among so many examples of timid concession; and that to this magnanimous
feeling in the Dictator much of the indulgence which he showed may have
been really due. In fact, according to some accounts, it was not Sylla,
but the creatures of Sylla (_adjutores_), who pursued Caesar. We know,
at all events, that Sylla formed a right estimate of Caesar's character,
and that, from the complexion of his conduct in this one instance, he
drew that famous prophecy of his future destiny; bidding his friends
beware of that slipshod boy, "for that in him lay couchant many a
Marius." A grander testimony to the awe which Caesar inspired, or from
one who knew better the qualities of that Cyclopean man by whose scale
he measured the patrician boy, cannot be imagined.

It is not our intention, or consistent with our plan, to pursue this
great man through the whole circumstances of his romantic career; though
it is certain that many parts of his life require investigation much
keener than has ever been applied to them, and that many might be placed
in a new light. Indeed, the whole of this most momentous section of
ancient history ought to be recomposed with the critical scepticism of a
Niebuhr, and the same comprehensive collation, resting, if possible, on
the felicitous interpretation of authorities. In reality it is the hinge
upon which turned the future destiny of the whole earth, and, having
therefore a common relation to all modern nations whatsoever, should
naturally have been cultivated with the zeal which belongs to a personal
concern. In general, the anecdotes which express most vividly the
grandeur of character in the first Caesar are those which illustrate his
defiance of danger in extremity: the prodigious energy and rapidity of
his decisions and motions in the field (looking to which it was that
Cicero called him [Greek: teras] or portentous revelation); the skill
with which he penetrated the designs of his enemies, and the electric
speed with which he met disasters with remedy and reparation, or, where
that was impossible, with relief; the extraordinary presence of mind
which he showed in turning adverse omens to his own advantage, as when,
upon stumbling in coming on shore (which was esteemed a capital omen of
evil), he transfigured as it were in one instant its whole meaning by
exclaiming, "Thus, and by this contact with the earth, do I take
possession of thee, O Africa!" in that way giving to an accident the
semblance of a