The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-04-16
GREAT eenfMls.
The Mighty Cesar Begins - . Dandy
A LAWYER Defore q Soldier.

Caius Julius Caesar was the most
useful man of antiquity; doing
equally good work rs statesman
and soldier. It il only as o soldier
we are to study him.
Caesar came of good stock. In
youth he was one of the dandies of
Rome but commanded respect.
Sulla remarked THAT it would be
we'll to have an eye on yonder
dandy"
It is worth nothing that the So
called "exquisitas" have generally
made good soldiers from the days
of Alexander's Companions" down
to the time Of Wellington, who
wrote home from the peninsula for
another regiment of dandies.'
Caius julius had been q weakly
lad, but gymnasts and q right regi.
men had given him a fair physique,
his education had been attended to,
and he early made a reputation as
q lawyer and orator, held several
public Offices and became leader of
the young uppertendom of Rome.
Caesar did nothing, however,
which showed any exceptional force
of character until he was a middle
aged man. His foe, Pompey, was
surnamed 1.-THE Great" at "a. Cm-
sar's distinguished work did not
open until he was ~.
His opportunity came when he
was chosen consul with Gaul as
his province. Both he and Pompey
belonged to the triumvirate that
governed tho Roman state, but
Pompey was the leader. Caesar saw
that if he could subdue the Cauls-
always the terror of Rome-he
would be the great national hero.
He saw, too, that while fighting the
barbarians he would be creating an
army of veterans with which he
could rise to sole control.
His way Of approaching the new
business of war shows that Cesar
considered first the strategic stu
ation," just as Alexander or Han
nibal would have done.
In those days strategy" was un-
derstood as q science. Tactics
the art of maneuvering troops on
the battle-feld-was we'll developed.
Strategy has been called the art OF
moving troops ON the map. It is
the act of moving armies over q
large section of country in such q
manner as to place the enemy at a
disadvantage.
Caesar made q careful study OF
the natural features of Gaul-ite
mountains, rivers, forests, and coast
lines. Then he formed a general
scheme of conquest. Some of the
chiefs of Gaul were very able men,
but in eight years Cesar made the
country q Roman province.
Shortly after Caesar and Pompey
found themselves arrayed in arms
against each other-the other men,
Der of the triumvirate, Crassus, had
died. Pompey stood for the aristo-
cratic party-C@sar for the demo-
cratic ideas.
Pompey had vastly larger resour-
ces, but Cesar in ten months had
driven him over into Greece and
himself held Italy. He marched
into Spain and captured and dis
banded Pompey's seven legions
there. Then he went into Greece
with his veterans and fought Pom
pey again, and Pompey fed to
Egypt, whittier Caesar leisurely fol-
lowed.
There were campaigns in Africa
and Asia, but the end was that af-
ter only fourteen years of war this
man, who was not bred q soldier.
stood monarch of Rome in all but
the name, and controller of the
whole of the then-known world.
He had gone into the business Of
war with trained brain in the ma
turity Of it's superb vigor. His
intellectual grasp of any situation
was perfect. His control of men
was complete; his character inn
posed on every one that ever ap-
preached him. His nervous strength
enabled him to undergo any toll,
any strain.
And Cesar was always lucky.
He knew the fact and seemed some
times to rely on it. He often did
things glaringly careless. He in
vaded Italy with one legion, when
pompey had ten; he sailed to
Greece with less than 10000 men
to attack Pompey, who had 60, 600 /;
He landed in Egypt with 4, 600 and
was surrounded by IN army of TO-
600; he went into Africa again with
8, 600, where the Pompeians had
m army Of $1,000.
But perhaps Caesar did not rely
on his luck. One of his traits was
determination to succeed in any
affair Of fight which he had under
taken with insufficient means. It
was when encountering overwhelm-
ing odds that he most fully dis
played his splendid yigor. his Won
derful skill. ss s
Though fighting was often mat
ter Of mood" with Cesar, and