The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0002/00026.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 25KB | 382 lines

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$Title{Julius Caesar
Chapter XI: The Conspiracy}
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$Author{Abbott, Jacob}
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$Subject{caesar
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$Date{1900}
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Title:       Julius Caesar
Author:      Abbott, Jacob
Date:        1900

Chapter XI: The Conspiracy

     Caesar's greatness and glory came at last to a very sudden and violent
end.  He was assassinated.  All the attendant circumstances of this deed, too,
were of the most extraordinary character, and thus the dramatic interest which
adorns all parts of the great conqueror's history marks strikingly its end.

     His prosperity and power awakened, of course, a secret jealousy and ill
will.  Those who were disappointed in their expectations of his favor
murmured.  Others, who had once been his rivals, hated him for having
triumphed over them.  Then there was a stern spirit of democracy, too, among
certain classes of the citizens of Rome which could not brook a master.  It is
true that the sovereign power in the Roman commonwealth had never been shared
by all the inhabitants.  It was only in certain privileged classes that the
sovereignty was vested; but among these the functions of government were
divided and distributed in such a way as to balance one interest against
another, and to give all their proper share of influence and authority.
Terrible struggles and conflicts often occurred among these various sections
of society, as one or another attempted from time to time to encroach upon the
rights or privileges of the rest.  These struggles, however, ended usually in
at last restoring again the equilibrium which had been disturbed. No one power
could ever gain the entire ascendency; and thus, as all monarchism seemed
excluded from their system, they called it a republic. Caesar, however, had
now concentrated in himself all the principal elements of power, and there
began to be suspicions that he wished to make himself in name and openly, as
well as secretly and in fact, a king.

     The Romans abhorred the very name of king.  They had had kings in the
early periods of their history, but they made themselves odious by their pride
and their oppressions, and the people had deposed and expelled them. The
modern nations of Europe have several times performed the same exploit, but
they have generally felt unprotected and ill at ease without a personal
sovereign over them and have accordingly, in most cases, after a few years,
restored some branch of the expelled dynasty to the throne.  The Romans were
more persevering and firm.  They had managed their empire now for five hundred
years as a republic, and though they had had internal dissensions, conflicts,
and quarrels without end, had persisted so firmly and unanimously in their
detestation of all regal authority, that no one of the long line of ambitious
and powerful statesmen, generals, or conquerors by which the history of the
empire had been signalized, had ever dared to aspire to the name of king.

     There began, however, soon to appear some indications that Caesar, who
certainly now possessed regal power, would like the regal name.  Ambitious
men, in such cases, do not directly assume themselves the titles and symbols
of royalty.  Others make the claim for them, while they faintly disavow it,
till they have opportunity to see what effect the idea produces on the public
mind.  The following incidents occurred which it was thought indicated such a
design on the part of Caesar.

     There were in some of the public buildings certain statues of kings; for
it must be understood that the Roman dislike to kings was only a dislike to
having kingly authority exercised over themselves.  They respected and
sometimes admired the kings of other countries, and honored their exploits,
and made statues to commemorate their fame.  They were willing that kings
should reign elsewhere, so long as there were no king of Rome.  The American
feeling at the present day is much the same.  If the Queen of England were to
make a progress through this country, she would receive, perhaps, as many and
as striking marks of attention and honor as would be rendered to her in her
own realm.  We venerate the antiquity of her royal line; we admire the
efficiency of her government and the sublime grandeur of her empire, and have
as high an idea as any, of the powers and prerogatives of her crown - and
these feelings would show themselves most abundantly on any proper occasion.
We are willing, nay, wish that she should continue to reign over Englishmen;
and yet, after all, it would take some millions of bayonets to place a queen
securely upon a throne over this land.

     Regal power was accordingly, in the abstract, looked up to at Rome, as it
is elsewhere, with great respect; and it was, in fact, all the more tempting
as an object of ambition, from the determination felt by the people that it
should not be exercised there.  There were, accordingly,statues of kings at
Rome.  Caesar placed his own statue among them.  Some approved, others
murmured.

     There was a public theater in the city, where the officers of the
government were accustomed to sit in honorable seats prepared expressly for
them, those of the Senate being higher and more distinguished than the rest.
Caesar had a seat prepared for himself there, similar in form to a throne, and
adorned it magnificently with gilding and ornaments of gold, which gave it the
entire pre-eminence over all the other seats.

     He had a similar throne placed in the senate chamber, to be occupied by
himself when attending there, like the throne of the King of England in the
House of Lords.

     He held, moreover, a great many public celebrations and triumphs in the
city in commemoration of his exploits and honors; and, on one of these
occasions, it was arranged that the Senate were to come to him at a temple in
a body; and announce to him certain decrees which they had passed to his
honor.  Vast crowds had assembled to witness the ceremony Caesar was seated in
a magnificent chair, which might have been called either a chair or a throne
and was surrounded by officers and attendants When the Senate approached,
Caesar did not rise to receive them, but remained seated, like a monarch
receiving a deputation of his subjects.  The incident would not seem to be in
itself of any great importance, but, considered as an indication of Caesar's
designs, it attracted great attention, and produced a very general excitement.
The act was adroitly managed so as to be somewhat equivocal in its character,
in order that it might be represented one way or the other on the following
day, according as the indications of public sentiment might incline.  Some
said that Caesar was intending to rise, but was prevented, and held down by
those who stood around him.  Others said that an officer motioned to him to
rise, but he rebuked his interference by a frown, and continued his seat.
Thus while, in fact, he received the Roman Senate as their monarch and
sovereign, his own intentions and designs in so doing were left somewhat in
doubt, in order to avoid awakening a sudden and violent opposition.

     Not long after this, as he was returning in public from some great
festival, the streets being full of crowds, and the populace following him in
great throngs with loud acclamations, a man went up to his statue as he passed
it, and placed upon the head of it a laurel crown, fastened with a white
ribbon, which was a badge of royalty.  Some officers ordered the ribbon to be
taken down, and sent the man to prison.  Caesar was very much displeased with
the officers, and dismissed them from their office.  He wished, he said, to
have the opportunity to disavow, himself, such claims, and not to have others
disavow them for him.

     Caesar's disavowals were, however, so faint, and people had so little
confidence in their sincerity, that the cases became more and more frequent in
which the titles and symbols of royalty were connected with his name.  The