The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-27 00:00:00

Julius CEesar.

The Moniteur publishes the following preface of
thf.: " History of Julius Caesar" written by the Em-
peror of the French, which will be published on the
Ist of March. It is as follows :

‘‘ Historical truth ought not to be less sacred than
religion. If the precepts of faith elevate our soul
above the interests of this world, the lessons of his-
tory, in their turn, inspire us with the love of the
beautiful and the just, with a hatred of everything
which is an obstacle to the advancement of the wel-
fare of mankind. Those lessons, to be profitable,
require certain conditions. It is necessary that facts
should be reproduced with rigorous exactitude, that
political and social changes should be philosophically
analysed, that the piquant attraction of the details
of the lives of public men should not distract atten-
tion from their political task or throw their providen-
tial mission into oblivion.
" The historian too often gives us the various
phases of hiitory as spontaneous events without
diving deeper into anterior facts for their origin and
natural deduction; in like manner as the artist who
in reproducing the accidents of nature devotes himself
simply to their picturesque effect without being able
in his picture to give their scientific demonstration.
The historian ought to be more than a painter; he
ought, like the geologist, who explains the pheno-
mena of the globe, to disclose the secret of the trans-
formation of our social world.

" But in writing history, what are the means to
ascertain the truth ? The only way is to follow the
rules of logic. Let us take it for granted at once that
great results are always due to a great cause, never
to a small one ; in other words, an incident insig-
nificant in appearance never leads to great results
without a pre-existing cause which has allowed that
small incident to achieve a great result. A spark
does not create a great conflagration unless it falls
upon combustible materials accumulated beforehand.
Montesquieu confirms this idea :
" It is not good fortune,' he says, ' which rules
the world There are general causes
either moral or physical, which act in every
monarchy, elevate it, uphold it, or ruin it. All in-
cidents are subjected to these causes, and if the
chance of a battle—that is to say, a special cause--
has ruined the State, there existed a general cause
which implied that that State was to perish in a
mingle battle ! in fact, the chief inducements absorb
all other special incidents' (1).
" If, during a period of nearly 1,000 years, the
Romans always issued forth triumphant from the
most severe trials and from the greatest dangers, it
is because there was a general cause which always
rendered them superior to their enemies, and which
did not suffer defeats and partial disasters to lead
to a fall of their sway. If the Romans, after giving
to the world the example of a people establishing
themselves firmly and growing great by liberty, have
seemed since Cesar to throw themselves blindly into
serfdom, it is because there existed a general reason
which fatally prevented the Republic from return-
ing to the pure form of its former institutions ; it is
because the wants and new interests of a society
in labour required other means to be satisfied. In
the same manner that logic proves to us in import-
ant events the reason why they are imperative, in
like manner we must recognise both in the long
duration of an institution the proof of its worth, and
in the incontestable influence of a man upon his age
the proof of his genius.
" The task consists, then, in endeavouring to dis-
cover the vital element which constituted the strength
of the institution, like the predominating idea which
madethe man act. Following this rule we shall avoid
the errors of those historians who collect facts
transmitted by preceding ages without arranging
them according to their philosophical importance :
glorifying what deserves censure and leaving in
the dark that which calls for light. It is not a
minute analysis of the Roman organisation which
will make us understand the duration of so great
an empire, but a deep investigation into the spirit of
its institutions ; it is not, moreover, a detailed nar-
rative of the lesser acts of a superior man which
will reveal to us the secret of his ascendancy, but a
careful examination of the elevated motives of his
conduct.

" When extraordinary facts demonstrate an emi-
nent genius, what can be more contrary to good
sense than to attribute to him all the passions and
sentiments of mediocrity ? What more erroneous
than not to recognise the pre-eminence of those pri-
vileged beings who appear from time to time in his-
tory as brilliant beacons, dissipating the darkness of
their epoch and throwing light upon the future ?
To deny such pre-eminence would, moreover, be an
insult to human nature, by believing it capable of
submitting for a length of time and voluntarily to a
domination not based upon real greatness or incon-
testable utility. Let us be logical, and we shall be
just.

" Too many historians find it more easy to lower
men of genius than to raise themselves by a generous
inspiration to their level by penetrating their vast de-
signs. Thus, as regards Caesar, instead of showing
us Rome torn by civil wars, corrupted by wealth,
treading its ancient institutions under foot,
threatened by powerful nations, the Gauls, the Ger-
mans, and the Parthians—incapable of maintaining
itself without a stronger central power, more stable
and more just ; instead, I say, of drawing that
faithful picture, Cams is represented to us, from his
very youth, meditating already upon supreme power.
If he resists Sylla, if he disagrees with Cicero, if he
enters into alliance with Pompey, it is all the result
of that farsighted cunning which has divined every-
thing to enslave everything ; if he dashes into Gaul,
it is to acquire wealth by pillage (2), or soldiers de-
voted to his cause ; if he crosses the sea to carry
his eagles into an unknown country, the conquest of
which will strengthen that of the Gauls (3), it was
but to seek for pearls supposed to exist in the seas of
Great Britain (4). If, after having vanquished the
formidable enemies of Italy beyond the Alps, he me-
ditates upon an expedition against the Parthians to
avenge the defeat of Crassus, it is, say certain histo-
rians, because activity suited his nature—that he en-
joyed better health when in the field (5); if he accepts
with gratitude a laurel crownfrom the Senate and bears
it proudly, it is to hide his bald head ; if, finally, he
is assassinated by the men whom he has over-
whelmed with his bounty, it is because he wished to
make himself King ; as if he was not, for his con-
temporaries as well as posterity, much greater than
any King. Since Suetonius and Plutarch, such are
the miserable interpretations which have been given
to the noblest acts. But by what sign are we to
recognise the greatness of man In the sway of
his ideas, when his .
principles ands
it
system triumph
despite his death or his defeat. Is not, in fact,
the prerogative of genius to outlive destruction, and
to extend its empire over future generations ?
Caesar disappeared, and his influence predominates
still more than during his lifetime ; Cicero, his ad-
versary, is obliged to exclaim,
his promises, his
powerful All the acts of
Caesar, his writings,
thoughts, are more
it has
his
swo
words,
after his death than if
he were still alive' (6). During centuriesof
sufficed to tell the world that such was the will
Caesar for the world to obey.
th. e
h
" That which precedes sufficiently indicates
object I have proposed to myself in writing this is-
t°l9. That object is to prove that when Providence
1-4"e5 up such men as Caesar, Charlemagne, and
Napoleon, it is to trace out to nations the path they
ought to follow, to stamp a new era with the seal of
their genius, and to accomplish in a few years the
work of many centuries. Happy the nations who
comprehend and follow them ! Woe to those who
misunderstand and resist them ! They act like the
Jews ; they crucify their Messiah. They
ey are blind
and guilty—blind, for they see not the impotence of
their efforts to suspend the final triumph of good ;
guilty, for they only retard its procrress by ' impeding,
its prompt and fertile application.
In fact, neither the assassination of Caesar nor
the imprisonment of St. Helena could destroy be-
yond revival two popular causes overthrown by a

(1) Montesquieu, Grandeur et De cadence des nomain4,
xviii.

(2) Suetonius, Ciesar,
(3) "Caesar resolved to cross over to Britain, the people
of which in every. war had supported the Gauls."—Cesar.
Guerre Gaules, xx.
(4) Suetonius, Caesar, xlvii.
(5) Appian, Civil Wars, i., ex., 326, Schweiglueuser's
edition.
(6) Cicero, Epistoler ad Atticum, xiv., (v.)