48.

B.C. distributed money to the people with the wildest profusion. They considered it, therefore, far more politic to avoid him as their rival, and if possible secure him as their ally, dividing the power of Rome among the three. This conclusion of their secret conference both people and senate confirmed. Cæsar, therefore, set out for Gaul, which he conquered, and then made excursions into Germany, as well as England; by these means he increased both his fame and his fortune, and through his popular manners the army became devoted to his. service. Crassus marched into Asia, and made war on the Parthians, while Pompey's sphere of action was Spain; but he preferred remaining in Rome in defiance of the laws, and of his own agreement, and left his province to be governed by others in his name he even procured the appointment of Governor of Spain, and of the highest magistracy in Rome at the same time, a thing utterly unknown before. Cæsar demanded equal privileges, claiming to be appointed Governor of France, while he still retained a high civil office; but this Pompey opposed, and Cæsar, accompanied by his faithful soldiers, returned from Gaul. Pompey was now obliged to fly from Italy, and in the year 48 B.C. was defeated at Pharsalia, in the north of Greece. Pompey's adherents in Spain and Africa were also defeated after well-fought battles. The great and powerful are never in want of flatterers, and flattery can corrupt even the noblest of mankind; and so it proved with Cæsar, who no sooner found he had

44.

no enemy to fear, than he grew proud and unap- ы. c. proachable, repulsing the deserving, and exalting their inferiors. But Cæsar's great fault was his aspiring to obtain the title of Emperor, a word so hateful to the Romans. In this he raised a prejudice which all his generosity was unable to resist, and a spirit of disaffection was daily increasing. At last, a conspiracy was set on foot; Brutus placed himself at the head of it; and on the 15th of March, 44 B.C., Cæsar was assassinated in the senatehouse of Rome.

CHAP. XXXI.

BRUTUS- ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA-THE

ROMAN EMPIRE.

42.

BRUTUS Soon perceived he should best consult B. C. safety by flying from Rome; still his army was defeated, and he committed suicide 42 B.C. Octavius and Antony now shared the Roman empire. Octavius took Europe as his portion, and Antony Asia, where he became acquainted with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, with whose charms he was so infatuated, that she claimed the devotion of his life; for in her company Antony passed his time in the most shameless dissipation. Disputes with Octavius called him back to Italy, but he soon was reconciled, and, according to the general wish of the

B. C.

30.

people, took to wife Octavia, the beautiful and virtuous sister of Octavius. This lady for a time withheld Antony from his extravagances, and maintained peace between her brother and her husband; when, however, Antony returned to Asia, in the society of Cleopatra he lost all regard for his faithful wife, and actually divided his share of the Roman empire amongst Cleopatra's sons. Then, for the first time, Octavia, who had borne calmly all the insults which had affected herself alone, became indignant, and her brother Octavius eagerly seized upon this pretext to make war upon Antony. A battle was the consequence, in the year 31 B.C.; and, as Cleopatra faithlessly deserted him, Antony also fled, and his brave army surrendered to Octavius. Octavius crossed over to Egypt, where Antony was a second time defeated, after which both he and Cleopatra put an end to their lives, 30 B.C. Octavius, after this generally called Augustus, had been adopted as a son of the murdered Cæsar, and because all his successors belonged to this family, the name of Cæsar was generally used as the style and title of the Governors of Rome: through the German pronunciation Cæsar is altered into Kaiser, which signifies Emperor. Augustus now assumed the reins of government as sovereign, both in the city and the whole empire of Rome. He was not, however, doomed to be happy; his domestic peace was continually disturbed. He had a wicked, intriguing wife, called Livia, who gradually murdered or

A. D.

1

exiled all his friends, and compelled him eventually to name his hated step-son, Tiberius, as his successor. 200. "As is the tree so is the fruit:" Tiberius proved a malicious, cruel prince; and his successors, with a few exceptions, were little better. A few good emperors upheld the supremacy of the Roman empire about 100 A.D., but when they had passed away, from the year 200 A.D., the imperial purple was generally worn by licentious, cruel, and barbarous characters, who seldom died quietly in their beds, or a natural death. Thus the empire continued in a constant state of dissension, till it eventually fell to pieces. It was in the reign of Augustus that our Saviour Jesus Christ was born, and under the reign of Tiberius that he was crucified.

30.

* The loves of Antony and Cleopatra constitute B. C. one of the few romantic tales of Roman history. Cleopatra was queen of Egypt, and daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. As she had supported the cause of Brutus, Antony, in his expedition to Parthia, summoned her to appear before him. The beautiful Cleopatra, conscious of her irresistible charms, used every art that dress or ornament could supply to appear before Antony in the height of her female attractions. Her beauty prevailed; her haughty judge became her tender lover. Hence his desertion of Octavia, as before related, and the rupture between Augustus and Antony, ending in the battle of Actium. Here Cleopatra assisted with sixty sail, to which Antony added one hun

B.C. dred and seventy, and twenty thousand men on 31. board. The flight of Cleopatra, followed by that

of Antony, decided the fortune of the day. And with what feelings did Antony and Cleopatra next meet? Antony went on board her ship, but sat for three days in solemn silence, and still refused to see her; but at last her "maid of honour" brought about a reconciliation. Cleopatra, when arrived at Alexandria, commenced hauling her ships over the Isthmus of Suez, intending to fly with her treasures to some unknown land; but the Arabs, being in the interest of Cæsar, burned her vessels and defeated her project. So then she began to prepare her kingdom for defence: and even under the awful responsibilities of this moment, and though Antony and Cleopatra were both meditating self-destruction, they passed their days in feasting and revelry, in the true spirit of the heathen, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."

Such were the slavish propensities of Antony, guilty of giving, like a traitor, part of the dominions of his country to this abandoned woman : thus passed the days of Cleopatra, regardless of her subjects, and caring only for her selfish pleasures, though she had provoked the arms of Cæsar.

And now Cæsar was approaching through Asia, when he received an envoy from Cleopatra resigning her crown and only asking Egypt for her children, while Antony craved leave to live in ignoble ease and security at Athens.