cic- 
 ero, and the admirers of successful ability lav- 
 ished their praises on Caesar, Pompey's many 
 and rare merits have been forgotten in the 
 faults of his Triumvirate and in the weakness 
 of temper which he displayed in the conduct of 
 his last campaign." A reader quoted the fol- 
 lowing passage from Shakespere's sonnets after 
 Arnold's passage: 
 
 "The painful warrior, famous for fight, 
 After a thousand victories, once foiled, 
 Is from thy book of honor razed quite. 
 
 And all the rest forgot for which he toiled. ' ' 
 
 In speaking in his defense, Lamartine says, 
 "Memoirs of Celebrated Characters," p. 362: 
 "Pompey, the idol of the senate, loved by the 
 soldiers, the controller and, at the same time, 
 the support of the nobility, aspiring not to de- 
 stroy, but to command the existing institutions, 
 possessing ambition only so far as that passion 
 was honorable and patriotic." Further on he 
 continues (p. 408) : "The Republic expired with 
 the greatest and last of its citizens [Pompey], 
 and its remains became the almost undisputed 
 prey of CsBsar. The rigJit had fallen at Phar- 
 salia, might had become everything." 
 
 Of this pair Middleton, p. 191, says :" It is an 
 
162 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 observation of all the historians that while 
 CaBsar made no difference of power, whether it 
 was conferred or usurped, whether over those 
 who loved or those who feared him, Pompey 
 seemed to value none but what was offered, nor 
 to have any desire to govern but with the good 
 will of the governed." — Dio, B. XLI, chap. 54. 
 
 This is sufficient for a comparison between 
 Pompey and Caasar, for it shows that historians 
 look upon Pompey as the defender of his coun- 
 try's liberties, whilst the other sought only to 
 destroy what the first wished to protect. 
 
 Another comparison drawn by Lamartine is 
 interesting, namely, that between Caesar and 
 Coriolanus. 
 
 P. 387: "He mastered Italy stage by stage, 
 and, surrounded by an army of Gaids, whom he 
 had trained to war and enrolled in his cohorts, 
 he was the first to lead barbarians against his 
 country. 
 
 "Coriolanus, who had formerly brought the 
 Volscians to Rome, had done nothing more mon- 
 strous, and he had, at least, the excuse of ven- 
 geance upon those who had banished him from 
 his own land. Caesar's only cause of vengeance 
 was the honor and power he had received from 
 Rome; yet history has stigmatized Coriolanus 
 and deified Caesar. Such is the justice of men 
 tvithout reflection, ivho judge of the morality of 
 events hy their success/' 
 
 Speaking of a character in our own history, 
 it seems strange that one man — our own harm- 
 less Poe (that much can surely be said of him) 
 
Some Companions 163 
 
 — should be judged ^'characterless" and ''de- 
 void of any high motives, ' ' condemned here and 
 denounced there, and another man — J. Caesar 
 — because he was a more successful man and 
 better able to deceive the ivorld, should be dei- 
 fied and called divine! 
 
 It has been pointed out by some writers, 
 among whom is Oman, that he (Caesar) was a 
 worse man than even the cruel and bloodthirsty 
 Sulla, for the former fought and conquered not 
 for Ms party, but for himself. 
 
 Following is what Appian and Suetonius have 
 to say of Caesar's desiring the Dictatorship: 
 
 Appian, B. II, chap. 16, s. 107: "Therefore, 
 the wearied people especially hoped that he 
 would restore the Republic to them, as Sulla did, 
 after he had grasped the same power. But in 
 this they were disappointed. ' ' 
 
 Suetonius (Jul. 77) says Caesar said: "The Re^ 
 public is a mere name without substance or sem- 
 blance; Sulla did not know his letters when he 
 laid down the Dictatorship." Many people miss 
 his meaning. He meant that he did not intend 
 to restore the Republic ; that there was nothing 
 to it. And this expression coincides exactly with 
 his plots, intrigues and wars against that form 
 of government. His remark also implies that 
 he himself intended to have the sole governing 
 power as long as his life lasted; but he soon 
 learned that that was not to be long. 
 
 Caesar was naturally a cruel man. One does 
 not need Curio's letter, in which he says that 
 Caesar showed clemency only through policy, to 
 
164 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 discern that fact. The historians all down the 
 line verify this statement, but one or two ex- 
 amples will suffice. 
 
 Oman — ''Seven Roman Statesmen,'' p. 326: 
 ''There was a widespread impression that his 
 first success would be followed by massacres, in 
 the style of those by which Marius and Sulla 
 had celebrated their capture of Rome. No one 
 had forgotten that Caesar's name had once been 
 linked with that of Catiline. To cast a glance 
 around the circle of his lieutenants was anything 
 but reassuring. Assembled around him were all 
 the notorious profligates and bankrupts of the 
 day — Mark Antony and Curio, Cselius and Dol- 
 abella, Vatinius and the rest. They were a sin- 
 ister crowd; Cicero called them the y^Kvia, the 
 troop of vampires. That any conqueror with 
 such a past as Caesar, surrounded by such a gang 
 of reprobates, could be intending less than 
 wholesale murder and confiscation seemed 
 hardlv possible." 
 
 Middleton— "Life of Cicero," p. 176: "There 
 was a notion, in the meanwhile, that universally 
 prevailed throughout Italy of Caesar's cruel and 
 revengeful temper, from which horrible effects 
 were apprehended : Cicero himself was strongly 
 possessed with it, as appears from many of his 
 letters, where he seems to take it for granted 
 that he [Caesar] would be a second Phalaris, 
 not a Piastratus ; a bloody, not a gentle, tyrant. 
 This he inferred from the violence of his past 
 life; the nature of his present enterprise; and, 
 ^bove all, from the nature of his friends and 
 
Some Companions 165 
 
 followers, who were, generally speaking, a 
 needy, profligate, audacious crew; prepared for 
 everything that was desperate." — Att. VII, 12; 
 also Dio, B. XLIII, chap. 15. 
 
 CJESAR AND CICERO HAVE BEEN COMPARED 
 
 Following is what Trollope has to say of this 
 pair: ^' There are men whose intellects are set 
 on so fine a pivot that a variation of the breeze 
 of the moment, which coarser minds shall not 
 feel, will carry them around with a rapidity 
 which baffles the common eye. The man who 
 saw his duty clearly on this side in the morning 
 shall, before the evening come, recognize it on 
 the other; and thus again, and again, and yet 
 again, the vane will go around. It may be that 
 an instrument shall be too fine for our daily 
 uses. We do not want a clock to strike the min- 
 utes, or a glass to tell the momentary changes 
 in the atmosphere. It may be found that for 
 the work of the world, the coarse work — and 
 no work is so course, though none is so impor- 
 tant, as that which falls commonly into the 
 hands of statesmen — instruments strong in tex- 
 ture, and by reason of their rudeness not liable 
 to sudden impressions, may be the best. That 
 it is which we mean when we declare that a scru- 
 pulous man is impracticable in politics.'' — Trol- 
 lope, ''Cicero,'' Vol. I, Introduction, p. 22. 
 
 P. 104: "With Ciiesar his debts have been ac- 
 counted happy audacity; his pillage of Gaul and 
 Spain, and of Eome also, has indicated only 
 
166 CcBsar's Character 
 
 the success of the great general; his cruelty, 
 which, in cold-blooded efficiency, has equaled, if 
 not exceeded, the bloodthirstiness of any other 
 tyrant, has been called clemency.^ 
 
 ^'I do not mean to draw a parallel between 
 Caesar and Cicero. No two men could have been 
 more different in their natures or in their ca- 
 reers. But the one has been lauded because he 
 was unscrupulous, and the other has incurred 
 reproach because, at every turn and twist in his 
 life, scruples dominated him.'^ 
 
 Of these two Middleton says the following: 
 ** Among the celebrated names of antiquity 
 those of the great generals and conquerors at- 
 tract our admiration always the most, and im- 
 print a notion of magnanimity, and power, and 
 capacity for dominion superior to that of other 
 mortals. We look upon such as destined by 
 heaven for empire, and born to trample upon 
 their fellow-creatures ; without reflecting on the 
 numerous evils which are necessary to the ac- 
 quisition of a glory that is built upon the sub- 
 version of nations and the destruction of the 
 human species. Yet these are the only persons 
 who are thought to shine in history, or to merit 
 the attention of the reader; dazzled with the 
 splendor of their victories, and the pomp of 
 their triumphs, we consider them as the pride 
 and ornament of the Roman name; while the 
 
 ^Trollope backs up this statement by reminding the read- 
 er of Caesar's wanton slaughter of the inhabitants of Gaul. 
 But any person who wishes to treat this matter in a fair- 
 minded manner does not need examples. Csesar's life was 
 full of this thing. 
 
Some Companions 167 
 
 pacific and civil character, though of all others 
 the most beneficial to mankind, whose sole am- 
 bition is to support the laws, the rights and lib- 
 erties of his citizens, is looked upon as humble 
 and contemptible on the comparison for being 
 forced to truckle to the power of these oppres- 
 sors of their country. ' ^ 
 
 Long compares Caesar and Washington in the 
 following passage: 
 
 ''Decline of the Roman Republic," p. 466 
 (note) : "Washington, who established and ad- 
 ministered honestly a new government, was far 
 inferior as a general to Caesar, who only lived 
 long enough to destroy an old constitution. As 
 a man the American was hnmeasurahly superior 
 to the Roman, whose career may be better com- 
 pared to that of the first Napoleon. ' ' 
 
 Napoleon's character was not only almost 
 identical with that of Caesar, but the circum- 
 stances under which they were born and lived 
 were much the same. The lives of the two, there- 
 fore, have many similarities. Channing, in his 
 essay on Napoleon, which might as well have 
 been entitled "Caesar," points out his lack of 
 moral sense, his desire to ' ' claim a monopoly in 
 perfidy and violence," and doubts "whether his- 
 tory furnishes so striking an example of the 
 moral blindness and obduracy to which an un- 
 bounded egotism exposes and abandons the 
 mind." And he winds up the essay with a pas- 
 sage stating that, this character being "over- 
 bearing and all-grasping, he spread distrust, 
 exasperation, fear and revenge throughout Eu- 
 
168 C Cesar's Character 
 
 rope ; and when the day of retribution came the 
 old antipathies and mutual jealousies of nations 
 were swallowed up in one burning purpose to 
 prostrate the common tyrant, the universal 
 foe." As the countries of Europe combined 
 against Napoleon, so the people of Rome com- 
 bined against Caesar. 
 
 Following is a passage from Lamartine with 
 the words " Caesar '^ and ''Eome" in brackets to 
 be substituted for "Napoleon" and ''France": 
 
 " . . . Napoleon's [Caesar's] fame, which 
 constituted his morality, his conscience, and his 
 principles, he merited, by his nature and his tal- 
 ents, from war and from glory ; and he has cov- 
 ered with it the name of France [Rome]. 
 France [Rome], obliged to accept the odium of 
 his tyranny and his crimes, should also accept 
 his glory with a serious gratitude. She cannot 
 separate her name from his without lessening 
 it ; for it is equally incrusted with his greatness 
 as with his faults. She wished for renown; and 
 what she principally owes to him is the celebrity 
 she has gained in the world. This celebrity, 
 which will descend to posterity, and which is 
 improperly called glory, constituted his means 
 and his end. Let him, therefore, enjoy it. The 
 noise he has made will resound through distant 
 ages ; but let it not pei^vert posterity, or falsify 
 the judgment of manJcind. He is admired as a 
 soldier; he is measured as a sovereign; he is 
 judged as a founder of nations; — great in ac- 
 tioUj little in ideas — nothing in virtue. Such is 
 the man! '^ 
 
Some Companions 169 
 
 ALEXANDEIi AND C^SAR 
 
 Montaigne, who knew the merits and defects 
 of these two men, stated his preference for 
 Alexander in the following terms : 
 
 "Essays," p. 375: "But though Caesar's am- 
 bition had been more moderate, it would still be 
 so unhappy, having the ruin of his country and 
 the universal mischief to the tvorld for its abom- 
 inable object, that, all things collected together 
 and put into a balance, I must needs incline to 
 Alexander's side." Many writers have com- 
 pared these two characters, but we will not com- 
 pare them as generals, and as 7nen it would be 
 like comparing a thistle to a rose. 
 
 If a man goes to a place, after his death, suit- 
 able to the life he has lived on earth, as we are 
 told; then, you admirers of Caesar, will you 
 praise and exalt an inhabitant of hell! You 
 surely would not exalt Satan and condemn God ! 
 But if some of you will do so, then our opinion 
 of the character and nature of such is already 
 formed, and in it your view of the standard of 
 mankind is not regarded. 
 
 We take it for granted, dear reader, that you 
 are not one of these. Therefore, taking you 
 into our confidence, we wish to explain that the 
 standard of mankind — what a man shall be^ — 
 must be maintained. And to exalt a character 
 that stands for the lowest type of man is a 
 thing to be condemned. The Bible speaks of 
 such characters as Caesar when it says : ' ' Many 
 that are first shall be last." And again: "Do 
 
170 CcBsar^s Character 
 
 not glory in men.'' If all men were patterned 
 after Cato, Catullus and Cicero those passages 
 would not be so necessary. 
 
 Caesar must be condemned and displaced to 
 put a better and different tj^e of man in his 
 place, for the two are wholly different in their 
 lives, characters and eifect upon men. It is not 
 the intention of the writer to make an elaborate 
 comparison of the characters of Caesar and 
 Christ. But it is his duty, in the nature of his 
 work, to point out that the one is the great 
 enemy of mankind, the other its great benefac- 
 tor. The one, exerting a depressing influence 
 upon humanity of enormous magnitude, the oth- 
 er enlightening and uplifting where the other 
 depresses. The one striving to benefit himself 
 to the detriment of the world, the other succeed- 
 ing in benefiting mankind by sacrificing his own 
 life. 
 
 Christ, in short, is the model for which man- 
 kind shall strive, not Julius Caesar, for the lat- 
 ter resembles the former as hell does heaven. 
 No man understanding the life and characters 
 of the two men can look upon the life of Caesar 
 with admiration and look upon the character of 
 Christ without duplicity and inward hate. 
 
 The great men of this world are divided into 
 two classes. The one sheds a white light upon 
 mankind, the other a red light; the one is up- 
 lifting, the other depressing; the first encour- 
 aging, the second detrimental ; the one helpful, 
 the other dangerous. 
 
 If we were to say that Cato, Socrates, Cicero, 
 
Some Companions 171 
 
 etc., were the first men of this world, and Caesar, 
 Napoleon, Louis XIV the worst men, what would 
 the world say! Yet that is their proper order. 
 The former devoted their lives and made all 
 their aims subordinate to the working of a good 
 end ; the latter made all their abilities and gen- 
 ius subordinate to evil purposes and purely 
 personal designs. Therefore they are in the or- 
 der we have given them. Have we explained, 
 then, the passage in Scripture, ' ' Many that are 
 first shall be last ''I 
 
 Aside from the fact that there will always be 
 thistles, burrs and weeds in the human race, 
 who will uphold this ij^Q of men, there is a 
 law of the universe which says that evil men 
 shall he upheld, praised and harbored by the 
 ivorM, for this is the only place where that is 
 done and this the only praise they receive. How- 
 ever, although this type of men shall be har- 
 bored by the world (evil men) they shall not 
 set up a thistle where a lily belongs, and induce 
 men to follow it. 
 
 Men of this world, the good in particular, 
 your lives and characters in the present age, 
 posterity, and, lastly, the upward or downward 
 trend of humanity, depend upon the upholding 
 of this standard. 
 
 We do not ask mankind to do what they are 
 unable to do when we ask them to distinguish 
 between the two classes of first men^ (the few 
 
 ^The whole of humanity is, of course, included, but we re- 
 strict ourselves to the first men of the world, because the 
 masses look upon them as their models and leaders. 
 
172 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 that are actually first and the many that are 
 not so), for if we do ask too much, how is it 
 that there have always been and always will be 
 some who can distinguish between the two! So 
 long as the human race exists, this man shall 
 be held in condemnation by the better part of 
 mankind, and all the evil on earth shall not 
 sustain him nor the type of men he represents. 
 No guile can cover and no force thwart or pre- 
 vent this. 
 
 As the character of this type of men dealt 
 with has been explained, and their failure made 
 manifest, and as the cause of the latter will be 
 explained by the lack of a faculty, it is proper 
 to speak here of one or two prominent facul- 
 ties in this type of men, and tell what to do 
 with them. 
 
 This world is just as man makes it. This is 
 proved by its difference in different places and 
 times. The evil of the world is derived from 
 the evil nature in man. 
 
 As for the plea that nature makes man be- 
 forehand what he shall be — this would make 
 man be born for hell or heaven as nature made 
 him, for man obeys his natural faculties and 
 traits. The author by no means agrees with 
 this, but has this belief, namely, that man be- 
 fore birth is responsible for the qualities born 
 in him, the qualities not being contrary to what 
 he desired. For if this is not true, how is it 
 that man quite readily takes the responsibility 
 of his nature upon himself and would not part 
 
Some Companions 173 
 
 with his given faculties and traits for anything 
 under the sun? 
 
 But, to come more directly to the type of men 
 dealt with, let none say that they have not faith 
 and hope; they have, but it is in evil, wicked- 
 ness, guile, malignity and bitterness, and let 
 none doubt its strength. Some have said that 
 they have no standard of right; that is a mis- 
 take. They have, but it is actually turned up- 
 side down, for they must see things as right 
 from their point of view and what is opposite 
 to it as wrong. Their real thoughts, inten- 
 tions and purposes are never manifested open- 
 ly. ^'They never,'' in their own language, 
 ^'mean anything they say." To such absurd 
 lengths is this characteristic of not dealing with 
 real matters carried that they never accuse an 
 enemy of actual defects and mistakes, however 
 manifest they are, but try to establish false 
 ones created by themselves. 
 
 This type of men must have a personal pur- 
 pose before their genius awakens, for the for- 
 mer causes the life, if not the birth, of the lat- 
 ter, and without the one the other would not 
 exist. The intensity with which these personal 
 motives are backed is terrific. There is noth- 
 ing equal to them, and they can only be handled 
 by not allowing men of these tendencies to con- 
 centrate power. 
 
 The evil (which includes that type of men), 
 even more than the good, are bound quite tightly 
 by the laws of nature, and look upon the latter 
 as something to which they owe obligation. 
 
174 C Cesar's Character 
 
 Man is a personal being. Aside from the 
 number of autobiographies written, many of 
 the great works have been accounts (in part) 
 of the author's life. Man judges things as it 
 impresses him for good or evil, and man likes 
 or dislikes a work as it satisfies his own inner 
 being, and it is for this latter that he can make 
 the hardest fight he is capable of making. This 
 latter phase of man's nature is brought out 
 most clearly by the type of men dealt with, 
 for it is in striving for this that they spend 
 their lives. 
 
 We have no thought of eliminating the evil; 
 a strange feeling comes over the author when 
 he sees this written, for the print is there with- 
 out the thought. The author, in boyhood, when 
 he was more of an idealist than he afterward 
 learned it was wise to be, often asked: '^Why 
 is it that great men who have great merits and 
 serious defects could not, by studying them- 
 selves, correct and eliminate these defects so 
 that then their merits would be without hin- 
 drance and their lives would be all merit?" 
 But later in life, when he saw more of the 
 world, analyzed these same men and observed 
 the laws and workings of human nature, he 
 learned, against his wish, but in a positive 
 fashion, that the weakness and failings of men 
 are necessary, that merit sometimes grows out 
 of defects and that the only men without de- 
 fects are dead men. Vice and evil seem to be a 
 necessity to human life, for they cannot be got 
 rid of, and, if suppressed, in many cases, when 
 
Some Companions 175 
 
 given vent, burst forth with redoubled fury. 
 Just as the good cannot be entirely got rid pf, 
 neither can the evil, for the two, great enemies 
 though they be, are close companions. 
 
 As long as self-love exists, this type of men 
 shall be upheld, for it is the type, not the man, 
 that has followers ! We, therefore, cannot 
 promise that this type can be eliminated from 
 the human race ; they can be subdued, not elimi- 
 nated. The Great Book speaks of a millennium. 
 In that time this type of men shall vanish from 
 the earth. But ere that time the only way this 
 type of men can be checked and handled is by 
 not allowing them to concentrate power, for the 
 good of mankind, as a whole, to assert them- 
 selves, and, as individuals, to get into power, 
 and remember, at all times, that the best method 
 of defense is to be on the aggressive. 
 
 These natures cannot be turned; they must 
 run their course, but their main faculties can 
 be mollified, and by not allowing them to con- 
 centrate power in themselves such harm that 
 they are capable of can be prevented. If all of 
 what the world calls its great men were of this 
 type, in less than five hundred years the human 
 
 race would go to h 1, and if all of its first 
 
 men were of the opposite type mankind would 
 be steadily uplifted, and there would be no hin- 
 drance. Both cases are, of course, suppositions, 
 and are only used to show the effect of the two 
 types. Both types exist, and it is they that con- 
 trol the human race, and, verily, children of this 
 earth, just as the one or the other predominates 
 
176 C Cesar's Character 
 
 in power and influence just that mucli will the 
 upward or downward trend of humanity be ef- 
 fected. 
 
 Men are concerned to know from whence the 
 evil of earth comes. It comes largely from 
 within this type of man. No being who comes 
 after, though he be Christ himself, will disprove 
 this statement. Therefore, since so much evil 
 arises from man, it is within man to lessen, 
 and, in places, to subdue it ; and unless he does 
 so it is fruitless to ask assistance from that 
 place called heaven and that being named God. 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 
 
 With apologies to the world. 
 THE ARGUMENT 
 
 Part I. — The author's theme deals not with 
 minor subjects. Our theme conflicts with the 
 great men of the world, but we explain and pro- 
 ceed. Mentally and morally insane people. 
 Man's life and character decided by the gen- 
 eral trend of his life. Passion, reason, and the 
 moral sense. The great qualities of the human 
 mind. The four types of great men of the hu- 
 man race. A comment on systems, co-opera- 
 tions, and institutions. A comment on the lack 
 of genius in the present age. Genius produces 
 the monarchs of the human race. 
 
 Part II. — The human mind compared to a 
 circle. The good and the bad closely related. 
 ^^ There is no God." Science and religion. A 
 few reflections upon the traits of evil men. A 
 way of telling the real nature of men. A mor- 
 alist should not be too high. The source of the 
 writer's knowledge of human nature and char- 
 acter. 
 
 PARTI 
 
 Our theme deals not with man's creation, but 
 his preservation! Not with the world's forma- 
 
 177 
 
178 CcBsar's Character 
 
 tion, but its sustentation. The author is aware 
 there are men who are more likely to crush our 
 statements than to consider them, and the last 
 thing they are likely to do is to doubt them. 
 But, after stating that we fear them not, we 
 will remind them that there have been men who 
 have refused to be crushed. The author consid- 
 ers he deals with too great a matter to be 
 shoved aside. We say it without timidity or 
 backwardness that we deal with a great prin- 
 ciple, and are, to our knowledge, the first to set 
 it forth, and certainly the first to explain it. 
 The most exalted genius of the world from 
 Homer and Shakespeare down must bow to this 
 principle.^ 
 
 There has always been an unwritten motto 
 among evil men all over the world. We refer to 
 the ''upper ones"; it is this: ''Don't be de- 
 ceived; see that you know things, but keep your 
 tongue quiet." We welcome both ends of this 
 motto, and turn it to its proper course, thus: 
 see that you know things all right, and then 
 don't keep your tongue quiet. Which corrected 
 motto we back up with our own : " If thy cause 
 be just, and thou art sure of it, go forward and 
 fear nothing." 
 
 The moral sense is, after all, the most im- 
 portant and is what makes the man and at- 
 tracts the followers, according to whether their 
 moral sense is good or bad. Life and character 
 
 ^The author does not mean that the moral nature is nec- 
 essarily the most important, but that it must be considered 
 in judging a man. 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 179 
 
 — the point we wish to set forth — is decided by 
 the moral nature. It, therefore, becomes the 
 only thing that embraces all humanity, and is 
 the basis by which we are to judge men. The 
 world, we know, mil exclaim: "Why, then, 
 many of our great men are the worst!" But 
 those "many men" will not induce us to lower 
 the standard of virtue, honesty and sincerity, 
 for it is that which supports the standard of 
 mankind. That expression that "one cannot 
 think right unless one lives right," means that 
 one's mental life is based upon one's moral life, 
 for the moral nature of man, however indirect- 
 ly or unconsciously, is the source of his thought. 
 The moral nature is the basis of all religion, be- 
 cause the former creates the latter, and with- 
 out the former the latter would not exist. 
 
 It is the moral nature that men lack and 
 which should be nurtured. The moral sense is 
 not necessarily innate; it can be encouraged, 
 nurtured and developed, and one can do noth- 
 ing better than to do so. The world is best 
 reached by passion, and most of the world's 
 great works are characterized by that quality; 
 if reached by reason it is better, but by the 
 moral sense divine. 
 
 People are accustomed to belittle and look 
 down upon insane persons. Surely, it is not a 
 good thing, but let them know that many of 
 them are in a worse condition themselves, for 
 a bad man, a man whose life is directed down- 
 ward, is morally insane. Just as it is true that 
 to be without reason is like being without a 
 
180 CcBsar's Character 
 
 home; just as surely is it true that to be with- 
 out the moral sense is to be devoid of character. 
 
 The lower order of men often complain 
 that the moralists do not sufficiently take into 
 account the weaknesses of human nature. But 
 to that pleading let us make the decisive answer 
 that the moralist is far more likely to take into 
 account the weaknesses of man and overlook 
 his failings than they are to overlook his men- 
 tioning of and attempting to correct those weak- 
 nesses. The defects and mistakes in a man's 
 life are of little importance. The general trend 
 of a man's life and character is decisive; it 
 decides what effect his life and character shall 
 have upon the world and what kind of life he 
 is to continue. All moralists, in their judgment 
 of men^ take this into account. 
 
 But to come more directly to our subject. 
 What the world likes is action; action first, ac- 
 tion second, action third; thought comes in 
 about the middle, and the principle of right and 
 wrong comes in sometimes at the tail-end, some- 
 times not at all. A military genius attracts the 
 world's attention more readily than a genius 
 in literature. Men of action are said to be men 
 of strong passions; it should be said that men 
 of strong passions are men of action, for the 
 former is the cause of the latter. Action and 
 passion, we repeat, are closely related, for the 
 one is the outcome of the other. It must here 
 be recalled what the author has said elsewhere 
 of the three great qualities of the human mind 
 — passion, reason and the moral sense. 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 181 
 
 The types of great men that are produced 
 from the human race are four in number, and 
 are as follows : Firstly, the moralists ; secondly, 
 the philosophers; thirdly, that form of genius, 
 when combined with the moral sense, which de- 
 velops poetry and the higher arts; men of ac- 
 tion, although their immediate deeds are great- 
 er, are last. To tliis last class belongs Julius 
 Caesar. The thing that causes this classification 
 is that the work of the first three classes is up- 
 lifting to humanity, whereas, in the fourth class, 
 there must be desolation, misery and destruc- 
 tion in the human race for it to thrive. 
 
 Let no writer say that the author makes this 
 classification by Christian principles, and it is, 
 therefore, unfair to those who came before. He 
 makes it by the, principle of right and wrong, 
 a principle that existed and was observed from 
 the beginning of man. 
 
 Systems — and the present age is not singular 
 in this respect — make machines out of men. The 
 atmosphere of the present day has the feeling 
 of a continual grind, and the monotony is sick- 
 ening. Yet, do men like this grind? Oh, yes, 
 men like this grind very much. What causes 
 this grind? The speed of the world, the cus- 
 toms, systems and rules to which men bind 
 themselves. Does this grind ever cease? No, 
 this grind does not cease with earthly exist- 
 ence, for men love it so well that, if possible, 
 they would make it of so heavy and yet so fast 
 a nature that it would burn them up! And are 
 there no remedies for this grind, this monotony 
 
182 Ccesar's Character 
 
 of existence? Yes, there are remedies for it, 
 but men will not listen to them. For men do not 
 see that it is the exceptions and special events 
 of human life that bring out the best that is in 
 man ! Do not see that man is what he is by his 
 individuality. Likewise they seem not to know 
 that man has many qualities and traits that lie 
 dormant until special circumstances call them 
 forth. This is the special law where mankind's 
 great capacities lie, but the point of this mat- 
 ter summed up in a few words is that, through 
 the use of these systems and the making man 
 subordinate to institutions, not only makes men 
 little better than machines, but gets them to for- 
 get that they have qualities of the human race. 
 The main defense of the use of co-operation and 
 institutions is to sacrifice the individual to the 
 whole. That would be very well if this '^ whole'' 
 were a purpose, not an institution, which per- 
 ishes as soon as customs and ideas change. 
 
 Men to-day do not cultivate the character and 
 develop as individuals; as a result, men to-day 
 as individuals are almost an unknown thing, 
 but, combining, each contributes his mite to that 
 bugaboo — '^ co-operation." Man, they say, is 
 little; his work lasts and the result of his ef- 
 fort lives, but the man dies and is gone. They 
 are mistaken; the ivork perishes, but the man 
 is imperishable. The ancients, more than any 
 other age, saw that the thing of most impor- 
 tance was the cultivation of character and the 
 development of men as individuals ; as a result 
 the world's greatest men are found among the 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 183 
 
 ancients. For do not institutions pass away as 
 customs and opinions change'? And are not 
 great men the salt of the nations which give 
 them nutriment? 
 
 The present age, we repeat, does not develop 
 men, but institutions whicli die in a few years. 
 Man is made subordinate to these perishable 
 institutions, the work being the end of their ef- 
 forts and the man the means of attaining it. 
 Therefore, as the work is perishable and the 
 man is made the means of obtaining that work, 
 all is perishable. The system of ''Symmetrical 
 Development" in use to-day that is supposed to 
 develop everything, really develops nothing. 
 The man of mediocre degree, with his foolish 
 method of developing in all directions, which 
 pulls down much, but builds up nothing, suc- 
 ceeds in being developed in none. And, in or- 
 der that the purpose of their system can be at- 
 tained — all men being on a level — they are com- 
 pelled to depreciate the talent and minimize the 
 abilities of men of merit. The constant theme 
 of liigh-school teachers and college professors, 
 in their aim for what they designate as the 
 "Symmetrical Development," is the victory of 
 the blockhead over the genius; presuming, we 
 suppose, that there is some hope for themselves. 
 They are not aware that mediocrity does not 
 accomplish works of perpetuity, whereas genius 
 does; not aware that mediocrity accomplishes 
 nothing, genius everything. Are not the valleys 
 and the hills, the rivers and the mountains more 
 beautiful and of more interest than endless 
 
184 C Cesar's Character 
 
 plains, plains, plains ? So it is with genius and 
 mediocrity, and this is the best comparison na- 
 ture affords. Men of the present age do not see 
 these matters, but, as men usually see their mis- 
 takes sooner or later, let us hope this is a case 
 that will not be many generations postponed. 
 
 Scientists tell us that there is a thin partition 
 between insanity and genius, that the latter is 
 accompanied by nervous disorders and peculi- 
 arities. But of genius itself, even the most 
 painstaking and minute of scientists say that 
 the inspiration of genius, which the latter con- 
 sider their all, their very soul, is nothing more 
 than an intensely heated imagination. But how 
 can these scientists, whose souls have never 
 been touched by the torch of inspiration, which 
 causes men to write and speak not their own 
 thought, but to interpret the thought of the in- 
 ner man, how can these scientists be in a posi- 
 tion to speak of things they do not understand I 
 Many admit they do not understand it. To that 
 it must be answered that they would do better 
 not to attempt to explain matters they do not 
 comprehend, rather than make a mess of it. 
 
 It should further be remembered that the 
 scientists get their information second-hand at 
 that. No scientist, with all his investigations, 
 explanations and experiments, can understand 
 genius like genius can. The reason the scien- 
 tists fall short on this subject is because they 
 describe beautifully the companions of genius. 
 But has ever one of them told us what genius 
 itself is! Has the inspiration of genius ever 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 185 
 
 been satisfactorily explained, has the divine 
 enthusiasm that overcomes all obstacles, that 
 is the outcome of the inspiration, ever been 
 analyzed and described to the world! Have 
 those moments when the sharpened senses are 
 at their highest pitch, when they can discern 
 and comprehend matters that are not disclosed 
 to ordinary mortals — has science revealed those 
 moments to mankind ? No, dear reader, she has 
 not, and she never ivill. If it be possible that 
 those almost divine moments can be revealed 
 to mankind it can be done by genius alone. 
 
 It is a common opinion that men of genius 
 are devoid of common sense. That is a mistake. 
 Men of genius have reason and logic at all times 
 except in moments of inspiration, when they are 
 controlled by an inner spirit rather than their 
 own mind. At other times they are to be judged 
 as other men, some of whom have more reason 
 than others, while others are more imaginative.^ 
 
 Certain senses and faculties become sharp- 
 ened, in these men, to an exceptional degree, so 
 that their possessor can distinguish matters 
 that are imperceptible to other beings of the 
 human race. When a man of this type is al- 
 lowed to follow his bent he usually reaches a 
 certain point where he will be satisfied ; he will 
 then turn his attention in another direction and 
 develop that to a height that no man of medi- 
 ocre degree could attain. Being appeased in 
 that direction, he will turn his ability into an- 
 
 ^Philosophers are a class of genius, and yet what set of 
 men possess more logic? 
 
186 G Cesar's Character 
 
 other channel and develop it as near perfection 
 as his ability will permit. That is why men of 
 genius are frequently spoken of as being "ex- 
 ceptionally developed along many lines. ' ' 
 
 Genius is usually not in sympathy with the 
 times, customs, prevailing systems, institutions, 
 business or politics. Nor does it deal with im- 
 mediate affairs, and when it does it is because 
 it sees what is beyond the immediate. 
 
 It seems that, in certain forms of genius, Na- 
 ture intentionally took away the moral sense, so 
 that they might the better perceive the laws of 
 Nature through the intellect. 
 
 Genius sees in things what others do not see. 
 They do not see things as others do, but see 
 more deeply and acutely. They are differently 
 impressed with men and affairs than others. 
 
 Men having the quality of genius feel they 
 are confined and restrained, and wish to push 
 things out to make room; this is the cause of 
 their frequently being of wild, wandering, irreg- 
 ular habits. The fact that they feel and believe 
 powers within them makes them discontented 
 and dissatisfied ; opportunity and a special pur- 
 jDOse upon which to set their morbid qualities is 
 the only thing that will satisfy them. 
 
 The genius in a man is the inner life, and is 
 the source of his enthusiasm, but which, if al- 
 lowed to usurp full control, will wear out the 
 body prematurely, for the man is the tool of 
 the genius?- It is the author's opinion that only 
 
 ^The same principle applies to the soul and the body, 
 some men making the one subordinate, some the other. 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 187 
 
 the exalted element of genius should be made 
 known to the common people, whereas only 
 scientists, physicians and such men (and they 
 should keep it strictly to themselves) should be 
 made acquainted with their melancholy and de- 
 pression. There are truths that should either 
 not be revealed or which must be very carefully 
 disclosed, for men misinterpret many truths 
 and use them to the detriment of all mankind. 
 
 But back tO' our main subject. Although we 
 earnestly desire that men see these things we 
 have spoken of, and do not throw hindrances 
 in the way of these monarchs of the human 
 race, existing in their time, and do not develop 
 systems and institutions to crush out the weak- 
 er ones, yet it is our duty in the nature of our 
 subject to explain that the moral sense is su- 
 perior to genius. Do we say that the moral 
 sense makes man superior to the greatest gen- 
 iuses the world has produced? If we do, the 
 world cannot disprove it; and if she uses that 
 mighty wall (history) to do it, it will fall upon 
 and crush herself. If these things be not so, 
 how is it that the great moral works of the 
 world, not only the teachings of Christ, but of 
 the moralists before and after Him, how is it 
 that they have been upheld above the world's 
 greatest men of genius, above Dante, above 
 Shakespere, above Milton, Virgil? The reason, 
 dear reader, is that in the heart of the human 
 being is a spot which cherishes and preserves 
 the truth and the good, and this is rated before 
 all ability. 
 
188 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 PART II 
 
 Some men have observed that genius and 
 idiocy are closely allied; that there is but a 
 step from the sublime to the ridiculous; that 
 the good and the bad, great enemies though 
 they be, are close companions; that the most 
 powerful men are often the farthest from God. 
 This looks like the hand of our Creator draw- 
 ing men together. Surely this bringing all men 
 together is a wise thing, but men will hardly 
 give credit to the principle until they under- 
 stand the construction of the human mind. 
 
 The human mind can well be compared to a 
 circle which, if ascended on the right hand by 
 means of natural inclination, individual devel- 
 opment and education, arrives at genius (the 
 summit), but, a step over, it leads to insanity, 
 madness and idiocy; if ascended on the left 
 hand by ignorance, lack of training and evil en- 
 vironments it arrives at crime, idiocy and even 
 insanity. 
 
 One might ask: ^'If you go far enough, then, 
 you will arrive at genius ! ' ' That is correct, for 
 criminals, idiots and the insane have shown 
 genius. Thus it is that the highest and lowest 
 endowments of the human mind have been 
 found together within the same person. 
 
 Thus it is that no man is to be despised, for 
 the worst-looking men have, sometimes, the 
 greatest powers. The clown is often the most 
 clever, and the foolish-looking fellow the most 
 brilliant. No man is to be despised, for each 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 189 
 
 has his element and the powers therein. There 
 has never been a bad thing under sun that has 
 not had something good in it. The good and 
 the bad are always together, the sublime and 
 the ridiculous are closely related; genius and 
 idiocy, the highest and the lowest manifesta- 
 tions of mankind, stand side by side. When we 
 see these things, we understand that men are 
 not so far apart after all! 
 
 It seems that the Creator has intended it thus, 
 for it is certainly a binding link that holds all 
 men together. Another observation of the au- 
 thor along the same line is the following : 
 
 It might seem strange, upon first glance, to 
 observe that most (at least a great many) great 
 men have been bad men, thinking that they do 
 not deserve to be such. But that is in accord- 
 ance with the plan of God; He gives to ev- 
 ery man something. Many living a bad life, 
 and thus having a life of destruction before 
 them in their future existence, receive from 
 Him the pleasures, glories and, in many cases, 
 the life of this world — fame. This is what He 
 means when He says : ' ' Many that are first shall 
 be last.^'^ And again: ^'Do not envy them what 
 they get.''^ 
 
 God, as has been said, gives something to all. 
 He is ever ready to forgive, and often gives af- 
 ter one is no longer deserving of receiving. 
 There are probably fewer men who succeed 
 both in this world and in the world above than 
 
 ^Luke xiii, 30. Matt, xix, 30. 
 -Proverbs xiv. 
 
190 CcBsar's Character 
 
 there are men who make an honest failure both 
 on earth and in heaven. 
 
 It is not out of place in the nature of our 
 subject to speak of the doubts and, to some men, 
 proofs of a Creator. As the human nervous 
 system is susceptible to very few of the im- 
 pulses that actually exist, so the human mind 
 can see only those things that are within its 
 own limited sphere. Many men claim that 
 things can only exist that they see and feel with 
 their present senses. But to that statement we 
 have but to ask the question. Because a man is 
 blind and cannot see the sky, does that mean 
 that the sky does not exist I But we will try to 
 confine ourselves to what men can see with their 
 physical senses. ^'God and heaven," some men 
 say, ''as Milton and Dante describe them, are 
 unattractive." It seems strange that Milton 
 and Dante should have failed in their purpose! 
 But the cancer, let it be known, that caused this 
 blindness lies not in Milton nor in the way his 
 work was set forth, but was an internal disease 
 with those that saw it, as explained. There are 
 many people nowadays who put their trust in a 
 so-called ''Higher Criticism" and "Scientific 
 Investigations" and who claim to have "new 
 ideas" and to be "up to date"; thinking, we in- 
 fer, that the Bible is old-fashioned and not good 
 enough. 
 
 But their real reason is not that they are 
 wishing to develop science, but that they are 
 trying to get away from the Bible and its teach- 
 ings — something that man has been trying to 
 
Importance of the Morat Sense 191 
 
 do from the beginning of time; but they will 
 never succeed, and their ''Higher Criticism" 
 and ''Scientific Investigations" will not amount 
 to a rap until they coincide with the Great 
 Book. 
 
 Science is of material benefit in the prog- 
 ress of mankind, but when she comes to that 
 point where she conflicts and attempts to over- 
 throw religion, when she claims that this world 
 and all belonging to it is the work of "Nature," 
 and that there is no Almighty, then let her know 
 that she has gone too far, and it is time to stop 
 and mend her ways. The Bible is full of good 
 advice, but which the world stamps as "im- 
 practical," because it, in its distorted condition, 
 cannot follow the advice.^ 
 
 Is it humorous or is it serious to note that 
 men embrace and consider religious and moral 
 views best (and often solely) in childhood, 
 when ill and in old age? Yet this is true. Those 
 who do not believe in an after-life cannot an- 
 swer the following question in the negative, 
 simple and all-embracing as it is : It is not be- 
 yond anyone to see that they who do wrong of- 
 ten have material prosperity; is it not reason- 
 able that they who do right will have prosperity 
 of a higher quality ? Or the question in another 
 form is. If bad men who continually do wrong 
 
 ^The writer does not mean that everything in the Bible is 
 to be followed. For instance, the sundry laws given to the 
 people of two thousand years ago would not apply to people 
 of to-day. But human nature is fundamentally the same 
 and, as a guide to mankind, there is no work equal to the 
 Great Book. 
 
192 C Cesar's Character 
 
 get so many so-called ^'good things" on earth, 
 is it not reasonable that good men who refrain 
 from them will receive greater rewards? 
 
 Can mankind have a better proof of the exist- 
 ence of a Creator than the fact that mankind, 
 from the earliest time, having a thirst for a 
 superior Being, should reflect forth from their 
 own inner beings "Happy Hunting-grounds'' 
 and create gods, having heard of no such things 
 before f Thus it has been with all heathen and 
 ancient races. 
 
 "Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind 
 Sees God in the cloud, or hears him in the 
 
 wind; 
 His sou] proud Science never taught to stray 
 Far as the solar walk or milky way. 
 Yet simple nature to his hopes has giv'n, 
 Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler 
 
 Heaven. ' '^ 
 
 There are general laws that rule not only 
 men's affairs, but the universe, and one need 
 not be divine to perceive this, for human be- 
 ings can observe it. Then, does it not follow 
 that these general laws are gathered into the 
 hand of a Superior Being ! " It is Nature, ' ' men 
 try to explain, but what gives Nature its sys- 
 tem and order but a Hand above it that moulds 
 and makes it what it is? 
 
 ^Pope — "Essay on Man." 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 193 
 
 Clough, after speaking of those persons who 
 say there is no God, continues thus : 
 
 ^'But country-folks who live beneath 
 
 The shadow of the steeple, 
 The parson and the parson's wife, 
 
 And mostly married people; 
 Youths green and happy in first love, 
 
 So thankful for illusion, 
 And men caught out in what the world 
 
 Calls guilt, in first confusion, 
 And almost everyone, when age, 
 
 Disease or sorrows strike him. 
 Inclines to think there is a God 
 
 Or something very like Him. ' '^ 
 
 When a man of good intentions points out the 
 errors and weaknesses of human life just as he 
 finds them he is called a pessimist. But he is 
 not justly called so. All evil men who only see 
 the bad side of life say : ^ ' We live a miserable 
 life in this world, and then a worse one in the 
 world to come. ' ' Those are the real pessimists. 
 But how often is this thing, simple as it is, 
 stated correctly? 
 
 Evil men look upon people and everything in 
 the world with an evil eye; the only good they 
 see in the world is personal gain and transitory 
 pleasure. Good men are looked upon by their 
 bad cousins as something soft, easy, submissive 
 and unself-assertive and, on the other hand, 
 devoid of force, resistance and self-assertive- 
 ness; but they fail to see that the former tend 
 
 K^lough— "There Is No God." 
 
194 CcBsar's Character 
 
 toward the godlike qualities, while the latter 
 are those of the animal. Tliis does not mean 
 that good men have not" the latter qualities, for 
 when a truly good man is thoroughly aroused, 
 so that the animal spirits get the upper hand, 
 the world cannot put him down. 
 
 One of the worst facts in connection with 
 these miserable creatures (the evil type spoken 
 of) is that they understand only bad characters, 
 and are not aware that good people live; they 
 will not believe it if told such exist, and if they 
 see one for themselves they cannot comprehend 
 him. 
 
 Men frequently boast of certain intellectual 
 benefits that sometimes accompany an evil life; 
 whether they prove to be actually good in the 
 end, we will not discuss ; but, for the sake of the 
 argmnent, we will grant it as such. The point is 
 this, however: they did not see or experience 
 these intellectual benefits until after they had 
 partaken of an evil life! 
 
 Bad men at first go into an evil life being 
 told that ''they will learn a great many things 
 they don't know," and that there are many 
 "good things" that they ought to taste. Later 
 on, when these men see they cannot get out of 
 the trap into which they have fallen, and be- 
 come wretched in consequence, they desire their 
 friends and acquaintances to share their 
 misery. 
 
 Bad men must have what is bad, and are dis- 
 contented and restless without it. As a user of 
 morphine, upon first taking it, takes small 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 195 
 
 doses, then increases and increases the dose un- 
 til finally the size of the dose he takes at one 
 time is sufficient to kill three men not habitu- 
 ated to its use^ — yet he has got to have it, ap- 
 parently, for his very existence. Thus it is 
 with every bad man that has existed. He dis- 
 torts his nature into wrong directions, and then 
 ''has got to have it." 
 
 Men that have developed and contracted bad 
 habits and traits, if made to give them up, are 
 all out of sorts, and can do nothing satisfac- 
 torily ; they give the appearance that their very 
 existence depends upon these wicked desires, 
 and it does seem so. When these nefarious 
 traits extend to an ambition for power, to the 
 detriment of the rights and liberties of others, 
 it can he seen of tvhat enormous harm it is to 
 both present and future mankind! 
 
 The leaders of evil, the very worst of men, 
 cannot turn from their evil ways. But they 
 must not think that their very weakness is their 
 victory; for, by keeping that part of mankind 
 that waver on the side of the good, by overlook- 
 ing and forgiving the faults of their followers, 
 and by condemning them, we can make some big 
 strides toward breaking up evil, and also keep 
 them from taking aggressive steps and being 
 active. Just as surely as these men prefer rea- 
 son to the moral sentiments, just so surely do 
 they prefer passion and confusion to reason! 
 It is strange to observe how bad men at times 
 praise mankind and defend humanity, while 
 good men, at certain times, do the same thing! 
 
196 C Cesar's Character 
 
 It is, as we say, strange until we come to exam- 
 ine it, which is like turning a searchlight into a 
 dark corner. Good men, when they praise man- 
 kind, do it because they see the good in man, 
 and, being able to perceive the better side of 
 man, give it full credit, which serves to exalt 
 the human race. On the other hand, when bad 
 men praise mankind, it is invariably when they 
 have control, and is done to put on a good face 
 to things, so they can the better proceed se- 
 cretly with their nefarious practices ! 
 
 After seeing the truth of that ancient saying, 
 ^'The majority are wicked,^' it is sometimes dif- 
 ficult, after condemning them, to extend one's 
 help and s^mipathy toward that same majority. 
 We hope, however, that we make it clear in this 
 work that we have overcome this difficulty, for 
 our plea is that the majority are not wicked of 
 their own accord, but are induced by a com- 
 paratively small minority to be so. Real bad 
 men are decidedly in the minority ; but men that 
 are controlled and influenced by those men are 
 just as decisively in the majority. They are 
 weaker than those solid, constant moral stars, 
 and are to be pitied and encouraged rather than 
 condemned. 
 
 The inner life of most men is far worse than 
 the world knows it to be; only their close 
 friends and acquaintances know their real life. 
 But the statement in itself counts for nothing. 
 When any move is made in the world for good, 
 when any moral movement is set in motion, it 
 is usually resisted on all sides, and the men 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 197 
 
 that are trying to forward the movement ask, 
 Whence comes this resistance? We thought the 
 world wished to be bettered and have things 
 improved, etc. But the question has already 
 been answered, and will be repeated. It comes 
 from the inner nature of men, that life that is 
 usually hidden from the world, and by some is 
 not known to exist, but which is the real nature. 
 
 Observe whether a man displays his spirit in 
 good or in evil and you hnoiv the man. Observe 
 wherein a man's strength lies, whether in cheat- 
 ing, deceiving, guile and force or in honesty, 
 desire of fairness, openness of speech, and you 
 know whether his life is going up or down. 
 There are two ways by which to tell a man's 
 real nature, namely: First, what he does; sec- 
 ondly, what he tries hardest to give the appear- 
 ance he is keeping away from. The infallible 
 and conclusive test of a man's nature and char- 
 acter is whether his spirit manifests itself in 
 good or in evil deeds. He who shows the most 
 spirit in evil is the worst man. 
 
 So that we may not be called to account for a 
 lack of humanity, we wish to make clear that it 
 is not minor evils we condemn. But when vices 
 and crimes affect the whole of hmnanity it is 
 time they are condemned, so that mankind may 
 know what is not right. Our condemnation falls 
 upon the leaders of evil men ; if their followers 
 are compelled to share the blame, it should be 
 understood that tve do not require it. They 
 have our encouragement to get away from these 
 leaders in evil. 
 
198 CcBsar's Character 
 
 As for tamanity, do we have it? The masses 
 are always welcome, always encouraged, for 
 they are deceived, and easily led; ignorance ra- 
 ther than evil being their worse vice. The door, 
 in short, is open to the human race, and alivays 
 open, and all are welcome, but men will not al- 
 ways find the way to the door, although open! 
 For, although the drunken man's house remains 
 in the same place, the drunken man, not being 
 able to find it, does not think so. 
 
 A moralist should not soar too high, as Plato, 
 for instance, did, if he hopes to better the 
 world, because the difference between his ideals 
 and the practices of the world is too distant to 
 be easily reconciled, just as the magnet which 
 tries to pick up the bar at too great a distance 
 will pick up nothing. 
 
 If a moral standard must be had, let it be 
 built on reason, not the moral sense; for, 
 though the latter will do well for a few, the 
 majority will not stand for it, for at all times 
 must the humanity of man be remembered. 
 
 If any readers should complain that the au- 
 thor sets a standard of morals too high for hu- 
 manity, he will reply that mankind can only he 
 uplifted by a sufficiently high standard of mor- 
 als, to which they ivill always return, often as 
 they leave it} 
 
 All men are ruled by a double tendency. The 
 first is inborn and tends to do good; the sec- 
 ond is acquired, is the worldly, and tends to do 
 
 ^In the Bible, the greatest of all books, the highest stand- 
 ard of morals mankind has received are found. 
 
Importance of the Moral Sense 199 
 
 bad.^ An analysis of men's lives, combined 
 with observations from life, are the source of 
 the author's knowledge of human nature and 
 character, as displayed in this work and chap- 
 ter. He does not speak merely from a knowl- 
 edge of good men, for he has lived among the 
 worst men, and is acquainted with the very 
 worst of mankind, and has visited their abodes, 
 knows their habits and characteristics, and un- 
 derstands why they ''want" this and "don't 
 want" that. 
 
 nt there is a statement made by any writer or moralist 
 that puts human nature on a fairer basis, or gives mankind 
 a better chance to do good than the rule given, the writer 
 is not acquainted with it. 
 
SOME DISJOINTED REFLECTIONS^ 
 
 Me^ who write with the intention of benefit- 
 ing mankind should not use veiled expressions ; 
 it not only encourages men to search in corners 
 and out-of-the-way places for an evil mean- 
 ing, but enables them to construe the meaning 
 if it does not suit them. It is well for an au- 
 thor to define his terms and the words he uses 
 in important matters. For instance, the word 
 "man'^ can be stretched over a field from a 
 being little better than a brute animal to a par- 
 tially divine being; then there are several defi- 
 nitions of a man that will come in between the 
 two. Therefore, we repeat, it is always well, 
 in important instances, for an author to define 
 his expressions, otherwise it is like the two men 
 in a debate who argued from different pre- 
 mises. 
 
 The author, in youth, was often puzzled to 
 observe how men could commit the most abom- 
 inable vices and yet retain fair exteriors. He 
 often thought of it, until one day it struck him 
 and he asked if men's appearances and forms 
 
 'This chapter is a deliberate digression, put into the work 
 intentionally, to relieve the strain of the work on the reader. 
 
 200 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 201 
 
 corresponded with their atrocious vices, would 
 we not have some horrible animals running 
 about the world "J Worse than any that are now 
 upon it? He answered in the affirmative, and 
 since that time knows why men may commit 
 
 horrible vices and yet retain fair exteriors. 
 
 * * * 
 
 There is one instance when you can't bribe 
 an evil man, namely, to think over his own past 
 life! 
 
 The more man advances in civilization the 
 more and more artificial he becomes. 
 
 Trouble comes in many packages, and the 
 
 packages usually come at one time. 
 
 * * # 
 
 Hope is the anchor of life; without it man is 
 
 like a ship at sea in a gale. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It is good that one's forces be aroused, so 
 that he knows where his abilities lie. 
 
 Although reason is man's defense, he is best 
 when away from it; in passion, excitement, or 
 when one's forces are disturbed, man is at his 
 best. 
 
 Reason, that rubber-band of the human mind, 
 is only a garb to cover the passions, instincts 
 and institutions of man.^ 
 
 ^ And, in the case of religion, it may be added, the moral 
 sense. 
 
202 CcBsar^s Character 
 
 Ideas spring up, not out of reason, but in 
 spite of it. Reason, unlike the stronger facul- 
 ties of the human mind, is not accomplished by 
 acute pain; pain is a stimulus. Reason is the 
 most inaccurate faculty of the human mind, the 
 greatest liar and the worst judge. 
 
 The strongest faculties of the human mind 
 will have nothing to do with reason. 
 
 In all great matters, does not reason break 
 down and give way to other faculties? Is this 
 
 a sign of strength on the part of that faculty? 
 
 * * * 
 
 The human mind is not like a ladder, but like 
 a circle — the best and the worst faculties being 
 side by side. This looks like it is pessimistic, 
 but it is not; for what other plan (of the human 
 
 mind) would give every one a chance? 
 
 * ♦ * 
 
 In judging a thing, everything depends upon 
 the faculty the thing is judged from. The orig- 
 inal nature and the mood of mind at the time 
 helps to determine this. This is why a man 
 judges a thing, when it comes before him, by 
 
 that faculty which is predominant at that time. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The nature of man makes him as he is, not his 
 will, and men rather do not blame him, for they 
 say: "Well, it is his nature; he can't help it." 
 They always desire to see it, and, of men's de- 
 sires, it seems one of the purest — certainly the 
 
 most natural. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Philosophy is divided into two kinds: that 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 203 
 
 which is based upon human life and experience 
 and that which is the expression of one's own 
 qualities. The philosophy of Schopenhauer and 
 Swift are examples of the former, and that of 
 Socrates and Plato examples of the latter. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Deceit ''in weakest bodies strongest works." 
 
 * * * 
 
 The world is considerably evil, has some good 
 in it, and is mighty interesting. 
 
 Excitement enables man to overcome difficul- 
 ties that he would otherwise be unable to do. Is 
 not great physical pain endured with greater 
 facility than small pain!^ 
 
 * * * 
 
 Melancholic persons are usually the most 
 witty. This is probably due to their efforts to 
 
 get away from their own nature. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Incomprehensible as it might be to the 
 masses, it is a fact that the quiet man when 
 
 once aroused is the hardest to put down. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Of all the endowments of mankind, love is 
 the noblest and the greatest; yet, of all gifts, 
 it is the most abused.^ 
 
 ^The cause is probably the stimulus of excitement which 
 accompanies the former, but not the latter. 
 
 ^The reader need only be reminded that evil women have 
 always used love as a lure; but this is only one of the many va- 
 rieties of its abuse. 
 
204 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 Imagination is the source of man's greatest 
 pains and greatest happiness. 
 
 Does not Governor Folk verify a statement 
 made by the author on a former page? He 
 was resisted on all sides when he was "strug- 
 gling for life in the water," and after he has 
 "reached land/' where he neither needs nor 
 
 desires it, ^ ' he is encumbered with help ' ' ! 
 
 * * * 
 
 That which is not present, and which we can- 
 not possess, always seems best to us. 
 
 * * # 
 
 Intuition is man's greatest power, Reason his 
 greatest defense. All men of genius have the 
 former; in fact, without it there is no genius, 
 for it is by this that genius comes to conclu- 
 sions. 
 
 * * * 
 
 As trees die, rocks crumble, and animal life 
 disappears, likewise they who trust in carnal 
 
 things come to nothing. 
 
 * # * 
 
 Great gain is always connected with a deep 
 chasm, and he who strikes for the first runs the 
 
 risks of the second. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Men have often discussed "What is man's 
 greatest strength ? ' ' There is a spiritual power 
 in man which comes to his aid only in times of 
 greatest danger, and which no worldly power 
 can overcome. That is man's greatest strength. 
 
Some Disjointed Re-flections 205 
 
 The way to bring the most brilliant things 
 out of a man is to tell him he is a fool ! 
 
 Truth is a plant of slow growth, but having 
 once reached maturity it is impossible to up- 
 root. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The human mind is the greatest work of our 
 Creator. Its possibilities are infinite, its char- 
 acter embracing, its power of bringing together 
 matters of the deepest and most exalted types is 
 nothing short of marvelous. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Man should be judged by what his nature 
 shows itself to be individually ; whereas, a true 
 estimate of a man is not got if his behavior in 
 mobs and crowds is passed upon, for in those 
 instances men are often influenced by the opin- 
 ions of a few. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The defects, minor mistakes and faults of 
 man should be overlooked; it is the general 
 trend of men's lives that counts. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Similarity of the intellect brooks opposition, 
 whereas similarity of the moral sense brings 
 
 quietude. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It isn't how long a man lives, but what he 
 goes through, that counts. In experience all 
 men are young. 
 
206 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 If the pleasure of life is not to be found in 
 one's work, where is it to be found! 
 
 * * # 
 
 It is amazing what an enormous amount of 
 suffering some men can go through and yet not 
 
 die. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It is strange how death — that is, the thing it- 
 self — impresses people, whereas what it stands 
 for, a transition from one world to another, is 
 
 rarely spoken of. 
 
 * * * 
 
 There are two things in a man's life that are 
 without end — suffering and work. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Nothing ever happened without a cause, and 
 to which there was not an explanation. 
 
 * * # 
 
 One doesn't know a man until they see him 
 excited. Without excitement a man is nothing. 
 Excitement is the spice of life ; pleasure its lure. 
 
 * * # 
 
 Two of the greatest evils man has to contend 
 with are idleness and melancholy. In the for- 
 mer all sorts of wickedness are opened to him, 
 and in the latter no deed (concerning himself) 
 is too evil to be perpetrated. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Men seldom reform from a sensuous life, but 
 after one has you could not induce him, under 
 any circumstances, to return to his former life. 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 207 
 
 One does not fully appreciate great writings, 
 especially those of the ancients, until they are 
 
 similarly inspired. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The impossible is only possible to those who 
 believe it possible. Plants have been known to 
 grow through stone walls. 
 
 Of all things interesting, human nature is the 
 most so, and one cannot understand that there 
 is much to it until he comprehends a little, for 
 
 that little beckons him on to what is before. 
 
 * # * 
 
 A man of great ability will unconditionally 
 attack an enormous task; whereas a man of 
 small ability will avoid all large matters and 
 pry around to find a weak point to tackle. In 
 this way a man of small ability might make a 
 better success than a man of great ability, and 
 history shows such cases. Although these men 
 themselves are quite despicable, their results 
 are not such. Boswell, Johnson's biographer, 
 
 was such a man. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Plutarch has been criticised by some for not 
 putting so-called ''digressions" into the form 
 of notes. In the author's opinion this is not a 
 defect, but a merit. The following out of a 
 train of ideas shows that a hrain is at work, 
 and is the natural course of thought, while to 
 relate things in their time and order is mechan- 
 ical and the work of a machine. 
 
208 C Cesar's Character 
 
 When a morally depraved, mentally sick, 
 physically dwarfed man, an uneducated, igno- 
 rant being, can get ''close" to a school-board 
 and be appointed principal of a high-school, it 
 shows either that that important body has cor- 
 ruption in it, or that the creature spoken of has 
 great powers of deception, which latter we pre- 
 fer to believe. This being, furthermore, held 
 human life as nothing, his own as nothing, time 
 as nothing, the human brain as nothing; but 
 the climax is the best, for this small man came 
 down to nothing, and when this nothing looked 
 
 out upon the world he saw nothing but nothing ! 
 
 * * * 
 
 A greatly deformed person (morally) looks 
 upon a person, with (if the world will allow it 
 possible) a touch of perfection, with more ab- 
 horrence and disgust than the latter looks upon 
 the former. But the main difference is this: 
 The latter (if he be true) looks upon the dis- 
 torted character with some pity or sympathy, 
 
 but in the opposite case there is none. 
 
 * * # 
 
 There is in the inner nature of man a good 
 side; in this part of his nature are his highest 
 ideals, which are never attained to the satis- 
 faction of their possessor. It is this side of 
 man that is seen in autobiographies, and is 
 called exaggeration. But the cause of it is that 
 the writer sometimes explains and points out 
 his ideals rather than his actual life. AYlien a 
 glimpse of this is seen in a man, and some of 
 the worgt men have shown it, you can set it 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 209 
 
 down that there is at least one good spot in his 
 
 heart, and full credit should be given him. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Natural inclination is the greatest force in 
 
 human life. One race of people, for instance, 
 
 that are naturally moral will live better and 
 
 more upright lives than another race of people 
 
 that are swamped with laws. 
 * * * 
 
 Tacitus, in his '' Germany,'' p. 19: ^^Good 
 habits have there more influence than good 
 laws elsewhere." And Justin, speaking of the 
 Scythians : ' ' Justice is cultivated by the dispo- 
 sitions of the people, not by the laws." Sal- 
 lust — '^Conspiracy of Catiline" — Ancient Eo- 
 mans: ^'Justice and probity prevailed among 
 the citizens, not more from the influence of the 
 laws than from natural inclination." This, 
 however, is not restricted to moral matters; it 
 
 is the case in all mental pursuits. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The author witnessed an incident one day 
 that is worth relating: It was in a street-car. 
 A lady sat in the front seat, a man and a boy 
 about ten years of age in the second seat, and 
 a man in the third seat on the other side of 
 the car. The lady arose, to get off the car ; the 
 man got up to open the door for her, when the 
 boy unconsciously thrust his foot into the aisle. 
 The man saw the foot, but, making no effort to 
 avoid it, came down directly upon it ; taking one 
 brutal look at the disabled foot, he passed on 
 and smilingly opened the door for the lady. 
 
210 Ccesar's Character 
 
 while the boy doubled up his leg in pain. That, 
 dear reader, is an example of natural politeness 
 sacrificed to artificial and, we may add, worth- 
 less politeness ; yet it is the latter that we hear 
 
 so much about. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The world can see guile and craft in no mat- 
 ter what form it may be, or however hidden; 
 in fact, if it does not find it, it will create it; 
 but it seldom sees the truth and the good, and 
 if the latter be put in a clear and forcible light 
 the world will thrust its fists into that part of 
 its face where its eyes are located, so it may 
 not see! No one can deny these facts, and al- 
 though it is a dark truth, it is not the fault of 
 those that point it out. 
 
 We admit, while we are forced to choose be- 
 tween the lesser of two evils, that the friend- 
 ship of policy is better than no friendship. But 
 we refuse to accept the defensive, and come 
 back with the declaration that the friendship of 
 
 policy is inferior to sincere friendship. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The fact that this world is a hard place for 
 the unfortunate, that it is not so bad for those 
 that stay on top, whether their means are fair 
 or foul, shows that it is neither just nor fair. 
 
 An expert cheater is seldom exposed, where- 
 as one who seldom resorts to unfair means is 
 inexperienced, easily detected and always con- 
 demned. The former gets away because it is 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 211 
 
 difficult to root him out; the latter is convicted 
 more on account of the ease with which the 
 crime is discovered than for the crime itself. 
 Similar is the case where an incident arouses 
 the ire of two persons — the one is a frank, hon- 
 est, open-natured person; the other a politic, 
 guarded, worldly person. The first will show 
 his anger on the occasion and, maybe, use some 
 bad language; he will be immediately con- 
 demned as a disagreeable, unpleasant person. 
 Whereas, the second person will conceal his an- 
 ger for the time being, but, watching for a fa- 
 vorable opportunity, will let it have its vent; 
 and let it be known that this secret, unexpected 
 anger is of a far worse type than that displayed 
 by the first person, yet the first is termed '^ dis- 
 agreeable,'' or a madman, and the second a 
 
 ^'forgiving, kind-natured being." 
 
 * * * 
 
 In business one sees many boys of whom one 
 would expect much — but all are irrecoverably 
 bad. One cannot realize or believe this until 
 one is with them constantly for a year or more, 
 when one learns to know what to expect. The 
 condition is probably the same all over the 
 world; but the point is, that these boys, who 
 are thus thoroughly broke in in their tender 
 years, groiv up into this sort of men. When 
 we see this we can realize that politics and 
 business, which is a second politics, are corrupt 
 
 and why so many bad men are at the head. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Not only can it be told definitely whether a 
 
212 CcBsar's Character 
 
 man be of good or bad character, but the de- 
 gree of good or evil in his nature can be cor- 
 rectly estimated by the spirit with which he 
 upholds the right and condemns the bad, or vice 
 
 versa! 
 
 * * * 
 
 A way to tell definitely whether a man has 
 lived upward or downward is to see which he 
 comprehends the best and in the most natural 
 manner — the good and the right or the evil and 
 the distorted. This is best tried at unexpected 
 moments, in new things and always alone. As 
 long as human nature remains as it is, the pos- 
 sibility of a failure in this does not exist. 
 
 In plots, intrigues — in fact, any evil thing — 
 the leaders invariably get away; that was the 
 case in the conspiracy of Catiline; the leaders, 
 Caesar and Crassus, got away. Here, in St. 
 Louis, not long ago, a certain evil was broken 
 up, but did not the big fellows get away? In 
 years to come, these men will be said to have 
 not participated in the evil broken up — just as, 
 in after years, Caesar and Crassus were de- 
 clared not to have been in the conspiracy of 
 
 Catiline. 
 
 * * * 
 
 There is no such thing as ^^men see things 
 as they are," but, rather, things are as men see 
 them. This does not lower the standard of mor- 
 ality (or any standard), for only men who see 
 right set things in their proper place; whereas, 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 213 
 
 distorted characters see things in a distorted 
 
 light. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The evil is quick, the good slow; the one flour- 
 ishes first, the other after the first has had its 
 day; the one is temporary, the other perma- 
 nent. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Although a bad man can never understand a 
 good man, a good man can comprehend a bad 
 one if he stops and reflects, but especially if he 
 be surrounded by them and observe closely ; for 
 there is no better manner of understanding hu- 
 man nature than by observation. 
 
 * * * 
 
 That argument that begins with laughing at 
 the opposition, then doing evil and finding an 
 excuse for the latter, and lastly deciding against 
 the opposition, is not worth very much. 
 
 ^ tP ^ 
 
 Reason is not the highest quality with which 
 man is endowed; for, aside from the moral 
 faculties, there are two qualities of the human 
 brain above reason, namely, inspiration and in- 
 tuition. These qualities are unfolded to very 
 few, and we would advise the great mass of hu- 
 manity to depend upon reason. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Wlien a man is enthusiastic, and acts upon 
 his own inspiration and overcomes all the oppo- 
 sition of his enemies, the latter immediately 
 spread the report, ' ' He is a fanatic, ' ' overlook- 
 ing the fact, their theory being true, that all 
 
214 CcBsar^s Character 
 
 the great deeds and all the great men of tMs 
 world are the outgrowth of fanaticism and fa- 
 natics. 
 
 * * # 
 
 All men have a place and, without exception, 
 it is not otherwise than what each individual 
 desires/ 
 
 It is true that the defenders of truth are at- 
 tacked by the world, and that, at the most dan- 
 gerous moments, neither personal physical 
 force could protect them nor could the most 
 powerful brain originate arguments in his de- 
 fense; but the defender of truth, at such mo- 
 ments, is enveloped in a divine atmosphere, 
 which preserves him from all harm. 
 
 * * * 
 
 When a man, like the one spoken of above, 
 overcomes and withstands his enemies, the lat- 
 ter (for the sole reason that he refuses to be 
 overcome) is called a "fool," '^ fanatic," and 
 some worse names. But if this man, who over- 
 comes these men who call him these beautiful 
 names, is a fool, what are those whom he over- 
 comes? (It seems they should be ashamed to 
 admit they were defeated by a fool!) 
 
 We are aware that the world usually turns on 
 
 ^This is a grand thought, in the author's own opinion, for 
 it refers not only to the moral nature, but to the individual 
 as an intellectual being; not only to both ends of the after- 
 life, but satisfies those who do not believe in the latter, for 
 it applies also to this world. 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 215 
 
 its benefactors; but, although this is a fact, it 
 
 will never silence or stop them ! 
 
 * * * 
 
 Mankind 's benefactors have risen in the most 
 remote ages, but are usually not appreciated, 
 and often suppressed or condemned, but do they 
 not always rise again I And set it down, inhabi- 
 tants of this world, that when you are at your 
 worst they will speak the loudest ! The greatest 
 moralists have lived in the worst ages. If the 
 morals of this book are suppressed or rejected, 
 they will rise again in a future generation, as 
 the spirit of Huss rose in Luther ; you can kill 
 
 a man, but you can not kill his spirit. 
 
 * * * 
 
 There is this quality in the nature of man: 
 that wherever he is, whether he be up or whether 
 he be down, he wishes others to be likewise. For 
 this reason there is a continual conflict in the 
 world between the good and the evil — that which 
 is up and that which is down. This condition 
 will continue to exist as long as the human race 
 
 remains in its present form. 
 
 * * * 
 
 When man turns against you, turn to your 
 animal friends and you will be surprised at the 
 
 comfort they give you. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The best thing about many evil men is their 
 pronounced sense of humor. 
 
 Genius is shared by both good and evil, but it 
 has always seemed to the writer more natural 
 
216 C Cesar's Character 
 
 to the latter than the former, on account of their 
 love of excessive vital force, which is one of the 
 
 main elements of genius. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The resistance that a man with a purpose en- 
 counters is terrific. A perfectly sane and level 
 head cannot withstand it, but will yield, while a 
 partially unbalanced mind will hang to it with 
 almost superhuman pertinacity. 
 
 There are more lemons on earth than grow on 
 
 trees. 
 
 * # * 
 
 Man can have but one or two superhuman 
 
 qualities, and then he is the exception. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Don 't shirk work or you will work harder try- 
 ing to get away from work than you would if 
 
 you worked. 
 
 * * # 
 
 It has always been a subject of much mystery 
 to mankind why man is endowed with such high 
 and splendid ideals, and then meets with such 
 deep disappointment. But this is because the 
 conditions of this Earth make them impossible 
 
 to realize. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Man, of all creatures, is the most envious of 
 
 the apparent happiness of others. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Great pain and great intellect are closely al- 
 lied; that is, one's most intense pain and their 
 best thoughts often go together. 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 217 
 
 Man, and this is true of all types of men, al- 
 ways strives to get away from his own nature. 
 Yet men always seek the companionship of those 
 of their own nature. 
 
 Every country has its day ; its rise, greatness 
 and fall. Persia, Greece, Rome, Turkey and 
 France are examples; the same is the case in 
 
 the lives of men. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The real delights of human life emanate not 
 from man, but from the man within — the inner 
 being. The inner being sees and enjoys many 
 
 things that man neither sees nor enjoys. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The more action, the more passion; the less 
 thought, the more a man of the world one can 
 be. 
 
 An idea defeated is modified, but one estab- 
 lished is emphasized and elaborated. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The common people have neither moral sense 
 
 nor intellect in any marked degree. 
 
 * # * 
 
 All men are disappointed with this world; it 
 seems as if we were built for a different world, 
 
 and at the last moment thrust into this one. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Objective reason is the common ground of 
 
 all men. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Men of the world know human nature and the 
 
218 Cccsar^s Character 
 
 affairs of the world, as they actually are better 
 than men of religion. 
 
 * # * 
 
 Man^s greatest unhappiness consists in trying 
 
 to fathom a future life. 
 
 * * * 
 
 We know not if there is a heaven, hell or an 
 after-life. Yet we are compelled to go through 
 this world with the faculties we have, and make 
 
 it out for ourselves. 
 
 * * * 
 
 If you succeed here, it is because your fellow- 
 beings were not looking, or could not prevent it. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It must be the intention of Nature that the 
 Earth should be composed of confusion, strife, 
 
 conflict, discontent and dissatisfaction. 
 
 * * # 
 
 The source of the evil that humanity throws 
 into the world lies largely in man's passion, 
 whether naturally irritable, excited by occasion 
 or agitated by whatever artificial means in his 
 power. 
 
 «: * * 
 
 Everything exists of necessity; even the ap- 
 pearance of justice. 
 
 Of the world this is true, that the worthless 
 succeed with greater ease than the worthy. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Children, as infants, are almost continually 
 crying. Who knows but what the early stages 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 219 
 
 of existence are quite painful, or that birth it- 
 self is so? 
 
 * * * 
 
 Man, whether he be good or bad, whether he 
 takes a wide or narrow path, whether of the in- 
 tellectual or physical type, does nothing but 
 serve the purpose of Nature and establish her 
 
 truths. 
 
 * * * 
 
 This world suits neither the good nor the bad. 
 The good say it is a bad world, because there is 
 not enough good in it; the bad say it is a bad 
 world, because it does not satisfy their expec- 
 tations. 
 
 * * * 
 
 In this life nothing is final, and only the work 
 
 of genius permanent. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The closer one gets to the evils of men and 
 the earth, the less horrible, the more natural 
 and the more human they become. This refers 
 
 to the world ^s worst evils. 
 
 * # * 
 
 Humanity is the only standpoint by which all 
 
 men can be judged. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The world must be as it is through the laws 
 of Nature ; for, surely, confusion, discord, strife 
 and conflict are natural to it. 
 
 The common people are concerned only with 
 common affairs; business and the making of a 
 living. Business is a thing that a few men de- 
 
220 C Cesar's Character 
 
 vote their brains and life to, that common men, 
 who live but to work and eat and enjoy them- 
 selves, can do as well. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The realizations of life are far beneath the 
 human soul ; that is, human ideals are not grati- 
 fied by human experience. 
 
 * * * 
 
 If there is such a thing as moral enjoyment, 
 
 it comes only after everything else is sated. 
 
 * * * 
 
 That philosophy which is based upon human 
 life and experience is the most accurate and the 
 
 most useful. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The petite passions of men can be best Imown 
 not by general appearances, but by particular 
 
 actions. 
 
 * * * 
 
 This is true, that one's passion will lead one 
 on with unbounded fury, but, after having se- 
 cured the object of its desire, though sated, it 
 is not satisfied. 
 
 History shows that it has usually been the 
 practical, cool, deliberative races who have con- 
 quered; whereas the imaginative, beautiful and 
 many-sided races have failed, and been con- 
 quered. The Spartans and Komans are exam- 
 ples of the former; the Athenians and Greeks 
 (as compared to the Romans) are examples of 
 the latter. 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 221 
 
 Pain is real, and pleasure hollow; honor, a 
 
 name ; and crookedness, a fact. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Lawyers and physicians name their calling a 
 profession; if, by that, they mean robbery and 
 
 general crookedness, then it is a profession. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Love, like fruit, is preserved best in a cold 
 
 atmosphere. A warm atmosphere rots it. 
 
 * * * 
 
 In pursuing an object, the pleasure is not in 
 
 the object pursued, but in the pursuit. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The most human standpoint is to judge each 
 man from his oivn standpoint. To judge all 
 things and all types of nien from one standpoint 
 is the least human. 
 
 tP ^ Tt* 
 
 To have great strength in one faculty means 
 
 to lose it in another. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The world was either founded on a mistake, 
 or several mistakes were made after it was 
 
 founded. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The conditions and circumstances of the world 
 are partly responsible for the presence of evil 
 in the world. The internal cause lies in man's 
 
 passions. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The human mind works along the lines of 
 strongest connection, and the original nature in 
 man usually decides what that is. 
 
222 C Cesar's Character 
 
 Time is the only true judge of permanent 
 
 works. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The strain of genius and insanity is analo- 
 gous. 
 
 * * * 
 
 From many defects, irregularities, idiosyncra- 
 sies, peculiarities one's best merits often arise. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Can a man whose mind, by nature, is opposed 
 
 to religion be blamed for not believing in it! 
 
 * * * 
 
 Ever notice how an event is judged by that 
 faculty of the mind which is uppermost at that 
 time? This is how the same thing is judged dif- 
 ferently in different ages. 
 
 * * * 
 
 If men see they are giving one what he de- 
 sires, if the latter be worthy, they will immedi- 
 ately desist. 
 
 * * * 
 
 This is true of whatever place man is in, that 
 he sees the merits of that place and the defects 
 of any other. This is frequently illusion, but it 
 enables men to endure existence in miserable 
 circumstances. 
 
 No type of men can resist their own qualities. 
 
 * * * 
 
 If you hit a sore spot in a man, you will not 
 
 crush, but aggravate it. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Give a man something he does not like, get 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 223 
 
 him accustomed to it, and he will have nothing 
 
 else. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Elasticity is a characteristic of youth. And 
 it does not take much observance to see that 
 women are judged according to their elasticity. 
 
 * * * 
 
 To succeed in this world it is well to be a ma- 
 terialist and a realist, and, it might be added, a 
 
 pessimist. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Many original natures are changed by the con- 
 ditions and circumstances of the world. 
 
 ^ TT ^ 
 
 The greatest noise is made about the smallest 
 things, the least about the greatest things, and 
 
 then at inopportune times. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Man 's constructive abilities is one of his best 
 merits ; yet, like most merits, it takes little credit 
 
 for what it does. 
 
 * * * 
 
 A want applies to what is present, immediate ; 
 
 a wish to the future. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Man only believes what he experiences and 
 what he can see and feel, but nothing beyond. 
 If a complaint is made on this last characteris- 
 tic, man's nature should have been made differ- 
 ent. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Great pain and great pleasure are closely al- 
 
224 C Cesar's Character 
 
 lied; little pain and little pleasure go together.^ 
 
 You get nothing here without paying dear for it. 
 
 * * * 
 
 It seems that God chose a bad set of people 
 when He chose the Jews as His people. For it is 
 difficult to see why the world's money-grabbers 
 should be His favorite race. And if a people 
 were intended to exist who are more given to 
 personal interest, or are more sly, crafty, ma- 
 lignant, or are better cheats and dead-beats 
 than they, He must have forgot to create them. 
 Probably He wants to show us what good can 
 be made of crooks, thieves and money-suckers ; 
 if that is the case, it is not impossible to under- 
 stand His motive. 
 
 The only way to get anything here is to take 
 it. If you ask for it, you will be given some- 
 thing else about one-tenth its value. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Few birds would sing if only those sang who 
 sang the best; there is a place for every one, but 
 
 not the same place for all. 
 
 * * * 
 
 In this age, qualities and traits of character 
 are made subordinate to systems, rules and in- 
 stitutions. The one changes with each genera- 
 tion; the other is permanent. Crack age. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The best and the worst names in history be- 
 gin with the letter C, Christ, Cato, Cicero, 
 
 ^The writer needs but to mention three great forces in 
 human life: love, opium, alcohol. 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 225 
 
 Charlemagne, Cromwell are examples of the 
 first type; Caesar, Catiline, Caligula, Clodius, 
 Charles II. are examples of the second type. 
 The list is longer, but the examples given show 
 
 the truth of the statement. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Men prefer to oppose rather than assist ; and 
 
 would rather hand one a lemon than an orange. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Some people have the idea that the good and 
 the true are analogous, whereas this is seldom 
 the case; while the bad and the true frequently 
 go together, and the dark and the beautiful are 
 
 often combined. 
 
 * * * 
 
 That which supplies the demands of the pres- 
 ent age least frequently lives afterward. 
 
 * * * 
 
 In the case of small minds, the intellect is 
 wrapped up in small and common affairs. It is 
 right that these affairs should be an abyss from 
 
 which they (the intellects) never emerge. 
 
 * * * 
 
 The evils of Earth are many, and are derived 
 from the circumstances of the world, disease 
 
 and man. 
 
 * # * 
 
 Man in action and man thinking are very dif- 
 ferent creatures; in practical life, an honest 
 
 man does not exist. 
 
 * * # 
 
 To write a good literary work one should have 
 a small income and leisure. The ancients had it. 
 
226 C Cesar's Character 
 
 and in the time of the Eenaissance they also had 
 it, but then only men who are fitted have a 
 
 chance. 
 
 * * # 
 
 When the intellect is at its highest pitch, the 
 moral sense must either be still higher, or not 
 exist at all. And in the list of the world's gen- 
 ius you will find the majority to have belonged 
 
 to the latter class. 
 
 * * # 
 
 The nature in man is, at bottom, responsible 
 for most of his actions. Firstly, man, of neces- 
 sity, does what his nature prompts him to do. 
 Secondly, if man does things according to his 
 wish, passion and desire directly are responsible 
 
 for it, but the source of this is his nature. 
 
 * * # 
 
 The ancients used the fore part of the head, 
 the present age uses the base and sides ; degen- 
 eration? No! 
 
 * * * 
 
 When men like or dislike a man, it is not the 
 rtian they like or dislike, but the qualities, traits 
 
 of character in that man. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Every faculty of the human mind has this 
 distinctive trait. It wishes to have full sway, to 
 the detriment of all other faculties, and it will 
 follow out its purpose with the greatest pertin- 
 acity, to the neglect and disregard of the other 
 
 faculties. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Since the nature in man is responsible for so 
 
Some Disjointed Reflections 227 
 
 much, and is the source of his actions, the trend 
 of his life, and he cannot well be otherwise than 
 what it dictates, the question comes, How came 
 it there 1 If man lived in a former state, and in 
 that state, by his life and actions, determined 
 the nature he should have here, it could not be 
 more positive, clearly defined or firmly fixed. 
 Now, since man holds so firmly to the nature he 
 has, and is willing to be responsible for it, it 
 seems he had something to do with the making 
 of it. Since this could only have happened be- 
 fore his present consciousness existed, it could 
 have happened only in an embryo state, or in a 
 state of pre-existence. Pre-existence would, 
 therefore, explain this one thing — why the na- 
 ture of individual man is as it is, and how it 
 comes to be so powerful — a thing that cannot 
 
 otherwise be explained. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Human life and experience embitter men 
 
 against hope, a future life and religion. 
 
 * * * 
 
 There is nothing so intolerable as the mo- 
 notonous grind of a sane mind ; whereas a mind 
 that has slipped a cog or two has the pleasures 
 of agitation, activity, excitement, variety and 
 nothing of monotony. 
 
 Perturbation of mind is usually accounted a 
 
 bad thing, but sometimes it is genius. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Eockefeller might control the world's oil, but 
 he has no monopoly on the oil of life. 
 
228 CcBsar's Character 
 
 Too strict laws are probably as much the 
 cause of lawbreaking as all the bad tendencies 
 
 in man put together. 
 
 * * # 
 
 The only friends that will stand by a man in 
 time of trouble are his pocketbook and his own 
 
 head. 
 
 * * # 
 
 When women are men and men are women, 
 what is the human race! 
 
 The way of the wise is sufficient. Others 
 
 should take notice. 
 
 * * * 
 
 A candle is made to burn, give light, flicker 
 and burn out; one that does not is no good. 
 
 Man is like a candle. 
 
 * * * 
 
 Man in passion, whether of the exalted or de- 
 pressing kind, is no judge of its strength. 
 
 * # * 
 
 Present pains and pleasures always seem the 
 
 greatest. 
 
 * * * 
 
 People with their democratic spirit forget 
 that when everybody is somebody, nobody is 
 anybody ! 
 
AN ADDRESS TO THE GOOD IN 
 HUMANITY 
 
 Man, not Heaven, needs your help. 
 
 Those who wish well to humanity should as- 
 sert themselves, for what good is it for the 
 good to exist, and the world not know of it? 
 Your numbers are not so few, but you do not 
 assert yourselves, and by many are not known 
 to exist. Why do you allow evil men to work 
 harder for the cause of evil than you do for the 
 cause of good? Don't allow modesty to keep 
 you back; act, or the evil will anticipate you, 
 for to be most useful one must be active. This 
 is well for you to see and perform, for here lies 
 mankind's reserve power, and mankind can be 
 done no good if it sleeps. You say, there are not 
 on earth things of sufficient interest to you to 
 arouse you. No, but if you mirror your type 
 of character upon the world there will be ! 
 
 Those of you who live for Heaven, remem- 
 ber it is not Heaven that needs help, but man- 
 kind! Personal happiness is selfish. You of 
 modest dispositions, if not for yourself, for 
 humanity assert your character. You philoso- 
 phers, gentle as impractical, remember that 
 
 229 
 
230 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 men do not live in clouds and tliat your high 
 systems of morality, like the magnet with its 
 bar at too great a distance, attracts but few 
 men. In addressing the masses it is well to say 
 that evil men are your enemies and will deceive 
 and cajole you, and do worse. Comprehend 
 this and fall not, if possible, but if you fall re- 
 turn and you will be welcomed, but fall not too 
 many times. Let them not distort natures and 
 characters, or invert principles and laws on 
 you, for by this they get you into their power 
 and control. 
 
 Our intention is not to arouse the evil, but 
 to call forth the good in men; we have failed 
 in our purpose if there be no response. But 
 we cannot help but complain when we see the 
 good, truth and the right so long and so effec- 
 tively suppressed. When the good are on the 
 aggressive, not only are the attacks of the evil 
 withdrawn from them, but the latter 's conceit 
 and arrogance immediately disappear. Although 
 the good will seldom accomplish all they set out 
 to do, thej will accomplish much, and much of 
 the evil before practised will disappear as if by 
 magic. 
 
 It is selfish to live a moral life and be apart 
 from the world. Do not be selfish. It is not 
 enough to live a moral life yourself; help oth- 
 ers to do so. Strive not for personal happiness, 
 but to uplift mankind at the expense of the for- 
 mer. That is universal happiness and is that 
 quality in its highest form. The good that comes 
 to the world when good men have the upper 
 
Address to the Good in Humanity 231 
 
 hand is that the evil in men lessens (it never 
 fails), and what, in the opinion of the author, is 
 the noblest and most enduring benefit of all is 
 the fact that the good cannot come into contact 
 with the evil without the latter absorbing, right 
 through the skin, it seems, some of the quali- 
 ties of the good (the result is inevitable.) It 
 is true, the good might suffer some contamina- 
 tion from the evil, but that is the virtue of self- 
 sacrifice. The evil benefits by coming into con- 
 tact with the good, and the good benefits by up- 
 lifting the evil. Is there a nobler purpose in 
 man than to uplift mankind I 
 
 Those of you who have too much reverence 
 and too little insight are to be pitied, for you 
 often reverence what you do not comprehend. 
 You should not reverence until you know what 
 you reverence. Does not the Bible frequently 
 warn you to beware of false Christs and lead- 
 ers I Therefore, comprehend before you admire 
 and respect. God made the world, but man 
 rules it; the good should, therefore, see their 
 duty. The Great Book says : " Be bold in your 
 goodness"; which means nothing else than to 
 reflect your characters upon the world. You 
 should assert yourself; not for your own good, 
 but for the good of humanity; for when good 
 men have the upper hand the effect is enor- 
 mous. 
 
 The principle set forth by the author lies 
 wholly in the hands of the good. "Whether this 
 standard shall be upheld, asserted and estab- 
 lished depends solely upon you. You have 
 
232 CcBsar's Character 
 
 asked for this classification. You have asked 
 that these distinctions be made. Now that you 
 have what you have asked for, see that you up- 
 hold it, for no other will. If you do so, as sure 
 as the human race continues to inhabit the 
 earth, this principle will be established, for this 
 principle and the best that is in man are in- 
 separably linked. 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 THE ARGUMENT 
 
 A few words about Froude. Caesar, at best, 
 benefited the world but indirectly. Bad sub- 
 jects should not be painted in rosy colors. A 
 test to the world. The writer has not been 
 harsh. The author's hope of an after life in 
 this world and the world to come. 
 
 It is amusing to note how the worshipers of 
 Caesar depreciate the opponents of Caesar. Cic- 
 ero, at best, was an "upstart"; Cato a "fool," 
 and, compared to Don Quixote, Pompey a 
 "common man" and only accidentally great, 
 etc. But do the worshipers of Caesar realize 
 that they depreciate their hero in belittling his 
 opponents! If his adversaries were such ex- 
 tremely little men as they try to have us be- 
 lieve, did it not take but a trifle more than a 
 very little man to get the best of them? But, 
 fortunately, Cato, Cicero, Pompey and Brutus 
 "are still there," and they are going to stay 
 there. 
 
 No valid defense of Julius Ccesar has ever 
 been made hy his luorshipers. Of the four main 
 
 283 
 
234 Ccesar^s Character 
 
 writers who have tried to defend his career, 
 Napoleon III and De Quincey do not become 
 deeply involved in it, because they do not say 
 enough, and Mommsen, in his statements, has 
 done his hero more harm than good, as this 
 work has shown. These works, especially the 
 two former, are filled with many windy pas- 
 sages that make one dizzy to read (1). It was 
 reserved, however, for Antony Froude to make 
 the greatest mess of it. A few examples from 
 the latter 's joke-book will make this statement 
 valid. In several places in the work when 
 Froude gets in a tight place he uses a strange 
 method of getting around it. This method will 
 be known in this work as ^' Froude 's Peculiar 
 Defense.'' An example follows. Froude first 
 tries to deny that Curio was in money straits 
 and was bought up by Caesar, by saying^ that 
 ^^ scandal said that young Cicero was in money 
 difficulties, and that Caesar had paid his debts 
 for him. ' ' It might be interesting to the reader 
 to know what Froude calls scandal. 
 
 Following is Suetonius ('^ J. Csesar," XXIX) : 
 ** Caesar, by means of an immense bribe, en- 
 gaged in his defense ^milius Paulus, the other 
 consul, and Caius Curio, the most violent of the 
 tribunes." 
 
 Appian (B. II, chap, v, s. 25) : ^^ Caesar was 
 
 (1) Napoleon III. defended Csesar because he wished to 
 justify the wicked career of his uncle (Napoleon Bona- 
 parte), and the writer has already shown how nicely the 
 two can be compared. 
 
 ^Froude — "Caesar," p. 376. 
 
Conclusion 235 
 
 not able to influence Clandms with money, but 
 he bought the neutrality of Paulus for 1,500 
 talents, and the assistance of Curio with a still 
 larger sum, because he knew that the latter was 
 heavily burdened with debt. ' ' 
 
 Plutarch (^' Caesar,'' XXIX): ''He paid off 
 the vast debts of Curio, the tribune.'' 
 
 Dio Cassius (B. XL, chap. 60) : Dio says 
 that Caesar decided on reconciliation with Curio, 
 and continues: "By buoying him up with many 
 hopes, and releasing him from all his debts, 
 which, on account of his great expenditures, 
 were enormous, Caesar attached him to him- 
 self." 
 
 Mommsen (''History of Rome," page 425) 
 says Curio's debts were about £600,000, and 
 proceeds: "He [Curio] had previously of- 
 fered himself to be bought by Caesar, and had 
 been rejected; the talent which he thenceforth 
 displayed in his attacks on Caesar induced the 
 latter subsequently to buy him up — the price 
 was high, but the commodity was worth the 
 money. ' ' 
 
 We could quote other historians, but will fin- 
 ish with a passage from Middleton: "He [Caes- 
 ar] is said to have given Paulus about £300,000, 
 and to Curio much more. The first wanted to 
 defray the charges of those splendid buildings 
 which he had undertaken to raise at his own 
 cost. The second, to clear himself from the load 
 of his debts, which amounted to about half a 
 million, for he had wasted his great fortunes so 
 effectually in a few years that he had no other 
 
236 Ccesar's Character 
 
 revenue left, as Pliny says, but in the hopes of 
 a civil war. These facts are mentioned by all 
 the Roman ivriters/' 
 
 History, dear reader, as you see, Froude,when 
 it does not redound to Caesar ^s credit, calls 
 ^^ scandal/' We will allow Froude to proceed, 
 and note how he gets out of it : "It was prob- 
 ably a lie invented by political malignity [and 
 then^ after trying to deny it, he admits its pos- 
 sibility] ; but if Curio was purchasable, Ccesar 
 would not have hesitated to buy him"! 
 
 Another example of "Fronde's Peculiar De- 
 fense" is his attempted defense of Caesar's con- 
 duct with women. After talking some nonsense 
 about Caesar's distaste of gluttony and the "sav- 
 age amusements of male Romans,"^ he tries to 
 make out that this darling was better fitted to 
 the "society of cultivated ladies than that of 
 men." Froude found it impossible to deny the 
 charges of Caesar 's connection with women, and 
 used this method in trying to get out of it. But 
 let him proceed (p. 533) : "The elder Curio said : 
 ' Omnium mulierum vir et omnium virorum mu- 
 lier ! ' He had mistresses in every country which 
 he visited, and he had liaisons with half the 
 ladies in Rome. That Caesar's morality was al- 
 together superior to that of the average of his 
 contemporaries is, in a high degree, improbable. 
 He was a man of the world, peculiarly attracted 
 to women, and likely to have been attracted by 
 them." 
 
 ^Page 535. 
 
Conclusion 237 
 
 Let him proceed some more (p. 535) : ''Two 
 intrigues, it may be said, are beyond dispute. 
 His connection with the mother of Brutus was 
 notorious. Cleopatra, in spite of Oppius, was 
 living with him in his house at the time of his 
 murder. ' ' So there, again, dear reader, you see 
 how Froude first tries to deny a thing, and then, 
 finding this impossible, is compelled to admit 
 it. 
 
 We will now pass over Froude 's joke (p. 549) 
 about Caesar's "hatred of injustice" and his 
 "tenderness," and will point out one or two 
 "sick" spots in the work. 
 
 "In a passage from a letter to Atticus," says 
 Troll ope,^ "Froude says that 'Caesar was mor- 
 tar (Froude, p. 365). So much is an intended 
 translation. Then Mr. Froude tells us how 
 Cicero had 'hailed Caesar's eventual murder 
 with rapture'; and goes on to say: 'We read 
 the words with sorrow and yet with pity.' But 
 Cicero had never dream.ed of Caesar's mur- 
 der. The words of the passage are as follows : 
 'Hunc primum mortalem esse, deinde etiam 
 multis modis extingui posse cogitabam.' 'I 
 bethought myself, in the first place, that this 
 man was mortal and then that there were a 
 hundred ways in which he might be put on one 
 side. ' All the latter authorities have, I believe, 
 supposed the 'hunc,' or 'this man,' to be Pom- 
 pey. ' ' 
 
 Further down: "But whether Caesar or Pom- 
 
 ^TroUope— "Life of Cicero." Introduction, pp. 10 and 11. 
 
238 CcBsar's Character 
 
 pey, there is nothing in it to do with murder. 
 It is a question — Cicero is saying to his friend 
 — of the stability of the Republic. When a 
 matter so great is considered, how is a man to 
 trouble himself as to an individual who may die 
 any day, or cease, from any accident, to be of 
 weight ? 
 
 ' ' Cicero was speaking of the effect of this or 
 that stejD on his own part. 'Am I,' he says, 
 'for the sake of Pompey, to bring down hordes 
 of barbarians on my own country, sacrificing 
 the Republic for the sake of a friend who is 
 here to-day and may be gone to-morrow ?' Or 
 for the sake of an enemy, if the reader thinks 
 that the 'hunc' refers to Caesar, the argument is 
 the same : 'Am I to consider an individual when 
 the Republic is at stake ! ' " 
 
 Following is the passage in question from 
 Froude (p. 404) : " 'Caesar, I reflected, was, in 
 the first place, but mortal; and then there were 
 many ways in which he might be got rid of. ' 
 
 "Caesar was but mortal! The rapture with 
 which Cicero hailed Caesar's eventual murder 
 explains too clearly the direction in which his 
 thoughts were already running. If the life of 
 Caesar alone stood between his country and the 
 resurrection of the constitution, Cicero might 
 well think, as others have done, that it was bet- 
 ter that one man should die rather than the 
 whole nation perish. We read the words with 
 sorrow, and yet with pity. That Cicero, after 
 his past flatteries of Caesar, after the praises he 
 was yet to heap upon him, should yet have 
 
Conclusion / 239 
 
 looked on his assassination as a thing to be de- 
 sired, throws a saddening light upon his inner 
 nature. But the age was sick with a moral 
 plague, and neither strong nor weak, wise nor 
 unwise, bore any antidote against infection." 
 
 Trollope makes another correction of 
 Froude^s Latin when the latter claims Cicero 
 wrote: ''When that he [Caesar] should be alive 
 is disgraceful to us." Trollope gives the Latin: 
 ''Cum vivere ipsum turpe sit nobis," and 
 points out that Froude had blundered by ap- 
 plying the word "ipsum" to Caesar. Whereas 
 the true sense is: "When the very fact of liv- 
 ing [in such a state of things] is disgraceful 
 to us!" So here, again, if there is anything 
 "sick" in this matter, it lies not in Cicero, but 
 in Fronde's Latin and imagination. 
 
 Hadley, in his "Introduction to Roman 
 Law,"^ says that "when the Romans, under the 
 lead of Caesar, had become masters of Gaul, the 
 old Celtic language of the country soon disap- 
 peared, and with it the old customs, laws and 
 institutions of the people. The language, laws 
 and institutions of the Romans took their place. 
 In the course of a few generations Gaul was 
 thoroughly Romanized." This probably was a 
 good thing, but Caesar did not intend to bring 
 about this result. His purposes were military, 
 not civil, for it was military glory and the 
 power of the Dictator that he sought. His in- 
 tentions were not of a remote character that 
 
 ^Page 27. 
 
240 CcBsar^s Character 
 
 would be of lasting benefit to the human race; 
 they were of an immediate nature, which could 
 be and were fulfilled within his own lifetime. 
 Caesar benefited the world at best but indirect- 
 ly, and if the world received only the good that 
 was derived from indirect sources, we would 
 most assuredly have very little good in the 
 world. And when we deduct the intensely bad 
 example this character has given the world, 
 from those instances, we find that he owes the 
 world a debt that only centuries in Hades could 
 pay. 
 
 Not all writers are agreed upon the intentions 
 Caesar had in writing his Commentaries, but 
 Mommsen seemed to have expressed the opinion 
 of the great historians when he says that the 
 Commentaries are valuable for the geogra- 
 phy, camp-life and army system. That much 
 will be admitted, for the Commentaries are 
 probably accurate geographically, or Strabo 
 and others would not have followed them; but 
 politically they cannot be accepted as accurate. 
 Caesar's Commentaries are but an arm of his 
 life, and were written not with a literary, but 
 with a political purpose. That is, to explain 
 to the Roman world his nefarious purposes. 
 
 People in general admire ^^ Paradise Losf 
 not so much for the moral it teaches, but for 
 the portrayal of the character of Lucifer. They 
 claim that he is a very attractive personage. 
 Milton certainly did not intend that it should 
 be so, and there is a second, and probably bet- 
 ter, reason why Lucifer is admired. It is a 
 
Conclusion 241 
 
 characteristic of the inhabitants of this world 
 to search out and admire the bad, rather than 
 the good. The latter is often rejected, although 
 it be the prominent part of a work ; whereas the 
 former, set in however black colors and tucked 
 away where it can be reached only after much 
 twisting, when it is distorted from the purpose 
 the author intended it to serve, then admired, 
 and finally embraced. This is the case with 
 Milton's "Paradise Lost," Dante's "Divine 
 Comedy" and the greatest works that have 
 been extended to humanity. There are in this 
 work no Lucifers that can be construed into at- 
 tractive personages, nothing brilliant about 
 evil men. If the reader feels this strongly, then 
 he knows the author has succeeded. 
 
 In describing Heaven and certain things on 
 earth, poetry certainly can do it best, but in- 
 stead of poetry for describing hell and its in- 
 habitants, if stiff, hard, harsh (due to the sub- 
 ject) prose were used, they (those works) would 
 come a step nearer their intended success. Bad 
 subjects should not be painted in rosy colors. 
 
 It is not too much to say that this work tests 
 the world and tests it as it has, probably, not 
 been tested before. If it rejects the work, 
 vomits it forth, then it is sufficient proof that 
 the world is, indeed, in a miserable condition. 
 If it accepts it, then it shows that there is a 
 fairly good amount of honor and righteousness 
 in the world. If this work, we repeat, is a fail- 
 ure, it is due not to any weakness of our cause 
 nor in the way it is set forth, but in the attitude 
 
242 C Cesar's Character 
 
 of those to whom it is addressed. Thence, if 
 the work perishes, the standard of mankind is 
 lower than the author suspected, then the de- 
 pravity of the human race is more universal 
 than he expected to find it. But he cannot be- 
 lieve this is true, and when he reflects that the 
 Bible has been condemned, attacked and as- 
 sailed on all sides, and yet stands firm through 
 it all, he believes that his work, which condemns 
 that type of men most detrimental to the hu- 
 man race, cannot be thrown aside as useless! 
 This work is put in a clear, forcible manner, 
 so that it cannot be misconstrued or misunder- 
 stood. It sets forth its views in a way that is 
 far from obscurity; its mission is to protect and 
 uplift the human race, and the author lays it 
 to the consciences of men whether it shall 
 thrive; reminding them, however, that if they 
 denounce it they condemn themselves in doing 
 so. 
 
 One might say that the author is assertive. 
 Probably so, but it is not ourself that we assert, 
 but the higher order of mankind which, when 
 the class of men we condemn have the upper 
 hand, are not known by the world to exist, for 
 they are frequently suppressed. 
 
 It is not our intention in this work to arouse 
 the evil; if we cannot call forth the good, we 
 prefer that the work should die; but we wish 
 to make it clear, man cannot do this without 
 condemning himself ! Our protection is that we 
 defend mankind. We defend mankind more 
 than we condemn Cassar, and in doing the for- 
 
Conclusion 243 
 
 mer are compelled to do the latter. Aside from 
 our hope of perpetuity, we hope that this work 
 has satisfied that demand made by the better 
 part of mankind, which is expressed best by 
 Channing.' "Nations," this writer says, "have 
 seemed to court aggression and bondage by 
 their stupid, insane admiration of successful 
 tyrants. The wrongs from which men have suf- 
 fered most in mind and body are yet unpun- 
 ished." Then, speaking of the reproaches put 
 upon these men, he says: '^ These reproaches 
 are as little more than sounds, and unmean- 
 ning commonplaces. They are repeated for 
 form's sake. When we read or hear them we 
 feel that they want depth and strength.'' 
 
 The author repeats, he hopes he has satis- 
 fied this demand, aside from being concise and 
 embracing. However, if the author has suc- 
 ceeded in this respect, his estimation of Caesar 
 has not been a harsh one; it has been a truth- 
 ful one. If the two coincide, it is not the fault 
 of the one who points it out, but the one who 
 is the author of it. Parts of this work may 
 have necessarily been hard, but the morals and 
 philosophy contained in it have served to soften 
 a necessarily hard work. And if side topics 
 have been brought in, it was because the writer 
 wished to give one or two good settings to an 
 apparently bad piece of jewelry. 
 
 The writer hopes that the world will absorb 
 the weight of his words, and although it is good 
 advice not to trust to a man's honor who has 
 
 MDhanning, in his "Character of Napoleon Bonaparte." 
 
244 C Cesar's Character 
 
 none, yet he does not wish to be hasty in pass- 
 ing probably a too harsh judgment upon the 
 world. He has compared, pointed out and in- 
 troduced, probably to some, the traits and char- 
 acteristics of two widely different men.^ He 
 wishes to direct the trend of men toward the 
 one, and away from the other; if the first is 
 difficult and seemingly impossible, frail beings 
 of the human race, do see the other, but be care- 
 ful to avoid him. 
 
 This work, on the whole, will probably take a 
 long time to digest, but when it has done so it 
 will do the service that all food of its nature 
 does. 
 
 What care I- to discontinue to live at the end 
 of this life, to live but this short existence! A 
 future existence in a grander, higher world I 
 must have, to be content. And you, dear fellow- 
 beings, must direct your lives no other way. 
 Neither do I care to live but the life granted 
 one on this earth. What I desire is to continue 
 to live on this earth and teach the poor, but be- 
 loved, inhabitants of the world, after I and all 
 of my time are gone. 
 
 It is our desire that our work should be read 
 
 ^The writer here refers to Christ and Caesar. In Caesar's 
 own time Cato and Caesar are meant. It might be said that 
 it would have been better had the writer used Christ in 
 comparison to Caesar throughout the work. Surely, Cato 
 was not a perfect man, but he was a worthy substitute, and 
 it is easier for the people to comprehend the traits of the 
 latter two men, who lived under the same circumstances 
 and conditions. 
 
 2 The first time the author speaks of himself in the first 
 person. The first is after Life; the second, Fame. 
 
Conclusion 245 
 
 by all good Christians and moral men throngh- 
 out the world and in all ages, and that ere the 
 Day of Judgment the perhaps terrible, but no 
 less great, truth we have conveyed to mankind 
 will be recognized and acknowledged. The prin- 
 ciple brought out in this work should be spread 
 over the earth, so that men may see the hvo 
 divisions into ivhich the first men of the world 
 are divided; the benefit of the one to mankind, 
 and the depressing influence upon humanity of 
 the other. A lesson the world is in need of, and 
 which some of its inhabitants have called for. 
 
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