炒 鮮魚 MARK ANTONY EULOGIZING THE DEAD CÆSAR Mark Antony delivering his famous Funeral Oration over the body of Julius Cæsar, In the Roman forum. This oration has been immortalized by Shakespeare in his Drama "Julius Cæsar." CAIUS JULIUS CAESAR (100-44 B. C.) A GREAT CONQUEROR AND FAMOUS ORATOR J ULIUS CÆSAR, one of the greatest generals and greatest men the world has ever known, proved himself possessed of genius in oratory as well as in civil and military affairs. It is not with his marvelous achievements in warfare, nor his great political skill and ability that we are here concerned, but simply with his standing in oratory, in which his supremacy was scarcely second to that in the other fields of effort in which he excelled. As an orator Cicero was the only Roman who excelled him, and many think that, if Cæsar had devoted himself specially to this art, he might have rivalled or excelled Cicero himself. Macaulay, comparing him with Cromwell and Bonaparte, says that he was master of what neither of the others possessed, "Learning, taste, wit, eloquence, the sentiments and the manners of an accomplished gentleman." It was through oratory, indeed, that he gained his first distinction, the civil position which opened the way to his later career, and he may be justly classed with the greatest orators of the world. Previous to Cæsar's era of power, the stability of the Roman Republic had been threatened by two ambitious generals, Marius and Sulla. It was to the triumvirate formed by Cæsar, Pompey and Crassus that it owed its final overthrow, the military power gaining supremacy over the civil. The war with Pompey and his defeat and death left Cæsar at the head of the Roman state, imperial in station, though the name of emperor was not assumed by him, he accepting that of dictator instead. At his death he was dictator-elect for life. THE PUNISHMENT OF CATILINE'S ASSOCIATES [Cæsar held high office in the Roman state when the dangerous conspiracy of Catiline broke out, an organization of profligate and disaffected citizens, whose MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO (106-43 B. C.) ROME'S NOBLEST ORATOR N EXT in fame to Demosthenes among ancient orators stands ling in several branches of literature, in oratory he was supreme, and few men of the past come to us with broader fame and hands freer from guile than this eloquent citizen of the "eternal city." Cicero was born in times of trouble and turmoil. The foundations of the old republic were breaking up; the leaders of the army were becoming the autocrats of the State; the freedom of the people was near its end and the Empire was at hand. There were two events of the time which especially aroused the indignation of the great orator. One of these was the cruelty and outrages of the infamous Caius Verres, prosecuted by the Sicilians for atrocious acts of inhumanity and rapine while governor of their island. Cicero conducted the prosecution and arraigned Verres in such overwhelming terms that the culprit fled into exile. The orations against Verres were seven in number. Later, while one of the Roman consuls, he detected and exposed the treasonable designs of Catiline, a political leader, who had conspired to seize the chief power in the State by burning the city and massacring his opponents. His designs were foiled by Cicero, who assailed him in a splendid burst of indignant eloquence, so arousing the Senate against him that Catiline fled in dismay from the city. Other orations of equal eloquence followed, and the whole scheme of treason and outrage fell through. These are the most famous of Cicero's numerous orations, the effect of which was such as to give him unbounded influence in the city. His final outburst of oratory was against the ambitious designs of Mark Antony. There were fourteen of these orations in all, the |