CAESAR

A SKETCH

PREFACE.

I have called this work a “sketch” because thematerials do not exist for a portrait which shall be at onceauthentic and complete. The original authorities which are nowextant for the life of Caesar are his own writings, the speechesand letters of Cicero, the eighth book of the“Commentaries” on the wars in Gaul and the history of theAlexandrian war, by Aulus Hirtius, the accounts of the African warand of the war in Spain, composed by persons who wereunquestionably present in those two campaigns. To these must beadded the “Leges Juliae” which are preserved in theCorpus Juris Civilis. Sallust contributes a speech, and Catullus apoem. A few hints can be gathered from the Epitome of Livy and thefragments of Varro; and here the contemporary sources which can beentirely depended upon are brought to an end.

The secondary group of authorities from which the popularhistories of the time have been chiefly taken are Appian, Plutarch,Suetonius, and Dion Cassius. Of these the first three were dividedfrom the period which they describe by nearly a century and a half,Dion Cassius by more than two centuries. They had means ofknowledge which no longer exist—the writings, for instance, ofAsinius Pollio, who was one of Caesar’s officers. But AsiniusPollio’s accounts of Caesar’s actions, as reported byAppian, cannot always be reconciled with the Commentaries; and allthese four writers relate incidents as facts which are sometimesdemonstrably false. Suetonius is apparently the most trustworthy.His narrative, like those of his contemporaries, was colored bytradition. His biographies of the earlier Caesars betray the samespirit of animosity against them which taints the credibility ofTacitus, and prevailed for so many years in aristocratic Romansociety. But Suetonius shows nevertheless an effort at veracity, anantiquarian curiosity and diligence, and a serious anxiety to tellhis story impartially. Suetonius, in the absence of evidence director presumptive to the contrary, I have felt myself able to follow.The other three writers I have trusted only when I have found thempartially confirmed by evidence which is better to be reliedupon.

The picture which I have drawn will thus be found deficient inmany details which have passed into general acceptance, and I havebeen unable to claim for it a higher title than that of an outlinedrawing.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

Free Constitutions and Imperial Tendencies.—Instructiveness ofRoman History.—Character of Historical Epochs.—The Age ofCaesar.—Spiritual State o

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