The San Francisco call., 1899-07-22
STRIKING PARALLELS

in the United States and the imperial career OF
Rome The home coming OF the volunteers IS
the analogue OF a Roman triumph. There is regret
that no more spos brought captlYes to goa1
over The Post says the Roman Silurians opposed
the policy OF conquest and deprecated the trlumPhal
DISPLAYS with the captured kings and queens and
treasures and slaves which the returning Ieglon'
brought back to Rome. These Roman Sllur1anS'
thinks the Post. resembed what it calls the dough
faces" OF to-day They saw in each conquest ony
subsequent disaster, and never lost chance to de
clare that the policy OF conquest was suDverslon OF
the institutions OF their country
The Post is right There is striking parallel, and
il it will read bit deeper in Roman history it Will
discover that every prophecy made by such Roman
Silurians as Cato and Cicero came true. Ihe Illus
trious reign OF Augustus" was not over before the
glorious structure OF empire begun by his uncle julius
began to crumblc and the liberties OF the Roman clt
zens had been wrested from them by the leglons At
first when the captives were led through the streets
OF Rome chained to the chariot wheels OF their. cap
tors the Roman citizens thronged the way and bel
lowed Woe to the conquered But at last there was
written in history Woe to the conqueror.
The policy OF Roman expansion, which had eX-
preston in the campaigns Of julius Caesar against
peoples who had never wronged Roman, reacted
when the Roman conscience revolted and found eX-
preston in the Senate Vercingetorix and his ch1et-
tains had stoutly defended their liberty and their
homes against the Roman invader, and the Senate
impressed by the spectacle began to finch from the
slaughter OF others for doing just what the Romans
would il their soil invaded. 1t was then that
Caesar betrayed his country and leaving his own
province crossed its legal boundary, the Rublcon
and marched on Rome. The imperial policy abroad
made necessary the abridgment OF liberty at home
The ancient world understood this perfectly taoe to
face as we do in the perspective OF history.
Caesars act was known to mean the downfall OF
the Roman commonwealth the end OF all attempts at
internal reform and the destruction OF Roman lib
erty Plutarch records all these impressions and pic
lures the traitor, Julius the night before he crossed
the Rubcon tossing in itful sleep and dreaming that
he deflowered his own mother No further record IS
needed to prove the current estimate OF his act Then
followed the expiring tragedy OF patriotism the as
sassnation OF Julius, the murder OF Cicero, and in
due time the dawning OF the glories Of the Augustan
age Empire hourished briefly but its subjects,
ried captive to Rome learned tactics and lOnged fer
their native hills Spartacus did for the green valleys
OF Thrace Hermann rallied the German tribes, and
when Varus marched against him with the flower OF
the Roman legions, the invincble Latins who had
made conquests abroad and suppressed by slaughter
ali opposition at home, the seasoned soldiers OF the
empire were powerless against German yalor, and in
the frightful carnage OF the Teutoberger Valid the
pride OF empire was laid low and its power was
broken Then it was said that statue OF Victory out
side the Eternal City, which pointed the road to Ger
MANY turned on its pedestal and pointed toward
Rome and Augustus beat his head against the walls
Of his palace and cried "Emilius Varus, give me back
my legions; give me back my legons"
Then how rapid the fall Of everything gracious and
glorious in Rome! With empire came the purple and
its muniments and after Augustus these were seized
and sold by the mercenary Iegions to the highest
bidder and the stencil Of the rotting OF Rome filled
the world and its spume remains to dehle history.
Cicero Cato, the Surians, all were gone, but-ther
warnings to this day impress the conscience OF the
world far more than the decayed gorie OF empire in
1uence mans love for pageantry and display.
Indeed the parallel is striking. Witness the denial
of free speech the violation OF the privacy OF the
mails, the rigid censorship OF all from the dis
tant seat of a war of conquest that Congress never
declared the trampling the constitution and pro-
posal to punish citizens who speak OF liberty the in
science Of military officers and their interference in
civil affairs. Witness also the cunning deceit with
which the servants OF the people meet the "round
robin" Of the reputable war correspondents in Man
ia The censor cuts all the facts out Of news dis
patches and then himself sends such dispatches he
chooses to Washington, suppressng the truth and
lying to the people. To the charge OF the
made public the official dispatches, and that is
sideref an the charge that the truth is kept
from The people, when the charge is that these
official dispatches official lies, coined to deceive
the country All these things part Of the Posts
Striking parallel but they more part Of it
than the end that waits upon imperialism the pit into
which it falls Jefferson said that this republic
be new departure Government that would eschew
the criminal ambitions and bloody aspirations which
had made Europe hell He and the fathers desired
avoid the striking parallel which impresses the Post
so favorably, and they must rank, therefore, with
Cato, Cicero, the Roman Silurians and the present
"douphfaces"