was the only end in view, Cæsar died in vain. He was the first of a line of emperors bearing his name, each of whom was far more tyrannical than himself.

43. The perpetrators of the guilty deed reaped no honours or success among the people, but were, for the most part, considered as objects of disgust or indignation. Brutus himself perished, about two years afterwards (B.C. 42), at the battle of Philippi; and the rest of his companions did not long survive him. The Roman historian Suetonius, in his lives of the Twelve Cæsars, thus sums up the history of our great hero ;—

"He died in the 56th year of his age, and was ranked among the gods, not only by a formal decree of the senate, but in the real persuasion of the vulgar. For during the games which his heir, Augustus, gave in honour of his memory, a comet shone for seven days together, rising always about eleven o'clock; and it was supposed to be the soul of Cæsar now received into heaven. The senatehouse in which he was slain was ordered to be shut up, and a decree made, that the Ides of March should be called the Parricide; and that the senate should never more assemble on that day. Scarcely any of those who were accessory to his murder survived him more than three years, or died a natural death. They were all condemned by the senate; some were taken off by one accident, some by another. Part of them perished at sea, others fell in battle; and several of them slew themselves with the same dagger with which they had stabbed Cæsar."

44. The description of his funeral ceremonies, as it will convey some idea of the customs of the Romans at this period, we shall give nearly in the words of the ancient writer to whom we have just referred.

45. The time for his funeral being fixed by proclamation, a pile was erected in the field of Mars, near the tomb of his daughter Julia; and before the rostra there was placed a gilded tabernacle, resembling that of the temple of Venus Genetrix, and within it was an ivory bed, covered with purple and cloth of gold, on which the body was laid. At the head was a trophy, with the garment in which he was slain. In the funeral plays, acted before the funeral, several passages were sung from the old poets, one of which was to to this effect::

"Is it possible, that they whom I preserved could have destroyed me?"

alluding to Brutus and Cassius, whose lives Cæsar had spared after the battle of Pharsalia. The magistrates, and others who had borne office in the state, carried the bed from the Rostra into the Forum. While some proposed that the body should be burnt in the most sacred apartment of the temple of Jupiter, in the Capitol, and others in Pompey's senate-house, on a sudden two men appeared, with swords by their sides, and each bearing a couple of lances in their hands, who set fire to the bed with their lighted torches; and forthwith the whole company present threw in dry faggots, the desks and benches of the adjoining courts, and whatever came to hand. The musicians and players also stripped off the dress they had been supplied with from the furniture of his triumphs, for the present occasion, and having torn it, gave it to the flames. His veteran soldiers, likewise, cast in the armour which they had put on to attend his funeral. Most of the ladies did the same by their ornaments, with the necklaces and upper robes of their children. In this public mourning there joined a multitude of foreigners, expressing their sorrow according to the fashion of their respective countries, but especially the Jews, who for several nights together, frequented the place where the body was burnt.

* The Jews paid especial honour to Julius Cæsar, from their hatred to Pompey, whom they never forgave for having treated their temple at Jerusalem with some indignities, at the time he made himself master of the city.

SUMMARY OF ERA THE FIRST.

1. The age of Cæsar remarkable.-2. His birth and family.-3. The successive offices through which Cæsar obtained his power.-4. His earliest success as a soldier.— 5. The perils of his youth.-6. His impeachment of Dolabella.-7. His capture by pirates.-8. His arts to obtain popularity at Rome; his debts.-9. His quæstorship and genealogy.-10. His several marriages and family alliances. -11. Cæsar's ambition discovers itself in Spain.-12. His artifices to gain an ascendancy during his ædileship.13. The Catilinarian conspiracy, and Cæsar's connection with it.-14. His conduct as prætor; his success as proconsul in Spain.-15. Obtains the consulship, and forms a league with Pompey and Crassus.-16. Passes the Agrarian law.-17. Deprives Bibulus, his colleague, of all authority. -18. Procures the provinces of Gaul, and treats his enemies with contempt.-19. Forms an alliance with Ptolemy, King of Egypt; takes a large sum from the public treasury.-20. His successes lead to his obtaining the title of perpetual dictator.-21. Retrospect of Cæsar's victories in Gaul.-22. His battles with the German nations. -23. His wars in Britain a failure; this island not subdued till a later period.-24. Cæsar passes the Rubicon; defeat and death of Pompey; his fame as a general.-25. Cæsar conquers Egypt.-26. Places Cleopatra on the throne; obtains a rapid victory over Pharnaces.-27. The war in Africa, and death of Cato.-28. Cæsar's triumphal processions.-29. He reforms the abuses of the state, and regulates the Calendar.-30. The various honours heaped upon him.-31. Instances of his military boldness and presence of mind; his horse; stratagems in war, &c.-32. Description of Cæsar's person, dress, habits.-33. His household economy and expensive tastes.- -34. His want of chastity; his worst vice, ambition; summary of his wars, and their results.-35. His gigantic designs for future conquests; public improvements effected and designed by him.-36. A conspiracy formed for Cæsar's destruction.-37. Disbelieves

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the existence of such a plot.-38. Goes to the senate-house, and is attacked by the conspirators.-39. Shakspeare's description of his death.-40. Cæsar's fate a warning to tyrants.-41. Some of the principal writers of his age noticed. Cicero; his opinions of Cæsar's death.-42. Failure of this event in promoting the end designed by it.43. The fate of his murderers.-44. His popular deification after his death, &c.-45. Description of his funeral ceremonies.

27

ERA THE SECOND.

THE LIFE OF AUGUSTUS CESAR.

THE ERA OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST; AND OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF ROMAN LITERATURE.

1. THE age of Augustus is one which on many accounts claims attention. This Emperor ruled over the Roman state, at a time of more importance than any other in the history of mankind. The period commonly expressed by the two Latin words "Anno Domini," meaning "in the year of the Lord," directs us to an era when Jesus Christ was born. This event took place during the time when Augustus was at the head of a sovereignty exercised by Rome over Judea and the neighbouring provinces. A direct reference is made to this most interesting fact, in the beginning of St. Luke's Gospel (c. ii. v. 1).

2. About seventeen years after the death of Julius Cæsar, Octavius, his nephew, appears upon the stage of the world's history as Roman Emperor; Augustus was a title conferred upon him (B.c. 27) instead of Octavius, his proper family name. He was at that time in his thirtysixth year, his birth having taken place in the year of the Catilinarian conspiracy (B.c. 63). For the space of ten years after Cæsar's death, he had governed the state in conjunction with Lepidus and Marc Antony.

3. The latter was the first to engage in a series of artful and violent measures to usurp the chief power in the state, after Julius Cæsar, and being consul, he raised the standard of civil war against Brutus, who acted under the authority of the senate, as prætor of Greece. Octavius received a special commission to assist Brutus in his operations against