sar was unique
among the great Roman writers in having been born at the capital.
Appropriately he is the incarnation of the specifically Roman spirit in
literature, as Cicero was the embodiment of the Italian, the Hellenic,
the cosmopolitan spirit.

Toward the close of Caesar's career there are some signs of weariness
observable--a certain loss of serenity, a suspicion of vanity, a dimming
of his penetrating vision into the men about him. The only wonder is
that mind and body had not succumbed long before to the prodigious
strain put upon them. Perhaps it is well that he died when he did,
hardly past his prime. So he went to his setting, like the other "weary
Titan," leaving behind him a brightness which lasted all through the
night of the Dark Ages. Caesar died, but the imperial idea of which he
was the first embodiment has proved the central force of European
political history even down to our time.

Such is the man who speaks to us from his pages still. He was a man who
did things rather than a man who said things. Yet who could speak so
well? His mastery of language was perfect, but in the same way as his
mastery of other instruments. Style with him was a means rather than an
end. He had the training which others of his kind enjoyed. Every Roman
noble had to learn oratory. But Caesar wrote and spoke with a faultless
taste and a distinction that no training could impart. So we find in his
style a beauty which does not depend upon ornament, but upon perfect
proportion; a diction plain and severe almost to baldness; absolute
temperateness of expression. The descriptions are spirited, but never
made so by strained rhetoric; the speeches are brief, manly,
business-like; the arguments calm and convincing; always and everywhere
the language of a strong man well inside the limits of his power.

The chief ancient authorities for the life of Caesar, besides his own
works, are Suetonius in Latin, Plutarch and Appian in Greek. Among
modern works of which he is made the subject may be mentioned 'Jules
Cesar,' by Napoleon III. (Paris, 1865); continued by Colonel Stoffel,
with an Atlas; 'Caesar, a Sketch,' by J. A. Froude (London, 1886);
'Caesar,' by A. Trollope (London, 1870); 'Caesar,' by T. A. Dodge, U.S.A.
(Boston, 1893).

[Illustration: Signature: J. H. Westcott]

THE DEFEAT OF ARIOVISTUS AND THE GERMANS

From 'The Gallic Wars'

When he had proceeded three days' journey, word was brought to him that
Ariovistus was