JULIUS CAESAR. 183 



mane, and free from that remorseless cruelty which stained 

 the career of so many of the public men of his age. What- 

 ever of moral contradiction there may seem in this, experi- 

 ence teaches that the conditions are compatible ; and in the 

 instance before us we have proof sufficient to justify the 

 opinion given. The ( gaudensque viam fecisse ruind ' of 

 Lucan is the phrase of the poet, and not the truth of the 

 historian. Amidst the thousand private animosities which 

 civil wars engender and envenom, we do not call to mind a 

 single action of Caesar prompted by private malice or re- 

 venge ; many of humanity and generosity to enemies who 

 fell within his power. Whether he was a man of warm 

 affections may admit of more doubt. We incline to think 

 not ; though without any certain evidence by which to decide 

 the question. He had several friends indeed Oppius, 

 Calvena, Balbus, &c. who were deeply attached to him; 

 and various acts of his personal kindness to them and 

 others are on record : but his superiority to all around him 

 was such, that it is difficult to measure the feelings in this 

 case by any ordinary rule. All the strongest traits of Caesar's 

 mind were intellectual ; and we doubt whether softer senti- 

 ments, passion, or romance, had ever any very strong hold 

 upon him. A tragedy, indeed, was among the number of 

 his literary works ; but it no longer exists, nor have we any 

 such accounts of it as to affect our guesses. 



The profligacy of his early course partially, as it seems, 

 carried on into his later years has been a main allegation 

 against him in all succeeding times. We cannot accuse him 

 of intemperance at table, since Cato remarks that he was 

 6 the only one who went forth sober to the overturning of 

 the commonwealth.' But the charges of other sensuality 

 admit no excuse or palliation ; unless we find such in the 

 general corruption of the age, or in some suspicion that the 

 public eminence of Caesar might have led to exaggerated 



