ass. One day he stripped for the refreshment | ed mind, and fills it with fear and folly This of oil, and to play at ball: after the diversion was entirely Alexander's case. However, upon was over, the young men who played with him, the receipt of some oracles concerning Hegoing to fetch his clothes, beheld a man sitting phæstion, from the god he commonly conin profound silence on his throne, dressed insulted, he gave a truce to his sorrows, and emthe royal robes, with the diadem upon his head. ployed himself in festive sacrifices and enterThey demanded who he was, and it was a long tainments. time before he would answer. At last, coming to himself, he said, "My name is Dionysius, and I am a native of Messene. Upon a criminal process against me, I left the place, and embarked for Babylon. There I have been kept a long time in chains. But this day the god Serapis appeared to me, and broke my chains; after which he conducted me hither, and ordered me to put on this robe and diadem, and sit here in silence."

One day, after he had given Nearchus a sumptuous treat, he went, according to custom, to refresh himself in the bath, in order to retire to rest. But in the meantime Medius came and invited him to take part in a carousal, and he could not deny him. There he drank all that night and the next day, till at last he found a fever coming upon him. It did not, however, seize him as he was drinking the cup of Hercules, nor did he find a sudden pain in his back, as if it had been pierced with a spear. These are circumstances invented by writers, who thought the catastrophe of so noble a tragedy should be something affecting and extraordinary. Aristobulus tells us, that in the rage of his fever, and the violence of his thirst, he took a draught of wine, which threw him into a frenzy, and that he died the thirtieth of the month Daesius (June.)

After the man had thus explained himself, Alexander, by the advice of his soothsayers, put him to death. But the anguish of his mind increased; on one hand, he almost despaired of the succours of Heaven, and on the other distrusted his friends. He was most afraid of Antipater and his sons; one of which, named Iolaus, was his cup-bearer; the other, named Cassander, was lately arrived from Macedonia; and happening to see some barbarians prostrate But in his journals the account of his sickthemselves before the king, like a man accus-ness is as follows: "On the eighteenth of the tomed only to the Grecian manners, and a stranger to such a sight, he burst out into a loud laugh. Alexander, enraged at the affront, seized him by the hair, and with both hands dashed his head against the wall. Cassander afterwards attempted to vindicate his father against his accusers; which greatly irritated the king. "What is this talk of thine?" said he, "Dost thou think that men who had suffered no injury, would come so far to bring a false charge?" "Their coming so far," replied Cassander, "is an argument that the charge is false, because they are at a distance from those who are able to contradict them." At this Alexander smiled, and said, "These are some of Aristotle's sophisms, which make equally for either side of the question. But be assured I will make you repent it, if these men have had the least injustice done them."

month Daesius, finding the fever upon him, he lay in his bath room. The next day, after he had bathed, he removed into his own chamber, and played many hours with Medius at dice. In the evening he bathed again, and after having sacrificed to the gods, he ate his supper. In the night the fever returned. The twentieth he also bathed, and, after the customary sacrifice, sat in the bath-room, and diverted himself with hearing Nearchus tell the story of his voyage, and all that was most observable with respect to the ocean. The twenty-first was spent in the same manner. The fever increas ed, and he had a very bad night. The twentysecond, the fever was violent. He ordered his bed to be removed, and placed by the great bath. There he talked to his generals about the vacancies in his army, and desired they might be filled up with experienced officers. The twenty-fourth, he was much worse. He choose, however, to be carried to assist at the sacrifice. He likewise gave orders, that the principal officers of the army should wait within the court, and the others keep watch all night without. The twenty-fifth, he was removed to his palace, on the other side of the river, where he slept a little, but the fever did not abate; and when his generals entered the room he was speechless. He continued When Alexander had once given himself up so the day following. The Macedonians, to superstition, his mind was so preyed upon by this time, thinking he was dead, came to by vain fears and anxieties, that he turned the the gates with great clamor, and threatened least incident which was any thing strange and the great officers in such a manner, that they out of the way, into a sign or a prodigy. The were forced to admit them, and suffer them all court swarmed with sacrifices, purifiers, and to pass unarmed by the bed-side. The twentyprognosticators; they were all to be seen exer- seventh, Python and Seleucus were sent to the cising their talents there. So true it is, that temple of Serapis, to inquire whether they though the disbelief of religion, and contempt should carry Alexander thither, and the deity of things divine, is a great evil, yet superstition ordered that they should not remove him. The is a greater. For as water gains upon low twenty-eighth, in the evening, he died." These grounds, so superstition prevails over a deject-particulars are taken almost word for word

This, and other menaces, left such a terror upon Cassander, and made so lasting an impression upon his mind, that many years after, when king of Macedon, and master of all Greece, as he was walking about at Delphi, and taking a view of the statues, the sudden sight of that of Alexander is said to have struck him with such horror, that he trembled all over, and it was with difficulty he recovered of the giddiness it caused in his brain.

Arrian and Curtius call him Iollas. Plutarch calls him Iolas below.

from his diary.

There was no suspicion of poison at the time of his death; but six years after (we are

told) Olympias, upon some information, put a number of people to death, and ordered the remains of Iolas, who was supposed to have given him the draught, to be dug out of the grave. Those who say Aristotle advised Antipater to such a horrid deed, and furnished nim with the poison he sent to Babylon, allege one Agnothemis as their author, who is pretended to have had the information from king Antigonus. They add, that the poison was a water of a cold and deadly quality, which distils from a rock in the territory of Nonacris; and that they receive it as they would do so many dew-drops, and keep it in an ass's hoof; its extreme coldness and acrimony being such, that it makes its way through all other vessels. The generality however, look upon the story of the poison as a mere fable; and they have this strong argument in their favour, that though, on account of the disputes which the great officers were engaged in for many days, the body lay unembalmed in a sultry place, it had no

sign of any taint, but continued fresh and clear.

Roxana was now pregnant, and, therefore, had great attention paid her by the Macedonians. But being extremely jealous of Statira, she laid a snare for her by a forged letter, as from Alcxander; and having, by this means, got her under her power, she sacrificed both her and her sister, and threw their bodies into a well, which she filled up with earth. Perdiccas was her accomplice in this murder. Indeed, he had now the principal power, which he exercised in the name of Aridæus, whom he treated rather as a screen than as a king.

Aridaus was the son of Philip, by a courtesan named Philinna, a woman of low birth. His deficiency in understanding was the consequence of a distemper, in which neither nature nor accident had any share. For it is said, there was something amiable and great in him when a boy; which Olympias perceiving, gave him potions that disturbed his brain.*

JULIUS CESAR.

WHEN Sylla had made himself master of Rome,t he endeavoured to bring Cæsar to repudiate Cornelia, daughter to Cinna, one of the late tyrants; and finding he could not effect it, either by hopes or fears, he confiscated her dowry. Indeed, Cæsar, as a relation to Marius, was naturally an enemy to Sylla. Old Marius had married Julia, Cæsar's aunt, and, therefore, young Marius, the son he had by her, was Cæsar's cousin-german. At first, Sylla, amidst the vast number of proscriptions that engaged his attention, overlooked this enemy; but Cæsar, not content with escaping so, presented himself to the people, as a candidate for the priesthood, though he was not yet come to years of maturity. Sylla exerted his influence against him, and he miscarried. The dictator afterwards thought of having him taken off, and when some said, there was no need to put such a boy to death, he answered, "their sagacity was small, if they did not in that boy see many Marius's."

This saying being reported to Cæsar, he concealed himself a long time, wandering up and down in the country of the Sabines. Amidst his movements from house to house,

* Hence it was called the Stygian water. Nonacris was a city of Arcadia.

Some imagine that the beginning of this life is lost; but if they look back to the introduction to the life of Alexander, that notion will vanish.

he fell sick, and on that, account was forced to be carried in a litter. The soldiers employed by Sylla to search those parts, and drag the proscribed persons from their retreats, one night fell in with him; but Cornelius, who commanded there, was prevailed on, by a bribe of two talents to let him go.

He then hastened to sea, and sailed to Bithynia, where he sought protection of Nicomedes the king. His stay, however, with him was not long. He re-embarked, and was taken near the island of Pharmacusa, by pirates, who were masters of that sea, and blocked up all the passages with a number of galleys and other vessels. They asked him only twenty talents for his ransom. He laughed at their demand, as the consequence of their not knowing him, and promised them fifty talents. To raise the money, he despatched his people to different cities, and in the mean time remained with only one friend and two attendants among these Cilicians, who considered murder as a trifle. Cæsar, however, held them in great contempt, and used to send, whenever he went to sleep, and order them to keep silence. Thus he lived among them thirty-eight days, as

* Portraits of the same person, taken at different periods of life, though they differ greatly from each other, retain a resemblance upon the whole. And so it is in general with the characters of men. But Alexander seems to be an exception; for nothing can Cæsar would not make such a sacrifice to the dic-admit of greater dissimilarity than that which entered tator as Piso had done, who, at his command, divorced into his disposition at different times, and in different his wife Annia. Pompey, too, for the sake of Sylla's circumstances. He was brave and pusillanimous, alliance, repudiated Antistia. merciful and cruel, modest and vain, abstemious and Cæsar had the priesthood before Sylla was dicta-luxurious, rational and superstitious, polite and overtor. In the seventeenth year of his age, he broke his engagement to Consutia, though she was of a consular and opulent family, and married Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, by whose interest, and that of Marius, he was created Flamen Dialis, or Priest of Jupiter. Sylla, when absolute master of Rome, insisted on his divorcing Cornelia, and, upon his refusal deprived him of that office. Sueton. in Julio.

bearing, politic and imprudent. Nor were these changes casual or temporal; the style of his character underwent a total revolution, and he passed from virtue to vice in a regular and progressive manner. Munificence and pride were the only characteristics that never forsook him. If there were any vice of which he was incapable, it was avarice; if any virtue, it was humility.

plete orator, who had bestowed all his time upon such studies."

Upon his return to Rome, he impeached Dolabella for misdemeanours in his government, and many cities of Greece supported the charge by their evidence. Dolabella was ac quitted. Cæsar, however, in acknowledgment of the readiness Greece had shewn to serve him, assisted her in her prosecution of Publius Antonius for corruption. The cause was brought before Marcus Lucullus, prætor of Macedonia; and Cæsar pleaded it in so powerful a manner, that the defendant was forced to appeal to the tribunes of the people; alleging, that he was not upon equal terms with the Greeks in Greece. The eloquence he shewed at Rome in defending persons impeached, gained him a con

if they had been his guards, rather than his keepers. Perfectly fearless and secure, he joined in their diversions, and took his exercises among them. He wrote poems and orations, and rehearsed them to these pirates; and when they expressed no admiration, he called them dunces and barbarians. Nay, he often threatened to crucify them. They were delighted with these freedoms, which they imputed to his frank and facetious vein. But as soon as the money was brought from Miletus, and he had recovered his liberty, he manned some vessels in the port of Miletus,* in order to attack these corsairs. He found them still lying at anchor by the island, took most of them, together with the money, and imprisoned them at Pergamus. After which, he applied to Junius who then commanded in Asia, be-siderable interest, and his engaging address and cause to him, as prætor, it belonged to punish them. Junius having an eye upon the money, which was a considerable sum, demurred about the matter; and Cæsar, perceiving his intention, returned to Pergamus, and crucified all the prisoners, as he had often threatened to do at Pharmacusa, when they took him to be in jest I

When the power of Sylla came to be upon the decline, Cæsar's friends pressed him to return to Rome. But first he went to Rhodes, to study under Apollonius, the son of Molo,† who taught rhetoric there with great reputation, and was a man of irreproachable manners. Cicero also was one of his scholars. Cæsar is said to have had happy talents from nature for a public speaker, and he did not want an ambition to cultivate them; so that undoubtedly he was the second orator in Rome; and he might have been the first, had he not rather chosen the pre-eminence in arms. Thus he never rose to that pitch of eloquence to which his power would have brought him, being engaged in those wars and political intrigues which at last gained the empire. Hence it was, that afterwards in his Anticato, which he wrote in answer to a book of Cicero's, he desired his readers "Not to expect in the performance of a military man the style of a com

* Dacier reads Melos, which was one of the Cyclades, but does not mention his authority.

It should be Apollonius Molo, not Apollonius the son of Molo. According to Suetonius, Cæsar had studied under him at Rome, before this adventure of the pirates. Thus far Dacier and Ruauld; and other critics say the same. Yet Strabo (l. xiv. p. 655, 660, 661.) tells us, Molo and Apollonius were two different men. He affirms, that they were both natives of Alabanda, a city of Caria; that they were both scholars of Menacles the Alabandian; and that they both professed the same art at Rhodes, though Molo went thither later than Apollonius. Cicero, likewise, seems to distinguish them, calling the one Molo, and the other Apollonius the Alabandian, especially in his first book De Oratore, where he introduces M. Antonius speaking of him thus: "For this one thing I always liked Apollonius the Alabandian; though he taught for money, he did not suffer any, whom he thought incapable of making a figure as orators, to lose their time and labour with him, but sent them home, exhorting them to apply themselves to that art for which they were,

in his opinion, best qualified."

To solve this difficulty, we are willing to suppose, with Ruauld, that there were two Molo's cotemporaries: for the testimonies of Suetonius, (in Cæsare, c. 4.) and of Quintilian, (Institut. 1. xii. c. 6.) that Cæsar and Cicero were pupils to Apollonius Molo, can never

be overruled.

conversation carried the hearts of the people. For he had a condescension not to be expected from so young a man. At the same time, the freedom of his table and the magnificence of his expense gradually increased his power, and brought him into the administration. Those who envied him, imagined that his resources would soon fail, and therefore, at first, made light of his popularity, considerable as it was. But when it was grown to such a height that it was scarce possible to demolish it, and had a plain tendency to the ruin of the constitution, they found out, when it was too late, that no beginnings of things, however small, are to be neglected; because continuance makes them great; and the very contempt they are held in gives them opportunity to gain that strength which cannot be resisted.

Cicero seems to be the first who suspected something formidable from the flattering calm of Cæsar's political conduct, and saw deep and dangerous designs under the smiles of his benignity. "I perceive," said the orator, "an inclination for tyranny in all he projects and executes; but on the other hand, when I see him adjusting his hair with so much exactness, and scratching his head with one finger, I can hardly think that such a man can conceive so vast and fatal a design as the destruction of the Roman commonwealth." This, however, was an observation made at a much later period than that we are upon.

The first proof he had of the affection of the people was when he obtained a tribuneship in the army before his competitor Caius Popilius. The second was more remarkable; it was on occasion of his pronouncing from the rostrum the funeral oration of his aunt Julia, the wife of Marius, in which he failed not to do justice to her virtue. At the same time he had the hardiness to produce the images of Marius, which had not been seen before during Sylla's administration; Marius and all his adherents having been declared enemies to the state. Upon this some began to raise a clamour against Cæsar; but they were soon silenced by the acclamations and plaudits of the people, expressing their admiration of his courage in bringing the honours of Marius again to light, after so long a suppression, and raising them, as it were, from the shades below.

the aged women to have funeral panegyrics, It had long been the custom in Rome, for but not the young. Cæsar first broke through

it, by pronouncing one for his own wife, who | In his speech against him was this memorable died in her prime. This contributed to fix him expression, "You no longer attack the comin the affections of the people; they sympathiz- monwealth by mines, but by open battery." ed with him, and considered him as a man of Cæsar, however, defended his cause so well, great good nature, and one who had the social that the senate gave it for him; and his admirduties at heart. ers, still more elated, desired him to keep up a spirit of enterprise, for he might gain every thing with the consent of the people, and easily become the first man in Rome.

After the funeral of his wife, he went out quæstor into Spain with Antistius Veter the prætor, whom he honoured all his life after; and when he came to the prætor himself, he acknowledged the favour by taking Veter's son for his quæstor. When that commission was expired, he took Pompeia to his third wife; having a daughter by his first wife Cornelia, whom he afterwards married to Pompey the Great.

Amidst these transactions, died Metellus, the principal pontiff. The office was solicited by Isauricus and Catulus, two of the most illus. trious men in Rome, and of the greatest inter est in the senate. Nevertheless, Cæsar did not give place to them, but presented himself to the people as a candidate. The pretensions and prospects of the competitors seemed almost equal, and Catulus, more uneasy than the others under the uncertainty of success, on account of his superior dignity, sent privately to Cæsar, and offered him large sums, on condition that he would desist from his high pursuit. But he answered, "He would rather borrow still larger sums to carry his election."

When the day of election came, Cæsar's mother attending him to the door, with her eyes bathed in tears, he embraced her and said, "My dear mother, you will see me this day either chief pontiff or an exile." There never was any thing more strongly contested; the suf frages, however, gave it for Cæsar. The senate, and others of the principal citizens, were greatly alarmed at this success; they apprehended that he would now push the people into all manner of licentiousness and misrule. Therefore, Piso and Catulus blamed Cicero much for sparing Cæsar, when Cataline's conspiracy gave him an opportunity to take him off. Catiline, whose intention was not so much to make alterations in the constitution, as entirely to subvert it, and throw all into confusion, upon some slight suspicions appearing against him, quitted Rome before the whole was unravelled; but he left behind him Lentulus and Cethegus to conduct the conspiracy within the city

Many people, who observed his prodigious expense, thought he was purchasing a short and transient honour very dear, but, in fact, he was gaining the greatest things he could aspire to, at a small price. He is said to have been a thousand three hundred talents in debt before he got any public employment. When he had the superintendence of the Appian Road, he laid out a great deal of his own money; and when ædile, he not only exhibited three hundred and twenty pair of gladiators, but in the other diversions of the theatre, in the processions and public tables, he far outshone the most ambitious that had gone before him. These things attached the people to him so strongly that every one sought for new honours and employments, to recompense his generosity. There were two factions in the state, that of Sylla, which was the strongest; and that of Marius, which was in a broken and low condition. Cæsar's study was to raise and revive the latter. In pursuance of which intention, when his exhibitions, as ædile, were in the highest reputation, he caused new images of Marius to be privately made, together with a representation of his victories adorned with trophies, and one night placed them in the capitol. Next morning these figures were seen glistering with gold, of the most exquisite workmanship, and bearing inscriptions which declared them the Whether Cæsar privately encouraged and achievements of Marius against the Cimbri. supported them, is uncertain; what is univerThe spectators were astonished at the boldness sally agreed upon, is this; The guilt of those of the man who erected them; nor was it diffi- two conspirators clearly appearing, Cicero, as cult to know who he was. The report spread consul, took the sense of the senators as to the with the utmost rapidity, and the whole city as- punishment that should be inflicted upon them; sembled to see them. Some exclaimed, that and they all gave it for death, till it came to Cæsar plainly affected the tyranny, by openly Cæsar's turn, who, in a studied speech repreproducing those honours which the laws had sented, "That it seemed neither agreeable to condemned to darkness and oblivion. This, they justice, nor to the customs of their country, to said, was done to make a trial of the people, put men of their birth and dignity to death, whom he had prepared by his caresses, wheth-without an open trial, except in case of extreme er they would suffer themselves to be entirely caught by his venal benefactions, and let him play upon them and make what innovations he pleased. On the other hand, the partizans of Marius encouraging each other, ran to the capitol in vast numbers, and made it echo with their plaudits. Some of them even wept for joy at the sight of Marius's countenance. They bestowed the highest encomiums upon Cæsar, and declared he was the only relation worthy of that great man.

The senate was assembled on the occasion, and Lutatius Catulus, a man of the greatest reputation in Rome, rose and accused Cæsar. * See Vell. Paterculus, ii. 43.

necessity. But that they should rather be kept in prison, in any of the cities of Italy that Cicero might pitch upon, till Cataline was subdued; and then the senate might take cognizance of the crimes of each conspirator in full peace, and at their leisure."

As there appeared something humane in this opinion, and it was powerfully enforced by the orator, those who gave their voices afterwards, and even many who had declared for the other side of the question, came into it. But Cato and Catulus carried it for death. Cato, in a severe speech against the opinion of Cæsar, scrupled not to declare his suspicions of him; and this with other arguments, had so much

weight that the two conspirators were delivered to the executioner. Nay, as Cæsar was going out of the senate house, several of the young men who guarded Cicero's person, ran upon him with their drawn swords; but we are told that Curio covered him with his gown, and so carried him off; and that Cicero himself, when the young men looked at him for a nod of consent, refused it, either out of fear of the people, or because he thought the killing him unjust and unlawful. If this was true, I know not why Cicero did not mention it in the history of his consulship. He was blamed, however, afterwards, for not availing himself of so good an opportunity as he then had, and for being influenced by his fears of the people, who were indeed strongly attached to Cæsar: for, a few days after, when Cæsar entered the senate, and endeavoured to clear himself of the suspicions he lay under, his defence was received with indignation and loud reproaches; and as they sat longer than usual, the people beset the house and with violent outcries demanded Cæsar, absolutely insisting on his being dismissed.

Cato, therefore, fearing an insurrection of the indigent populace, who were foremost in all seditions, and who had fixed their hopes upon Cæsar, persuaded the senate to order a distribution of bread-corn among them every month, which added five million five hundred thousand drachmas to the yearly expense of the state. This expedient certainly obviated the present danger, by seasonably reducing the power of Cæsar, who was now prætor elect, and more formidable on that account.

Cæsar's prætorship was not productive of any trouble to the commonwealth, but that year there happened a disagreeable event in his own family. There was a young patrician, named Publius Clodius, of great fortune and distinguished eloquence, but at the same time one of the foremost among the vicious and the profligate. This man entertained a passion for Pompeia, Cæsar's wife, nor did she discountenance it. But the women's apartment was so narrowly observed, and all the steps of Pompeia so much attended to by Aurelia, Cæsar's mother, who was a woman of great virtue and prudence, that it was difficult and hazardous for them to have an interview.

one of them it is kept), goes out, and not a male is left in it. The wife, now having the house to herself, decorates it in a proper manner; the mysteries are performed in the night; and the whole is spent in music and play. Pompeia, this year, was the directress of the feast, Clodius, who was yet a beardless youth, thought he might pass in women's apparel, undiscovered, and having taken the garb and instruments of a female musician, perfectly resembled one. He found the door open, and was safely introduced by a maid servant who knew the affair. She ran before to tell Pompeia; and as she stayed a considerable time, Clodius durst not remain where she left him, but wandering about the great house, endeavoured to avoid the lights. At last Aurelia's woman fell in with him, and supposing she spoke to a woman, challenged him to play. Upon his refusing it, she drew him into the midst of the room, and asked him who he was, and whence he came? He said he waited for Abra, Pompeia's maid, for that was her name. His voice immediately detected him: Aurelia's woman ran up to the lights and the company, crying out she had found a man in the house. The thing struck them all with terror and astonishment. Aurelia put a stop to the ceremonies, and covered up the symbols of their mysterious worship. She ordered the doors to be made fast, and with lighted torches hunted up and down for the man. At length Clodius was found lurking in the chamber of the maid-servant who had introduced him. The women knew him, and turned him out of the house; after which, they went home immediately, though it was yet night, and informed their husbands of what had happened.

Next morning the report of the sacrilegious attempt spread through all Rome, and nothing was talked of but that Clodius ought to make satisfaction with his life to the family he had offended, as well as to the city and to the gods. One of the tribunes impeached him of impiety; and the principal senators strengthened the charge, by accusing him, to his face, of many villainous debaucheries, and among the rest, of incest with his own sister, the wife of Lucullus. On the other hand, the people exerted themselves with equal vigour in his defence, and the great influence the fear of them had upon Among the goddesses the Romans worship, his judges was of much service to his cause. there is one they call Bona Dea, the good god- Cæsar immediately divorced Pompeia; yet, dess, as the Greeks have one they call Gynæ- when called as an evidence on the trial, he decea, the patroness of the women. The Phry-clared he knew nothing of what was alleged gians claim her as the mother of their king Midas; the Romans say, she was a Dryad, and wife of Faunus; and the Greeks assure us, she is that mother of Bacchus, whose name is not to be uttered. For this reason, the women, when they keep her festival, cover their tents with vine branches; and, according to the fable, a sacred dragon lies at the feet of the goddess. No man is allowed to be present, nor even to be in the house, at the celebration of her orgies. Many of the ceremonies the women then perform by themselves are said to be like those in the feasts of Orpheus.

When the anniversary of the festival comes, the consul or prætor (for it is at the house of But this distribution did not continue long. 498

against Clodius. As this declaration appeared somewhat strange, the accuser demanded, why, if that was the case, he had divorced his wife: "Because," said he, "I would have the chastity of my wife clear even of suspicion." Some say Cæsar's evidence was according to his conscience; others, that he gave it to oblige the people, who were set upon saving Clodius. Be that as it might, Clodius came off clear; most of the judges having confounded the letters upon the tablets, that they might neither expose themselves to the resentment of the plebeians, if they condemned him, nor lose their credit with the patricians, if they acquitted him.

The government of Spain was allotted