for
centuries, shoulder to shoulder and flank to flank, learning its own
strength by degrees, till it suddenly grasped all power, gave it to one
man, and made Caius Julius Caesar Dictator of the earth.

The greatest figure in all history suddenly springs out of the dim
chaos and shines in undying glory, the figure of a man so great that the
office he held means Empire, and the mere name he bore means Emperor
today in four empires,--Caesar, Kaiser, Czar, Kaisar,--a man of so vast
power that the history of humanity for centuries after him was the
history of those who were chosen to fill his place--the history of
nearly half the twelve centuries foretold by the augur Attus, from
Romulus, first King, to Romulus Augustulus, last Emperor. He was a man
whose deeds and laws have marked out the life of the world even to this
far day. Before him and with him comes Pompey, with him and after him
Mark Antony, next to him in line and greatness, Augustus--all dwarfs
compared with him, while two of them were failures outright, and the
third could never have reached power but in his steps.

[Illustration: PALACE OF THE CAESARS]

In that long tempest of parties wherein the Republic went down for ever,
it is hard to trace the truth, or number the slain, or reckon up account
of gain and loss. But when Caesar rises in the centre of the storm the
end is sure and there can be no other, for he drives it before him like
a captive whirlwind, to do his bidding and clear the earth for his
coming. Other men, and great men, too, are overwhelmed by it, dashed
down and stunned out of all sense and judgment, to be lost and forgotten
like leaves in autumn, whirled away before the gale. Pompey, great
general and great statesman, conqueror in Spain, subduer of Spartacus
and the Gladiators, destroyer of pirates and final victor over
Mithridates, comes back and lives as a simple citizen. Noble of birth,
but not trusted by his peers, he joins with Caesar, leader of all the
people, and with Crassus, for more power, and loses the world by giving
Caesar an army, and Gaul to conquer. Crassus, brave general, too, is
slain in battle in far Parthia, and Pompey steals a march by getting a
long term in Spain. Caesar demands as much and is refused by Pompey's
friends. Then the storm breaks and Caesar comes back from Gaul to cross
the Rubicon, and take all Italy in sixty days. Pompey, ambitious,
ill-starred, fights losing battles everywhere. Murdered at last in
Egy