New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-21
MOMMSEN'S COMPARISONS.
HIS USE OF MODERN FACTS AND PER-
SONS IN ANCIENT HISTORY.

~ r.,,,at Ne~ Recent Additions Five Volumes.
Pm XIV 5os vi 525: vi, 5h w. 5lS; " o'1
Charles Scribner's Sons
There is one feature of Mommsen's great work
that is rarely mentioned and that would never
he detected by the use of the index to the Eng
,,.h trans,at,on. It overfiows with illusions 10
modern life and literature, Of which the index
gives hardly a sign Besides knowing all ABOUT
ancient Italian history and Roman inscriptiohs'
Roman law In al; the intricaces Of Its develop
ment and Roman literature In all It's diverse
asnects the author has betrayed, almost un"hi-
ineIv wide reading in other fields. He does ho'
love a reader a devourer of books. With an eye
on the Germany Of pre-imperial times ne
mourned the vast growth Of the book traue ""
ard the close of the Republican rule In rome
The commonwealth was going TO rum MAJ
ters stood in the Roman State, ne rehain''
"as they have stood and will stand in every
State where the citizens read from the thres"-
old to the closet" But he must himself nave
been an incessant reader: nor In that case "ou'u
he be the first to condemn his own faVori'e oc-
cupation Even minute parallels 90 not esoape
him. as when he compares duennas IKE uoe'he
old Barbara 10 Scapha in the COMEDY Vi 'no
"Mostellara" nor broader as when, In
speaxing Of the newer Attic comedy whlch was
the model OF Roman playwrights, he says: "A
finale of reconciia ton such that OF the
Racchides' where the swindling sons and the
swindled fathers by way of a good Winning
I'm all 20 TO carouse together presents
a corruption of morals thoroughly worthy OF
Kotzebue."
The Roman citizen, or farmer. Mommsen
nonts ont stood In much the same relation 10
the refined revelry and debauchery OF Athens
as the German of a provincial town 10 'he
mysteries of the Palas Royal: but neither lhe
one nor the other was behindhand In adapting
the comic characters that were furnished MN
TO his own taste. LAS In the German coiheuS'
which proceeded from the French In much inc
same way as the Roman comedy from the Az
tic. the French Lisette was very soon super
.oded nv the Frauenzemmerchen Franziska, so
the Latin national comedy sprang up. II not
with equal poetical power, at any RATE VIII" ''e
same tendency and, perhaps. with similar sue
cess. by the side of the Hellenizing COMEDY Oh
tho capital" Nor were the really clever men
among Roman politicians slow to feel the soc'a'
attractions of what in modern circles-at least
those tangent to the "Rialto"-is often caieu
"ths profession" For example, Sulla. whom
Mommsen greatly admires. delighted TO choose
bis comnanions among actors. and was lohu
NJ sitting at wine, not only with Quintus KOS
c,us-the Roman Talma-but also with far IN
ferior players indeed, he was himself not d
had singer and even wrote farces for perform
ance within his own circle. AFTER 'he ias'
touch about farces one would hardy guess '"e
modern character with whom Suila Is Cum.
pared But listen. There is no doubt dii-
ference between the case Of an officer VINO re-
fuses the sceptre from public spirit ana 'ha'
of one who throws 1t away from cioyeu ap
petite: but so far concerns the totai "o
sence of political selhshness-although' II Is
true in this respect only-Suila deserves
70 he named side by side with Washington.
Unless Mommsen cancels much In the process VI
revision to which 1t is now said that he is SUD-
..o.,ng his history II will remain for future ages
az much a monument Of the feeling in Germany
toward France previous to the German union as
If the decline and fall Of the Roman RepuDhc.
His last glance at the subject OF actins III i'ohe
,s characteristics The Roman histrionic art os-
cillated" he writes. lin It's different spheres just
like the French. between the cottage ana the
drawing room. 1t was nothing unusual Ior the
Roman dancing girls to throw on at the nnaie 'ne
ypper robe and to give a dance In undress for the
benefit of the public but. on the other hano' III
the eyes Of the Roman Tama the supreme la" Oh
his art was not the truth Of nature Dut Oh sym
roe,rv" He does not like the first Of the Graccni
overmuch and this fact gives point 10 the rei'ia'h
that the ancient Gallo and the modern French
no hated so much by Rome and especially by the
Roman oligarchs, and was therefore. IN us ui'i-
nate origin a creation of Gaius Gracious" TAX
ing issue with those who praise this Roman poht-
,cel reformer he insists that the purpose or the
Cracchan outburst was not to restore the repupnc
on new democratic bases. but to replace II win
what in modern language must be described as
"a monarchy not of the feuda or Of the theocrauc'
but of the Napoleonc. absolute type. lhls Gre
ator of the French type. this foreruhher vi
French absolutism. was only success1ui III '"e
minor features Of his plan. When II seemed 'ha'
autocracy was almost within his grasp ne waS
confronted by the atal dilemma. moral ana poh'i-
col that the same man had at one and the same
time to maintain his ground. we may say as d
robber cheftain and to lead the state as us hrsl
citizen-a dilemma to which Pericles, caesar ana
Napoleon had also to make dangerous sacrihces'
The name Of Napoleon recurs often IN the later
volumes OF the history 1t Is naturally looked for
after Caesar energies In Roman war ana poh'.'
II Is we'll known that Mommsen's admiration for
the founder Of the Roman Empire mas lie" hn''s'
But he does set bounds to Caesars devotion 70
the art Of war. The conqueror Of Gaul and the
invader OF Britain was first and last at heart
rolitician He never recovered from the training
of his youth and In this he was like Napoleon
though the training was different. His general
ship was improvised. and this unprecedented
element in It may still be recognized. THE en-
terprises of Napoleon against Egypt and against
Italy do not more clearly exhibit the artillery
lieutenant, who had risen by service to command.
Than the similar enterprises Of Caesar exhibit the
demagogue metamorphosed into general" That
word "demagogue." with its modern connotation'
sounds like depreciation. But 1t really only FORE
shadows an attempt on the part OF Mommsen 70
,xtricate his hero from the class TO when ne mas
usually been assigned. Caesar IKE Napo'eo",
was only incidentally an author' MS 'n''ue',a
and partisan treatise. cast IN the iorn 0. ','.
tary report. was piece OF history hhe ~. '.'-
letins Of Napoleon. but 1t was not in'e"ueN ~.