Part 11

At last, however, they came to open battle on the plain of Pharsalia. As Pompey’s forces far outnumbered those of Cæsar he felt confident of victory. “The hour at length arrived; the charge was sounded by the trumpets, and Cæsar’s troops began to advance with loud shouts and great impetuosity toward Pompey’s lines. There was a long and terrible struggle, but the forces of Pompey began finally to give way. Notwithstanding the precautions which Pompey had taken to guard and protect the wing of his army which was extended toward the land, Cæsar succeeded in turning his flank upon that side by driving off the cavalry, and destroying the archers and slingers; and he was thus enabled to throw a strong force upon Pompey’s rear. The flight then soon became general, and a scene of dreadful confusion and slaughter ensued. The soldiers of Cæsar’s army, maddened with the insane rage which the progress of a battle never fails to awaken, and now excited to frenzy by the exultation of success, pressed on after the affrighted fugitives, who trampled one upon another or fell pierced with the weapons of their assailants, filling the air with their cries of agony and their shrieks of terror.”

When Pompey perceived that all was lost he fled from the field, and having disguised himself as a common soldier, he retreated with a few attendants until he reached the Vale of Tempe in Thessaly. Here, in this picturesque spot, noted for its beautiful scenery, the fallen Pompey took his weary way. Having at length reached the Ægean Sea, he took refuge in a fisherman’s hut; hearing still of Cæsar’s pursuit he did not dare to rest, but embarked the next morning in a little vessel, with three attendants. He was afterwards taken up by the commander of a merchant ship, and was at length conveyed to the island of Lesbos, where his wife, Cornelia, was residing; Pompey had married her after the death of Julia, Cæsar’s daughter. Cornelia now provided a small fleet, and, determining to accompany her husband, they set sail upon the Mediterranean Sea. At last Pompey decided to seek refuge in Egypt. Some years before Pompey had been the means of restoring a king of Egypt to his throne; this king had since died, but had left his daughter, the famous Cleopatra, on the throne, to rule, conjointly, with a younger brother, named Ptolemy. At this time, the Egyptian ministers, who acted for the young prince, who was not old enough to be invested with the royal power, had dethroned Cleopatra that they might thus govern alone.

Cleopatra went into Syria to raise an army to recover her lost throne, and Ptolemy’s ministers had gone forth to battle with her. It was then that Pompey arrived in Egypt, and thinking that the young prince Ptolemy would receive him on account of the services Pompey had rendered to the Egyptian king, father of Ptolemy, Pompey and Cornelia, with their little fleet, approached the shore intending to land. A messenger was sent to the young king to solicit a kind reception. The Egyptian ministers of Ptolemy persuaded him that it would be dangerous either to grant or refuse Pompey’s request, and therefore, counselled that he might be invited to their camp, and then that he should be killed; this would please Cæsar, who was now so powerful, and it would put Pompey out of their way. This ungrateful counsel prevailed, and an Egyptian was appointed to perform the bloody deed. A courteous invitation was sent to Pompey to land, who, however, parted with his wife, Cornelia, with many forebodings of evil. As the boat of the Egyptians reached Pompey’s galley the officers hailed him with every mark of respect; bidding Cornelia farewell, Pompey, with two centurions, stepped into the Egyptian boat and was rowed to the shore. Just as he was about to step from the boat the assassins drew their swords, and Pompey was slain before the very eyes of his wife, who beheld the bloody scene from the deck of her galley, and her piercing shriek was wafted to the ears of her dying husband. The Egyptians then cut off the head of Pompey, leaving the headless body lying upon the shore. The two centurions who had accompanied Pompey, afterwards burned the body, and sent the ashes to the heartbroken Cornelia.

Cæsar, in pursuit of Pompey, soon after reached Alexandria, where he learned of his death; and the Egyptians, hoping to please him, presented to him the bloody head of his late enemy. But though Cæsar was very ambitious, he was not blood-thirsty, nor brutal in his wars. Instead of being pleased with such a ghastly gift, Cæsar turned from the shocking spectacle in horror. While Cæsar was in Alexandria many of Pompey’s officers came and surrendered themselves to him; and Cæsar, finding himself so powerful, determined to use his authority as Roman consul, to settle the dispute between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy. It was at this time that Cleopatra, in order to plead her cause, was brought by her commands to Cæsar’s quarters, rolled up in a bale of carpeting, and carried upon the shoulders of a slave. As all the avenues of approach to Cæsar’s apartments were in the possession of her enemies she feared falling into their hands. Cæsar espoused her cause, and determined that she and her brother Ptolemy should reign jointly. Ptolemy was so incensed against his sister, for thus securing Cæsar’s allegiance, that a violent war was waged between the Egyptians and Cæsar. This is called in history the Alexandrine War. In the course of this contest Cæsar took possession of the famous lighthouse of Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the world. During the progress of this war a great disaster occurred, which was the burning of the famous Alexandrian library. The number of volumes, or rolls of parchment there collected, was said to have been seven hundred thousand. When we remember that the people in those days possessed no printed books, and that each one of these rolls had been written by hand, with immense labor, and at vast expense, the loss to the world of works which could never be reproduced was irreparable. Cæsar was victorious in this war. The young king Ptolemy was defeated, and in attempting to retreat across one of the branches of the Nile he was drowned. Cæsar finally settled Cleopatra and a younger brother upon the throne of Egypt and returned to Rome. While Cæsar was in Egypt three great powers had arisen against him, in Asia Minor, in Africa, and in Spain.

He first went to Asia Minor and so quickly defeated his enemies there, that it was in reference to this battle that he wrote the famous inscription for his banner, which appeared in his triumphal procession, “_Veni, Vidi, Vici_,” I came, I saw, I conquered. Cæsar then proceeded to Africa, where his old enemy Cato had raised a large force against him. Cæsar was successful also in this contest, and finally shut up Cato in the city of Utica. Cato, finding defence hopeless, killed himself.

From Africa, Cæsar returned to Rome for a short time, and then went to Spain to put down the rebellion there which was led by the sons of Pompey. Here also he was successful, and the conqueror returned to Rome the undisputed master of the whole Roman world. Then came his magnificent triumphs. Cæsar celebrated four triumphs for his four great campaigns, in Egypt, in Asia Minor, in Africa, and in Spain. These were celebrated upon separate days. These triumphs were gorgeous in the extreme. Forty elephants were employed as torch-bearers in one triumph which took place at night, each elephant holding a great blazing flambeau in his proboscis and waving it proudly in the air. These triumphal processions are thus described by one historian. “In these triumphal processions everything was borne in exhibition which could serve as a symbol of the conquered country or a trophy of victory. Flags and banners, taken from the enemy; vessels of gold and silver and other treasures loaded in vans; wretched captives conveyed in open carriages, or marching sorrowfully on foot, and destined, some of them, to public execution when the ceremony of the triumph was ended; displays of arms and implements and dresses and all else which might serve to give the Roman crowd an idea of the customs and usages of the remote and conquered nations; the animals they used caparisoned in the manner in which they used them; these and a thousand other trophies and emblems were brought into the line to excite the admiration of the crowd, and to add to the gorgeousness of the spectacle. In these triumphs of Cæsar a young sister of Cleopatra, wearing chains of gold, was in the line of the Egyptian procession. In that devoted to Asia Minor was a great banner containing the words already referred to, Veni, Vidi, Vici. There were great paintings, too, borne aloft, representing battles and other striking scenes. Of course, all Rome was in the highest state of excitement during the days of the exhibition of this pageantry.

“The whole surrounding country flocked to the capital to witness it, and Cæsar’s greatness and glory were signalized in the most conspicuous manner to all the world. After these triumphs, a series of splendid public entertainments were given, over twenty thousand tables having been spread for the populace of the city. Shows of every character and variety were exhibited. There were dramatic plays and equestrian performances in the circus, and gladiatorial combats, and battles with wild beasts, and dances and chariot races and every other amusement which could be devised to gratify a population highly cultivated in all the arts of life, but barbarous and cruel in heart and character. Some of the accounts which have come down to us of the magnificence of the scale on which these entertainments were conducted are absolutely incredible. It is said that an immense basin was constructed near the Tiber, large enough to contain two fleets of galleys, which had on board two thousand rowers each and one thousand fighting men. These fleets were then manned with captives,—the one with Asiatics, and the other with Egyptians,—and when all was ready, they were compelled to fight a real battle for the amusement of the spectators who thronged the shores, until vast numbers were killed, and the waters of the lake were dyed with blood. It is also said that the entire Forum and some of the great streets in the neighborhood, where the principal gladiatorial shows were held, were covered with silken awnings to protect the vast crowds of spectators from the sun, and thousands of tents were erected to accommodate the people from the surrounding country, whom the buildings of the city could not contain.”

All open opposition to Cæsar’s power was now put down. The Senate vied with the people to do him honor. He was first made consul for ten years, and then perpetual dictator. They conferred upon him the title of “The Father of his Country.” Cæsar now began to form plans for immense improvements which should benefit his empire. He completed the regulation of the calendar. “The system of months in use in his day corresponded so imperfectly with the annual circuit of the sun, that the months were moving continually along the year in such a manner that the winter months came at length in the summer, and the summer months in the winter. This led to great practical inconveniences. For whenever, for example, anything was required by law to be done in certain months, intending to have them done in the summer, and the specified month came at length to be a winter month, the law would require the thing to be done in exactly the wrong season. Cæsar remedied all this by adopting a new system of months which should give three hundred and sixty-five days to the year for three years, and three hundred and sixty-six for the fourth; and so exact was the system which he thus introduced that it went on unchanged for sixteen centuries. The months were then found to be eleven days out of the way, and a new correction was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII., and it will now go on three thousand years before the error will amount to a single day. Cæsar employed a Greek astronomer to arrange the system he adopted, and for this improvement one of the months was called July, after Julius Cæsar. Its former name was Quintilis.”

Cæsar commenced the collection of vast libraries; formed plans for draining the Pontine Marshes, and for bringing great supplies of water into the city by an aqueduct; and he intended to cut a new passage for the Tiber from Rome to the sea. He also planned a road along the Apennines, and a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, and intended to construct other vast works which should make Rome the wonder of the world.

But in the midst of all these grand projects he was suddenly stricken down. Although the Romans disliked the thought of being ruled by a king, they preserved certain statues of their kings in some of the public buildings, and the ambition of Cæsar led him very foolishly to place his own statue among them. He also had a seat prepared for himself in the Senate in the form of a throne. On one occasion, when the members of the Senate were to come to him in a temple to announce certain decrees they had passed to his honor, Cæsar received them sitting upon a magnificent chair, which seemed a throne, so gorgeous was it; and he did not even rise to welcome them, as was the usual custom, thus showing that he would receive them as a monarch, who never rises in the presence of inferiors. This incident, small as it may seem, aroused much indignation. His statue was also found adorned with a laurel crown, to which was fastened a white fillet, which was an emblem of royalty. On another occasion, at a public entertainment, an officer placed a diadem upon the head of Cæsar, who pretended to be disinclined to receive it, and taking it off, it was offered twice again, and refused, when Cæsar sent the diadem to a temple near by as an offering to Jupiter. Although he thus appeared to reject the honor, his manner indicated that he only desired to be more warmly pressed to receive it. There was now formed a strong conspiracy against Cæsar, headed by Cassius, who had for a long time been Cæsar’s enemy. Cassius at last succeeded in persuading Marcus Brutus to join him. The plan was then divulged to such men as the conspirators thought most necessary to the success of their plot. It was agreed that Cæsar must be slain. They at length decided that the Roman Senate was the proper place. As it had been rumored that Cæsar’s friends were about to attempt to crown him as a king on the Ides of March, that day was chosen by the conspirators as a fitting one on which Julius Cæsar should meet his doom. Cæsar received many warnings of his approaching fate, and the soothsayers reported many strange omens which betokened some portentous event. One of these soothsayers informed Cæsar that he had been warned, by certain signs at a public sacrifice, that some terrible danger threatened his life on the Ides of March; and he besought him to be cautious until that day should have passed. The Senate were to meet on the Ides of March in a new and magnificent edifice, which had been erected by Pompey. In this Senate Chamber was a statue of Pompey. The day before the Ides of March, some birds of prey from a neighboring grove came flying into this hall, pursuing a little wren which had a sprig of laurel in its beak. The birds tore the poor wren to pieces, and the laurel fell from its bill to the marble pavement below. As Cæsar had been crowned with laurel after his victories, and always wore a wreath of laurel on public occasions, this event was thought to portend some evil to him. The night before the Ides of March, both Cæsar and his wife Calpurnia awoke from terrible dreams. Cæsar dreamed that he ascended into the skies and was received by Jupiter, and Calpurnia, awakening with a wild shriek, declared that she had dreamed that the roof of the house had fallen in, and that her husband had been stabbed by an assassin. When morning came, Calpurnia endeavored to persuade Cæsar not to go to the Senate, and he had consented to comply with her wish, until one of the conspirators, who had been appointed to accompany Cæsar to the Senate, came to the house of Julius Cæsar, and by his declarations that the people were waiting to confer upon their dictator the title of king throughout all the Roman dominions excepting Italy alone, he at length persuaded Cæsar to go with him. On the way to the Senate, a Greek teacher, having learned something of the plot, wrote a statement of it, and as Cæsar passed him he gave it to him, saying, “Read this immediately; it concerns yourself, and is of the utmost importance.” Cæsar made the attempt to do so, but the crowd of people who pressed towards him and handed him various petitions, as was the usual custom when a state officer appeared in public, prevented Cæsar from thus learning of the dreadful fate awaiting him. There was one warm friend of Cæsar, named Marc Antony, whom the conspirators feared might interfere with the successful completion of their plot, and so it was arranged that one of their number should engage the attention of Antony, while the petitioner chosen should advance and make his appeal to Cæsar, which should be the signal for the bloody deed. This conspirator made a pretence of asking Cæsar for the pardon of his brother, which request, as they had expected, Cæsar declined to grant. This occasioned an outburst of pretended fury, under cover of which the conspirators rushed upon Cæsar and stabbed him with their swords. Cæsar at first attempted to defend himself, but as Brutus, his former friend, also plunged his dagger into his side, he exclaimed, “And you, too, Brutus?” and drawing his mantle over his face, he fell at the feet of Pompey’s statue and expired. Now again the city of Rome was in wild tumult.

The conspirators marched boldly through the streets with their bloody swords. They boasted of their shocking deed, and announced that they had delivered their country from a tyrant. The people, stunned by the daring of this terrible act, knew not what to think or do. Some barricaded their houses in fear; others hurried through the streets with blanched faces; and still others excitedly seized any kind of weapon near at hand, and joined a mob, which threatened to break out in awful violence, to avenge the death of Cæsar, their idol.

During all this time the body of Cæsar lay unheeded at the foot of Pompey’s statue, pierced with twenty-three wounds, made by the hands of men he thought were his friends. Three slaves were his only guardians; and at last they lifted the poor bruised, bleeding, and ghastly corpse, and carried it home to the distracted Calpurnia. The next day, Brutus and the other conspirators called the people together in the Forum, and there addressed them, endeavoring to persuade them that the deed had been committed only in the interests of the people, to rid them of a tyrant. But the subsequent famous funeral speech of Marc Antony, roused the people to such a wild frenzy of revenge, that the conspirators were only saved from death with great difficulty by the intervention of the Senate.

The Field of Mars had been chosen as the place for the funeral pile; but after the speech of Marc Antony in the Forum, where the body of Cæsar had been placed on a gilded bed covered with scarlet and cloth of gold, under a gorgeous canopy made in the form of a temple, the people in their wild outbursts of love for Cæsar, as they had then learned from his will, which Antony read aloud to them, of his munificent bequests to the Roman citizens, became ungovernable in their desires to do him reverence. As a crier, by Antony’s order, read the decrees of the Senate, in which all honors, human and divine, had been been ascribed to Cæsar, the gilded bed upon which he lay was lifted and borne out into the centre of the Forum; and two men, having forced their way through the crowd, with lighted torches set fire to the bed on which the body of Cæsar lay, and the multitudes with shouts of enthusiastic applause, seized everything within reach and placed them upon the funeral pile. The soldiers then threw on their lances and spears; musicians cast their instruments into the increasing flames; women tore off their jewels to add to the gorgeous pile, and all vied with each other to contribute something to enlarge the blazing funeral pile. So fierce were the flames that they spread to some of the neighboring buildings, and a terrible conflagration which would have given Cæsar the most majestic funeral pile in the annals of the world, for it would have been the blazing light from the burning city of Rome itself, was only prevented by the most strenuous efforts.

Some time after, Octavius Cæsar, the successor of Julius Cæsar, and Marc Antony, waged war with Cassius and Brutus; and at the battle of Philippi, where Cassius and Brutus were defeated, and while they were fleeing from the field, hopeless of further defence, they both killed themselves with their own swords.

Cæsar died at the age of fifty-six. The Roman people erected a column to his memory, on which they placed the inscription, “To the Father of His Country.” A figure of a star was placed upon the summit of this memorial shaft, and some time afterwards, while the people were celebrating some games in honor of Cæsar’s memory, a great comet blazed for seven nights in the sky, which they declared to be a sign that the soul of Cæsar was admitted among the gods.

CHARLEMAGNE.

742-814 A.D.

“To whom God will, there be the victory.” SHAKESPEARE.

THERE was great terror and dismay among the inhabitants of the city of Paris, called in those early days, Lutetia.

[Illustration: CHARLEMAGNE.

(From Early Engraving.)]

The Gauls, who dwelt in that part of the country, were now menaced by a foe even more terrible than the Roman soldiers led by the famous Julius Cæsar, who had invaded their land about 500 years before, and made their country a Roman province.