ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 79 



saying thus transpired. Caesar extremely affected the name 

 of king, and some were set on to salute him with that title 

 as he passed by. Caesar, however, finding the cry weak and 

 poor, put it off thus in a kind of jest, as if they had mis 

 taken his surname: &quot;Non rex sum, sed Caesar,&quot; ni I am not 

 king, but Caesar, 112 an expression, the pregnancy of which 

 it is difficult to exhaust; for first, it was a refusal of the 

 name, though not serious; again, it displayed infinite con 

 fidence and magnanimity in presuming Caesar to be the 

 greater title, a presumption which posterity has fully 

 confirmed. But chiefly the expression is to be admired as 

 betraying a great incentive to his designs, as if the state 

 strove with him for a mere name, with which even mean 

 families were invested. For Eex was a surname with the 

 Eomans, as well as King is with us. The last saying I shall 

 mention, refers to Metellus: as soon as Caesar had seized 

 Rome, he made straightway to the aerarium to seize the 

 money of the state; but Metellus being tribune, forestalled 

 his purpose, and denied him entrance: whereupon Caesar 

 threatened, if he did not desist, to lay him dead on the 

 spot. But presently checking himself, added, &quot;Adolescens, 

 durius est mihi hoc dicere quam f acere ; Young man, it 

 is harder for me to say this than to do it. 113 A sentence 

 compounded of the greatest terror and clemency that could 

 proceed out of the mouth of man. But to conclude with 

 Caesar. It is evident he was quite aware of his proficiency 

 in this respect, from his scoffing at the idea of the strange 

 resolution of Sylla, which some one expressed about his 

 resignation of the dictatorship: &quot;Sylla,&quot; said Caesar, &quot;was 

 unlettered, and therefore knew not how to dictate.&quot; 114 

 And here we should cease descanting on the concurrence 



111 Suet. Life Jul. Cses. 79. 



112 The point of this expression arises from the absence of the article in the 

 Latin tongue, which made rex, a king, exactly convertible with the title of 

 those families who bore Rex for their surname. With us, also, there are many 

 individuals who bear the name of King, and among the French the name Roi is 

 not uncommon. Ed. 



113 Plutarch; cf. Cic. ad Att. x. 8. 114 Suet. Life, Ixxvii. 



