Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-12-21

rhc Lnnntie. or Hl.torr.

Without going TO the absurd length,
which many now do, of attributing all
crime to insanity, and thus acquitting
modern criminals on that absurd plea
we yet believe long possession Of des
potic power will 10 the end induce mad
ness; and it is, therefore, natural re-
suit that the great monarchs and rulers
who have acted like monsters have be.
come insane through the wicked flattery
and cowardice of their subjects. No
nation is oppressed by tyrant that has
not deserved it. When we perceive the
evil effects which indulging children has
upon them, we must allow its influence
upon the human heart; and so much
the greater the effect on men, when
bowed down TO by millions.
Much of the tyranny and despotism Of
the world has been the result of cere-
bral disease, and, if justice had been
done, not few of the rulers of history
would have been confined in asylums
for the insane.
Caligula, the beastly Roman Emperor,
was certainly lunatic. His accession
to the throne was greeted with Joy by
the Roman people, and he afterward be-
come SO popular by the generous and
conciliatory acts of his reign that, when
be was attacked with sickness, sacri-
fees were offered in the temples for his
recovery. His brain undoubtedly be-
came diseased during his sickness, for
from that time he became changed
man. The remaining fsur years of his
reign were disgraced by some of the
most unnatural and caprcious tyr
amy recorded in history. He put to
death large number of his Senators.
Every ten days he delivered human
victims to be devoured by wild
beasts. and jocosely termed this horrid
act clearing his account" He caused
divine honors to be paid to himself in a
temple erected expressly for that pur-
pose, and under the superintendence of
priests of his own appointment. He in
vited his, favorite horse, Incitatus, to
dine at the royal table, where he was
fed on gilded oats, and drank from jew
eled goblets; and but for his premature
death, this animal would have been
raised to the consulship In a more en-
lightened and liberal age, Caligula
would have been sent to an insane re-
treat. The Romans endured his cruelty
for four years, and then put him to death
by well-planned and successful con-
spiracy.
The career of Nero was something
like that of Caligula. In youth he was
notably clever, kindly and amiable, and
for the first year Of his reign he ruled
with clemency and justice. He was at
this time so harassed by the attempts of
his mother to wrest the scepter from his
hands, that his brain probably became
disordered, and he was metamorphosed
into a tyrant. He poisoned his own
brother at feast to which he had in
vited him. His mother, Agrippina, he
murdered in her own bed. He relent-
lessly prosecuted the Christians on the
plea that they set FIRE to Rome. He
caused to ke executed Lucan, the poet,
and Seneca, the philosopher, and kicked
his own wife to death. Nor was his in
sanity manifested by acts of cruelty
alone. He had silly rage for music,
and in his morbid ambition to be thought
the greatest singer Of the world he ap.
peared on the stage in the character of
en- operatic performer.
Domitiap, Heliogabalus, and possibly
some Of the Consuls Of Rome, must have
been of unsound mind Domitian, like
Caligula and Nero, began to reign with
generosity; and under the pressures and
worrying of government he developed
into monster. Helogabalus made his
horse consul, appointed asenats Of wo-
men, forced the Romans to worship
black stone, and prepared golden swords
and daggers, and cords of silk and gold,
in order to put an end to his own life
when he saw fit. All these were the
freaks of madman.
Alexander the Great behaved like Q
lunsto in the latter days of his reign.
and the supposition is plausible that, if
he had survived few years longer, he
might have become a most implacable
and capricious tyrant From being very
abstemlonS, he gave himself up to de-
bauchery. His lust for power became a
disease, and he strove for gigantic i'm
possibilities.
Robespierre and some other leaders in
the French Revolution were probably
made more or less insane by the excit-
ing events in which they took part. It
is certain that Robespierre was naturally
kind-hearted and considerate, for be
began life by endeavoring to procure the
abolition Of capital punishment.