New-York tribune., 1907-06-05

Charles ScTihners Sons
This new edition of Mr.. Baring-Gould's book
m The Caesars Is welcome. for it contains a good
deal of interesting reading. II is popular wori,
in which picturesqueness is the first quality
aimed but this is not to say that the author
failed TO bring any scholarship to his task on
the contrary. he was at great pains to fortify by
consultation with the authorities. the lines in
which he preferred TO draw mis- sketches. and
although those sketches do not invaria blv strike
rs as complete and conclusive. they are legiti-
mate So far they 60 The reader who has
neither the time nor the inclination to make ex-
haustive researches into Roman history will here
fnd sufficient edifcation for his purpose, and,
intothe bargain, abundant entertainment.
Mr. Barng-Gould was moved TO write this
book by an experience of a very human sort
When he living in italy he became fasci-
mated by the busts of the ancient Romans in the
museums With the faces of the Caesarian
house before me" he says Il thought of the
men and women themselves, their individual
lives. their characters, their sorrows their Joys,
their trials and their trumphs." He looked at
the busts in other words, as a psychologist, and
ultimately the conception of this or that Caesar
that he had gained. from literature was strength
ened clarified and sometimes modified by his
study Of the sculptures. He writes of Julius
Cesar, Tibcrius Nero and his three or four
bring
traits that mark them as men. Though he has
a becoming suspicion of mere scandal-mongers
tittle-tattIe ard defends Tiberius, for example
against the sinister charges of Suetonius, he
dearly loves an anecdote and is quick to use it
when II viii serve TO throw light on a question
of personality. He deliberately neglects divers
matters Of great historical Importance. but
deliberately remembers TO inform the reader
THAT Julius Cesar ate rancid oil without MAX
ing 4 face over it, and that Agrippina the
Younger had a pet white nightingale; that Au-
gustus every day kissed the little bust of lost
grandchid: that Tiberius scoded Drusus for
disdainng cabbage; and that Germanicus could
not endure 10 hear a cock crow" The result Is
that he gives warm and living impression Of
each one of his heroes.
We use the last word advisedly. for this
biographer is essentially a hero worshipper,
sympathetic and generous to the last degree.
Generally he has the reader with him. for when
he has a point TO argue he is careful TO assemble
the evidence. and only once, in the chapter on
Tiberius, does he leave his case in doubt. The
first study in the book, that OF Julius Caesar, IS
particularly admirable. 1t emphasizes the nobil-
ity Of the great mans character without eXag-
geration, and at certain moments it takes on "A
singuarly dramatic tone. The whole story of
the murder is most vividly told, and the account
Of Mark Antony forms a worthy pendant to
this narrative. Excellent, too, is the biography
Of Augustus, whose character obviously warmed
the writer his task. In his analysis of Tibe-
rius, Mr.. Baring-Gould follows the modern
tendency TO question the lurid portrait drawn
by Suetonius, and he finds much to confirm
his more favorable opinion Of this Cesar not
only in the busts, which suggest anything but
monster, but IN the earlier years of his sub
3ects life. No doubt the unhappiness of the
youth of Tiberius did much to form his char
acter It is altogether probable too. that a
vast amount Of falsity crept into the pictures
that suetonius made Of the Emperor's life at
Caprs. Nevertheless he emerges under Mr..
Barring -Gould's amiable hands. washed. as It
seems 10 US, Just a shade too white. There is no
sparing Of shadows in the portraits OF Caligula
and Nero. These madmen are presented with
due discretion and yet with a full realization of
all their essential wickedness. We are reminded,
by the way, read this authors account Of
Ner0's long drawn out campaign TO destroy
Agrippina, OF VI. Gebhart's "Trimalchion." in
his "D'Ulysse 4 Panurge" That brilliant bit Of
drama reproduces the dreadful episode with eX-
traordinary atmosphere and color, and it should
not be neglected by the reader who cares to get
at the human side Of Roman history. In taking
leave Of Mr. Baring-Gould's book. must
note that the numerous halftones and drawings
from statues. busts and coins greatly enhance
It's value. These illustrations are reproduced.
as 4 rule et precisely the right points, and they
help the reader the author has been helped
by his hours Of contemplation IN European gall
leries.
We are glad TO hear that there is to be an
official memoir Of the late Thomas Bailey Aid |
rich, and that it is to be prepared by Nr Ferris
Greenslet. whose biography of Lowell has shown
that he IS well equipped for work Of this sort
Indeed. from his work upon that book and from
his editorial experience on THE Atlantic
Monthly" A1r. Greenslet has added to his re-
sources a knowledge Of the New England ira
dition which peculiarly fits him to commemorate !
Mr. Aldrich. Owners Of letters from the latter
are requested TO send them to Mr.. Greenslet, at
No Park street Boston
In the Correspondence Of Two Brothers
Oongmans, Green & Coz we find the agreeable I
letters exchanged between the eleventh Duke Of |
Somerset and his brother Lord Webb Sey-
mour, and various other relatives and friends |
They range in date between 1900 and 1853 and |
express the views and observations Of intellect !
ual persons interested in politics society, science
and literature. TheMhave been carefully edited T.
by Lady Gwendolen Ramsden, the granddaugh- !
ter Of the duke. Some Of the critical judgments
expressed IN the letters are quaint-as when
Somerset says in 1926. concerning the just pub /
lished ''Waverley' of Scott: u can hardly nre-
vail upon myself TO become interested in a prose
narrative Of that kind When do read fiction
IKE II IN verse. I can read an epic poem
Win a patience that has been pronounced i'm
possible but the novel somehow falls from my
Aahd One OF the most interesting epistles
iouAd among the dukes papers was q copv Of a /
teI'er "a translation written in 1909 by the /