Chapter Cæsar to Cairbar of C by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Cæsar to Cairbar

Cæsar (Caius Julius).

Somewhere I’ve read, but where I forget, he could dictate
Seven letters at once, at the same time writing his memoirs…
Better be first, he said, in a little Iberian village
Than be second in Rome, and I think he was right when he said it.
Twice was he married before he was 20, and many times after;
Battles 500 he fought, and a thousand cities he conquered;
But was finally stabbed by his friend the orator Brutus.
   —Longfellow: Courtship of Miles Standish, ii.

(Longfellow refers to Pliny, vii. 25, where he says that Cæsar “could employ, at one and the same time, his ears to listen, his eyes to read, his hands to write, and his tongue to dictate.” He is said to have conquered 300 nations, to have taken 800 cities, to have slain in battle a million men, and to have defeated three millions. See below, Cæsar’s Wars.)

Cæsar and his Fortune. Plutarch says that Cæsar told the captain of the vessel in which he sailed that no harm could come to his ship, for that he had “Cæsar and his fortune with him.”

Now am I like that proud insulting ship,
Which Cæsar and his fortune bare at once.
   —Shakespeare: I Henry VI. act i. sc. 2 (1589).

Cæsar saves his Commentaries. Once, when Julius Cæsar was in danger of being upset into the sea by the overloading of a boat, he swam to the nearest ship, with his book of Commentaries in his hand.—Suetonius.

Cæsar’s Death. Both Chaucer and Shakespeare say that Julius Cæsar was killed in the capitol. Thus Polonius says to Hamlet, “I did enact Julius Cæsar; I was killed i’ the capitol” (Hamlet, act iii. sc. 2). And Chaucer says—

This Julius to the capitolê wente…
And in the capitole anon him hente
This falsê Brutus, and his other soon,
And sticked him with bodëkins anon.
   —Canterbury Tales (“The Monk’s Tale,” 1388).

Plutarch expressly tells us he was killed in Pompey’s Porch or Piazza; and in Julius Cæsar Shakespeare says he fell “e’en at the base of Pompey’s statue” (act iii. sc. 2).

Cæsar’s Famous Despatch, “Ve ni, vidi, vici,” written to the senate to announce his overthrow of Pharnacês king of Pontus. This “hop, skip, and a jump” was, however, the work of three days.

Cæsar’s Likeness. That by Aurelius is the most celebrated.

Cæsar’s Wars. The carnage occasioned by the wars of Cæsar is usually estimated at a million fighting men. He won 320 triumphs, and fought 500 battles. (See above, CÆSAR (Caius Julius).)

Cæsar, the Mephistophelês of Byron’s unfinished drama called The Deformed Transformed. This Cæsar changes Arnold (the hunchback) into the form of Achilles, and assumes himself the deformity and ugliness which Arnold casts off. The drama being incomplete, all that can be said is that “Cæsar,” in cynicism, effrontery, and snarling bitterness of spirit, is the exact counterpart of his prototype, Mephistophelês (1823).

Cæsar (Don), an old man of 63, the father of Olivia. In order to induce his daughter to marry, he makes love to Marcella, a girl of 16.—Mrs. Cowley: A Bold Stroke for a Husband (1782).

Cæsarism, the absolute rule of man over man, with the recognition of no law divine or human beyond that of the ruler’s will. Cæsar must be summus pontifex as well as imperator.—Dr. Manning: On Cæsarism (1873). (See Chauvinism.)

Cael, a Highlander of the western coast of Scotland. The Cael had colonized, in very remote times, the northern parts of Ireland, as the Fir-bolg or Belgæ of Britain had colonized the southern parts. The two colonies had each a separate king. When Crothar was king of the Fir-bolg (or “lord of Atha”), he carried