The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-11-08
THEODORE M0MMSEN
Story of "Germany's Grand
Old Man."
LAST OF THE ROMANS"
The Late Historian Was Called
by Scholars.

Berlin. Nov. If one had asked Satur-
day. who is the greatest living Ger
MANI" secret fear of lese majestic might
have prompted many to ezclaim, The
Emperor But as many more would
have whispered. ''Theodor Mommsen.'
Mommsen. Germanys Grand Old
Man." a most accurate and exhaustive
and inspirating historian, was perhaps
the least known of all great men chiefly
because he shank from becoming q popu-
lar hero.
He was born on November 90, 1917. at
Gerding, Holstein. On November S, 1888,
was celebrated the hftieth anniversary
of his electorate, of his attaining from the
University of iKel the degree Doctor
Juris.
Mommsan has been characterized as
the greatest scholar of our times. But
few more days and the Last of the
Romans" as his scholars of the Universi-
ty of Berlin dubbed him affectionately'
would have seen the 'siXtieth anniversary
of the winning of his degree.
Mommsen was a small man with big
head on him. He was medium-sized'
but his extreme thinness made him ap-
pear almost diminutive. His feshless
figure did not half fill his rusty clothes
His long gray hair fell back from his
forehead. leaving clear nispa le, yellow
tinged face His nose was prominent
and crooked, his mouth large and firm.
hi seyes penetrating and pugnacious-
He walked about Berlin as solitary as
one who wanders through forest. But
everyone knew him by sight and every
one saluted him.
When he was under thirty, Mommsen
was known throughout Germany, not
only for his dashing style and deep learn
ing, but also for his arrogance and his
bitterness in controversy.
So long ago as 1854 Mommsen accepted
the call of the Prussian government to
the chair of the Roman law at Breslau.
He remained there almost four years
during which he completed the second and
third volumes of his great Roman his
tory, and in 1s5 She was called to the
University of Berlin as Professor His
tory. His lectures We're full of dicta
which summed up immense knowledge
and were delivered as if incOntrovertib.e
thus:
nots was the primary cause of the de-
cline of France
Rampant Jesuitism has ruined Aus
tria"
Mommsen was an enemy of Bismarck.
His bitterness against the Man of Blood
and IRON was almost a mania. Momm-
sen was ten years in the Reichstag In
his letter to the constituency in 1881 he
said: This Prince of Darkness (Bis-
marck) dwells in horrible loneliness, hav-
ing smashed everything around him
Reichstag, parties, his colegians in the
university, in fact, everything free in
Germany.
What has Bismarck left?' Mommsen
asked his supporters. The crown of the
Hohenzcllerns? I'm sure l don't know
whether he has or not
Mommsen was arrested, and tried in
Berlin in July, 1882. for slandering Bis
marck He was acquitted by remark
able verdict in which the jury said:
The remarks set forth IN accusation
are unquestionably offensive ones and
may doubtless be considered as having
been applied to the Imperial Chancellor.
They do, nevertheless, also admit of a
different Interpretation, and when a man
who. like the accused, having the cOur-
age to stand by his convictions, declares
he did not apply these remarks to the
Imperial Chancellor, we cannot but be-
!ieve an dacquit him
Mommsen loved his wife and children
almost as we'll as he loved history About
eleven of his sixteen children survive him.