20.5 



C A F 



nether we should most detest his ambition, 

 ..'iniii- his learning, his taste, his humanity, his 

 c * >ia * munificence. He haa no propensity to cruelty, nor 

 V"* any tliirst for blood: he had too little jealousy of 

 mankind for his own safety, and less lh<tn might have 

 been expected from his great penetration. Cicero, 

 who detested his politics, and who celebrates the 

 authors of his assassination as heroes and deliverers 

 of their country, is nevertheless candid enough to 

 acknowledge his extraordinary merit in other re- 

 spects. He allows him to be a most admirable wri- 

 ter ; a perfect master of the chastest latinity; an 

 orator inferior to none, who had made eloquence the 

 whole study of their lives. Had he lived, it is proba- 

 ble that his administration would have been the most 

 splendid and the most liberal of any which have oc- 

 curred in the annals of despotism. Give him but the 

 title and honour of master, and he seemed willing to 

 allow the utmost freedom of thinking and acting. 

 Even after he had reached the zenith of his power, 

 Cicero hesitated not to write an eulogium on Cato, 

 who had always been Caesar's most inveterate politi- 

 cal enemy, and had killed himself rather than submit 

 to his power : So far from shewing any resentment 

 at. this, he entered the lists with Cicero, on a field 

 where it was thought few could contend with him, 

 and published an examination of Cato's character, in 

 a work entitled " Anticato" ; in which he pointed 

 out the blemishes of his character, and endeavoured 

 to show that Cicero's praise of him was greatly 

 exaggerated. . 



In his military character, it is probable that he 

 never has been equalled. Like Alexander the Great, 

 he often undertook enterprizes which would have 

 been rash and ruinous in the hands of ordinary lead- 

 ers, but the success of which was secured by the 

 vast resources of his mind. Indeed the Grecian con- 

 queror can scarcely stand a comparison with Caesar. 

 He over-ran nations sunk in luxury and effeminacy : 

 Caesar conquered the conquerors of the world, and 

 triumphed over the most accomplished and skilful 

 leaders. His Commentaries are not only specimens 

 of the purest latinity, but they are a treasure of mi- 

 litary science, and show the vigilance and skill con- 

 tinually exercised by this great commander. 



We may perhaps even find some palliation for his 

 ambition in the degenerate state of Roman manners. 

 He saw that the republic was virtually dead ; and 

 that the sovereignty must soon be the prize of the 

 man who had power or address to seize it. This 

 made him less scrupulous about the measures which 

 he employed ; whilst the generosity of his nature 

 taught him to believe, that he could render his usur- 

 pation a public benefit. In no hands could unlimi- 

 ted power more safely be lodged ; for the world has 

 never seen a more able nor a more amiable despot 

 than Julius Caesar, (g) 



CAESARIAN SECTION, or OPERATION. See MID- 

 WIFERY. 



CyESIA, a genus of plants of the class Hexan- 

 dria, and order Monogyma. See BOTANY, p. 195 ; 



and R. Brown's Prodrointu, Plant. Nov. Holland. 

 Ac. p. 



CALSIJLI A, a genus of plants of the claw Srn- 

 gent-sia, and order Polygamia ./Equalis. See BO- 

 TANY, p. 295. 



CAFFA, or KAFKA, probably the Theodotia of 

 the ancients,* is a seaport town of the Crimea, situa- 

 ted on a high mountain, which descends with a half 

 circular slope towards the roadstead. From the beau* 

 tiful bay of CafTa, the town appears to cover the 

 southern side of it, and to rise like a vast theatre, with 

 its numerous mosqiu-s and minarets, over all the hills 

 which encircle that part of the bay. On the southern 

 side of the bay stood the Genoese citadel : The walls, 

 which are tolerably well preserved, are flanked with 

 towers, and marked with several half effaced incrip- 

 tions. The traces of the streets, within the inclo- 

 sures, are still visible, and numerous subterraneous 

 chambers, and spacious magazines, amid a promis- 

 cuous heap of r nns, assert the former splendour of 

 this deserted city. The opposite, or northern tide of 

 the city, which was the residence of the Tartars, is 

 the only part which is now inhabited. Between these 

 two parts of the city, but rather towards the west, 

 and elevated on the hills above them, stood that part 

 of the town which was inhabited by the Armenians, 

 and which is now a scene of ruins. Near the walls of 

 the old Armenian fortress, and on the high ground 

 above the Tartar city, are the ruins of a circular 

 building, which Dr Clarke supposes to have been an 

 ancient bath. On taking down a pan of the stucco 

 which loosely adhered to the wall, that celebrated 

 traveller discovered a beautiful covering of coloured 

 plaster, exactly similar to that which is found in 

 Pompeia and Herculaneum. A few days before Dr 

 Clarke's arrival, (July, 1800), a stone was discover- 

 ed in the centre of the old pavement of this building. 

 It was rudely sculptured in two parts, upon a kind 

 of Cippui. In the upper part were two crowned 

 heads, and the lower part contained a staircase lead- 

 ing to the mouth of a stone sepulchre. " I endea- 

 voured," says Dr Clarke, " to prevail on the guides 

 to follow the clue thus offered, and to search for the 

 staircase so represented, below the spot on which 

 the stone itself was found. This they refused to do." 

 The other buildings, which are deserving of notice, 

 and which are in the Tartar city, are some magnifi- 

 cent public baths and mosques in a ruinous condition, 

 a few minarets, several shops, the Turkish coffee- 

 house, an unfinished palace of the late Khan, and a 

 large stone building at the entrance of the city, which 

 was formerly a mint. Near this building there are 

 some ruins, which Dr Clarke thinks may have be- 

 longed to the ancient Theodosia. The earliest in- 

 scription which he could find was not before the 

 end of the 14-th century. One of these, in the Ar- 

 menian language, sculptured in relief, on a lab of 

 white marble, was brought home by Dr Clarke, and 

 is now in the vestibule of the university library of Cam- 

 bridge. See Clarke's Greek Marbles, p. 3. No. viii. 

 The following account of the devastations cominiu 



f " As far as my own observations carry me," says Dr Clarke, " I have never yet been satiafied as to the fact that The*- 

 ifcsia and Caffa stood upon the am spot." TravtU, vol. i. p. 451. S the, note. 



