einrichtung mediterran modern

history of julius caesar by jacob abbottchapter vii. the battle of pharsalia. the gathering of the armies of caesar andpompey on the opposite shores of the adriatic sea was one of the grandestpreparations for conflict that history has recorded, and the whole world gazed upon the spectacle at the time with an intenseand eager interest, which was heightened by the awe and terror which the dangerinspired. during the year while caesar had beencompleting his work of subduing and arranging all the western part of theempire, pompey had been gathering from the

eastern division every possible contribution to swell the military forceunder his command, and had been concentrating all these elements of poweron the coasts of macedon and greece, opposite to brundusium, where he knew that caesar would attempt to cross the adriaticsea, his camps, his detachments, his troops of archers and slingers, and his squadronsof horse, filled the land, while every port was guarded, and the line of the coast was environed by batteries and castles on therocks, and fleets of galleys on the water. caesar advanced with his immense army tobrundusium, on the opposite shore, in

december, so that, in addition to theformidable resistance prepared for him by his enemy on the coast, he had to encounter the wild surges of the adriatic, rollingperpetually in the dark and gloomy commotion always raised in such wide seasby wintery storms. caesar had no ships, for pompey had clearedthe seas of every thing which could aid him in his intended passage. by great efforts, however, he succeeded atlength in getting together a sufficient number of galleys to convey over a part ofhis army, provided he took the men alone, and left all his military stores andbaggage behind.

he gathered his army together, therefore,and made them an address, representing that they were now drawing toward the end of alltheir dangers and toils. they were about to meet their great enemyfor a final conflict. it was not necessary to take theirservants, their baggage, and their stores across the sea, for they were sure ofvictory, and victory would furnish them with ample supplies from those whom theywere about to conquer. the soldiers eagerly imbibed the spirit ofconfidence and courage which caesar himself expressed. a large detachment embarked and put to sea,and, after being tossed all night upon the

cold and stormy waters, they approached theshore at some distance to the northward of the place where pompey's fleets hadexpected them. it was at a point where the mountains camedown near to the sea, rendering the coast rugged and dangerous with shelving rocksand frowning promontories. here caesar succeeded in effecting alanding of the first division of his troops, and then sent back the fleet forthe remainder. the news of his passage spread rapidly toall pompey's stations along the coast, and the ships began to gather, and the armiesto march toward the point where caesar had effected his landing.

the conflict and struggle commenced.one of pompey's admirals intercepted the fleet of galleys on their return, andseized and burned a large number of them, with all who were on board. this, of course, only renewed thedetermined desperation of the remainder. caesar advanced along the coast with thetroops which he had landed, driving pompey's troops before him, and subduingtown after town as he advanced. the country was filled with terror anddismay. the portion of the army which caesar hadleft behind could not now cross, partly on account of the stormy condition of theseas, the diminished number of the ships,

and the redoubled vigilance with which pompey's forces now guarded the shores, butmainly because caesar was now no longer with them to inspire them with hisreckless, though calm and quiet daring. they remained, therefore, in anxiety anddistress, on the italian shore. as caesar, on the other hand, advancedalong the macedonian shore, and drove pompey back into the interior, he cut offthe communication between pompey's ships and the land, so that the fleet was soon reduced to great distress for want ofprovisions and water. the men kept themselves from perishing withthirst by collecting the dew which fell

upon the decks of their galleys. caesar's army was also in distress, forpompey's fleets cut off all supplies by water, and his troops hemmed them in on theside of the land; and, lastly, pompey himself, with the immense army that was under his command, began to be struck withalarm at the impending danger with which they were threatened.pompey little realized, however, how dreadful a fate was soon to overwhelm him. the winter months rolled away, and nothingeffectual was done. the forces, alternating and intermingled,as above described, kept each other in a

continued state of anxiety and suffering. caesar became impatient at the delay ofthat portion of his army that he had left on the italian shore. the messages of encouragement and ofurgency which he sent across to them did not bring them over, and at length, onedark and stormy night, when he thought that the inclemency of the skies and the heavy surging of the swell in the offing woulddrive his vigilant enemies into places of shelter, and put them off their guard, hedetermined to cross the sea himself and bring his hesitating army over.

he ordered a galley to be prepared, andwent on board of it disguised, and with his head muffled in his mantle, intending thatnot even the officers or crew of the ship which was to convey him should know of hisdesign. the galley, in obedience to orders, put offfrom the shore. the mariners endeavored in vain for sometime to make head against the violence of the wind and the heavy concussions of thewaves, and at length, terrified at the imminence of the danger to which so wild and tumultuous a sea on such a nightexposed them, refused to proceed, and the commander gave them orders to return.

caesar then came forward, threw off hismantle, and said to them, "friends! you have nothing to fear.you are carrying caesar." the men were, of course, inspirited anew bythis disclosure, but all was in vain. the obstacles to the passage provedinsurmountable, and the galley, to avoid certain destruction, was compelled toreturn. the army, however, on the italian side,hearing of caesar's attempt to return to them, fruitless though it was, andstimulated by the renewed urgency of the orders which he now sent to them, made arrangements at last for an embarkation,and, after encountering great dangers on

the way, succeeded in landing in safety. caesar, thus strengthened, began to planmore decided operations for the coming spring.there were some attempts at negotiation. the armies were so exasperated against eachother on account of the privations and hardships which each compelled the other tosuffer, that they felt too strong a mutual distrust to attempt any regular communication by commissioners orambassadors appointed for the purpose. they came to a parley, however, in one ortwo instances, though the interviews led to no result.

as the missiles used in those days weresuch as could only be thrown to a very short distance, hostile bodies of men couldapproach much nearer to each other then than is possible now, when projectiles of the most terribly destructive character canbe thrown for miles. in one instance, some of the ships ofpompey's fleet approached so near to the shore as to open a conference with one ortwo of caesar's lieutenants who were encamped there. in another case, two bodies of troops fromthe respective armies were separated only by a river, and the officers and soldierscame down to the banks on either side, and

held frequent conversations, calling toeach other in loud voices across the water. in this way they succeeded in so far comingto an agreement as to fix upon a time and place for a more formal conference, to beheld by commissioners chosen on each side. this conference was thus held, but eachparty came to it accompanied by a considerable body of attendants, and these,as might have been anticipated, came into open collision while the discussion was pending; thus the meeting consequentlyended in violence and disorder, each party accusing the other of violating the faithwhich both had plighted. this slow and undecided mode of warfarebetween the two vast armies continued for

many months without any decisive results. there were skirmishes, struggles, sieges,blockades, and many brief and partial conflicts, but no general and decidedbattle. now the advantage seemed on one side, andnow on the other. pompey so hemmed in caesar's troops at oneperiod, and so cut off his supplies, that the men were reduced to extreme distressfor food. at length they found a kind of root whichthey dug from the ground, and, after drying and pulverizing it, they made a sort ofbread of the powder, which the soldiers were willing to eat rather than eitherstarve or give up the contest.

they told caesar, in fact, that they wouldlive on the bark of trees rather than abandon his cause. pompey's soldiers, at one time, coming nearto the walls of a town which they occupied, taunted and jeered them on account of theirwretched destitution of food. caesar's soldiers threw loaves of thisbread at them in return, by way of symbol that they were abundantly supplied. after some time the tide of fortune turnedcaesar contrived, by a succession of adroit maneuvers and movements, to escape from histoils, and to circumvent and surround pompey's forces so as soon to make them

suffer destitution and distress in theirturn. he cut off all communication between themand the country at large, and turned away the brooks and streams from flowing throughthe ground they occupied. an army of forty or fifty thousand men,with the immense number of horses and beasts of burden which accompany them,require very large supplies of water, and any destitution or even scarcity of water leads immediately to the most dreadfulconsequences. pompey's troops dug wells, but theyobtained only very insufficient supplies. great numbers of beasts of burden died, andtheir decaying bodies so tainted the air as

to produce epidemic diseases, whichdestroyed many of the troops, and depressed and disheartened those whom they did notdestroy. during all these operations there was nodecisive general battle. each one of the great rivals knew very wellthat his defeat in one general battle would be his utter and irretrievable ruin. in a war between two independent nations, asingle victory, however complete, seldom terminates the struggle, for the defeatedparty has the resources of a whole realm to fall back upon, which are sometimes called forth with renewed vigor after experiencingsuch reverses; and then defeat in such

cases, even if it be final, does notnecessarily involve the ruin of the unsuccessful commander. he may negotiate an honorable peace, andreturn to his own land in safety; and, if his misfortunes are considered by hiscountrymen as owing not to any dereliction from his duty as a soldier, but to the influence of adverse circumstances which nohuman skill or resolution could have controlled, he may spend the remainder ofhis days in prosperity and honor. the contest, however, between caesar andpompey was not of this character. one or the other of them was a traitor anda usurper--an enemy to his country.

the result of a battle would decide whichof the two was to stand in this attitude. victory would legitimize and confirm theauthority of one, and make it supreme over the whole civilized world. defeat was to annihilate the power of theother, and make him a fugitive and a vagabond, without friends, without home,without country. it was a desperate stake; and it is not atall surprising that both parties lingered and hesitated, and postponed the throwingof the die. at length pompey, rendered desperate by theurgency of the destitution and distress into which caesar had shut him, made aseries of rigorous and successful attacks

upon caesar's lines, by which he broke away in his turn from his enemy's grasp, and thetwo armies moved slowly back into the interior of the country, hovering in thevicinity of each other, like birds of prey contending in the air, each continually striking at the other, and moving onward atthe same time to gain some position of advantage, or to circumvent the other insuch a design. they passed on in this manner over plains,and across rivers, and through mountain passes, until at length they reached theheart of thessaly. here at last the armies came to a stand andfought the final battle.

the place was known then as the plain ofpharsalia, and the greatness of the contest which was decided there has immortalizedits name. pompey's forces were far more numerous thanthose of caesar, and the advantage in all the partial contests which had taken placefor some time had been on his side; he felt, consequently, sure of victory. he drew up his men in a line, one flankresting upon the bank of a river, which protected them from attack on that side. from this point, the long line of legions,drawn up in battle array, extended out upon the plain, and was terminated at the otherextremity by strong squadrons of horse, and

bodies of slingers and archers, so as to give the force of weapons and the activityof men as great a range as possible there, in order to prevent caesar's being able tooutflank and surround them there was, however, apparently very little danger of this, for caesar, according to his ownstory, had but about half as strong a force as pompey. the army of the latter, he says, consistedof nearly fifty thousand men, while his own number was between twenty and thirtythousand. generals, however, are prone to magnify themilitary grandeur of their exploits by

overrating the strength with which they hadto contend, and under-estimating their own. we are therefore to receive with somedistrust the statements made by caesar and his partisans; and as for pompey's story,the total and irreparable ruin in which he himself and all who adhered to him were entirely overwhelmed immediately after thebattle, prevented its being ever told. in the rear of the plain where pompey'slines were extended was the camp from which the army had been drawn out to prepare forthe battle. the camp fires of the preceding night weremoldering away, for it was a warm summer morning; the intrenchments were guarded,and the tents, now nearly empty, stood

extended in long rows within the inclosure. in the midst of them was the magnificentpavilion of the general, furnished with every imaginable article of luxury andsplendor. attendants were busy here and there, somerearranging what had been left in disorder by the call to arms by which the troops hadbeen summoned from their places of rest, and others providing refreshments-and food for their victorious comrades when theyshould return from the battle. in pompey's tent a magnificententertainment was preparing. the tables were spread with every luxury,the sideboards were loaded with plate, and

the whole scene was resplendent withutensils and decorations of silver and gold. pompey and all his generals were perfectlycertain of victory. in fact, the peace and harmony of theircouncils in camp had been destroyed for many days by their contentions and disputesabout the disposal of the high offices, and the places of profit and power at rome, which were to come into their hands whencaesar should have been subdued. the subduing of caesar they considered onlya question of time; and, as a question of time, it was now reduced to very narrowlimits.

a few days more, and they were to bemasters of the whole roman empire, and, impatient and greedy, they disputed inanticipation about the division of the spoils. to make assurance doubly sure, pompey gaveorders that his troops should not advance to meet the onset of caesar's troops on themiddle ground between the two armies, but that they should wait calmly for the attack, and receive the enemy at the postswhere they had themselves been arrayed. the hour at length arrived, the charge wassounded by the trumpets, and caesar's troops began to advance with loud shoutsand great impetuosity toward pompey's

lines. there was a long and terrible struggle, butthe forces of pompey began finally to give way. notwithstanding the precautions whichpompey had taken to guard and protect the wing of his army which was extended towardthe land, caesar succeeded in turning his flank upon that side by driving off the cavalry and destroying the archers andslingers, and he was thus enabled to throw a strong force upon pompey's rear. the flight then soon became general, and ascene of dreadful confusion and slaughter

ensued. the soldiers of caesar's army, maddenedwith the insane rage which the progress of a battle never fails to awaken, and nowexcited to phrensy by the exultation of success, pressed on after the affrighted fugitives, who trampled one upon another,or fell pierced with the weapons of their assailants, filling the air with theircries of agony and their shrieks of terror. the horrors of the scene, far fromallaying, only excited still more the ferocity of their bloodthirsty foes, andthey pressed steadily and fiercely on, hour after hour, in their dreadful work ofdestruction.

it was one of those scenes of horror andwoe such as those who have not witnessed them can not conceive of, and those whohave witnessed can never forget. when pompey perceived that all was lost, hefled from the field in a state of the wildest excitement and consternation. his troops were flying in all directions,some toward the camp, vainly hoping to find refuge there, and others in various otherquarters, wherever they saw the readiest hope of escape from their mercilesspursuers. pompey himself fled instinctively towardthe camp. as he passed the guards at the gate wherehe entered, he commanded them, in his

agitation and terror, to defend the gateagainst the coming enemy, saying that he was going to the other gates to attend tothe defenses there. he then hurried on, but a full sense of thehelplessness and hopelessness of his condition soon overwhelmed him; he gave upall thought of defense, and, passing with a sinking heart through the scene of consternation and confusion which reignedevery where within the encampment, he sought his own tent, and, rushing into it,sank down, amid the luxury and splendor which had been arranged to do honor to his anticipated victory, in a state of utterstupefaction and despair.

> history of julius caesar by jacob abbottchapter viii. flight and death of pompey. caesar pursued the discomfited and flyingbodies of pompey's army to the camp. they made a brief stand upon the rampartsand at the gates in a vain and fruitless struggle against the tide of victory whichthey soon perceived must fully overwhelm them. they gave way continually here and therealong the lines of intrenchment, and column after column of caesar's followers brokethrough into the camp.

pompey, hearing from his tent theincreasing noise and uproar, was at length aroused from his stupor, and began tosummon his faculties to the question what he was to do. at length a party of fugitives, hotlypursued by some of caesar's soldiers, broke into his tent."what!" said pompey, "into my tent too!" he had been for more than thirty years avictorious general, accustomed to all the deference and respect which boundlesswealth, extended and absolute power, and the highest military rank could afford. in the encampments which he had made, andin the cities which he had occupied from

time to time, he had been the supreme andunquestioned master, and his tent, arranged and furnished, as it had always been, in a style of the utmost magnificence andsplendor, had been sacred from all intrusion, and invested with such a dignitythat potentates and princes were impressed when they entered, with a feeling ofdeference and awe. now, rude soldiers burst wildly into it,and the air without was filled with an uproar and confusion, drawing every momentnearer and nearer, and warning the fallen hero that there was no longer any protection there against the approachingtorrent which was coming on to overwhelm

him. pompey aroused himself from his stupor,threw off the military dress which belonged to his rank and station, and assumed ahasty disguise, in which he hoped he might make his escape from the immediate scene ofhis calamities. he mounted a horse and rode out of the campat the easiest place of egress in the rear, in company with bodies of troops and guardswho were also flying in confusion, while caesar and his forces on the other side were carrying the intrenchments and forcingtheir way in. as soon is he had thus made his escape fromthe immediate scene of danger, he

dismounted and left his horse, that hemight assume more completely the appearance of a common soldier, and, with a few attendants who were willing to follow hisfallen fortunes, he went on to the eastward, directing his weary steps towardthe shores of the aegean sea. the country through which he was travelingwas thessaly. thessaly is a vast amphitheater, surroundedby mountains, from whose sides streams descend, which, after watering many fertilevalleys and plains, combine to form one great central river that flows to the eastward, and after various meanderings,finds its way into the aegean sea through a

romantic gap between two mountains, calledthe vale of tempe--a vale which has been famed in all ages for the extreme picturesqueness of its scenery, and inwhich, in those days, all the charms both of the most alluring beauty and of thesublimest grandeur seemed to be combined. pompey followed the roads leading along thebanks of this stream, weary in body, and harassed and disconsolate in mind. the news which came to him from time totime, by the flying parties which were moving through the country in alldirections, of the entire and overwhelming completeness of caesar's victory,

extinguished all remains of hope, andnarrowed down at last the grounds of his solicitude to the single point of his ownpersonal safety. he was well aware that he should bepursued, and, to baffle the efforts which he knew that his enemies would make tofollow his track, he avoided large towns, and pressed forward in by-ways and solitudes, bearing as patiently as he wasable his increasing destitution and distress. he reached, at length, the vale of tempe,and there, exhausted with hunger, thirst, and fatigue, he sat down upon the bank ofthe stream to recover by a little rest

strength enough for the remainder of hisweary way. he wished for a drink, but he had nothingto drink from. and so the mighty potentate, whose tent wasfull of delicious beverages, and cups and goblets of silver and gold, extendedhimself down upon the sand at the margin of the river, and drank the warm waterdirectly from the stream. while pompey was thus anxiously andtoilsomely endeavoring to gain the sea- shore, caesar was completing his victoryover the army which he had left behind him. when caesar had carried the intrenchmentsof the camp, and the army found that there was no longer any safety for them there,they continued their retreat under the

guidance of such generals as remained. caesar thus gained undisputed possession ofthe camp. he found every where the marks of wealthand luxury, and indications of the confident expectation of victory which thediscomfited army had entertained. the tents of the generals were crowned withmyrtle, the beds were strewed with flowers, and tables every where were spread forfeasts, with cups and bowls of wine all ready for the expected revelers. caesar took possession of the whole,stationed a proper guard to protect the property, and then pressed forward with hisarmy in pursuit of the enemy.

pompey's army made their way to aneighboring rising ground, where they threw up hasty intrenchments to protectthemselves for the night. a rivulet ran near the hill, the access towhich they endeavored to secure, in order to obtain supplies of water.caesar and his forces followed them to this spot. the day was gone, and it was too late toattack them. caesar's soldiers, too, were exhausted withthe intense and protracted excitement and exertions which had now been kept up formany hours in the battle and in the pursuit, and they needed repose.

they made, however, one effort more. they seized the avenue of approach to therivulet, and threw up a temporary intrenchment to secure it whichintrenchment they protected with a guard; and then the army retired to rest, leaving their helpless victims to while away thehours of the night, tormented with thirst, and overwhelmed with anxiety and despair.this could not long be endured. they surrendered in the morning, and caesarfound himself in possession of over twenty thousand prisoners. in the mean time, pompey passed on throughthe vale of tempe toward the sea,

regardless of the beauty and splendor thatsurrounded him, and thinking only of his fallen fortunes, and revolving despairingly in his mind the various forms in which thefinal consummation of his ruin might ultimately come. at length he reached the sea-shore, andfound refuge for the night in a fisherman's cabin.a small number of attendants remained with him, some of whom were slaves. these he now dismissed, directing them toreturn and surrender themselves to caesar, saying that he was a generous foe, and thatthey had nothing to fear from him.

his other attendants he retained, and hemade arrangements for a boat to take him the next day along the coast. it was a river boat, and unsuited to theopen sea, but it was all that he could obtain. he arose the next morning at break of day,and embarked in the little vessel, with two or three attendants, and the oarsmen beganto row away along the shore. they soon came in sight of a merchant shipjust ready to sail. the master of this vessel, it happened, hadseen pompey, and knew his countenance, and he had dreamed, as a famous historian ofthe times relates, on the night before,

that pompey had come to him hi the guise of a simple soldier and in great distress, andthat he had received and rescued him. there was nothing extraordinary in such adream at such a time, as the contest between caesar and pompey, and the approachof the final collision which was to destroy one or the other of them, filled the mindsand occupied the conversation of the world. the shipmaster, therefore, having seen andknown one of the great rivals in the approaching conflict, would naturally findboth his waking and sleeping thoughts dwelling on the subject; and his fancy, in his dreams, might easily picture the sceneof his rescuing and saving the fallen hero

in the hour of his distress. however this may be, the shipmaster is saidto have been relating his dream to the seamen on the deck of his vessel when theboat which was conveying pompey came into view. pompey himself, having escaped from theland, supposed all immediate danger over, not imagining that seafaring men wouldrecognize him in such a situation and in such a disguise. the shipmaster did, however, recognize him.he was overwhelmed with grief at seeing him in such a condition.

with a countenance and with gesturesexpressive of earnest surprise and sorrow, he beckoned to pompey to come on board. he ordered his own ship's boat to beimmediately let down to meet and receive him.pompey came on board. the ship was given up to his possession,and every possible arrangement was made to supply his wants, to contribute to hiscomfort, and to do him honor. the vessel conveyed him to amphipolis, acity of macedonia near the sea, and to the northward and eastward of the place wherehe had embarked. when pompey arrived at the port he sentproclamations to the shore, calling upon

the inhabitants to take arms and join hisstandard. he did not, however, land, or take anyother measures for carrying these arrangements into effect. he only waited in the river upon whichamphipolis stands long enough to receive a supply of money from some of his friends onthe shore, and stores for his voyage, and then get sail again. whether he learned that caesar wasadvancing in that direction with a force too strong for him to encounter, or foundthat the people were disinclined to espouse his cause, or whether the whole movement

was a feint to direct caesar's attention tomacedon as the field of his operations, in order that he might escape more secretlyand safely beyond the sea, can not now be ascertained. pompey's wife cornelia was on the island oflesbos, at mitylene, near the western coast of asia minor. she was a lady of distinguished beauty, andof great intellectual superiority and moral worth. she was extremely well versed in all thelearning of the times, and yet was entirely free from those peculiarities and airswhich, as her historian says, were often

observed in learned ladies in those days. pompey had married her after the death ofjulia, caesar's daughter. they were strongly devoted to each other. pompey had provided for her a beautifulretreat on the island of lesbos, where she was living in elegance and splendor,beloved for her own intrinsic charms, and highly honored on account of the greatnessand fame of her husband. here she had received from time to timeglowing accounts of his success all exaggerated as they came to her, throughthe eager desire of the narrators to give her pleasure.

from this high elevation of honor andhappiness the ill-fated cornelia suddenly fell, on the arrival of pompey's solitaryvessel at mitylene, bringing as it did, at the same time, both the first intelligence of her husband's fall, and himself inperson, a ruined and homeless fugitive and wanderer.the meeting was sad and sorrowful. cornelia was overwhelmed at the suddennessand violence of the shock which it brought her, and pompey lamented anew the dreadfuldisaster that he had sustained, at finding how inevitably it must involve his beloved wife as well as himself in its irreparableruin.

the pain, however, was not wholly withoutsome mingling of pleasure. a husband finds a strange sense ofprotection and safety in the presence and sympathy of an affectionate wife in thehour of his calamity. she can, perhaps do nothing, but her muteand sorrowful concern and pity comfort and reassure him.cornelia, however, was able to render her husband some essential aid. she resolved immediately to accompany himwherever he should go; and, by their joint endeavors, a little fleet was gathered, andsuch supplies as could be hastily obtained, and such attendants and followers as were

willing to share his fate, were taken onboard. during all this time pompey would not go onshore himself, but remained on board, his ship in the harbor. perhaps he was afraid of some treachery orsurprise, or perhaps, in his fallen and hopeless condition, he was unwilling toexpose himself to the gaze of those who had so often seen him in all the splendor ofhis former power. at length, when all was ready, he sailedaway. he passed eastward along the mediterranean,touching at such ports as he supposed most likely to favor his cause.

vague and uncertain, but still alarmingrumors that caesar was advancing in pursuit of him met him every where, and the peopleof the various provinces were taking sides, some in his favor and some against him, the excitement being every where so great thatthe utmost caution and circumspection were required in all his movements. sometimes he was refused permission toland; at others, his friends were too few to afford him protection; and at othersstill, though the authorities professed friendship, he did not dare to trust them. he obtained, however, some supplies ofmoney and some accessions to the number of

ships and men under his command, until atlength he had quite a little fleet in his train. several men of rank and influence, who hadserved under him in the days of his prosperity, nobly adhered to him now, andformed a sort of court or council on board his galley, where they held with their great though fallen commander frequentconversations on the plan which it was best to pursue.it was finally decided that it was best to seek refuge in egypt. there seemed to be, in fact, noalternative.

all the rest of the world was evidentlygoing over to caesar. pompey had been the means, some yearsbefore, of restoring a certain king of egypt to his throne, and many of hissoldiers had been left in the country, and remained there still. it is true that the king himself had died.he had left a daughter named cleopatra, and also a son, who was at this time veryyoung. the name of this youthful prince wasptolemy. ptolemy and cleopatra bad been made bytheir father joint heirs to the throne. but ptolemy, or, rather, the ministers andcounselors who acted for him and in his

name, had expelled cleopatra, that theymight govern alone. cleopatra had raised an army in syria, andwas on her way to the frontiers of egypt to regain possession of what she deemed herrights. ptolemy's ministers had gone forth to meether at the head of their own troops, 'ptolemy himself being also with them. they had reached pelusium, which is thefrontier town between egypt and syria on the coast of the mediterranean. here their armies had assembled in vastencampments upon the land, and their galleys and transports were riding atanchor along the shore of the sea.

pompey and his-counselors thought that thegovernment of ptolemy would receive him as a friend, on account of the services he hadrendered to the young prince's father, forgetting that gratitude has never a placeon the list of political virtues. pompey's little squadron made its wayslowly over the waters of the mediterranean toward pelusium and the camp of ptolemy. as they approached the shore, both pompeyhimself and cornelia felt many anxious forebodings. a messenger was sent to the land to informthe young king of pompey's approach, and to solicit his protection.the government of ptolemy held a council,

and took the subject into consideration. various opinions were expressed, andvarious plans were proposed. the counsel which was finally followed wasthis. it would be dangerous to receive pompey,since that would make caesar their enemy. it would be dangerous to refuse to receivehim, as that would make pompey their enemy, and, though powerless now, he might one daybe in a condition to seek vengeance. it was wisest, therefore, to destroy him. they would invite him to the shore, andkill him when he landed. this would please caesar; and pompeyhimself, being dead, could never revenge

it. "dead dogs," as the orator said who madethis atrocious proposal, "do not bite." an egyptian, named achillas, was appointedto execute the assassination thus decreed. an invitation was sent to pompey to land,accompanied with a promise of protection; and, when his fleet had approached nearenough to the shore, achillas took a small party in a boat, and went out to meet hisgalley. the men in this boat, of course, werearmed. the officers and attendants of pompeywatched all these movements from the deck of his galley.

they scrutinized every thing that occurredwith the closest attention and the greatest anxiety, to see whether the indicationsdenoted an honest friendship or intentions of treachery. the appearances were not favorable.pompey's friends observed that no preparations were making along the shorefor receiving him with the honors due, as they thought, to his rank and station. the manner, too, in which the egyptiansseemed to expect him to land was ominous of evil. only a single insignificant boat for apotentate who recently had commanded half

the world! then, besides, the friends of pompeyobserved that several of the principal galleys of ptolemy's fleet were getting uptheir anchors, and preparing apparently to be ready to move at a sudden call these and other indications appeared much more likepreparations for seizing an enemy than welcoming a friend. cornelia, who, with her little son, stoodupon the deck of pompey's galley, watching the scene with a peculiar intensity ofsolicitude which the hardy soldiers around her could not have felt, became soonexceedingly alarm ad.

she begged her husband dot to go on shore.but pompey decided that it was now too late to retreat. he could not escape from the egyptiangalleys if they had received orders to intercept him, nor could he resist violenceif violence were intended. to do any thing like that would evincedistrust, and to appear like putting himself upon his guard would be to take atonce, himself, the position of an enemy, and invite and justify the hostility of theegyptians in return. as to flight, he could not hope to escapefrom the egyptian galleys if they had received orders to prevent it; and,besides, if he were determined on

attempting an escape, whither should hefly? the world was against him. his triumphant enemy was on his track infull pursuit, with all the vast powers and resources of the whole roman empire at hiscommand. there remained for pompey only the lastforlorn hope of a refuge in egypt, or else, as the sole alternative, a complete andunconditional submission to caesar. his pride would not consent to this, and hedetermined, therefore, dark as the indications were, to place himself, withoutany appearance of distrust, in ptolemy's hands, and abide the issue.

the boat of achillas approached the galley. when it touched the side, achillas and theother officers on board of it hailed pompey in the most respectful manner, giving himthe title of imperator, the highest title known in the roman state. achillas addressed pompey in greek.the greek was the language of educated men in all the eastern countries in those days. he told him that the water was too shallowfor his galley to approach nearer to the shore, and invited him to come on board ofhis boat, and he would take him to the beach, where, as he said, the king waswaiting to receive him.

with many anxious forebodings, that werebut ill concealed, pompey made preparations to accept the invitation. he bade his wife farewell, who clung to himas they were about to part with a gloomy presentiment that they should never meetagain. two centurions who were to accompanypompey, and two servants, descended into the boat. pompey himself followed, and then theboatmen pushed off from the galley and made toward the shore. the decks of all the vessels in pompey'slittle squadron, as well as those of the

egyptian fleet, were crowded withspectators, and lines of soldiery and groups of men, all intently watching the operations of the landing, were scatteredalong the shore. among the men whom achillas had provided toaid him in the assassination was an offieer of the roman army who had formerly servedunder pompey. as soon as pompey was seated in the boat,he recognized the countenance of this man, and addressed him, saying, "i think iremember you as having been in former days my fellow-soldier." the man replied merely by a nod of assent.

feeling somewhat guilty and self-condemnedat the thoughts of the treachery which he was about to perpetrate, he was littleinclined to renew the recollection of the days when he was pompey's friend. in fact, the whole company in the boat,filled on the one part with awe in anticipation of the terrible deed whichthey were soon to commit, and on the other with a dread suspense and alarm, were little disposed for conversation, andpompey took out a manuscript of an address in greek which he had prepared to make tothe young king at his approaching interview with him, and occupied himself in readingit over.

thus they advanced in a gloomy and solemnsilence, hearing no sound but the dip of the oars in the water, and the gentle dashof the waves along the line of the shore. at length the boat touched the sand, whilecornelia still stood on the deck of the galley, watching every movement with greatsolicitude and concern. one of the two servants whom pompey hadtaken with him, named philip, his favorite personal attendant, rose to assist hismaster in landing. he gave pompey his hand to aid him inrising from his seat, and at that moment the roman officer whom pompey hadrecognized as his fellow-soldier, advanced behind him and stabbed him in the back.

at the same instant achillas and the othersdrew their swords. pompey saw that all was lost. he did not speak, and he uttered no cry ofalarm, though cornelia's dreadful shriek was so loud and piercing that it was heardupon the shore. from the suffering victim himself nothingwas heard but an inarticulate groan extorted by his agony.he gathered his mantle over his face, and sank down and died. of course, all was now excitement andconfusion. as soon as the deed was done, theperpetrators of it retired from the scene,

taking the head of their unhappy victimwith them, to offer to caesar as proof that his enemy was really no more. the officers who remained in the fleetwhich had brought pompey to the coast made all haste to sail away, bearing thewretched cornelia with them, utterly distracted with grief and despair, while philip and his fellow-servant remained uponthe beach, standing bewildered and stupefied over the headless body of theirbeloved master. crowds of spectators came in succession tolook upon the hideous spectacle a moment in silence, and then to turn, shocked andrepelled, away.

at length, when the first impulse ofexcitement had in some measure spent its force, philip and his comrades so farrecovered their composure as to begin to turn their thoughts to the only consolation that was now left to them, that ofperforming the solemn duties of sepulture. they found the wreck of a fishing boat uponthe strand, from which they obtained wood enough for a rude funeral pile. they burned what remained of the mutilatedbody, and, gathering up the ashes, they put them in an urn and sent them to cornelia,who afterward buried them at alba with many bitter tears.

history of julius caesar by jacob abbottchapter ix. caesar in egypt. caesar surveyed the field of battle afterthe victory of pharsalia, not with the feelings of exultation which might havebeen expected in a victorious general, but with compassion and sorrow for the fallen soldiers whose dead bodies covered theground. after gazing upon the scene sadly and insilence for a time, he said, "they would have it so," and thus dismissed from hismind all sense of his own responsibility for the consequences which had ensued.

he treated the immense body of prisonerswhich had fallen into his hands with great clemency, partly from the natural impulsesof his disposition, which were always generous and noble, and partly from policy, that he might conciliate them all, officersand soldiers, to acquiescence in his future rule. he then sent back a large portion of hisforce to italy, and, taking a body of cavalry from the rest, in order that hemight advance with the utmost possible rapidity, he set off through thessaly andmacedon in pursuit of his fugitive foe. he had no naval force at his command, andhe accordingly kept upon the land.

besides, he wished, by moving through thecountry at the head of an armed force, to make a demonstration which should put downany attempt that might be made in arty quarter to rally or concentrate a force inpompey's favor. he crossed the hellespont, and moved downthe coast of asia minor. there was a great temple consecrated todiana at ephesus, which, for its wealth and magnificence, was then the wonder of theworld. the authorities who had it in their charge,not aware of caesar's approach, had concluded to withdraw the treasures fromthe temple and loan them to pompey, to be repaid when he should have regained hisdower.

an assembly was accordingly convened towitness the delivery of the treasures, and take note of their value, which ceremonywas to be performed with great formality and parade, when they learned that caesar had crossed the hellespont and was drawingnear. the whole proceeding was thus arrested, andthe treasures were retained. caesar passed rapidly on through asiaminor, examining and comparing, as he advanced, the vague rumors which werecontinually coming in in respect to pompey's movements. he learned at length that he had gone tocyprus; he presumed that his destination

was egypt, and he immediately resolved toprovide himself with a fleet, and follow him thither by sea. as time passed on, and the news of pompey'sdefeat and flight, and of caesar's triumphant pursuit of him, became generallyextended and confirmed, the various powers ruling in all that region of the world abandoned one after another the hopelesscause, and began to adhere to caesar. they offered him such resources and aid ashe might desire. he did not, however, stop to organize alarge fleet or to collect an army. he depended, like napoleon, in all thegreat movements of his life, not on

grandeur of preparation, but on celerity ofaction. he organized at rhodes a small but veryefficient fleet of ten galleys, and, embarking his best troops in them, he madesail for the coasts of egypt. pompey had landed at pelusium, on theeastern frontier, having heard that the young king and his court were there to meetand resist cleopatra's invasion. caesar, however, with the characteristicboldness and energy of his character, proceeded directly to alexandria, thecapital. egypt was, in those days, an ally of theromans, as the phrase was; that is, the country, though it preserved itsindependent organization and its forms of

royalty, was still united to the roman people by an intimate league, so as to forman integral part of the great empire. caesar, consequently, in appearing therewith an armed force, would naturally be received as a friend. he found only the garrison which ptolemy'sgovernment had left in charge of the city. at first the officers of this garrison gavehim an outwardly friendly reception, but they soon began to take offense at the airof authority and command which he assumed, and which seemed to them to indicate a spirit of encroachment on the sovereigntyof their own king.

feelings of deeply-seated alienation andanimosity sometimes find their outward expression in contests about thingsintrinsically of very little importance. it was so in this case. the roman consuls were accustomed to use acertain badge of authority called the fasces.it consisted of a bundle of rods, bound around the handle of an ax. whenever a consul appeared in public, hewas preceded by two officers called lictors, each of whom carried the fasces asa symbol of the power which was vested in the distinguished personage who followedthem.

the egyptian officers and the people of thecity quarreled with caesar on account of his moving about among them in his imperialstate, accompanied by a life guard, and preceded by the lictors. contests occurred between his troops andthose of the garrison, and many disturbances were created in the streets ofthe city. although no serious collision took place,caesar thought it prudent to strengthen his force, and he sent back to europe foradditional legions to come to egypt and join him. the tidings of pompey's death came tocaesar at alexandria, and with them the

head of the murdered man, which was sent bythe government of ptolemy, they supposing that it would be an acceptable gift tocaesar. instead of being pleased with it, caesarturned from the shocking spectacle in horror. pompey had been, for many years now goneby, caesar's colleague and friend. he had been his son-in-law, and thus hadsustained to him a very near and endearing relation. in the contest which had at lastunfortunately arisen, pompey had done no wrong either to caesar or to the governmentat rome.

he was the injured party, so far as therewas a right and a wrong to such a quarrel. and now, after being hunted through halfthe world by his triumphant enemy, he had been treacherously murdered by menpretending to receive him as a friend. the natural sense of justice, which formedoriginally so strong a trait in caesar's character, was not yet wholly extinguished. he could not but feel some remorse at thethoughts of the long course of violence and wrong which he had pursued against his oldchampion and friend, and which had led at last to so dreadful an end. instead of being pleased with the horridtrophy which the egyptians sent him, he

mourned the death of his great rival withsincere and unaffected grief, and was filled with indignation against hismurderers. pompey had a signet ring upon his finger atthe time of his assassination, which was taken off by the egyptian officers andcarried away to ptolemy, together with the other articles of value which had beenfound upon his person. ptolemy sent this seal to caesar tocomplete the proof that its possessor was no more. caesar received this memorial with eagerthough mournful pleasure, and he preserved it with great care.

and in many ways, during all the remainderof his life, he manifested every outward indication of cherishing the highestrespect for pompey's memory. there stands to the present day, among theruins of alexandria, a beautiful column, about one hundred feet high, which has beenknown in all modern times as pompey's pillar. it is formed of stone, and is in threeparts. one stone forms the pedestal, another theshaft, and a third the capital. the beauty of this column, the perfectionof its workmanship, which still continues in excellent preservation, and itsantiquity, so great that all distinct

record of its origin is lost, have combined to make it for many ages the wonder andadmiration of mankind. although no history of its origin has comedown to us, a tradition has descended that caesar built it during his residence inegypt, to commemorate the name of pompey; but whether it was his own victory over pompey, or pompey's own character andmilitary fame which the structure was intended to signalize to mankind, can notnow be known. there is even some doubt whether it waserected by caesar at all. while caesar was in alexandria, many ofpompey's officers, now that their master

was dead, and there was no longer anypossibility of their rallying again under his guidance and command, came in andsurrendered themselves to him. he received them with great kindness, and,instead of visiting them with any penalties for having fought against him, he honoredthe fidelity and bravery they had evinced in the service of their own former master. caesar had, in fact, shown the samegenerosity to the soldiers of pompey's army that he had taken prisoners at the battleof pharsalia. at the close of the battle, he issuedorders that each one of his soldiers should have permission to save one of the enemy.

nothing could more strikingly exemplifyboth the generosity and the tact that marked the great conqueror's character thanthis incident. the hatred and revenge which had animatedhis victorious soldiery in the battle and in the pursuit, were changed immediately bythe permission to compassion and good will. the ferocious soldiers turned at once fromthe pleasure of hunting their discomfited enemies to death, to that of protecting anddefending them; and the way was prepared for their being received into his service, and incorporated with the rest of his armyas friends and brothers. caesar soon found himself in so strong aposition at alexandria, that he determined

to exercise his authority as roman consulto settle the dispute in respect to the succession of the egyptian crown. there was no difficulty in finding pretextsfor interfering in the affairs of egypt. in the first place, there was, as hecontended, great anarchy and confusion at alexandria, people taking different sidesin the controversy with such fierceness as to render it impossible that good government and public order should berestored until this great question was settled. he also claimed a debt due from theegyptian government, which photinus,

ptolemy's minister at alexandria, was verydilatory in paying. this led to animosities and disputes; and,finally, caesar found, or pretended to find, evidence that photinus was formingplots against his life. at length caesar determined on takingdecided action. he sent orders both to ptolemy and tocleopatra to disband their forces, to repair to alexandria, and lay theirrespective claims before him for his adjudication. cleopatra complied with this summons, andreturned to egypt with a view to submitting her case to caesar's arbitration.ptolemy determined to resist.

he advanced toward egypt, but it was at thehead of his army, and with a determination to drive caesar and all his roman followersaway. when cleopatra arrived, she found that theavenues of approach to caesar's quarters were all in possession of her enemies, sothat, in attempting to join him, she incurred danger of falling into their handsas a prisoner. she resorted to a stratagem, as the storyis, to gain a secret admission. they rolled her up in a sort of bale ofbedding or carpeting, and she was carried in in this way on the back of a man,through the guards, who might otherwise have intercepted her.

caesar was very much pleased with thisdevice, and with the successful result of cleopatra, too, was young and beautiful,and caesar immediately conceived a strong but guilty attachment to her, which shereadily returned. caesar espoused her cause, and decided thatshe and ptolemy should jointly occupy the throne.ptolemy and his partisans were determined not to submit to this award. the consequence was, a violent andprotracted war. ptolemy was not only incensed at beingdeprived of what he considered his just right to the realm, he was also halfdistracted at the thought of his sister's

disgraceful connection with caesar. his excitement and distress, and theexertions and efforts to which they aroused him, awakened a strong sympathy in hiscause among the people, and caesar found himself involved in a very serious contest, in which his own life was broughtrepeatedly into the most imminent danger, and which seriously threatened the totaldestruction of his power. he, however, braved all the difficulty anddangers, and recklessly persisted in the course he had taken, under the influence ofthe infatuation in which his attachment to cleopatra held him, as by a spell.

the war in which caesar was thus involvedby his efforts to give cleopatra a seat with her brother on the egyptian throne, iscalled in history the alexandrine war. it was marked by many strange and romanticincidents. there was a light-house, called the pharos,on a small island opposite the harbor of alexandria, and it was so famed, both onaccount of the great magnificence of the edifice itself, and also on account of its position at the entrance to the greatestcommercial port in the world, that it has given its name, as a generic appellation,to all other structures of the kind--any light-house being now called a pharos, just

as any serious difficulty is called agordian knot. the pharos was a lofty tower--the accountssay that it was five hundred feet in height, which would be an enormouselevation for such a structure--and in a lantern at the top a brilliant light was kept constantly burning, which could beseen over the water for a hundred miles. the tower was built in several successivestories, each being ornamented with balustrades, galleries, and columns, sothat the splendor of the architecture by day rivaled the brilliancy of the radiationwhich beamed from the summit by night. far and wide over the stormy waters of themediterranean this meteor glowed, inviting

and guiding the mariners in; and both itswelcome and its guidance were doubly prized in those ancient days, when there was neither compass nor sextant on which theycould rely. in the course of the contest with theegyptians, caesar took possession of the pharos, and of the island on which itstood; and as the pharos was then regarded as one of the seven wonders of the world, the fame of the exploit, though it wasprobably nothing remarkable in a military point of view, spread rapidly throughoutthe world. and yet, though the capture of a light-house was no very extraordinary conquest,

in the course of the contests on the harborwhich were connected with it caesar had a very narrow escape from death. in all such struggles he was accustomedalways to take personally his full share of the exposure and the danger. this resulted in part from the naturalimpetuosity and ardor of his character, which were always aroused to doubleintensity of action by the excitement of battle, and partly from the ideas of the military duty of a commander whichprevailed in those days. there was besides, in this case, anadditional inducement to acquire the glory

of extraordinary exploits, in caesar'sdesire to be the object of cleopatra's admiration, who watched all his movements, and who was doubly pleased with his prowessand bravery, since she saw that they were exercised for her sake and in her cause. the pharos was built upon an island, whichwas connected by a pier or bridge with the main land. in the course of the attack upon thisbridge, caesar, with a party of his followers, got driven back and hemmed in bya body of the enemy that surrounded them, in such a place that the only mode of

escape seemed to be by a boat, which mighttake them to a neighboring galley. they began, therefore, all to crowd intothe boat in confusion, and so overloaded it that it was obviously in imminent danger ofbeing upset or of sinking. the upsetting or sinking of an overloadedboat brings almost certain destruction upon most of the passengers, whether swimmers ornot, as they seize each other in their terror, and go down inextricably entangled together, each held by the others in theconvulsive grasp with which drowning men always cling to whatever is within theirreach. caesar, anticipating this danger, leapedover into the sea and swam to the ship.

he had some papers in his hand at the time--plans, perhaps, of the works which he was assailing. these he held above the water with his lefthand, while he swam with the right. and to save his purple cloak or mantle, theemblem of his imperial dignity, which he supposed the enemy would eagerly seek toobtain as a trophy, he seized it by a corner between his teeth, and drew it after him through the water as he swam toward thegalley. the boat which he thus escaped from soonafter went down, with all on board. during the progress of this alexandrine warone great disaster occurred, which has

given to the contest a most melancholycelebrity in all subsequent ages: this disaster was the destruction of thealexandrian library. the egyptians were celebrated for theirlearning, and, under the munificent patronage of some of their kings, thelearned men of alexandria had made an enormous collection of writings, which were inscribed, as was the custom in those days,on parchment rolls. the number of the rolls or volumes was saidto be seven hundred thousand; and when we consider that each one was written withgreat care, in beautiful characters, with a pen, and at a vast expense, it is not

surprising that the collection was theadmiration of the world. in fact, the whole body of ancientliterature was there recorded. caesar set fire to some egyptian galleys,which lay so near the shore that the wind blew the sparks and flames upon thebuildings on the quay. the fire spread among the palaces and othermagnificent edifices of that part of the city, and one of the great buildings inwhich the library was stored was reached and destroyed. there was no other such collection in theworld; and the consequence of this calamity has been, that it is only detached andinsulated fragments of ancient literature

and science that have come down to ourtimes. the world will never cease to mourn theirreparable loss. notwithstanding the various untowardincidents which attended the war in alexandria during its progress, caesar, asusual, conquered in the end. the young king ptolemy was defeated, and,in attempting to make his escape across a branch of the nile, he was drowned. caesar then finally settled the kingdomupon cleopatra and a younger brother, and, after remaining for some time longer inegypt, he set out on his return to rome. the subsequent adventures of cleopatra wereas romantic as to have given her name a

very wide celebrity. the lives of the virtuous pass smoothly andhappily away, but the tale, when told to others, possesses but little interest orattraction; while those of the wicked, whose days are spent in wretchedness and despair, and are thus full of misery to theactors themselves, afford to the rest of mankind a high degree of pleasure, from thedramatic interest of the story. cleopatra led a life of splendid sin, and,of course, of splendid misery. she visited caesar in rome after his returnthither. caesar received her magnificently, and paidher all possible honors; but the people of

rome regarded her with strong reprobation. when her young brother, whom caesar hadmade her partner on the throne, was old enough to claim his share, she poisonedhim. after caesar's death, she went fromalexandria to syria to meet antony, one of caesar's successors, in a galley or barge,which was so rich, so splendid, so magnificently furnished and adorned, that it was famed throughout the world ascleopatra's barge. a great many beautiful vessels have sincebeen called by the same name. cleopatra connected herself with antony,who became infatuated with her beauty and

her various charms as caesar had been. after a great variety of romanticadventures, antony was defeated in battle by his great rival octavius, and, supposingthat he had been betrayed by cleopatra, he pursued her to egypt, intending to killher. she hid herself in a sepulcher, spreading areport that she had committed suicide, and then antony stabbed himself in a fit ofremorse and despair. before he died, he learned that cleopatrawas alive, and he caused himself to be carried into her presence and died in herarms. cleopatra then fell into the hands ofoctavius, who intended to carry her to rome

to grace his triumph. to save herself from this humiliation, andweary with a life which, full of sin as it had been, was a constant series ofsufferings, she determined to die. a servant brought in an asp for her,concealed in a vase of flowers, at a great banquet. she laid the poisonous reptile on her nakedarm, and died immediately of the bite which it inflicted. history of julius caesar by jacob abbottchapter x. caesar imperator.

although pompey himself had been killed,and the army under his immediate command entirely annihilated, caesar did not findthat the empire was yet completely submissive to his sway. as the tidings of his conquests spread overthe vast and distant regions which were under the roman rule--although the storyitself of his exploits might have been exaggerated--the impression produced by his power lost something of its strength, asmen generally have little dread of remote danger. while he was in egypt, there were threegreat concentrations of power formed

against him in other quarters of the globe:in asia minor, in africa, and in spain. in putting down these three great andformidable arrays of opposition, caesar made an exhibition to the world of thatastonishing promptness and celerity of military action on which his fame as ageneral so much depends. he went first to asia minor, and fought agreat and decisive battle there, in a manner so sudden and unexpected to theforces that opposed him that they found themselves defeated almost before theysuspected that their enemy was near. it was in reference to this battle that hewrote the inscription for the banner, "veni, vidi, vici" the words may berendered in english, "i came, looked, and

conquered," though the peculiar force of the expression, as well as thealliteration, is lost in any attempt to translate it. in the mean time, caesar's prosperity andsuccess had greatly strengthened his cause at rome. rome was supported in a great measure bythe contributions brought home from the provinces by the various military heroeswho were sent out to govern them; and, of course, the greater and more successful was the conqueror, the better was he qualifiedfor stations of highest authority in the

estimation of the inhabitants of the city. they made caesar dictator even while he wasaway, and appointed mark antony his master of horse. this was the same antony whom we havealready mentioned as having been connected with cleopatra after caesar's death. rome, in fact, was filled with the fame ofcaesar's exploits, and, as he crossed the adriatic and advanced toward the city, hefound himself the object of universal admiration and applause. but he could not yet be contented toestablish himself quietly at rome.

there was a large force organized againsthim in africa under cato, a stern and indomitable man, who had long been an enemyto caesar, and who now considered him as a usurper and an enemy of the republic, and was determined to resist him to the lastextremity. there was also a large force assembled inspain under the command of two sons of pompey, in whose case the ordinarypolitical hostility of contending partisans was rendered doubly intense and bitter by their desire to avenge their father's cruelfate. caesar determined first to go to africa,and then, after disposing of cato's

resistance, to cross the mediterranean intospain. before he could set out, however, on theseexpeditions, he was involved in very serious difficulties for a time, on accountof a great discontent which prevailed in his army, and which ended at last in openmutiny. the soldiers complained that they had notreceived the rewards and honors which caesar had promised them. some claimed offices, others money otherslands, which, as they maintained, they had been led to expect would be conferred uponthem at the end of the campaign. the fact undoubtedly was, that, elated withtheir success, and intoxicated with the

spectacle of the boundless influence andpower which their general so obviously wielded at rome, they formed expectations and hopes for themselves altogether toowild and unreasonable to be realized by soldiers; for soldiers, however much theymay be flattered by their generals in going into battle, or praised in the mass in official dispatches, are after all butslaves, and slaves, too, of the very humblest caste and character. the famous tenth legion, cesar's favoritecorps, took the most active part in fomenting these discontents, as mightnaturally have been expected, since the

attentions and the praises which he had bestowed upon them, though at first theytended to awaken their ambition, and to inspire them with redoubled ardor andcourage, ended, as such favoritism always does, in making them vain, self-important,and unreasonable. led on thus by the tenth legion, the wholearmy mutinied. they broke up the camp where they had beenstationed at some distance beyond the walls of rome, and marched toward the city. soldiers in a mutiny, even though headed bytheir subaltern officers, are very little under command; and these roman troops,feeling released from their usual

restraints, committed various excesses on the way, terrifying the inhabitants andspreading universal alarm. the people of the city were thrown intoutter consternation at the approach of the vast horde, which was coming like aterrible avalanche to descend upon them. the army expected some signs of resistanceat the gates, which, if offered, they were prepared to encounter and overcome. their plan was, after entering the city, toseek caesar and demand their discharge from his service. they knew that he was under the necessityof immediately making a campaign in africa,

and that, of course, he could not possibly,as they supposed, dispense with them. he would, consequently, if they asked theirdischarge, beg them to remain, and, to induce them to do it, would comply with alltheir expectations and desires. such was their plan. to tender, however, a resignation of anoffice as a means of bringing an opposite party to terms, is always a very hazardousexperiment. we easily overrate the estimation in whichour own services are held taking what is said to us in kindness or courtesy byfriends as the sober and deliberate judgment of the public; and thus it often

happens that persons who in such case offerto resign, are astonished to find their resignations readily accepted. when caesar's mutineers arrived at thegates, they found, instead of opposition, only orders from caesar, by which they weredirected to leave all their arms except their swords, and march into the city. they obeyed.they were then directed to go to the campus martius, a vast parade ground situatedwithin the walls, and to await caesar's orders there.[3] caesar met them in the campus martius, anddemanded why they had left their encampment

without orders and come to the city. they stated in reply, as they hadpreviously planned to do, that they wished to be discharged from the public service. to their great astonishment, caesar seemedto consider this request as nothing at all extraordinary, but promised, an the otherhand, very readily to grant it he said that they should be at once discharged, and should receive faithfully all the rewardswhich had been promised them at the close of the war for their long and arduousservices. at the same time, he expressed his deepregret that, to obtain what he was

perfectly willing and ready at any time togrant, they should have so far forgotten their duties as romans, and violated the discipline which should always be heldabsolutely sacred by every soldier. he particularly regretted that the tenthlegion, on which he had been long accustomed so implicitly to rely, shouldhave taken a part in such transactions. in making this address, caesar assumed akind and considerate, and even respectful tone toward his men, calling them quiritesinstead of soldiers--an honorary mode of appellation, which recognized them as constituent members of the romancommonwealth.

the effect of the whole transaction waswhat might have been anticipated. a universal desire was awakened throughoutthe whole army to return to their duty. they sent deputations to caesar, beggingnot to be taken at their word, but to be retained in the service, and allowed toaccompany him to africa. after much hesitation and delay, caesarconsented to receive them again, all excepting the tenth legion, who, he said,had now irrevocably lost his confidence and regard. it is a striking illustration of thestrength of the attachment which bound caesar's soldiers to their commander, thatthe tenth legion would not be discharged,

after all. they followed caesar of their own accordinto africa, earnestly entreating him again and again to receive them. he finally did receive them in detachments,which he incorporated with the rest of his army, or sent on distant service, but hewould never organize them as the tenth legion again. it was now early in the winter, a stormyseason for crossing the mediterranean sea. caesar, however, set off from romeimmediately, proceeded south to sicily, and encamped on the sea-shore there till thefleet was ready to convey his forces to

africa. the usual fortune attended him in theafrican campaigns his fleet was exposed to imminent dangers in crossing the sea, but,in consequence of the extreme deliberation and skill with which his arrangements weremade, he escaped them all. he overcame one after another of themilitary difficulties which were in his way in africa. his army endured, in the depth of winter,great exposures and fatigues, and they had to encounter a large hostile force underthe charge of cato. they were, however, successful in everyundertaking.

cato retreated at last to the city ofutica, where he shut himself up with the remains of his army; but finding, atlength, when caesar drew near, that there was no hope or possibility of making good his defense, and as his stern andindomitable spirit could not endure the thought of submission to one whom heconsidered as an enemy to his country and a traitor he resolved upon a very effectual mode of escaping from his conqueror'spower. he feigned to abandon all hope of defendingthe city, and began to make arrangements to facilitate the escape of his soldiers overthe sea.

he collected the vessels in the harbor, andallowed all to embark who were willing to take the risks of the stormy water. he took, apparently, great interest in theembarkations, and, when evening came on, he sent repeatedly down to the sea-side toinquire about the state of the wind and the progress of the operations. at length he retired to his apartment, and,when all was quiet in the house, he lay down upon his bed and stabbed himself withhis sword he fell from the bed by the blow, or else from the effect of some convulsive motion which the penetrating steeloccasioned.

his son and servants, hearing the fall,came rushing into the room, raised him from the floor, and attempted to bind up andstanch the wound. cato would not permit them to do it. he resisted them violently as soon as hewas conscious of what they intended. finding that a struggle would onlyaggravate the horrors of the scene, and even hasten its termination, they left thebleeding hero to his fate, and in a few minutes he died. the character of cato, and thecircumstances under which his suicide was committed, make it, on the whole, the mostconspicuous act of suicide which history

records; and the events which followed show in an equally conspicuous manner theextreme folly of the deed. in respect to its wickedness, cato, nothaving had the light of christianity before him, is to be leniently judged. as to the folly of the deed, however, he isto be held strictly accountable. if he had lived and yielded to hisconqueror, as he might have done gracefully and without dishonor, since all his meansof resistance were exhausted, caesar would have treated him with generosity and respect, and would have taken him to rome;and as within a year or two of this time

caesar himself was no more, cato's vastinfluence and power might have been, and un doubtedly would have been, called most effectually into action for the benefit ofhis country. if any one, in defending cato, should sayhe could not foresee this, we reply, he could have foreseen it; not the preciseevents, indeed, which occurred, but he could have foreseen that vast changes must take place, and new aspects of affairsarise, in which his powers would be called into requisition. we can always foresee in the midst of anystorm, however dark and gloomy, that clear

skies will certainly sooner or later comeagain; and this is just as true metaphorically in respect to the vicissitudes of human life, as it isliterally in regard to the ordinary phenomena of the skies. from africa caesar returned to rome, andfrom rome he went to subdue the resistance which was offered by the sons of pompey inspain. he was equally successful here. the oldest son was wounded in battle, andwas carried off from the field upon a litter faint and almost dying.

he recovered in some degree, and, findingescape from the eager pursuit of caesar's soldiers impossible, he concealed himselfin a cave, where he lingered for a little time in destitution and misery. he was discovered at last; his head was cutoff by his captors and sent to caesar, as his father's had been. the younger son succeeded in escaping, buthe became a wretched fugitive and outlaw, and all manifestations of resistance tocaesar's sway disappeared from spain. the conqueror returned to rome theundisputed master of the whole roman world. then came his triumphs.

triumphs were great celebrations, by whichmilitary heroes in the days of the roman commonwealth signalized their victories ontheir return to the city caesar's triumphs were four, one for each of his four great successful campaigns, viz., in egypt, inasia minor, in africa, and in spain. each was celebrated on a separate day, andthere was an interval of several days between them, to magnify their importance,and swell the general interest which they excited among the vast population of thecity. on one of these days, the triumphal car inwhich caesar rode, which was most magnificently adorned, broke down on theway, and caesar was nearly thrown out of it

by the shock. the immense train of cars, horses,elephants, flags, banners, captives, and trophies which formed the splendidprocession was all stopped by the accident, and a considerable delay ensued. night came on, in fact before the columncould again be put in motion to enter the city, and then caesar, whose genius wasnever more strikingly shown than when he had opportunity to turn a calamity to advantage, conceived the idea of employingthe forty elephants of the train as torch- bearers; the long procession accordinglyadvanced through the streets and ascended

to the capitol, lighted by the great blazing flambeaus which the sagacious anddocile beasts were easily taught to bear, each elephant holding one in his proboscis,and waving it above the crowd around him. in these triumphal processions, every thingwas borne in exhibition which could serve as a symbol of the conquered country or atrophy of victory, flags and banners taken from the enemy; vessels of gold and silver, and other treasures, loaded in vans;wretched captives conveyed in open carriages or marching sorrowfully on foot,and destined, some of them, to public execution when the ceremony of the triumph

was ended; displays of arms, andimplements, and dresses, and all else which might serve to give the roman crowd an ideaof the customs and usages of the remote and conquered nations; the animals they used, caparisoned in the manner in which theyused them: these, and a thousand other trophies and emblems, were brought into theline to excite the admiration of the crowd, and to add to the gorgeousness of thespectacle. in fact, it was always a great object ofsolicitude and exertion with all the roman generals, when on distant and dangerousexpeditions, to possess themselves of every possible prize in the progress of their

campaign which could aid in adding splendorto the triumph which was to signalize its end. in these triumphs of caesar, a young sisterof cleopatra was in the line of the egyptian procession. in that devoted to asia minor was a greatbanner containing the words already referred to, veni, vidi, vici. there were great paintings, too, bornealoft, representing battles and other striking scenes. of course, all rome was in the higheststate of excitement during the days of the

exhibition of this pageantry. the whole surrounding country flocked tothe capital to witness it, and caesar's greatness and glory were signalized in themost conspicuous manner to all mankind. after these triumphs, a series of splendidpublic entertainments were given, over twenty thousand tables having been spreadfor the populace of the city shows of every possible character and variety wereexhibited. there were dramatic plays, and equestrianperformances in the circus, and gladiatorial combats, and battles with wildbeasts, and dances, and chariot races, and every other imaginable amusement which

could be devised and carried into effect togratify a population highly cultivated in all the arts of life, but barbarous andcruel in heart and character. some of the accounts which have come downto us of the magnificence of the scale on which these entertainments were conductedare absolutely incredible. it is said, for example, that an immensebasin was constructed near the tiber, large enough to contain two fleets of galleys,which had on board two thousand rowers each, and one thousand fighting men. these fleets were then manned withcaptives, the one with asiatics and the other with egyptians, and when all wasready, they were compelled to fight a real

battle for the amusement of the spectators which thronged the shores, until vastnumbers were killed, and the waters of the lake were dyed with blood. it is also said that the whole forum, andsome of the great streets in the neighborhood where the principalgladiatorial shows were held, were covered with silken awnings to protect the vast crowds of spectators from the sun, andthousands of tents were erected to accommodate the people from the surroundingcountry, whom the buildings of the city could not contain.

all open opposition to caesar's power anddominion now entirely disappeared. even the senate vied with the people inrendering him every possible honor. the supreme power had been hitherto lodgedin the hands of two consuls, chosen annually, and the roman people had beenextremely jealous of any distinction for any one, higher than that of an elective annual office, with a return to privatelife again when the brief period should have expired. they now, however, made caesar, in thefirst place, consul for ten years, and then perpetual dictator.they conferred upon him the title of the

father of his country. the name of the month in which he was bornwas changed to julius, from his praenomen, and we still retain the name. he was made, also, commander-in-chief ofall the armies of the commonwealth, the title to which vast military power wasexpressed in the latin language by the word imperator. caesar was highly elated with all thesesubstantial proofs of the greatness and glory to which he had attained, and wasalso very evidently gratified with smaller, but equally expressive proofs of thegeneral regard.

statues representing his person were placedin the public edifices, and borne in processions like those of the gods. conspicuous and splendidly ornamented seatswere constructed for him in all the places of public assembly, and on these he sat tolisten to debates or witness spectacles, as if he were upon a throne he had, either by his influence or by his direct power, thecontrol of all the appointments to office, and was, in fact, in every thing but thename, a sovereign and an absolute king. he began now to form great schemes ofinternal improvement for the general benefit of the empire.

he wished to increase still more the greatobligations which the roman people were under to him for what he had already done. they really were under vast obligations tohim; for, considering rome as a community which was to subsist by governing theworld, caesar had immensely enlarged the means of its subsistence by establishing its sway every where, and providing for anincalculable increase of its revenues from the tribute and the taxation of conqueredprovinces and kingdoms. since this work of conquest was nowcompleted, he turned his attention to the internal affairs of the empire, and mademany improvements in the system of

administration, looking carefully into every thing, and introducing every wherethose exact and systematic principles which such a mind as his seeks instinctively inevery thing over which it has any control. one great change which he effectedcontinues in perfect operation throughout europe to the present day.it related to the division of time. the system of months in use in his daycorresponded so imperfectly with the annual circuit of the sun, that the months weremoving continually along the year in such a manner that the winter months came at length in the summer, and the summer monthsin the winter.

this led to great practical inconveniences;for whenever, for example, any thing was required by law to be done in certainmonths, intending to have them done in the summer, and the specified month came at length to be a winter month, the law wouldrequire the thing to be done in exactly the wrong season. caesar remedied all this by adopting a newsystem of months, which should give three hundred and sixty-five days to the year forthree years, and three hundred and sixty- six for the fourth; and so exact was the system which he thus introduced, that itwent on unchanged for sixteen centuries.

the months were then found to be elevendays out of the way, when a new correction was introduced,[4] and it will now go onthree thousand years before the error will amount to a single day. caesar employed a greek astronomer toarrange the system that he adopted; and it was in part on account of the improvementwhich he thus effected that one of the months, as has already been mentioned, wascalled july. its name before was quintilis.caesar formed a great many other vast and magnificent schemes. he planned public buildings for the city,which were going to exceed in magnitude and

splendor all the edifices of the world. he commenced the collection of vastlibraries, formed plans for draining the pontine marshes, for bringing greatsupplies of water into the city by an aqueduct, for cutting a new passage for the tiber from rome to the sea, and making anenormous artificial harbor at its mouth. he was going to make a road along theapennines, and cut a canal through the isthmus of corinth, and construct othervast works, which were to make rome the center of the commerce of the world. in a word, his head was filled with thegrandest schemes, and he was gathering

around him all the means and resourcesnecessary for the execution of them. history of julius caesar by jacob abbottchapter xi the conspiracy. caesar's greatness and glory came at lastto a very sudden and violent end. he was assassinated. all the attendant circumstances of thisdeed, too, were of the most extraordinary character, and thus the dramatic interestwhich adorns all parts of the great conqueror's history marks strikingly itsend. his prosperity and power awakened, ofcourse, a secret jealousy and ill will.

those who were disappointed in theirexpectations of his favor murmured. others, who had once been his rivals, hatedhim for having triumphed over them. then there was a stern spirit of democracy,too, among certain classes of the citizens of rome which could not brook a master. it is true that the sovereign power in theroman commonwealth had never been shared by all the inhabitants. it was only in certain privileged classesthat the sovereignty was vested; but among these the functions of government weredivided and distributed in such a way as to balance one interest against another, and

to give all their proper share of influenceand authority. terrible struggles and conflicts oftenoccurred among these various sections of society, as one or another attempted fromtime to time to encroach upon the rights or privileges of the rest. these struggles, however, ended usually inat last restoring again the equilibrium which had been disturbed. no one power could ever gain the entireascendency; and thus, as all monarchism seemed excluded from their system, theycalled it a republic. caesar, however, had now concentrated inhimself all the principal elements of

power, and there began to be suspicionsthat he wished to make himself in name and openly, as well as secretly and in fact, aking. the romans abhorred the very name of king. they had had kings in the early periods oftheir history, but they made themselves odious by their pride and theiroppressions, and the people had deposed and expelled them. the modern nations of europe have severaltimes performed the same exploit, but they have generally felt unprotected and ill atease without a personal sovereign over them and have accordingly, in most cases, after

a few years, restored some branch of theexpelled dynasty to the throne the romans were more persevering and firm. they had managed their empire now for fivehundred years as a republic, and though they had had internal dissensions,conflicts, and quarrels without end, had persisted so firmly and unanimously in their detestation of all regal authority,that no one of the long line of ambitious and powerful statesmen, generals, orconquerors by which the history of the empire had been signalized, had ever daredto aspire to the name of king. there began, however, soon to appear someindications that caesar, who certainly now

possessed regal power, would like the regalname. ambitious men, in such cases, do notdirectly assume themselves the titles and symbols of royalty. others make the claim for them, while theyfaintly disavow it, till they have opportunity to gee what effect the ideaproduces on the public mind. the following incidents occurred which itwas thought indicated such a design on the part of caesar. there were in some of the public buildingscertain statues of kings; for it must be understood that the roman dislike to kingswas only a dislike to having kingly

authority exercised over themselves. they respected and sometimes admired thekings of other countries, and honored their exploits, and made statues to commemoratetheir fame. they were willing that kings should reignelsewhere, so long as there were no king of rome.the american feeling at the present day is much the same. if the queen of england were to make aprogress through this country, she would receive, perhaps, as many and as strikingmarks of attention and honor as would be rendered to her in her own realm.

we venerate the antiquity of her royalline; we admire the efficiency of her government and the sublime grandeur of herempire, and have as high an idea as any, of the powers and prerogatives of her crown-- and these feelings would show themselvesmost abundantly on any proper occasion. we are willing, nay, wish that she shouldcontinue to reign over englishmen; and yet, after all, it would take some millions ofbayonets to place a queen securely upon a throne over this land. regal power was accordingly, in theabstract, looked up to at rome, as it is elsewhere, with great respect; and it was,in fact, all the more tempting as an object

of ambition, from the determination felt by the people that it should not be exercisedthere. there were, accordingly, statues of kingsat rome. caesar placed his own statue among them. some approved, others murmured. there was a public theater in the city,where the officers of the government were accustomed to sit in honorable seatsprepared expressly for them, those of the senate being higher and more distinguishedthan the rest. caesar had a seat prepared for himselfthere, similar in form to a throne, and

adorned it magnificently with gilding andornaments of gold, which gave it the entire pre-eminence over all the other seats. he had a similar throne placed in thesenate chamber, to be occupied by himself when attending there, like the throne ofthe king of england in the house of lords. he held, moreover, a great many publiccelebrations and triumphs in the city in commemoration of his exploits and honors;and, on one of these occasions, it was arranged that the senate were to come to him at a temple in a body, and announce tohim certain decrees which they had passed to his honor.

vast crowds had assembled to witness theceremony caesar was seated in a magnificent chair, which might have been called eithera chair or a throne, and was surrounded by officers and attendants when the senate approached, caesar did not rise to receivethem, but remained seated, like a monarch receiving a deputation of his subjects. the incident would not seem to be in itselfof any great importance, but, considered as an indication of caesar's designs, itattracted great attention, and produced a very general excitement. the act was adroitly managed so as to besomewhat equivocal in its character, in

order that it might be represented one wayor the other on the following day, according as the indications of publicsentiment might incline. some said that caesar was intending torise, but was prevented, and held down by those who stood around him. others said that an officer motioned to himto rise, but he rebuked his interference by a frown, and continued his seat. thus while, in fact, he received the romansenate as their monarch and sovereign, his own intentions and designs in so doing wereleft somewhat in doubt, in order to avoid awakening a sudden and violent opposition.

not long after this, as he was returning inpublic from some great festival, the streets being full of crowds, and thepopulace following him in great throngs with loud acclamations, a man went up to his statue as he passed it, and placed uponthe head of it a laurel crown, fastened with a white ribbon, which was a badge ofroyalty. some officers ordered the ribbon to betaken down, and sent the man to prison. caesar was very much displeased with theofficers, and dismissed them from their office. he wished, he said, to have the opportunityto disavow, himself, such claims, and not

to have others disavow them for him. caesar's disavowals were, however, sofaint, and people had so little confidence in their sincerity, that the cases becamemore and more frequent in which the titles and symbols of royalty were connected withhis name. the people who wished to gain his favorsaluted him in public with the name of rex, the latin word for king. he replied that his name was caesar, notrex, showing, however, no other signs of displeasure. on one great occasion, a high publicofficer, a near relative of his, repeatedly

placed a diadem upon his head, caesarhimself, as often as he did it, gently putting it off. at last he sent the diadem away to a templethat was near, saying that there was no king in rome but jupiter. in a word, all his conduct indicated thathe wished to have it appear that the people were pressing the crown upon him, when hehimself was steadily refusing it. this state of things produced a very strongand universal, though suppressed excitement in the city.parties were formed. some began to be willing to make caesarking; others were determined to hazard

their lives to prevent it.none dared, however, openly to utter their sentiments on either side. they expressed them by mysterious looks anddark intimations. at the time when caesar refused to rise toreceive the senate, many of the members withdrew in silence, and with looks ofoffended dignity when the crown was placed upon his statue or upon his own brow, a portion of the populace would applaud withloud acclamations; and whenever he disavowed these acts, either by words orcounter-actions of his own, an equally loud acclamation would arise from the otherside.

on the whole, however, the idea that caesarwas gradually advancing toward the kingdom steadily gained ground. and yet caesar himself spoke frequentlywith great humility in respect to his pretensions and claims; and when he foundpublic sentiment turning against the ambitious schemes he seems secretly to have cherished, he would present some excuse orexplanation for his conduct plausible enough to answer the purpose of adisavowal. when he received the senate, sitting like aking, on the occasion before referred to, when they read to him the decrees whichthey had passed in his favor, he replied to

them that there was more need of diminishing the public honors which hereceived than of increasing them. when he found, too, how much excitement hisconduct on that occasion had produced, he explained it by saying that he had retainedhis sitting posture on account of the infirmity of his health, as it made himdizzy to stand. he thought, probably, that these pretextswould tend to quiet the strong and turbulent spirits around him, from whoseenvy or rivalry he had most to fear, without at all interfering with the effect which the act itself would have producedupon the masses of the population.

he wished, in a word, to accustom them tosee him assume the position and the bearing of a sovereign, while, by his apparenthumility in his intercourse with those immediately around him, he avoided as much as possible irritating and arousing thejealous and watchful rivals who were next to him in power. if this were his plan, it seemed to beadvancing prosperously toward its accomplishment. the population of the city seemed to becomemore and more familiar with the idea that caesar was about to become a king.

the opposition which the idea had at firstawakened appeared to subside, or, at least, the public expression of it, which dailybecame more and more determined and dangerous, was restrained. at length the time arrived when it appearedsafe to introduce the subject to the roman senate.this, of course, was a hazardous experiment. it was managed, however, in a very adroitand ingenious manner. there were in rome, and, in fact, in manyother cities and countries of the world in those days, a variety of prophetic books,called the sibylline oracles, in which it

was generally believed that future eventswere foretold. some of these volumes or rolls, which werevery ancient and of great authority, were preserved in the temples at rome, under thecharge of a board of guardians, who were to keep them with the utmost care, and to consult them on great occasions, in orderto discover beforehand what would be the result of public measures or greatenterprises which were in contemplation. it happened that at this time the romanswere engaged in a war with the parthians, a very wealthy and powerful nation of asia. caesar was making preparations for anexpedition to the east to attempt to subdue

this people.he gave orders that the sibylline oracles should be consulted. the proper officers, after consulting themwith the usual solemn ceremonies, reported to the senate that they found it recordedin these sacred prophecies that the parthians could not be conquered except by a king, a senator proposed, therefore,that, to meet the emergency, caesar should be made king during the war.there was at first no decisive action on this proposal. it was dangerous to express any opinion.people were thoughtful, serious, and

silent, as on the eve of some greatconvulsion. no one knew what others were meditating,and thus did not dare to express his own wishes or designs. there soon, however, was a prevailingunderstanding that caesar's friends were determined on executing the design ofcrowning him, and that the fifteenth of march, called, in their phraseology, the ides of march, was fixed upon as thecoronation day. in the mean time, caesar's enemies, thoughto all outward appearance quiet and calm, had not been inactive.

finding that his plans were now ripe forexecution, and that they had no, open means of resisting them, they formed a conspiracyto assassinate caesar himself, and thus bring his ambitious schemes to an effectualand final end. the name of the original leader of thisconspiracy was cassius. cassius had been for a long time caesar'spersonal rival and enemy. he was a man of a very violent and ardenttemperament, impetuous and fearless, very fond of exercising power himself, but veryrestless and uneasy in having it exercised over him. he had all the roman repugnance to beingunder the authority of a master, with an

additional personal determination of hisown not to submit to caesar. he determined to slay caesar rather than toallow him to be made a king, and he went to work, with great caution, to bring otherleading and influential men to join him in this determination. some of those to whom he applied said thatthey would unite with him in his plot provided he would get marcus brutus to jointhem. brutus was the praetor of the city. the praetorship of the city was a very highmunicipal office. the conspirators wished to have brutus jointhem partly on account of his station as a

magistrate, as if they supposed that byhaving the highest public magistrate of the city for their leader in the deed, the destruction of their victim would appearless like a murder, and would be invested, instead, in some respects, with thesanctions and with the dignity of an official execution. then, again, they wished for the moralsupport which would be afforded them in their desperate enterprise by brutus'sextraordinary personal character. he was younger than cassius, but he wasgrave, thoughtful, taciturn, calm--a man of inflexible integrity, of the coolestdetermination, and, at the same time, of

the most undaunted courage. the conspirators distrusted one another,for the resolution of impetuous men is very apt to fail when the emergency arriveswhich puts it to the test; but as for brutus, they knew very well that whateverhe undertook he would most certainly do. there was a great deal even in his name. it was a brutus that five centuries beforehad been the main instrument of the expulsion of the roman kings. he had secretly meditated the design, and,the better to conceal it, had feigned idiocy, as the story was, that he might notbe watched or suspected until the favorable

hour for executing his design shouldarrive. he therefore ceased to speak, and seemed tolose his reason; he wandered about the city silent and gloomy, like a brute. his name had been lucius junius before.they added brutus now, to designate his condition. when at last, however, the crisis arrivedwhich he judged favorable for the expulsion of the kings, he suddenly reassumed hisspeech and his reason, called the astonished romans to arms, and triumphantlyaccomplished his design. his name and memory had been cherished eversince that day as of a great deliverer.

they, therefore, who looked upon caesar asanother king, naturally turned their thoughts to the brutus of their day, hopingto find in him another deliverer. brutus found, from time to time,inscriptions on his ancient namesake's statue expressing the wish that he were nowalive. he also found each morning, as he came tothe tribunal where he was accustomed to sit in the discharge of the duties of hisoffice, brief writings, which had been left there during the night, in which few words expressed deep meaning, such as "awake,brutus, to thy duty;" and "art thou indeed a brutus?"

still it seemed hardly probable that brutuscould be led to take a decided stand against caesar, for they had been warmpersonal friends ever since the conclusion of the civil wars. brutus had, indeed, been on pompey's sidewhile that general lived; he fought with him at the battle of pharsalia, but he hadbeen taken prisoner there, and caesar, instead of executing him as a traitor, as most victorious generals in a civil warwould have done, spared his life, forgave him for his hostility, received him intohis own service, and afterward raised him to very high and honorable stations.

he gave him the government of the richestprovince, and, after his return from it, loaded with wealth and honors, he made himpraetor of the city. in a word, it would seem that he had doneevery thing which it was possible to do to make him one of his most trustworthy anddevoted friends. the men, therefore, to whom cassius firstapplied, perhaps thought that they were very safe in saying that they would unitein the intended conspiracy if he would get brutus to join them. they expected cassius himself to make theattempt to secure the co-operation of brutus, as cassius was on terms of intimacywith him on account of a family connection.

cassius's wife was the sister of brutus. this had made the two men intimateassociates and warm friends in former years, though they had been recentlysomewhat estranged from each other on account of having been competitors for thesame offices and honors. in these contests caesar had decided infavor of brutus. "cassius," said he, on one such occasion,"gives the best reasons; but i can not refuse brutus any thing he asks for." in fact, caesar had conceived a strongpersonal friendship for brutus, and believed him to be entirely devoted to hiscause.

cassius, however, sought an interview withbrutus, with a view of engaging him in his design. he easily effected his own reconciliationwith him, as he had himself been the offended party in their estrangement fromeach other. he asked brutus whether he intended to bepresent in the senate on the ides of march, when the friends of caesar, as wasunderstood, were intending to present him with the crown. brutus said he should not be there."but suppose," said cassius, "we are specially summoned."

"then," said brutus, "i shall go, and shallbe ready to die if necessary to defend the liberty of my country." cassius then assured brutus that there weremany other roman citizens, of the highest rank, who were animated by the samedetermination, and that they all looked up to him to lead and direct them in the workwhich it was now very evident must be done. "men look," said cassius, "to otherpraetors to entertain them with games, spectacles, and shows, but they have verydifferent ideas in respect to you. your character, your name, your position,your ancestry, and the course of conduct which you have already always pursued,inspire the whole city with the hope that

you are to be their deliverer. the citizens are all ready to aid you, andto sustain you at the hazard of their lives; but they look to you to go forward,and to act in their name and in their behalf, in the crisis which is nowapproaching." men of a very calm exterior are oftensusceptible of the profoundest agitations within, the emotions seeming to besometimes all the more permanent and uncontrollable from the absence of outwarddisplay. brutus said little, but his soul wasexcited and fired by cassius's words. there was a struggle in his soul betweenhis grateful sense of his political

obligations to caesar and his personalattachment to him on the one hand, and, on the other, a certain stern roman conviction that every thing should be sacrificed, evenfriendship and gratitude, as well as fortune and life, to the welfare of hiscountry. he acceded to the plan, and began forthwithto enter upon the necessary measures for putting it into execution. there was a certain general, namedligurius, who had been in pompey's army, and whose hostility to caesar had neverbeen really subdued. he was now sick.

brutus went to see him.he found him in his bed. the excitement in rome was so intense,though the expressions of it were suppressed and restrained, that every onewas expecting continually some great event, and every motion and look was interpretedto have some deep meaning. ligurius read in the countenance of brutus,as he approached his bedside, that he had not come on any trifling errand. "ligurius," said brutus, "this is not atime for you to be sick." "brutus," replied ligurius, rising at oncefrom his couch, "if you have any enterprise in mind that is worthy of you, i am well."

brutus explained to the sick man theirdesign, and he entered into it with ardor. the plan was divulged to one after anotherof such men as the conspirators supposed most worthy of confidence in such adesperate undertaking, and meetings for consultation were held to determine what plan to adopt for finally accomplishingtheir end. it was agreed that caesar must be slain;but the time, the place, and the manner in which the deed should be performed were allyet undecided. various plans were proposed in theconsultations which the conspirators held; but there was one thing peculiar to themall, which was, that they did not any of

them contemplate or provide for any thinglike secrecy in the commission of the deed. it was to be performed in the most open andpublic manner. with a stern and undaunted boldness, whichhas always been considered by mankind as truly sublime, they determined that, inrespect to the actual execution itself of the solemn judgment which they had pronounced, there should be nothing privateor concealed. they thought over the various publicsituations in which they might find caesar, and where they might strike him down, onlyto select the one which would be most public of all.

they kept, of course, their preliminarycounsels private, to prevent the adoption of measures for counteracting them; butthey were to perform the deed in such a manner as that, so soon as it was performed, they should stand out to view,exposed fully to the gaze of all mankind as the authors, of it. they planned no retreat, no concealment, noprotection whatever for themselves, seeming to feel that the deed which they were aboutto perform, of destroying the master and monarch of the world, was a deed in its own nature so grand and sublime as to raise theperpetrators of it entirely above all

considerations relating to their ownpersonal safety. their plan, therefore, was to keep theirconsultations and arrangements secret until they were prepared to strike the blow, thento strike it in the most public and imposing manner possible, and calmlyafterward to await the consequences. in this view of the subject, they decidedthat the chamber of the roman senate was the proper place, and the ides of march,the day on which he was appointed to be crowned, was the propel time for caesar tobe slain. history of julius caesar by jacob abbottchapter xii. the assassination.

according to the account given by hishistorians, caesar received many warnings of his approaching fate, which, however, hewould not heed. many of these warnings were strangeportents and prodigies, which the philosophical writers who recorded themhalf believed themselves, and which they were always ready to add to their narratives even if they did not believethem, on account of the great influence which such an introduction of thesupernatural and the divine had with readers in those days in enhancing the dignity and the dramatic interest of thestory.

these warnings were as follows: at capua, which was a great city at somedistance south of rome, the second, in fact, in italy, and the one which hannibalhad proposed to make his capital, some workmen were removing certain ancient sepulchers to make room for the foundationsof a splendid edifice which, among his other plans for the embellishment of thecities of italy, caesar was intending to have erected there. as the excavations advanced, the workmencame at last to an ancient tomb, which proved to be that of the original founderof capua; and, in bringing out the

sarcophagus, they found an inscription, worked upon a brass plate, and in the greekcharacter, predicting that if those remains were ever disturbed, a great member of thejulian family would be assassinated by his own friends, and his death would be followed by extended devastationsthroughout all italy. the horses, too, with which caesar hadpassed the rubicon, and which had been, ever since that time, living in honorableretirement in a splendid park which caesar had provided for them, by some mysterious instinct, or from some divinecommunication, had warning of the approach

of their great benefactor's end. they refused their food, and walked aboutwith melancholy and dejected looks, mourning apparently, and in a manner almosthuman, some impending grief. there was a class of prophets in those dayscalled by a name which has been translated soothsayers. these soothsayers were able, as wassupposed, to look somewhat into futurity-- dimly and doubtfully, it is true, butreally, by means of certain appearances exhibited by the bodies of the animals offered in sacrifices these soothsayerswere consulted on all important occasions;

and if the auspices proved unfavorable whenany great enterprise was about to be undertaken, it was often, on that account,abandoned or postponed. one of these soothsayers, named spurinna,came to caesar one day, and informed him that he had found, by means of a publicsacrifice which he had just been offering, that there was a great and mysterious danger impending over him, which wasconnected in some way with the ides of march, and he counseled him to beparticularly cautious and circumspect until that day should have passed. the senate were to meet on the ides ofmarch in a new and splendid edifice, which

had been erected for their use by pompey. there was in the interior of the building,among other decorations, a statue of pompey. the day before the ides of march, somebirds of prey from a neighboring grove came flying into this hall, pursuing a littlewren with a sprig of laurel in its mouth. the birds tore the wren to pieces, thelaurel dropping from its bill to the marble pavement of the floor below. now, as caesar had been always accustomedto wear a crown of laurel on great occasions, and had always evinced aparticular fondness for that decoration,

that plant had come to be considered his own proper badge, and the fall of thelaurel, therefore, was naturally thought to portend some great calamity to him.the night before the ides of march caesar could not sleep. it would not seem, however, to be necessaryto suppose any thing supernatural to account for his wakefulness. he lay upon his bed restless and excited,or if he fell into a momentary slumber, his thoughts, instead of finding repose, wereonly plunged into greater agitations, produced by strange, and, as he thought,supernatural dreams.

he imagined that he ascended into theskies, and was received there by jupiter, the supreme divinity, as an associate andequal. while shaking hands with the great fatherof gods and men, the sleeper was startled by a frightful sound.he awoke, and found his wife calpurnia groaning and struggling in her sleep. he saw her by the moonlight which wasshining into the room. he spoke to her, and aroused her. after staring wildly for a moment till shehad recovered her thoughts, she said that she had had a dreadful dream.

she had dreamed that the roof of the househad fallen in, and that, at the same instant, the doors had been burst open, andsome robber or assassin had stabbed her husband as he was lying in her arms. the philosophy of those days found in thesedreams mysterious and preternatural warnings of impending danger; that of ours,however, sees nothing either in the absurd sacrilegiousness of caesar's thoughts, or his wife's incoherent and inconsistentimages of terror--nothing more than the natural and proper effects, on the onehand, of the insatiable ambition of man, and, on the other, of the conjugalaffection and solicitude of woman.

the ancient sculptors carved out images ofmen, by the forms and lineaments of which we see that the physical characteristics ofhumanity have not changed. history seems to do the same with theaffections and passions of the soul. the dreams of caesar and his wife on thenight before the ides of march, as thus recorded, form a sort of spiritual statue,which remains from generation to generation, to show us how precisely all the inward workings of human nature arefrom age to age the same. when the morning came caesar and calpurniaarose, both restless and ill at ease. caesar ordered the auspices to be consultedwith reference to the intended proceedings

of the day.the soothsayers came in in due time, and reported that the result was unfavorable. calpurnia, too, earnestly entreated herhusband not to go to the senate-house that day.she had a very strong presentiment that, if he did go, some great calamity would ensue. caesar himself hesitated.he was half inclined to yield, and postpone his coronation to another occasion. in the course of the day, while caesar wasin this state of doubt and uncertainty, one of the conspirators, named decimus brutus,came in.

this brutus was not a man of anyextraordinary courage or energy, but he had been invited by the other conspirators tojoin them, on account of his having under his charge a large number of gladiators, who, being desperate and reckless men,would constitute a very suitable armed force for them to call in to their aid incase of any emergency arising which should require it. the conspirators having thus all theirplans arranged, decimus brutus was commissioned to call at caesar's house whenthe time approached for the assembling of the senate, both to avert suspicion from

caesar's mind, and to assure himself thatnothing had been discovered it was in the afternoon, the time for the meeting of thesenators having been fixed at five o'clock. decimus brutus found caesar troubled andperplexed, and uncertain what to do. after hearing what he had to say, hereplied by urging him to go by all means to the senate-house, as he had intended. "you have formally called the senatetogether," said he, "and they are now assembling. they are all prepared to confer upon youthe rank and title of king, not only in parthia, while you are conducting this warbut every where, by sea and land, except in

italy. and now, while they are all in theirplaces, waiting to consummate the great act, how absurd will it be for you to sendthem word to go home again, and come back some other day, when calpurnia shall havehad better dreams!" he urged, too, that, even if caesar wasdetermined to put off the action of the senate to another day, he was imperiouslybound to go himself and adjourn the session in person. so saying, he took the hesitating potentateby the arm, and adding to his arguments a little gentle force, conducted him along.

the conspirators supposed that all was safethe fact was, however, that all had been discovered.there was a certain greek, a teacher of oratory, named artemidorus. he had contrived to learn something of theplot from some of the conspirators who were his pupils. he wrote a brief statement of the leadingparticulars, and, having no other mode of access to caesar, he determined to hand itto him on the way as he went to the senate- house. of course, the occasion was one of greatpublic interest, and crowds had assembled

in the streets to see the great conqueroras he went along. as usual at such times, when powerfulofficers of state appear in public, many people came up to present petitions to himas he passed. these he received, and handed them, withoutreading, to his secretary who attended him, as if to have them preserved for futureexamination. artemidorus, who was waiting for hisopportunity, when he perceived what disposition caesar made of the papers whichwere given to him, began to be afraid that his own communication would not be attendedto until it was too late. he accordingly pressed up near to caesar,refusing to allow any one else to pass the

paper in; and when, at last, he obtained anopportunity, he gave it directly into caesar's hands saying to him, "read this immediately: it concerns yourself, and isof the utmost importance" caesar took the paper and attempted to readit, but new petitions and other interruptions constantly prevented him;finally he gave up the attempt, and went on his way, receiving and passing to his secretary all other papers, but retainingthis paper of artemidorus in his hand. caesar passed spurinna on his way to thesenate-house--the soothsayer who had predicted some great danger connected withthe ides of march.

as soon as he recognized him, he accostedhim with the words, "well, spurinna, the ides of march have come, and i am safe.""yes," replied spurinna, "they have come, but they are not yet over." at length he arrived at the senate-house,with the paper of artemidorus still unread in his hand.the senators were all convened, the leading conspirators among them. they all rose to receive caesar as heentered. caesar advanced to the seat provided forhim, and, when he was seated, the senators themselves sat down.

the moment had now arrived, and theconspirators, with pale looks and beating hearts, felt that now or never the deed wasto be done. it requires a very considerable degree ofphysical courage and hardihood for men to come to a calm and deliberate decision thatthey will kill one whom they hate, and, still more, actually to strike the blow, even when under the immediate impulse ofpassion. but men who are perfectly capable of eitherof these often find their resolution fail them as the time comes for striking adagger into the living flesh of their victim, when he sits at ease and

unconcerned before them, unarmed anddefenseless, and doing nothing to excite those feelings of irritation and angerwhich are generally found so necessary to nerve the human arm to such deeds. utter defenselessness is accordingly,sometimes, a greater protection than an armor of steel. even cassius himself, the originator andthe soul of the whole enterprise, found his courage hardly adequate to the work nowthat the moment had arrived; and, in order to arouse the necessary excitement in his soul, he looked up to the statue of pompey,caesar's ancient and most formidable enemy,

and invoked its aid.it gave him its aid. it inspired him with some portion of theenmity with which the soul of its great original had burned; and thus the soul ofthe living assassin was nerved to its work by a sort of sympathy with a block ofstone. foreseeing the necessity of something likea stimulus to action when the immediate moment for action should arrive, theconspirators had agreed that, as soon as caesar was seated, they would approach him with a petition, which he would probablyrefuse, and then, gathering around him, they would urge him with theirimportunities, so as to produce, in the

confusion, a sort of excitement that wouldmake it easier for them to strike the blow. there was one person, a relative and friendof caesar's, named marcus antonius, called commonly, however, in english narratives,marc antony, the same who has been already mentioned as having been subsequentlyconnected with cleopatra. he was a very energetic and determined man,who, they thought, might possibly attempt to defend him. to prevent this, one of the conspiratorshad been designated to take him aside, and occupy his attention with some pretendedsubject of discourse, ready, at the same time, to resist and prevent his

interference if he should show himselfinclined to offer any. things being thus arranged, the petitioner,as had been agreed, advanced to caesar with his petition, others coming up at the sametime as if to second the request. the object of the petition was to ask forthe pardon of the brother of one of the conspirators.caesar declined granting it. the others then crowded around him, urginghim to grant the request with pressing importunities, all apparently reluctant tostrike the first blow. caesar began to be alarmed, and attemptedto repel them. one of them then pulled down his robe fromhis neck to lay it bare.

caesar arose, exclaiming, "but this isviolence." at the same instant, one of theconspirators struck at him with his sword, and wounded him slightly in the neck. all was now terror, outcry, and confusioncaesar had no time to draw his sword, but fought a moment with his style, a sharpinstrument of iron with which they wrote, in those days, on waxen tablets, and whichhe happened then to have in his hand. with this instrument he ran one of hisenemies through the arm. this resistance was just what was necessaryto excite the conspirators, and give them the requisite resolution to finish theirwork.

caesar soon saw the swords, accordingly,gleaming all around him, and thrusting themselves at him on every side. the senators rose in confusion and dismay,perfectly thunderstruck at the scene, and not knowing what to do. antony perceived that all resistance on hispart would be unavailing, and accordingly did not attempt any. caesar defended himself alone for a fewminutes as well as he could, looking all around him in vain for help, and retreatingat the same time toward the pedestal of pompey's statue.

at length, when he saw brutus among hismurderers, he exclaimed, "and you too, brutus?" and seemed from that moment togive up in despair. he drew his robe over his face, and soonfell under the wounds which he received. his blood ran out upon the pavement at thefoot of pompey's statue, as if his death were a sacrifice offered to appease hisancient enemy's revenge. in the midst of the scene brutus made anattempt to address the senators, and to vindicate what they had done, but theconfusion and excitement were so great that it was impossible that any thing could beheard. the senators were, in fact, rapidly leavingthe place, going off in every direction,

and spreading the tidings over the city. the event, of course, produced universalcommotion. the citizens began to close their shops,and some to barricade their houses, while others hurried to and fro about thestreets, anxiously inquiring for intelligence, and wondering what dreadfulevent was next to be expected. antony and lepidus, who were caesar's twomost faithful and influential friends, not knowing how extensive the conspiracy mightbe, nor how far the hostility to caesar and his party might extend, fled, and, not daring to go to their own houses, lest theassassins or their confederates might

pursue them there, sought concealment inthe houses of friends on whom they supposed they could rely and who were willing toreceive them. in the mean time, the conspirators,glorying in the deed which they had perpetrated, and congratulating each otheron the successful issue of their enterprise, sallied forth together from the senate-house, leaving the body of theirvictim weltering in its blood, and marched, with drawn swords in their hands, along thestreets from the senate-house to the capitol. brutus went at the head of them, precededby a liberty cap borne upon the point of a

spear, and with his bloody dagger in hishand. the capitol was the citadel, builtmagnificently upon the capitoline hill, and surrounded by temples, and other sacred andcivil edifices, which made the spot the architectural wonder of the world. as brutus and his company proceededthither, they announced to the citizens, as they went along, the great deed ofdeliverance which they had wrought out for the country. instead of seeking concealment, theygloried in the work which they had done, and they so far succeeded in inspiringothers with a portion of their enthusiasm,

that some men who had really taken no part in the deed joined brutus and his companyin their march, to obtain by stealth a share in the glory. the body of caesar lay for some timeunheeded where it had fallen, the attention of every one being turned to theexcitement, which was extending through the city, and to the expectation of other great events which might suddenly developthemselves in other quarters of rome. there were left only three of caesar'sslaves, who gathered around the body to look at the wounds.

they counted them, and found the numbertwenty-three. it shows, however, how strikingly, and withwhat reluctance, the actors in this tragedy came up to their work at last, that of allthese twenty-three wounds only one was a mortal one. in fact, it is probable that, while all ofthe conspirators struck the victim in their turn, to fulfill the pledge which they hadgiven to one another that they would every one inflict a wound, each one hoped that the fatal blow would be given, after all,by some other hand than his own. at last the slaves decided to convey thebody home.

they obtained a sort of chair, which wasmade to be borne by poles, and placed the body upon it. then, lifting at the three handles, andallowing the fourth to hang unsupported for want of a man, they bore the ghastlyremains home to the distracted calpurnia. the next day brutus and his associatescalled an assembly of the people in the forum, and made an address to them,explaining the motives which had led them to the commission of the deed, and vindicating the necessity and the justiceof it. the people received these explanations insilence.

they expressed neither approbation nordispleasure. it was not, in fact, to be expected thatthey would feel or evince any satisfaction at the loss of their master. he had been their champion, and, as theybelieved, their friend. the removal of caesar brought no accessionof power nor increase of liberty to them. it might have been a gain to ambitioussenators, or powerful generals, or high officers of state, by removing a successfulrival out of their way, but it seemed to promise little advantage to the community at large, other than the changing of onedespotism for another.

besides, a populace who know that they mastbe governed, prefer generally, if they must submit to some control, to yield theirsubmission to some one master spirit whom they can look up to as a great andacknowledged superior. they had rather have a caesar than a senateto command them. the higher authorities, however, were, atmight have been expected, disposed to acquiesce in the removal of caesar from hisintended throne. the senate met, and passed an act ofindemnity, to shield the conspirators from all legal liability for the deed they haddone. in order, however, to satisfy the peopletoo, as far as possible, they decreed

divine honors to caesar, confirmed andratified all that he had done while in the exercise of supreme power, and appointed a time for the funeral, ordering arrangementsto be made for a very pompous celebration of it.a will was soon found, which caesar, it seems, had made some time before. calpurnia's father proposed that this willshould be opened and read in public at antony's house; and this was accordinglydone. the provisions of the will were, many ofthem, of such a character as renewed the feelings of interest and sympathy which thepeople of rome had begun to cherish for

caesar's memory. his vast estate was divided chiefly amongthe children of his sister, as he had no children of his own, while the very men whohad been most prominent in his assassination were named as trustees and guardians of the property; and one of them,decimus brutus, the one who had been so urgent to conduct him to the senate-house,was a second heir. he had some splendid gardens near thetiber, which he bequeathed to the citizens of rome, and a large amount of money also,to be divided among them, sufficient to give every man a considerable sum.

the time for the celebration of the funeralceremonies was made known by proclamation, and, as the concourse of strangers andcitizens of rome was likely to be so great as to forbid the forming of all into one procession without consuming more than oneday, the various classes of the community were invited to come, each in their ownway, to the field of mars, bringing with them such insignia, offerings, andoblations as they pleased. the field of mars was an immense paradeground, reserved for military reviews, spectacles, and shows. a funeral pile was erected here for theburning of the body there was to be a

funeral discourse pronounced, and marcantony had been designated to perform this duty. the body had been placed in a gilded bed,under a magnificent canopy in the form of a temple, before the rostra where the funeraldiscourse was to be pronounced. the bed was covered with scarlet and clothof gold and at the head of it was laid the robe in which caesar had been slain. it was stained with blood, and pierced withthe holes that the swords and daggers of the conspirators had made. marc antony, instead of pronouncing aformal panegyric upon his deceased friend,

ordered a crier to read the decrees of thesenate, in which all honors, human and divine, had been ascribed to caesar. he then added a few words of his own. the bed was then taken up, with the bodyupon it, and borne out into the forum, preparatory to conveying it to the pilewhich had been prepared for it upon the field of mars, a question, however, here arose among the multitude assembled inrespect to the proper place for burning the body. the people seemed inclined to select themost honorable place which could be found

within the limits of the city.some proposed a beautiful temple on the capitoline hill. others wished to take it to the senate-house, where he had been slain. the senate, and those who were lessinclined to pay extravagant honors to the departed hero, were in favor of some moreretired spot, under pretense that the buildings of the city would be endangeredby the fire. this discussion was fast becoming adispute, when it was suddenly ended by two men, with swords at their sides and kneesin their hands, forcing their way through the crowd with lighted torches, and setting

the bed and its canopy on fire where itlay. this settled the question, and the wholecompany were soon in the wildest excitement with the work of building up a funeral pileupon the spot. at first they brought fagots and threw uponthe fire, then benches from the neighboring courts and porticoes, and then any thingcombustible which came to hand. the honor done to the memory of a deceasedhero was, in some sense, in proportion to the greatness of his funeral pile, and allthe populace on this occasion began soon to seize every thing they could find, appropriate and unappropriate, providedthat it would increase the flame.

the soldiers threw on their lances andspears, the musicians their instruments, and others stripped off the cloths andtrappings from the furniture of the procession, and heaped them upon theburning pile. so fierce and extensive was the fire, thatit spread to some of the neighboring houses, and required great efforts toprevent a general conflagration. the people, too, became greatly excited bythe scene. they lighted torches by the fire, and wentto the houses of brutus and cassius, threatening vengeance upon them for themurder of caesar. the authorities succeeded though withinfinite difficulty, in protecting brutus

and cassius from the violence of the mob,but they seized one unfortunate citizen of the name of cinna, thinking it a certain cinna who had been known as an enemy ofcaesar. they cut off his head, notwithstanding hisshrieks and cries, and carried it about the city on the tip of a pike, a dreadfulsymbol of their hostility to the enemies of caesar. as frequently happens, however, in suchdeeds of sudden violence, these hasty and lawless avengers found afterward that theyhad made a mistake, and beheaded the wrong man.

the roman people erected a column to thememory of caesar, on which they placed the inscription, "to the father of hiscountry." they fixed the figure of a star upon thesummit of it, and some time afterward, while the people were celebrating somegames in honor of his memory, a great comet blazed for seven nights in the sky, which they recognized as the mighty hero's soulreposing in heaven.

Subscribe to receive free email updates: