nobles, with Pompey at their head, since nothing is more familiar in
history. Plainly he was not here rendering public services, as he did in
Spain and Gaul, but taking care of his own interests. I cannot see how a
civil war was a service, unless it were a service to destroy the
aristocratic constitution and substitute imperialism, which some think
was needed with the vast extension of the Empire, and for the good
administration of the provinces,--robbed and oppressed by the governors
whom the Senate had sent out to enrich the aristocracy. It may have been
needed for the better administration of justice, for the preservation of
law and order, and a more efficient central power. Absolutism may have
proved a benefit to the Empire, as it proved a benefit to France under
Cardinal Richelieu, when he humiliated the nobles. If so, it was only a
choice of evils, for absolutism is tyranny, and tyranny is not a
blessing, except in a most demoralized state of society, which it is
claimed was the state of Rome at the time of the usurpation of Caesar.
It is certain that the whole united strength of the aristocracy could
not prevail over Caesar, although it had Pompey for its defender, with
his immense prestige and experience as a general.
After Caesar had crossed the Rubicon, and it was certain he would march
to Rome and seize the reins of government, the aristocracy fled
precipitately to Pompey's wing at Capua, fearing to find in Caesar
another Marius. Pompey did not show extraordinary ability in the crisis.
He had no courage and no purpose. He fled to Brundusium, where ships
were waiting to transport his army to Durazzo. He was afraid to face his
rival in Italy. Caesar would have pursued, but had no navy. He therefore
went to Rome, which he had not seen for ten years, took what money he
wanted from the treasury, and marched to Spain, where the larger part of
Pompey's army, under his lieutenants, were now arrayed against him.
These it was necessary first to subdue. But Caesar prevailed, and all
Spain was soon at his feet. His successes were brilliant; and Gaul,
Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia were wholly his own, as well as Spain, which
was Pompey's province. He then rapidly returned to Rome, was named
Dictator, and as such controlled the consular election, and was chosen
Consul. But Pompey held the East, and, with his ships, controlled the
Mediterranean, and was gathering forces for the invasion of Italy.
Caesar allowed himself but eleven days in Rome. It was necessary to
meet Pompey before that general could return to Italy. It was
mid-winter,--about a year after he had crossed the Rubicon. He had with
him only thirty thousand men, but these were veterans. Pompey had nine
full Roman legions, which lay at Durazzo, opposite to Brundusium,
besides auxiliaries and unlimited means; but he was hampered by
senatorial civilians, and his legions were only used to Eastern warfare.
He also controlled the sea, so that it was next to impossible for Caesar
to embark without being defeated. Yet Caesar did cross the sea amid
overwhelming obstacles, and the result was the battle of
Pharsalia,--deemed one of the decisive battles of the world, although
the forces of the combatants were comparatively small. It was gained by
the defeat of Pompey's cavalry by a fourth line of the best soldiers of
Caesar, which was kept in reserve. Pompey, on the defeat of his cavalry,
upon whom he had based his hopes, lost heart and fled. He fled to the
sea,--uncertain, vacillating, and discouraged,--and sailed for Egypt,
relying on the friendship of the young king; but was murdered
treacherously before he set foot upon the land. His fate was most
tragical. His fall was overwhelming.
This battle, in which the flower of the Roman aristocracy succumbed to
the conqueror of Gaul, with vastly inferior forces, did not end the
desperate contest. Two more bloody battles were fought--one in Africa
and one in Spain--before the supremacy of Caesar was secured. The battle
of Thapsus, between Utica and Carthage, at which the Roman nobles once
more rallied under Cato and Labienus, and the battle of Munda, in Spain,
the most bloody of all, gained by Caesar over the sons of Pompey,
settled the civil war and made Caesar supreme. He became supreme only by
the sacrifice of half of the Roman nobility and the death of their
principal leaders,--Pompey, Labienus, Lentulus, Ligarius, Metellus,
Scipio Afrarius, Cato, Petreius, and others. In one sense it was the
contest between Pompey and Caesar for the empire of the world. Cicero
said, "The success of the one meant massacre, and that of the other
slavery,"--for if Pompey had prevailed, the aristocracy would have
butchered their enemies with unrelenting vengeance; but Caesar hated
unnecessary slaughter, and sought only power. In another sense it was
the struggle between a single man--with enlightened views and vast
designs--and the Roman aristocracy, hostile to reforms, and bent on
greed and oppression. The success of Caesar was favorable to the
restoration of order and law and progressive improvements; the success
of the nobility would have entailed a still more grinding oppression of
the people, and possibly anarchy and future conflicts between fortunate
generals and the aristocracy. Destiny or Providence gave the empire of
the world to a single man, although that man was as unscrupulous as
he was able.
Henceforth imperialism was the form of government in Rome, which lasted
about four hundred years. How long an aristocratic government would have
lasted is a speculation. Caesar, in his elevation to unlimited power,
used his power beneficently. He pardoned his enemies, gave security to
property and life, restored the finances, established order, and devoted
himself to useful reforms. He cut short the grant of corn to the citizen
mob; he repaired the desolation which war had made; he rebuilt cities
and temples; he even endeavored to check luxury and extravagance and
improve morals. He reformed the courts of law, and collected libraries
in every great city. He put an end to the expensive tours of senators in
the provinces, where they had appeared as princes exacting
contributions. He formed a plan to drain the Pontine Marshes. He
reformed the calendar, making the year to begin with the first day of
January. He built new public buildings, which the enlargement of
business required. He seemed to have at heart the welfare of the State
and of the people, by whom he was adored. But he broke up the political
ascendancy of nobles, although he did not confiscate their property. He
weakened the Senate by increasing its numbers to nine hundred, and by
appointing senators himself from his army and from the provinces,--those
who would be subservient to him, who would vote what he decreed.
Caesar's ruling passion was ambition,--thirst of power; but he had no
great animosities. He pardoned his worst enemies,--Brutus, Cassius, and
Cicero, who had been in arms against him; nor did he reign as a tyrant.
His habits were simple and unostentatious. He gave easy access to his
person, was courteous in his manners, and mingled with senators as a
companion rather than as a master. Like Charlemagne, he was temperate in
eating and drinking, and abhorred gluttony and drunkenness,--the vices
of the aristocracy and of fortunate plebeians alike. He was
indefatigable in business, and paid attention to all petitions. He was
economical in his personal expenses, although he lavished vast sums upon
the people in the way of amusing or bribing them. He dispensed with
guards and pomps, and was apparently reckless of his life: anything was
better to him than to live in perpetual fear of conspirators and
traitors. There never was a braver man, and he was ever kind-hearted to
those who did not stand in his way. He was generous, magnanimous, and
unsuspicious. He was the model of an absolute prince, aside from laxity
of morals. In regard to women, of their virtue he made little account.
His favorite mistress was Servilia, sister of Cato and mother of Brutus.
Some have even supposed that Brutus was Caesar's son, which accounts
for his lenity and forbearance and affection. He was the high-priest of
the Roman worship, and yet he believed neither in the gods nor in
immortality. But he was always the gentleman,--natural, courteous,
affable, without vanity or arrogance or egotism. He was not a patriot in
the sense that Cicero and Cato were, or Trajan and Marcus Aurelius,
since his country was made subservient to his own interests and
aggrandizement. Yet he was a very interesting man, and had fewer faults
than Napoleon, with equally grand designs.
But even he could not escape a retribution, in spite of his exalted
position and his great services. The leaders of the aristocracy still
hated him, and could not be appeased for the overthrow of their power.
They resolved to assassinate him, from vengeance rather than fear.
Cicero was not among the conspirators; because his discretion could not
be relied upon, and they passed him by. But his heart was with them.
"There are many ways," said he, "in which a man may die." It was not a
wise thing to take his life; since the Constitution was already
subverted, and somebody would reign as imperator by means of the army,
and his death would necessarily lead to renewed civil wars and new
commotions and new calamities. But angry, embittered, and passionate
enemies do not listen to reason. They will not accept the inevitable.
There was no way to get rid of Caesar but by assassination, and no one
wished him out of the way but the nobles. Hence it was easy for them to
form a conspiracy. It was easy to stab him with senatorial daggers.
Caesar was not killed because he had personal enemies, nor because he
destroyed the liberties of Roman citizens, but because he had usurped
the authority of the aristocracy.
Yet he died, perhaps at the right time, at the age of fifty-six, after
an undisputed reign of only three or four years,--about the length of
that of Cromwell. He was already bending under the infirmities of a
premature old age. Epileptic fits had set in, and his constitution was
undermined by his unparalleled labors and fatigues; and then his
restless mind was planning a new expedition to Parthia, where he might
have ingloriously perished like Crassus. But such a man could not die.
His memory and deeds lived. He filled a role in history, which could not
be forgotten. He inaugurated a successful revolution. He bequeathed a
policy to last as long as the Empire lasted; and he had rendered
services of the greatest magnitude, by which he is to be ultimately
judged, as well as by his character. It is impossible for us to settle
whether or not his services overbalanced the evils of the imperialism he
established and of the civil wars by which he reached supreme command.
Whatever view we may take of the comparative merits of an aristocracy or
an imperial despotism in a corrupt age, we cannot deny to Caesar some
transcendent services and a transcendent fame. The whole matter is laid
before us in the language of Cicero to Caesar himself, in the Senate,
when he was at the height of his power; which shows that the orator was
not lacking in courage any more than in foresight and moral wisdom:--
"Your life, Caesar, is not that which is bounded by the union of your
soul and body. Your life is that which shall continue fresh in the
memory of ages to come, which posterity will cherish and eternity itself
keep guard over. Much has been done by you which men will admire; much
remains to be done which they can praise. They will read with wonder of
empires and provinces, of the Rhine, the ocean, and the Nile, of battles
without number, of amazing victories, of countless monuments and
triumphs; but unless the Commonwealth be wisely re-established in
institutions by you bestowed upon us, your name will travel widely over
the world, but will have no fixed habitation; and those who come after
you _will dispute about you_ as we have disputed. Some will extol you to
the skies; others will find something wanting, and the most important
element of all. Remember the tribunal before which you are to stand. The
ages that are to be will try you, it may be with minds less prejudiced
than ours, uninfluenced either by the desire to please you or by envy of
your greatness."
Thus spoke Cicero with heroic frankness. The ages have "disputed about"
Caesar, and will continue to dispute about him, as they do about
Cromwell and Napoleon; but the man is nothing to us in comparison with
the ideas which he fought or which he supported, and which have the same
force to-day as they had nearly two thousand years ago. He is the
representative of imperialism; which few Americans will defend, unless
it becomes a necessity which every enlightened patriot admits. The
question is, whether it was or was not a necessity at Rome fifty years
before Christ was born. It is not easy to settle in regard to the
benefit that Caesar is supposed by some--including Mr. Froude and the
late Emperor of the French--to have rendered to the cause of
civilization by overturning the aristocratic Constitution, and
substituting, not the rule of the people, but that of a single man. It
is still one of the speculations of history; it is not one of its
established facts, although the opinions of enlightened historians seem
to lean to the necessity of the Caesarian imperialism, in view of the
misrule of the aristocracy and the abject venality of the citizens who
had votes to sell. But it must be borne in mind that it was under the
aristocratic rule of senators and patricians that Rome went on from
conquering to conquer; that the governing classes were at all times the
most intelligent, experienced, and efficient in the Commonwealth; that
their very vices may have been exaggerated; and that the imperialism
which crushed them, may also have crushed out original genius,
literature, patriotism, and exalted sentiments, and even failed to have
produced greater personal security than existed under the aristocratic
Constitution at any period of its existence. All these are disputed
points of history. It may be that Caesar, far from being a national
benefactor by reorganizing the forces of the Empire, sowed the seeds of
ruin by his imperial policy; and that, while he may have given unity,
peace, and law to the Empire, he may have taken away its life. I do not
assert this, or even argue its probability. It may have been, and it may
not have been. It is an historical puzzle. There are two sides to all
great questions. But whether or not we can settle with the light of
modern knowledge such a point as this, I look upon the defence of
imperialism in itself, in preference to constitutional government with
all its imperfections, as an outrage on the whole progress of modern
civilization, and on whatever remains of dignity and intelligence among
the people.
AUTHORITIES.
Caesar's Commentaries, Leges Juliae, Appian, Plutarch, Suetonius, Dion
Cassius, and Cicero's Letters to Atticus are the principal original
authorities. Napoleon III. wrote a dull Life of Caesar, but it is rich
in footnotes, which it is probable he did not himself make, since
nothing is easier than the parade of learning. Rollin's Ancient History
may be read with other general histories. Merivale's History of the
Empire is able and instructive, but dry. Mr. Froude's sketch of Caesar
is the most interesting I have read, but advocates imperialism.
Niebuhr's Lectures on the History of Rome is also a standard work, as
well as Curtius's History of Rome.
MARCUS AURELIUS.
* * * * *
A.D. 121-180.
THE GLORY OF ROME.
Marcus Aurelius is immortal, not so much for what he _did_ as for what
he _was_. His services to the State were considerable, but not
transcendent. He was a great man, but not pre-eminently a great emperor.
He was a meditative sage rather than a man of action; although he
successfully fought the Germanic barbarians, and repelled their fearful
incursions. He did not materially extend the limits of the Empire, but
he preserved and protected its provinces. He reigned wisely and ably,
but made mistakes. His greatness was in his character; his influence for
good was in his noble example. When we consider his circumstances and
temptations, as the supreme master of a vast Empire, and in a wicked and
sensual age, he is a greater moral phenomenon than Socrates or
Epictetus. He was one of the best men of Pagan antiquity. History
furnishes no example of an absolute monarch so pure and spotless and
lofty as he was, unless it be Alfred the Great or St. Louis. But the
sphere of the Roman emperor was far greater than that of the Mediaeval
kings. Marcus Aurelius ruled over one hundred and twenty millions of
people, without check or hindrance or Constitutional restraint. He could
do what he pleased with their persons and their property. Most
sovereigns, exalted to such lofty dignity and power, have been either
cruel, or vindictive, or self-indulgent, or selfish, or proud, or hard,
or ambitious,--men who have been stained by crimes, whatever may have
been their services to civilization. Most of them have yielded to their
great temptations. But Marcus Aurelius, on the throne of the civilized
world, was modest, virtuous, affable, accessible, considerate, gentle,
studious, contemplative, stained by novices,--a model of human virtue.
Hence he is one of the favorite characters of history. No Roman emperor
was so revered and loved as he, and of no one have so many monuments
been preserved. Everybody had his picture or statue in his house. He was
more than venerated in his day, and his fame as a wise and good man has
increased with the flight of ages.
This illustrious emperor did not belong to the family of the great
Caesar. That family became extinct with Nero, the sixth emperor. Like
Trajan and Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius derived his remote origin from
Spain, although he was born in Rome. His great-grandfather was a
Spaniard, and yet attained the praetorian rank. His grandfather reached
the consulate. His father died while praetor, and when he himself was a
child. He was adopted by his grandfather Annius Verus. But his
marvellous moral beauty, even as a child, attracted the attention of the
Emperor Hadrian, who bestowed upon him the honor of the aequestrian
rank, at the age of six. At fifteen he was adopted by Antoninus Pius,
then, as we might say, "Crown Prince." Had he been older, he would have
been adopted by Hadrian himself. He thus, a mere youth, became the heir
of the Roman world. His education was most excellent. From Fronto, the
greatest rhetorician of the day, he learned rhetoric; from Herodes
Atticus he acquired a knowledge of the world; from Diognotus he learned
to despise superstition; from Apollonius, undeviating steadiness of
purpose; from Sextus of Chaeronea, toleration of human infirmities; from
Maximus, sweetness and dignity; from Alexander, allegiance to duty; from
Rusticus, contempt of sophistry and display. This stoical philosopher
created in him a new intellectual life, and opened to him a new world of
thought. But the person to whom he was most indebted was his adopted
father and father-in-law, the Emperor Antoninus Pius. For him he seems
to have had the greatest reverence. "In him," said he, "I noticed
mildness of manner with firmness of resolution, contempt of vain-glory,
industry in business, and accessibility of person. From him I learned
to acquiesce in every fortune, to exercise foresight in public affairs,
to rise superior to vulgar praises, to serve mankind without ambition,
to be sober and steadfast, to be content with little, to be practical
and active, to be no dreamy bookworm, to be temperate, modest in dress,
and not to be led away by novelties." What a picture of an emperor! What
a contrast to such a man as Louis XIV!
We might draw a parallel between Marcus Aurelius and David, when he was
young and innocent. But the person in history whom he most resembled was
St. Anselm. He was a St. Anselm on the throne. Philosophical meditations
seem to have been his delight and recreation; and yet he could issue
from his retirement and engage in active pursuits. He was an able
general as well as a meditative sage,--heroic like David, capable of
enduring great fatigue, and willing to expose himself to great dangers.
While his fame rests on his "Meditations," as that of David rests upon
his Psalms, he yet rendered great military services to the Empire. He
put down a dangerous revolt under Avidius Cassius in Asia, and did not
punish the rebellious provinces. Not one person suffered death in
consequence of this rebellion. Even the papers of Cassius, who aimed to
be emperor, were burned, that a revelation of enemies might not be
made,--a signal instance of magnanimity. Cassius, it seems, was
assassinated by his own officers, which assassination Marcus Aurelius
regretted, because it deprived him of granting a free pardon to a very
able but dangerous man.
But the most signal service he rendered the Empire was a successful
resistance to the barbarians of Germany, who had formed a general union
for the invasion of the Roman world. They threatened the security of the
Empire, as the Teutons did in the time of Marius, and the Gauls and
Germans in the time of Julius Caesar. It took him twenty years to subdue
these fierce warriors. He made successive campaigns against them, as
Charlemagne did against the Saxons. It cost him the best years of his
life to conquer them, which he did under difficulties as great as Julius
surmounted in Gaul. He was the savior and deliverer of his country, as
much as Marius or Scipio or Julius. The public dangers were from the
West and not the East. Yet he succeeded in erecting a barrier against
barbaric inundations, so that for nearly two hundred years the Romans
were not seriously molested. There still stands in "the Eternal City"
the column which commemorates his victories,--not so beautiful as that
of Trajan, which furnished the model for Napoleon's column in the Place
Vendôme, but still greatly admired. Were he not better known for his
writings, he would be famous as one of the great military emperors,
like Vespasian, Diocletian, and Constantine. Perhaps he did not add to
the art of war; that was perfected by Julius Caesar. It was with the
mechanism of former generals that he withstood most dangerous enemies,
for in his day the legions were still well disciplined and irresistible.
The only stains on the reign of this good and great emperor--for there
were none on his character--were in allowing the elevation of his son
Commodus as his successor, and his persecution of the Christians.