A Child's History of the WorldHillyer, V. M. (Virgil Mores)
History
A Child's History of the World
Hillyer, V. M. (Virgil Mores)
World history -- Juvenile literature
No, you’re wrong. Brutus, the friend who stabbed Cæsar, was called,
“The Noblest Roman of Them All.”
Why, do you suppose?
You’ll have to read Antony’s speech at the end of the play to find out.
Cæsar was pronounced in Latin “Kaiser”; and in later years the rulers
of Germany were called this, and those of another country by the
shortened form, “Czar.”
34
An Emperor Who Was Made a God
A man is famous who has a town or a street named after him.
Will you ever do anything great enough to have even an alley named
after you?
But just suppose a month, one of the twelve months of the year, was
given your name!
Millions upon millions of people would then write and speak your name
forever!
But I’m going to tell you about a man who not only had a month named
after him but who was made a god!
After Cæsar had been killed, three men ruled the Roman Empire. One of
these three men was Antony, the friend of Cæsar, who made the famous
speech over his dead body. The second was Cæsar’s adopted son, who was
named Octavius. The name of the third you don’t need to know now, for
Antony and Octavius soon got rid of him. Then no sooner had they forced
him out than each of these two began to plot to get the share of the
other.
Antony’s share, over which he ruled, was the eastern part of the
empire. The capital of this part was Alexandria in Egypt, and so
Antony went there to live.
In Egypt Antony fell in love with Cleopatra, as Cæsar before him had
done, and he finally married her.
Octavius, in the west, which was his share, then made war on Antony and
Cleopatra together, and in the end beat them both. Antony felt so bad
at being beaten by Octavius that he committed suicide.
His widow, Cleopatra, thereupon, flirted with Octavius as she had with
Julius Cæsar and Antony, hoping to make him also fall in love with her
and so win him in that way.
But it was no use. Octavius was a different kind of man from both
Julius Cæsar and Antony. He was cold-blooded and businesslike. He had
no heart for love-making. He would not let a woman charm him or turn
him aside from his plan, which was to be the greatest man in the world!
Cleopatra saw that it was no use trying her tricks on him. Then she
heard that she was going to be taken back to Rome and paraded through
the streets, as was done with any other prisoners taken in battle. She
could not stand such a shame as that, and so she made up her mind she
would not be taken back to Rome.
Now, in Egypt there is a kind of snake called an asp, which is deadly
poisonous. Taking one of these asps in her hand, she uncovered her
breast and let it bite her, and so she died.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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