JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE CAESAR: A SKETCH - Biblioteca

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JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE

CAESAR: A SKETCH

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CAESAR

_A SKETCH_

BY

JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, M.A.

FORMERLY FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD

_"Pardon, gentles all
The flat unraised spirit that hath dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object."_

--SHAKESPEARE, Henry V.

PREFACE.

I have called this work a "sketch" because the materials do not exist for
a portrait which shall be at once authentic and complete. The original
authorities which are now extant for the life of Caesar are his own
writings, the speeches and letters of Cicero, the eighth book of the
"Commentaries" on the wars in Gaul and the history of the Alexandrian war,
by Aulus Hirtius, the accounts of the African war and of the war in Spain,
composed by persons who were unquestionably present in those two
campaigns. To these must be added the "Leges Juliae" which are preserved
in the Corpus Juris Civilis. Sallust contributes a speech, and Catullus a
poem. A few hints can be gathered from the Epitome of Livy and the
fragments of Varro; and here the contemporary sources which can be
entirely depended upon are brought to an end.

The secondary group of authorities from which the popular histories of the
time have been chiefly taken are Appian, Plutarch, Suetonius, and Dion
Cassius. Of these the first three were divided from the period which they
describe by nearly a century and a half, Dion Cassius by more than two
centuries. They had means of knowledge which no longer exist--the
writings, for instance, of Asinius Pollio, who was one of Caesar's
officers. But Asinius Pollio's accounts of Caesar's actions, as reported
by Appian, cannot always be reconciled with the Commentaries; and all
these four writers relate incidents as facts which are sometimes
demonstrably false. Suetonius is apparently the most trustworthy. His
narrative, like those of his contemporaries, was colored by tradition. His
biographies of the earlier Caesars betray the same spirit of animosity
against them which taints the credibility of Tacitus, and prevailed for so
many years in aristocratic Roman society. But Suetonius shows nevertheless
an effort at veracity, an antiquarian curiosity and diligence, and a
serious anxiety to tell his story impartially. Suetonius, in the absence
of evidence direct or presumptive to the contrary, I have felt myself able
to follow. The other three writers I have trusted only when I have found
them partially confirmed by evidence which is better to be relied upon.

The picture which I have drawn will thus be found deficient in many
details which have passed into general acceptance, and I have been unable
to claim for it a higher title than that of an outline drawing.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Free Constitutions and Imperial Tendencies.--Instructiveness of Roman
History.--Character of Historical Epochs.--The Age of Caesar.--Spiritual
State of Rome.--Contrasts between Ancient and Modern Civilization.

CHAPTER II.

The Roman Constitution.--Moral Character of the Romans.--Roman Religion.--
Morality and Intellect.--Expansion of Roman Power.--The Senate.--Roman
Slavery.--Effects of Intercourse with Greece.--Patrician Degeneracy.--The
Roman Noble.--Influence of Wealth.--Beginnings of Discontent.

CHAPTER III.

Tiberius Gracchus.--Decay of the Italian Yeomanry.--Agrarian Law.--Success
and Murder of Gracchus.--Land Commission.--Caius Gracchus.--Transfer of
Judicial Functions from the Senate to the Equites.--Sempronian Laws.--Free
Grants of Corn.--Plans for Extension of the Franchise.--New Colonies.--
Reaction.--Murder of Caius Gracchus

CHAPTER IV.

Victory of the Optimates.--The Moors.--History of Jugurtha.--The Senate
corrupted.--Jugurthine War.--Defeat of the Romans.--Jugurtha comes to
Rome.--Popular Agitation.--The War renewed.--Roman Defeats in Africa and
Gaul.--Caecilius Metellus and Caius Marius.--Marriage of Marius.--The
Caesars.--Marius Consul.--First Notice of Sylla.--Capture and Death of
Jugurtha

CHAPTER V.

Birth of Cicero.--The Cimbri and Teutons.--German Immigration into Gaul.--
Great Defeat of the Romans on the Rhone.--Wanderings of the Cimbri.--
Attempted Invasion of Italy.--Battle of Aix.--Destruction of the
Teutons.--Defeat of the Cimbri on the Po.--Reform in the Roman Army.--
Popular Disturbances in Rome.--Murder of Memmius.--Murder of Saturninus
and Glaucia

CHAPTER VI.

Birth and Childhood of Julius Caesar.--Italian Franchise.--Discontent of
the Italians.--Action of the Land Laws.--The Social War.--Partial
Concessions.--Sylla and Marius.--Mithridates of Pontus.--First Mission of
Sylla into Asia.

CHAPTER VII.

War with Mithridates.--Massacre of Italians in Asia.--Invasion of
Greece.--Impotence and Corruption of the Senate.--End of the Social War.--
Sylla appointed to the Asiatic Command.--The Assembly transfer the Command
to Marius.--Sylla marches on Rome.--Flight of Marius.--Change of the
Constitution.--Sylla sails for the East.--Four Years' Absence.--Defeat of
Mithridates.--Contemporary Incidents at Rome.--Counter Revolution.--
Consulship of Cinna.--Return of Marius.--Capitulation of Rome.--Massacre
of Patricians and Equites.--Triumph of Democracy.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Young Caesar.--Connection with Marius.--Intimacy with the Ciceros.--
Marriage of Caesar with the Daughter of Cinna.--Sertorius.--Death of
Cinna.--Consulships of Norbanus and Scipio.--Sylla's Return.--First
Appearance of Pompey.--Civil War.--Victory of Sylla.--The Dictatorship and
the Proscription.--Destruction of the Popular Party and Murder of the
Popular Leaders.--General Character of Aristocratic Revolutions.--The
Constitution remodelled.--Concentration of Power in the Senate.--Sylla's
General Policy.--The Army.--Flight of Sertorius to Spain.--Pompey and
Sylla.--Caesar refuses to divorce his Wife at Sylla's Order.--Danger of
Caesar.--His Pardon.--Growing Consequence of Cicero.--Defence of
Roscius.--Sylla's Abdication and Death

CHAPTER IX.

Sertorius in Spain.--Warning of Cicero to the Patricians.--Leading
Aristocrats.--Caesar with the Army in the East.--Nicomedes of Bithynia.--
The Bithynian Scandal.--Conspiracy of Lepidus.--Caesar returns to Rome.--
Defeat of Lepidus.--Prosecution of Dolabella.--Caesar taken by Pirates.--
Senatorial Corruption.--Universal Disorder.--Civil War in Spain.--Growth
of Mediterranean Piracy.--Connivance of the Senate.--Provincial
Administration.--Verres in Sicily.--Prosecuted by Cicero.--Second War
with Mithridates.--First Success of Lucullus.--Failure of Lucullus, and
the Cause of it.--Avarice of Roman Commanders.--The Gladiators.--The
Servile War.--Results of the Change in the Constitution introduced by
Sylla

CHAPTER X.

Caesar Military Tribune.--Becomes known as a Speaker.--Is made Quaestor.--
Speech at his Aunt's Funeral.--Consulship of Pompey and Crassus.--Caesar
marries Pompey's Cousin.--Mission to Spain.--Restoration of the Powers of
the Tribunes.--The Equites and the Senate.--The Pirates.--Food Supplies
cut off from Rome.--The Gabinian Law.--Resistance of the Patricians.--
Suppression of the Pirates by Pompey.--The Manilian Law.--Speech of
Cicero.--Recall of Lucullus.--Pompey sent to command in Asia.--Defeat and
Death of Mithridates.--Conquest of Asia by Pompey

CHAPTER XI.
History of Catiline.--A Candidate for the Consulship.--Catiline and
Cicero.--Cicero chosen Consul.--Attaches Himself to the Senatorial
Party.--Caesar elected Aedile.--Conducts an Inquiry into the Syllan
Proscriptions.--Prosecution of Rabirius.--Caesar becomes Pontifex
Maximus--and Praetor.--Cicero's Conduct as Consul.--Proposed Agrarian
Law.--Resisted by Cicero.--Catiline again stands for the Consulship.--
Violent Language in the Senate.--Threatened Revolution.--Catiline again
defeated.--The Conspiracy.--Warnings sent to Cicero.--Meeting at
Catiline's House.--Speech of Cicero in the Senate.--Cataline joins an Army
of Insurrection in Etruria.--His Fellow-conspirators.--Correspondence with
the Allobroges.--Letters read in the Senate.--The Conspirators seized.--
Debate upon their Fate.--Speech of Caesar.--Caesar on a Future State.--
Speech of Cato--and of Cicero.--The Conspirators executed untried.--Death
of Catiline.

CHAPTER XII.

Preparations for the Return of Pompey.--Scene in the Forum.--Cato and
Metellus.--Caesar suspended from the Praetorship.--Caesar supports
Pompey.--Scandals against Caesar's Private Life.--General Character of
them.--Festival of the Bona Dea.--Publius Clodius enters Caesar's House
dressed as a Woman.--Prosecution and Trial of Clodius.--His Acquittal, and
the Reason of it.--Successes of Caesar as Propraetor in Spain.--Conquest
of Lusitania.--Return of Pompey to Italy.--First Speech in the Senate.--
Precarious Position of Cicero.--Cato and the Equites.--Caesar elected
Consul.--Revival of the Democratic Party.--Anticipated Agrarian Law.--
Uneasiness of Cicero.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Consulship of Caesar.--Character of his Intended Legislation.--The
Land Act first proposed in the Senate.--Violent Opposition.--Caesar
appeals to the Assembly.--Interference of the Second Consul Bibulus.--The
Land Act submitted to the People.--Pompey and Crassus support it.--Bibulus
interposes, but without Success.--The Act carried--and other Laws.--The
Senate no longer being Consulted.--General Purpose of the Leges Juliae.--
Caesar appointed to Command in Gaul for Five Years.--His Object in
accepting that Province.--Condition of Gaul, and the Dangers to be
apprehended from it.--Alliance of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus.--The
Dynasts.--Indignation of the Aristocracy.--Threats to repeal Caesar's
Laws.--Necessity of Controlling Cicero and Cato.--Clodius is made
Tribune.--Prosecution of Cicero for Illegal Acts when Consul.--Cicero's
Friends forsake him.--He flies, and is banished.

CHAPTER XIV.

Caesar's Military Narrative.--Divisions of Gaul.--Distribution of
Population.--The Celts.--Degree of Civilization.--Tribal System.--The
Druids.--The AEdui and the Sequani.--Roman and German Parties.--Intended
Migration of the Helvetii.--Composition of Caesar's Army.--He goes to
Gaul.--Checks the Helvetii.--Returns to Italy for Larger Forces.--The
Helvetii on the Saône.--Defeated, and sent back to Switzerland.--Invasion
of Gaul by Ariovistus.--Caesar invites him to a Conference.--He refuses.--
Alarm in the Roman Army.--Caesar marches against Ariovistus.--Interview
between them.--Treachery of the Roman Senate.--Great Battle at Colmar.--
Defeat and Annihilation of the Germans.--End of the First Campaign.--
Confederacy among the Belgae.--Battle on the Aisne.--War with the
Nervii.--Battle of Maubeuge.--Capture of Namur.--The Belgae conquered.--
Submission of Brittany.--End of the Second Campaign.

CHAPTER XV.

Cicero and Clodius.--Position and Character of Clodius.--Cato sent to
Cyprus.--Attempted Recall of Cicero defeated by Clodius.--Fight in the
Forum.--Pardon and Return of Cicero.--Moderate Speech to the People.--
Violence in the Senate.--Abuse of Piso and Gabinius.--Coldness of the
Senate toward Cicero.--Restoration of Cicero's House.--Interfered with by
Clodius.--Factions of Clodius and Milo.--Ptolemy Auletes expelled by his
Subjects.--Appeals to Rome for Help.--Alexandrian Envoys assassinated.--
Clodius elected aedile.--Fight in the Forum.--Parties in Rome.--Situation
of Cicero.--Rally of the Aristocracy.--Attempt to repeal the Leges
Juliae.--Conference at Lucca.--Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus.--Cicero
deserts the Senate.--Explains his Motives.--Confirmation of the Ordinances
of Lucca.--Pompey and Crassus Consuls.--Caesar's Command prolonged for
Five Additional Years.--Rejoicings in Rome.--Spectacle in the
Amphitheater.

CHAPTER XVI.

Revolt of the Veneti.--Fleet prepared in the Loire.--Sea-fight at
Quiberon.--Reduction of Normandy and of Aquitaine.--Complete Conquest of
Gaul.--Fresh Arrival of Germans over the Lower Rhine.--Caesar orders them
to retire, and promises them Lands elsewhere.--They refuse to go--and are
destroyed.--Bridge over the Rhine.--Caesar invades Germany.--Returns after
a Short Inroad.--First Expedition into Britain.--Caesar lands at Deal, or
Walmer.--Storm and Injury to the Fleet.--Approach of the Equinox.--
Further Prosecution of the Enterprise postponed till the following Year.--
Caesar goes to Italy for the Winter.--Large Naval Preparations.--Return of
Spring.--Alarm on the Moselle.--Fleet collects at Boulogne.--Caesar sails
for Britain a Second Time.--Lands at Deal.--Second and more Destructive
Storm.--Ships repaired, and placed out of Danger.--Caesar marches through
Kent.--Crosses the Thames, and reaches St. Albans.--Goes no further, and
returns to Gaul.--Object of the Invasion of Britain.--Description of the
Country and People.

CHAPTER XVII.

Distribution of the Legions after the Return from Britain.--Conspiracy
among the Gallic Chiefs.--Rising of the Eburones.--Destruction of Sabinus,
and a Division of the Roman Army.--Danger of Quintus Cicero.--Relieved by
Caesar in Person.--General Disturbance.--Labienus attacked at
Lavacherie.--Defeats and kills Induciomarus.--Second Conquest of the
Belgae.--Caesar again crosses the Rhine.--Quintus Cicero in Danger a
Second Time.--Courage of a Roman Officer.--Punishment of the Revolted
Chiefs.--Execution of Acco.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Correspondence of Cicero with Caesar.--Intimacy with Pompey and Crassus.--
Attacks on Piso and Gabinius.---Cicero compelled to defend Gabinius--and
Vatinius.--Dissatisfaction with his Position.--Corruption at the Consular
Elections.--Public Scandal.--Caesar and Pompey.--Deaths of Aurelia and
Julia.--Catastrophe in the East.--Overthrow and Death of Crassus.--
Intrigue to detach Pompey from Caesar.---Milo a Candidate for the
Consulship.--Murder of Clodius.--Burning of the Senate-house.--Trial and
Exile of Milo.--Fresh Engagements with Caesar.--Promise of the Consulship
at the End of his Term in Gaul.

CHAPTER XIX.

Last Revolt of Gaul.--Massacre of Romans at Gien.--Vercingetorix.--Effect
on the Celts of the Disturbances at Rome.--Caesar crosses the Cevennes.--
Defeats the Arverni.--Joins his Army on the Seine.--Takes Gien, Nevers,
and Bourges.--Fails at Gergovia.--Rapid March to Sens.--Labienus at
Paris.--Battle of the Vingeanne.--Siege of Alesia.--Caesar's Double
Lines.--Arrival of the Relieving Army of Gauls.--First Battle on the
Plain.--Second Battle.--Great Defeat of the Gauls.--Surrender of
Alesia.--Campaign against the Carnutes and the Bellovaci.--Rising on the
Dordogne.--Capture of Uxellodunum.--Caesar at Arras.--Completion of the
Conquest.

CHAPTER XX.

Bibulus in Syria.--Approaching Term of Caesar's Government.--Threats of
Impeachment.--Caesar to be Consul or not to be Consul?--Caesar's Political
Ambition.--Hatred felt toward him by the Aristocracy.--Two Legions taken
from him on Pretense of Service against the Parthians.--Caesar to be
recalled before the Expiration of his Government.--Senatorial Intrigues.--
Curio deserts the Senate.--Labienus deserts Caesar.--Cicero in Cilicia.--
Returns to Rome.--Pompey determined on War.--Cicero's Uncertainties.--
Resolution of the Senate and Consuls.--Caesar recalled.--Alarm in Rome.--
Alternative Schemes.--Letters of Cicero.--Caesar's Crime in the Eyes of
the Optimates.

CHAPTER XXI.

Caesar appeals to his Army.--The Tribunes join him at Rimini.--Panic and
Flight of the Senate.--Incapacity of Pompey.--Fresh Negotiations.--
Advance of Caesar.--The Country Districts refuse to arm against him.--
Capture of Corfinium.--Release of the Prisoners.--Offers of Caesar.--
Continued Hesitation of Cicero.--Advises Pompey to make Peace.--Pompey,
with the Senate and Consuls, flies to Greece.--Cicero's Reflections.--
Pompey to be another Sylla.--Caesar Mortal, and may die by more Means than
one.

CHAPTER XXII.

Pompey's Army in Spain.--Caesar at Rome.--Departure for Spain.--Marseilles
refuses to receive him.--Siege of Marseilles.--Defeat of Pompey's
Lieutenants at Lerida.--The whole Army made Prisoners.--Surrender of
Varro.--Marseilles taken.--Defeat of Curio by King Juba in Africa.--
Caesar named Dictator.--Confusion in Rome.--Caesar at Brindisi.--Crosses
to Greece in Midwinter.--Again offers Peace.--Pompey's Fleet in the
Adriatic.--Death of Bibulus.--Failure of Negotiations.--Caelius and Milo
killed.--Arrival of Antony in Greece with the Second Division of Caesar's
Army.--Siege of Durazzo.--Defeat and Retreat of Caesar.--The Senate and
Pompey.--Pursuit of Caesar.--Battle of Pharsalia.--Flight of Pompey.--The
Camp taken.--Complete Overthrow of the Senatorial Faction.--Cicero on the
Situation once more.
CHAPTER XXIII.

Pompey flies to Egypt.--State of Parties in Egypt.--Murder of Pompey.--His
Character.--Caesar follows him to Alexandria.--Rising in the City.--
Caesar besieged in the Palace.--Desperate Fighting.--Arrival of
Mithridates of Pergamus.--Battle near Cairo, and Death of the Young
Ptolemy.--Cleopatra.--The Detention of Caesar enables the Optimates to
rally.--Ill Conduct of Caesar's Officers in Spain.--War with Pharnaces.--
Battle of Zela, and Settlement of Asia Minor.

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Aristocracy raise an Army in Africa.--Supported by Juba.--Pharsalia
not to end the War.--Caesar again in Rome.--Restores Order.--Mutiny in
Caesar's Army.--The Mutineers submit.--Caesar lands in Africa.--
Difficulties of the Campaign.--Battle of Thapsus.--No more Pardons.--
Afranius and Faustus Sylla put to Death.--Cato kills himself at Utica.--
Scipio killed.--Juba and Petreius die on each other's Swords.--A Scene in
Caesar's Camp.

CHAPTER XXV.

Rejoicings in Rome.--Caesar Dictator for the Year.--Reforms the
Constitution.--Reforms the Calendar--and the Criminal Law.--
Dissatisfaction of Cicero.--Last Efforts in Spain of Labienus and the
Young Pompeys.--Caesar goes thither in Person, accompanied by Octavius.--
Caesar's Last Battle at Munda.--Death of Labienus.--Capture of Cordova.--
Close of the Civil War.--General Reflections.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Caesar once more in Rome.--General Amnesty.--The Surviving Optimates
pretend to submit.--Increase in the Number of Senators.--Introduction of
Foreigners.--New Colonies.--Carthage.--Corinth.--Sumptuary Regulations.--
Digest of the Law.--Intended Parthian War.--Honors heaped on Caesar.--The
Object of them.--Caesar's Indifference.--Some Consolations.--Hears of
Conspiracies, but disregards them.--Speculations of Cicero in the Last
Stage of the War.--Speech in the Senate.--A Contrast, and the Meaning of
it.--The Kingship.--Antony offers Caesar the Crown, which Caesar
refuses.--The Assassins.--Who they were.--Brutus and Cassius.--Two
Officers of Caesar's among them.--Warnings.--Meeting of the
Conspirators.--Caesar's Last Evening.--The Ides of March.--The
Senate-house.--Caesar killed.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Consternation in Rome.--The Conspirators in the Capitol.--Unforeseen
Difficulties.--Speech of Cicero.--Caesar's Funeral.--Speech of Antony.--
Fury of the People.--The Funeral Pile in the Forum.--The King is dead, but
the Monarchy survives.--Fruitlessness of the Murder.--Octavius and
Antony.--Union of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus.--Proscription of the
Assassins.--Philippi, and the end of Brutus and Cassius.--Death of
Cicero.--His Character.
CHAPTER XXVIII.

General Remarks on Caesar.--Mythological Tendencies.--Supposed Profligacy
of Caesar.--Nature of the Evidence.--Servilia.--Cleopatra.--Personal
Appearance of Caesar.--His Manners in Private Life.--Considerations upon
him as a Politician, a Soldier, and a Man of Letters.--Practical Justice
his Chief Aim as a Politician.--Universality of Military Genius.--Devotion
of his Army to him, how deserved.--Art of reconciling Conquered
Peoples.--General Scrupulousness and Leniency.--Oratorical and Literary
Style.--Cicero's Description of it.--His Lost Works.--Cato's Judgment on
the Civil War.--How Caesar should be estimated.--Legend of Charles V.--
Spiritual Condition of the Age in which Caesar lived.--His Work on Earth
to establish Order and Good Government, to make possible the Introduction
of Christianity.--A Parallel.

CAESAR: A SKETCH

CHAPTER I.

To the student of political history, and to the English student above all
others, the conversion of the Roman Republic into a military empire
commands a peculiar interest. Notwithstanding many differences, the
English and the Romans essentially resemble one another. The early Romans
possessed the faculty of self-government beyond any people of whom we have
historical knowledge, with the one exception of ourselves. In virtue of
their temporal freedom, they became the most powerful nation in the known
world; and their liberties perished only when Rome became the mistress of
conquered races, to whom she was unable or unwilling to extend her
privileges. If England was similarly supreme, if all rival powers were
eclipsed by her or laid under her feet, the Imperial tendencies, which are
as strongly marked in us as our love of liberty, might lead us over the
same course to the same end. If there be one lesson which history clearly
teaches, it is this, that free nations cannot govern subject provinces. If
they are unable or unwilling to admit their dependencies to share their
own constitution, the constitution itself will fall in pieces from mere
incompetence for its duties.

We talk often foolishly of the necessities of things, and we blame
circumstances for the consequences of our own follies and vices; but there
are faults which are not faults of will, but faults of mere inadequacy to
some unforeseen position. Human nature is equal to much, but not to
everything. It can rise to altitudes where it is alike unable to sustain
itself or to retire from them to a safer elevation. Yet when the field is
open it pushes forward, and moderation in the pursuit of greatness is
never learnt and never will be learnt. Men of genius are governed by their
instinct; they follow where instinct leads them; and the public life of a
nation is but the life of successive generations of statesmen, whose
horizon is bounded, and who act from day to day as immediate interests
suggest. The popular leader of the hour sees some present difficulty or
present opportunity of distinction. He deals with each question as it
arises, leaving future consequences to those who are to come after him.
The situation changes from period to period, and tendencies are generated
with an accelerating force, which, when once established, can never be
reversed. When the control of reason is once removed, the catastrophe is
no longer distant, and then nations, like all organized creations, all
forms of life, from the meanest flower to the highest human institution,
pass through the inevitably recurring stages of growth and transformation
and decay. A commonwealth, says Cicero, ought to be immortal, and for ever
to renew its youth. Yet commonwealths have proved as unenduring as any
other natural object:

Everything that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
And this huge state presenteth nought but shows,
Whereon the stars in silent influence comment.

Nevertheless, "as the heavens are high above the earth, so is wisdom above
folly." Goethe compares life to a game at whist, where the cards are dealt
out by destiny, and the rules of the game are fixed: subject to these
conditions, the players are left to win or lose, according to their skill
or want of skill. The life of a nation, like the life of a man, may be
prolonged in honor into the fulness of its time, or it may perish
prematurely, for want of guidance, by violence or internal disorders. And
thus the history of national revolutions is to statesmanship what the
pathology of disease is to the art of medicine. The physician cannot
arrest the coming on of age. Where disease has laid hold upon the
constitution he cannot expel it. But he may check the progress of the evil
if he can recognize the symptoms in time. He can save life at the cost of
an unsound limb. He can tell us how to preserve our health when we have
it; he can warn us of the conditions under which particular disorders will
have us at disadvantage. And so with nations: amidst the endless variety
of circumstances there are constant phenomena which give notice of
approaching danger; there are courses of action which have uniformly
produced the same results; and the wise politicians are those who have
learnt from experience the real tendencies of things, unmisled by
superficial differences, who can shun the rocks where others have been
wrecked, or from foresight of what is coming can be cool when the peril is
upon them.

For these reasons, the fall of the Roman Republic is exceptionally
instructive to us. A constitutional government the most enduring and the
most powerful that ever existed was put on its trial, and found wanting.
We see it in its growth; we see the causes which undermined its strength.
We see attempts to check the growing mischief fail, and we see why they
failed. And we see, finally, when nothing seemed so likely as complete
dissolution, the whole system changed by a violent operation, and the
dying patient's life protracted for further centuries of power and
usefulness.

Again, irrespective of the direct teaching which we may gather from them,
particular epochs in history have the charm for us which dramas have--
periods when the great actors on the stage of life stand before us with
the distinctness with which they appear in the creations of a poet. There
have not been many such periods; for to see the past, it is not enough for
us to be able to look at it through the eyes of contemporaries; these
contemporaries themselves must have been parties to the scenes which they
describe. They must have had full opportunities of knowledge. They must
have had eyes which could see things in their true proportions. They must
have had, in addition, the rare literary powers which can convey to others
through the medium of language an exact picture of their own minds; and
such happy combinations occur but occasionally in thousands of years.