thing truly noble, to suppose him struck with powerful admiration
for the audacity of the young patrician, standing out in such severe
solitude among so many examples of timid concession; and that to this
magnanimous feeling in the Dictator, much of his indulgence was due. In
fact, according to some accounts, it was not Sylla, but the creatures
of Sylla (_adjutores_), who pursued Cæsar. We know, at all events, that
Sylla formed a right estimate of Cæsar's character, and that, from
the complexion of his conduct in this one instance, he drew his famous
prophecy of his future destiny; bidding his friends beware of that
slipshod boy, "for that in him lay couchant many a Marius." A grander
testimony to the awe which Cæsar inspired, or from one who knew better
the qualities of that man by whom he measured him, cannot be imagined.
It is not our intention, or consistent with our plan, to pursue this
great man through the whole circumstances of his romantic career; though
it is certain that many parts of his life require investigation much
keener than has ever been applied to them, and that many might easily be
placed in a new light. Indeed, the whole of this most momentous section
of ancient history ought to be recomposed with the critical scepticism
of a Niebuhr, and the same comprehensive collation of authorities. In
reality it is the hinge upon which turned the future destiny of the
whole earth, and having therefore a common relation to all modern
nations whatsoever, should naturally have been cultivated with the zeal
which belongs to a personal concern. In general, the anecdotes which
express most vividly the splendid character of the first Cæsar, are
those which illustrate his defiance of danger in extremity,--the
prodigious energy and rapidity of his decisions and motions in the
field; the skill with which he penetrated the designs of his enemies,
and the exemplary speed with which he provided a remedy for disasters;
the extraordinary presence of mind which he showed in turning adverse
omens to his own advantage, as when, upon stumbling in coming on shore,
(which was esteemed a capital omen of evil,) he transfigured as it
were in one instant its whole meaning by exclaiming, "Thus do I take
possession of thee, oh Africa!" in that way giving to an accident the
semblance of a symbolic purpose; the grandeur of fortitude with which he
faced the whole extent of a calamity when palliation could do no good,
"non negando, minuendove, sed insuper amplificando, _ementiendoque_;"
as when, upon finding his soldiery alarmed at the approach of Juba, with
forces really great, but exaggerated by their terrors, he addressed them
in a military harangue to the following effect: "Know that within a few
days the king will come up with us, bringing with him sixty thousand
legionaries, thirty thousand cavalry, one hundred thousand light troops,
besides three hundred elephants. Such being the case, let me hear no
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