Identifier: grandeurthatwasr00stobrich (find matches)
Title: The grandeur that was Rome; a survey of Roman culture and civilisation:
Year: 1920 (1920s)
Authors: Stobart, J. C. (John Clarke), 1878-1933
Subjects:
Publisher: London, Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd
Contributing Library: Internet Archive
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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st to make any ofhis characters more or less than human, but it is evidentlyBrutus who has the sympathies of the dramatist. In theFrench Revolution, again, Brutus and Cassius were heroesand glorious tyrannicides. The reaction against early nine-teenth-century liberalism brought Caesar once more into honour,and Mommsen, the prophet of Caesarism, makes him the heroof his great history. To Mommsen Caesar was almost divine,the clear-sighted and magnanimous saviour who alone sawthe true path out of the disorders of his city. From this viewagain we are apparently now in reaction once more. To thelatest critics the greatness of Caesar and of Mommsen are alikeabhorrent, and Signor Ferrero depicts his most famous fellow-countryman as an unscrupulous demagogue who blunderedinto renown through treachery and bloodshed. The historical principle by which this result is attained israther typical of certain modern critical methods. Since theaccount of the Gallic Wars was written chiefly by Caesar 112
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LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC himself, and Caesar is by hypothesis a scoundrel, the historyof these wars must be found by reading between the lines ofCaesars account, putting the most unfavourable constructionupon everything and preferring any evidence to his, even if itbe that of two centuries later. If any gaps or inconsistenciesare noticed they must be treated as concealing defeats or actsof treachery. Written in this spirit, the story of the GallicWars is a very black one for Caesar and Rome. Yet unbiassedreaders must generally admit that Caesar was a very carefuland on the whole an honest historian. The accusation thathe was capable of relentless cruelty springs from his own ad-missions. It was in the Roman character to despise life, andwhen Caesar thought that a rebellious tribe needed a lesson hedid not hesitate to massacre defenceless women and childrenor to lay waste miles of territory with fire and sword. But,on the other hand, his preference was for clemency andjustice. With

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