Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-19
Caesars Compared With That
of Cecil Rhodes.
The Great Roman Left All to People
of Rome.
The Public Requests of George Pea
body and of Others.

P''PSi@ hstNe asserted that MS IS tne
greatest testament since Caesars In
view OF the rather singular fact that
all writers of Roman history are very
Drlef and unsatisfactory on this point,
doubtless for the reason that the Ian
guage of Caesars will is lost, ard to
the fact that it is one of the events of
Roman history shrouded in the mists
OF an obscure past, when little was
written on any subject, there has been
desire on the part of a great many
people to learn something further and
in detail as to Caesars will
In early life julius Caesar WIS Il
great spendthrift, and at the ope ming
of the Gallo campaign he owed Cnor-
nous debts. Later when he usurped
the purple and contrived to raise him
self to the head of affairs, he am. s5ed
what, in that day, was considered an
enormous fortune, consisting of an i'm
menSe landed estate on both banks of
the Tiber, n palace and pleaSu"" Garden
Oh the north bank Of that rive. and q
fortune in slaves and mr.uV. I,onle at
that period was in much IN" .'rrn" con-
ditiOn politically as the tnitcG States
is at the present time. Prior 20 nc sitr's
time she had remained a simple re-
public, living very much within her
self, and simila.~ in many respects ? the
United States just after the 1seVolu-
| ticnary War. Then came the lunic
wars, which, like our own Civil War,
had the effect of giving the Re man
people a general shaking up, m: king
them ambitious, and giving many the
| opportunity to anass great wealth.
.,x.se- ~ n lylpI
| two new political questions to the as
| tonished gaze of the simple m AIDED
| Roman citizenry-eypansion and i'm
perialism. The successful issue of the
| Gallo campaign gave Caesar an i'm
mense hold on the army, all of which
he used to have himself elevated to the
office of principal triumvr. He did
| everything to create the impression
| that he held this Office by and with the
consent of the people and the senate.
But, in spite OF al that he could do,
| there We're many who saw that he
| was laying the foundation of a mon
| archy. and who realized that the
| senate had concurred in his elevation,
because they stood in wholesome fear
| of the army
| In Rome at that time there was
| certain body of people, composed prin-
1 cipally of old families, who We're OPP
| posed to progress and expansion, and
who preferred rather that Rome should
remain a simple agricultural republic,
than that she should become a world
power of the first rank. They raised
a great hue and cry over '1mpe rial
| ISM" and took their dose of progress
ard civilization so seriously that at
last their leader, Brutus, decided to Kill
| Caesar to "save the state" The world
is familiar with the result of his reso-
luton.
After Caesars death, the Roman peo-
pie learned a. lesson that many people
of the present day are learning; name
ly, that with great wealth and power
| great public benefits are possible.
Caesar left his entire fortune to the
Roman people, and one can imagine
| that Brutus and the rest of the con-
sentative element, who loved the dear
| people so we'll that they We're obliged
| to kill the best friend Rome ever had.
must have felt rather small when they
read the will of him whom they had
| murdered.
According to the terms of this, the
|
world had ever known, Caesar left to
every citizen of Rome, rich or poor,
patrician or plebeian, the equivalent,
so far AS the actual weight of the metal
goes, of SIS of our money, but when one
takes into consideration that SIS of our
money in the hands of Romans of
Caesars time, had purchasing power
equal to that Of 800 in this day and
| country, it is easy to realize the mag
nificence of Caesars bequest in the
eyes of his fellow-countrymen.
In addition to this he left his own
| private residence or palace and the
grounds surrounding it to the city of
Rome as public park or pleasure
| ground. Such was Caesars will, and
IN stating that the bequest Of Cecil
Rhodes is the greatest since that dav
the London papers do not exaggerate.
The will of Caesar was a thing m
precedented in it's day. 1t was not
common in Greek and Roman times to
make liberal requests. and Caesars
will came like a bolt from the blue.
burying Erutus and his followers in de-
feat. and turning the tide in favor of
! imperialism. the result being that
| Octavius Augustus was crowned En-
peror without n single dissenting voice.
The Romans began to say to them
selves after the probation of Caesars
! great will: ''Well. if this is one of the
/ evils of imperialism, then we prefer it
to the benefits of republcanism."
After Caesars day there were no
more important wills Of this kind down
/ until the dawn of the nineteenth GEN.
4 fury, vet, nevertheless. his will played
/ an important part in shaping the fu-
! ture of the empire. His successors
/ who lived to see the effects of his will.
and to realize that requests of this sort
did not have the effect of improving
/ the Roman people, but. on the con-
/ trary, only tended to make them more
I dependent on the State, and to increase
, the number of drones and idlers, left
what wealth they accumulated to their
/ relatives. Yet, while such was the
case. the last act of Caesars life, set
the example which every emperor fol-
lowed Of doing something for Rome or
| the Roman people. This they accom-
plished by paying for all such gifts out
of the funds of the State, and taking
the credit for the act to themselves.