Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-08-05
JULIUS CESAR'S ANNIVERSARY.
July Named for Him-"The
Most Alive Man OF Anti
n.wffxr

July Named for Him-s'ThS
Most Alive Man OF Anti
quity."
BY DIR. CALVIN ID. WILSON.
The most alive man of the ancient
world, apart from religious teachers
he to whom we moderns owe most
and whose deeds and influence still
work most potently among us, il
Julius Cesar. Two thousand and
four years ago, July II, 100 b. c.,
was born one whose name is still the
imperial title of the Gar of Russia
and the Kaiser of Germany, whose
patronYm Julius is the name of the
seventh month of the year, and after
whom the delicate C9sarean opera
ton is called. He carried the Ro-
man arms, laws and arts into the
then barbarous regions where our
ancestors lived, so that in our speech.
our customs and laws we daily are
unconsciously under the impress of
his life and deeds. He made France
permanently part of the Roman Enl-
pire, Latin until this day, to its adj
vantage, so that Napoleon the Third
could say justly that it was well for
his country that Caesar, and not
Vercingetorix, the leader of the
Gauls, had conquered. He was the
pioneer of civilization In Germany,
Belgium and Britain; though the
seeds sown grew slowly, yet the i'm.
press of Roman influence was never
lost. He began to do for Europe as
far north as the Rhine and for
Britain what moderns have begun to
DO for Africa. He opened up the
country, so to speak.
Longfellow's Miles Standish re-
mai ked with awe, after coming the
Commentaries, ga wonderful man
was this Cesar" and wonderful he
was. We say sometimes that thing
or q cause is ''dead as Julius Caesar"
but we err if we mean to convey the
idea of something obsolete. Shake
speare made Hamlet remark upon
the evanescence of human glory thus:
'lmperions Caesar, dead and turn'd
to clay, might stop hole to keep the
wind away" of Casar's dust this
might be true, but his influence is
not stopping holes, but making men,
civilization, laws. The genius of
Shakespeare rightly recognized him
as "the foremost man of all this
world" Bacon wrote that the sum
of qualities in him was so marvellous
that Nature seemed incapable of
such a combination. He was the
greatest soldier of the ANCIENT world,
the author Of the best book of mill
tary annals ever written, the greatest
statesman of Rome, and an orator
second only to Cicero; he was "one
OF the few men in history who have
quelled a rebellion by speech. The
style OF his commentaries is fiawless:
so that tthose wise men of modern times,
the editors, could not find in them a
word that is useless or obscurely used.
de was greater of soul than other men,
and burned, unread, the letters of
his enemy Pompey when that COM
promising correspondence fell into
his hands. With an enlightenment
beyond other men of his day he gave
the rights of citizenship to scientists
and teachers of the liberal arts. He
began to rebuild Rome; he planned
to modify the laws; he entrusted to
Varro the establishment of public
Libraries; he designed the draining of
the marshes of Pontus, a canal
through the isthmps of Corinth, a
road from the Iiber to the Adriatic
Sea. The plans and ideas that came
from his brain, when carried out by
MS successors, proved to be among
the most Important steps in progress
made by the Romans. His scheme
OF making allies of outlying bar
barous people was vast conception.
noble and statesmanlike; its partial
failure for the time lay in the nature
of things; but the plan survived and
worked itself out in later ages and
made for the consolidation of Europe. |
His wars of conquest smote path |
way for civilization; wherever Ce.
sar's footsteps were planted, there
have been the most enlightened parts
Of the world.
de was man of dignity, sweet
ness and nobleness. He was capable
ot every greatness that can be at
tanned by human nature. When
'arly in his career Sulla ordered him
70 divorce his wife because she was
If the blood of Marius he declined.
,hough he lost his own fortune, the
lower of his wife, his priesthood,
md was driven from Rome. His
personal power was so great that
when, as told in the familiar story.
he was in the hands of pirates he
made them love and admire him.
'verawed them and jestingly threat
ned to cruelty them. He was five
INES consul and four times dictator.
nd was dictator elect at the time of
rs death. He perished through the
QffInaoo oYaA ~r |