George Willis Botsford

“ We may imagine with what longing the greedy Roman oligarchs viewed this kingdom, and how persistent was the agitation for its conquest.
Such an object Cæsar undoubtedly had in view when he sailed against Alexandria with the pretext of settling a dispute between Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra. This fascinating woman convinced the Roman general of the justice of her cause, and was accordingly placed on the throne. Their mutual infatuation became the gossip of Rome when she afterward visited that city. Though not beautiful, the Egyptian queen was a charming woman. ”

“ Rome and Egypt THREE
Early in his career of conquest Alexander the Great subdued Egypt and founded Alexandria (332 B. C.) This country proved the most valuable part of his vast realm, and afterward of the Roman Empire. The valley of the Nile is exceedingly fertile, well watered as it is from the river, and continually enriched by the alluvial deposits from the yearly overflow. The people were patient and laborious. For thousands of years they had toiled like slaves for their Pharaohs, whom they looked upon as gods, and who owned all the land and most of the wealth of the kingdom. ”

“ CLEOPATRA
In the Vatican Museum, Rome
From all that we can learn, however, success in the Parthian war would have been a catastrophe to European civilization. In wealth and population, in the resources of war and peace, the Oriental part of the empire would have overbalanced the European. The capital would have shifted to Alexandria or farther east; and Oriental absolutism would have dominated the civilized world. Three centuries after Cæsar, autocracy was to come even to Europe. ”

“ The Romans as a people belonged to the Mediterranean race, and the great majority, therefore, were short and dark, like the Sicilians of today. Cæsar, however, was tall and fair, with round, well-proportioned limbs and black piercing eyes. His portraits on coins and in sculpture show a spare face with a high, broad forehead inclined to baldness, representing a physique too delicate to sustain the enormous activities of his brain. ”

“ Such in brief was the world in which Gaius Julius Cæsar lived (100-44 B. C.) Belonging to the bluest-blooded aristocracy, he began life with all the advantages of wealth and family repute. As a boy and youth he enjoyed the best education of the time. It consisted mainly in the study and imitation of Greek writers, especially orators, in preparation for a career as public speaker and statesman. Rome had derived her civilization from Greece; and every business man or diplomatist had to speak the Greek language, which was the chief medium of communication throughout the Mediterranean world. ”

“ Some had come as slaves, others to seek their fortunes, while others had been driven from the surrounding districts by the pinch of poverty. As freemen could find little work in the city, there grew up a great mob of idlers, who lived in large part on food doled out to them by the state as the price of their votes. ”

“ Cæsar began his career as a politician, but ended it as a statesman. His courage, clemency, and personal charm won countless friends. While costly entertainments were a political necessity, his moderation in private life earned the respect of Roman society. A blue-blooded patrician, he steadfastly championed the popular cause. This policy alienated his own class, and finally resulted in his death. His political understanding developed hand in hand with his patriotism. ”

“ In another century (264-167 B. C.) , through a new series of wars, she built up an empire that nearly surrounded the Mediterranean Sea. This rapid expansion of power is one of the most notable events in the world’s history. In the present number of The Mentor, however, we are less concerned with the process of conquest than with its result. When Rome subdued a foreign state, she exercised her right of war in depriving it of a great part of its wealth, including money, land, and art treasures, not only paintings and marbles, but works of great intrinsic value in bronze, silver, and gold. ”

“ Cæsar rides in the center—beside and behind are Tamerlane, Alexander, Attila, Charlemagne, Napoleon and other world conquerors.
It is Human Desire that makes world history—desire for conquest, possession, and control. The Conqueror of the World must have his will. He treads the peoples of the earth under his feet, and spreads ruin in his path. ”

“ The Career of Cæsar ONE
Gaius Julius Cæsar was born in 100 B. C. of old patrician stock. In youth he received from Greek masters the elements of their culture, including astronomy, philosophy, and rhetoric. To complete his oratorical studies he sailed for Rhodes, but on the way was taken captive by pirates and held for ransom. This mishap would have subjected him to ridicule, had he not, on his release, manned a ship and punished his captors. Returning to Rome, he entered politics, the most ambitious career open to fashionable young men. ”

“ The conquest differentiated the freemen of the empire into three distinct classes: the few wealthy Romans, who governed the world, the masses of Roman citizens who, though in possession of the right to vote had gained no advantage by the conquest, and the subjects, barred from all share in the imperial government and greatly oppressed by its officials.
JULIUS CÆSAR
In the Capitoline Museum, Rome
Rome became a great city with a population of about a million, who had gathered from all parts of the empire. ”

“ He was an orator of splendid power, a writer of clear and simple Latin, a man of scientific taste, interested in the customs and character of the peoples with whom he came in contact, and in the phenomena of nature; a general with few equals in the world’s history, and a statesman variously estimated by modern historians. ”

“ It should be noticed, too, that in the Republican age the portrait heads, as distinguished from statues, include in addition to the head scarcely more than the neck, and that the bust is a gradual development during the subsequent period. With this criterion we are able to assign the Brutus of this number of The Mentor to the administration of Claudius, 41-54 A. D. In the colossal portrait of Cæsar of the National Museum at Naples the bust is a modern restoration, and we may only cherish the reasonable faith that the head is genuine, though somewhat later than his lifetime. ”

“ Legionary commanders, too, appointed by him to serve under the governor, and revenue officials—his own servants and freedmen—saw that his will was everywhere enforced. The provinces, especially the poorer ones, were to be cultivated and improved. An attempt was made to equalize the burden of taxation, and the heavy drain on the eastern provinces was lessened. Lastly, in order to abolish class and national distinctions, and to weld together the empire, Cæsar allowed himself to be worshipped as a god, and adopted the policy of rapidly granting citizenship to provincials. ”

“ The habitations of poor and rich alike are demolished, and the treasured possessions of city and town desecrated. Monuments of revered memory are razed to the ground, and new monuments to the Conqueror are raised to the sky. ”

“ After a man had held the prætorship or the consulship the Senate usually appointed him as a proprætor or proconsul to the government of a province. As proprætor accordingly Cæsar governed Spain in 61-60. Returning home in the latter year, he formed a political ring, known as the First Triumvirate, with Pompey, a general who had gained splendid victories in the Orient, and Crassus, the wealthiest capitalist of the empire. ”

“ He was scrupulously clean in all his habits, abstemious in his food, rarely or never touching wine, and noting sobriety as the highest of qualities when describing any new people. He was an athlete in early life, admirable in all manly exercises, and especially in riding. ”

“ He found many influential men, who, jealous of Cæsar’s power, were themselves anxious to divide the spoils of government. To give the plot an air of respectability, he won over Brutus, ostensibly a student and man of letters, but at heart an unfeeling usurer. Appointed by Cæsar governor of Cisalpine Gaul and prætor, Brutus became an assassin of his benefactor.
Among the three near associates of Cæsar, Mark Antony was far the ablest, and possessed the merit of remaining faithful till the death of the benefactor. ”

“ At the beginning of his career he cast his lot with the popular party. This policy meant little more than a preference for dealing with the Assembly rather than with the Senate. In theory the Assembly comprised all the citizens; practically it was attended by the idler members of the populace. There was no democracy; for those citizens that lived too far from Rome to attend the Assembly had no voice in the government, and the vast majority of people in the empire were subjects. ”

“ Native merchants were superseded by greedy speculators and traders, who, reducing the people to poverty, drove the peasants from their farms and built up vast estates of their own. The evil of “farming” taxes became intolerable, for avaricious contractors made the peasants pay far more than their due. ”

“ Two great problems were pressing, the economic improvement of the masses throughout the empire and their protection from the greedy oppression of Roman officials. Against the obstruction of his colleague Cæsar carried a law through the Assembly for the division of large tracts of public land among the needier citizens—a measure which brought him great popularity. ”

“ It was expected that a leader of the popular party should propose to the Assembly bills for the benefit of the masses of citizens, particularly of the populace, and for checking the powers and privileges of the aristocracy.
Cæsar was by no means a believer in human equality. Speaking in early life at the funeral of an aunt, he gave the following account of his family’s genealogy: “My aunt Julia derived her lineage on her mother’s side from a race of kings, and on her father’s side from the immortal gods ”