His genius was most versatile: he possessed an unexampled facility and power in all that could be done by intellect; he had an excellent memory, together with presence of mind, and the firmest reliance on himself and his good fortune, being confident that he must succeed in everything. Owing to this great facility, most of his acquirements were not the fruits of the toilsome drudgery of the school, but of the cultivation and exercise of his great talents: thus it was with his eloquence and his style. In the very fact that he owed nothing to art, and everything to himself, lay the chief secret of his wonderful power. He had made himself master of many branches of knowledge; for while they interested him, he devoted to them all his energy and attention. He was particularly remarkable for his acuteness and keen observation; and it is certainly no small honour for grammar that Cæsar was so fond of it: his work on analogy would very likely be as much superior to all the grammars of that time, as his history was to all other works of the same kind which are founded on personal observation. The same originality is also manifest in his strategical talents: his sound, strong intellect clearly marks its aim, and then finds out for itself the means of attaining it. He was no intriguer; of all those plots which were then so general, he knew nothing: on the contrary, he was the frankest person in the world, which was the very reason why he was often so little on his guard. Not a few of the arbitrary acts of which he was guilty, were merely the consequences of a former want of caution, of frankness and openness. His kindliness of soul, his mildness and humanity, he showed after his victory in a manner which could never have been expected from him; nor was there anything artificial in it. Augustus was an actor in all he did; but Cæsar was always true and open-hearted. Had he lived in times when the machine of the state was smoothly going on, and was not yet rusty and disorganised, when it was still possible to govern the republic with a strong, sound hand,—as for instance, in the days of Scipio; or, had he been born on the throne, he would calmly have gone through his career, and without destroying anything, have most brilliantly reached the goal. But he was thrown upon a time, when as Göthe says, “one must needs be either anvil or hammer;” and of course the choice was not difficult. Cato might dream as long as he liked, that there was still hope with the _fæx plebis_, and that the age of Curius and Fabricius were not yet over; Cicero might trim and tack about in this republic, if he chose; but Cæsar could not do otherwise than rule the circumstances in which he found himself, and he had unremittingly, untiringly to advance towards the mark which he had in view. That he was unscrupulous in his wars, cannot be denied: his Gallic wars are for the most part downright crimes; his conduct towards the Usipetes and