New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-21

against NapOeOn-|
other conditions Of development 1t is at once
caricatur. and ueurpation." One almost ian
cies that Mommsen was thinking OF the biog-
raphy of Caesar by Napoleon III wheh ho
added that history. too is Bible, ana II she
cannot any more than the Bible hinder the loo'
from misunderstanding and the devil from
quoting her She too, will be able TO pear WI"
and reouite them both" Caesar. after his VIC
torv. was not like Napoleon, but like Henry ~
and William of Orange; not the selfish master VI
parties but the victim of parues tNa'
turned upon him because he wisheo INC
good Of all rather than the triumph "a :"
faction But in spite Of all these testi'nod''
tc Caesars character as a patrlot' Ao"'i''
admits that 1.-The fact that the peoples 10 ""o'''
the world belongs still at the present day oesis
nate the highest Of the monarchs by his name
conveys warning deeply Significant ana I'll"
happily fraught with shame"
Titus Labienus, reverting from caesar u
Caesars foes a good soldier, poor poii'c'a''
is described as exposed to those strange par
oxysms of giddness Of which the histor! Oh Ma
noleon,s marshals supplies so many tragi-comic
examples" Pompeius, capable OF crime ou' hot
Of nsubordination, is compared to Lafayette and
Dumouriez The aristocrats who fed from
Caesar to Macedonia are lkened to the French
entrants at the tire of the Revolution. and
Tbessalonica their chief place OF resort. Is
called another Coblentz. Alexandria, for street
riots Is said to have rivalled Paris. and when II
comes to depicting the Rome inherited by
Caesar these are the words IF we try 10 coh-
ceve to ourselves a London with the slave popu-
lation of New-Orleans, with the police OF Con-
stantnople, with the non-industrial charac'ei
Of modern Rome, and agitated by politics ai'er
the fashion of Paris In 1s4s, we shall obtain an
arproximate idea OF the Republican glory, the
departure Of which Cicero and his associates IN
their sulky letters deplOre. In the same Wa!
the most suggestive of Mommsen's literary
comparisons are drawn from the Frerch' ne
does more than once liken Ennus to klopstocK'
and this is part of subtle comparison petWeeh
the Romans in their better days ana the uer-
mans of a century ago. After the wars WIN
Hannibal the Romans told their national his
tory in Latin verse or in Greek The former
was the choice of the pebeian authors. the lat
ter of the well-born men Of the world, Just
as in the time of Frederick tie Great an aristo-
cratic literature in the French language sub
sisted side by side with the native German
authorship OF pastors and professors and while
men like Gleim and Rainier wrote war songs In
German kings and generals wrote military his
tories in French"
A little later when all the powers of the nation
were absorbed in politics and there was nothing
in the way OF literature but li.tle poems and
pamphlets two men, Gaius Gracious and Ga>ns
Lucius stood out "amid number of more or
less mediocre writer's just as In similar epoch In
French literature, Courier and Beranger stand
out amidst a multitude Of pretentous utilities.
The parallel between Lucilius and Beranger
pleased Mommsen. Not only in the character OF
their work. but in :he'r social contact with all
parties and their aoofness from all partisanship
they were alike in times that seemed to the his
torian each the counterpart OF the otner.
Cicero, it is well known Is of Mommsen's pet
antagonisms His orations. the very best OF them.
are inferior saws the historian, to the memoirs or
Reaumarchais and the whole scholastic and ar
tifcial classicism Of the Ciceronan period stands
for him in comparison with the writings OF the
Scipionic period "as rerentance to innocence, or
the French of the classicists under Napoleon to
the model French Of Moere and Boileau. An
other Roman whom Mommsen dislikes this time
for his lack Of common sense, was cato. the De-
loved Of Dante and OF Addison. The Don
Ouixote OF the aristocracy," says Mommsen, con-
temptuously and 10 cnch the matter gives
a Sancho in the person of Marcus Favorinus.
Not even Catos suicide suffices to pacate the
fierce modern critic. who is himself such bundle
OF contradictions Just because" he exclaims'
1.-The shrewdest lie feels itself inwardiy ahhihi-
lated before the simple truth. and because all the
dignity and glory of human nature ultimately de-
pend not on shrewdness but on honesty. Cato has
played a greater part in history than many men
far SUPERIOR to him In intellect It only heghens
the deep and tragic significance of his death that
he was himself fool; In truth. II Is just because
Don Quxote is a fool that he Is tragic figure
These examples will serve to show one peculiar
ity Of a great book. probably an immortal book
which is marked also with many other distinctive
features Many histories seem only to be writ
ten to be consulted. Mommsens history of Rome
was written to be read from title page TO colo
phon. There is a sense in which 1t is not history
at all. only tremendously powerful review OF
history from a point of view wholly individual,
but there Is no aspect Of 1t. argument. illustra-
,,on supgestion even omission, which Is not Of
absorbing interest,".