Image of The Mantle of Caesar
Bookmark Share

Text

The Mantle of Caesar

Caesar's mythical being has come to the fore again and again, from the time of the feuds between emperor and pope down to Napoleon. An imperial title takes its name from his position in history; a mode of government is named for his activity. The turning points of his life, the Rubicon, Cato, Brutus, have remained alive not only as poets' fancies, but also as battle-cries, and to this day his person inspires the struggle between right and might, between liberty and rulership, between happiness and greatness. Alexander the Great and Charlemagne regard him as one of the eternal images; tor Napoleon and Bismarck he is an ever-present force. His Roman antiquity has not petrified him or diminished his living presence.

His continuance and his transformations arise from his unique union of greatness and the norm. Among the wonders of the world, he is the purely human: Pericles is his equal in balance and proportion, although of smaller compass; Goethe, rich and beautiful as he is, is not so strong; and Shakespeare, the embodiment of all humanity, is an enigma as to his personal life. All other great men are magnified by an excess that is often sublime, often captivating, often terrifying: the intoxication of Alexander, the terribile of Michelangelo, Dante's ecstasy, or Napoleon's joyless might, to say nothing of the Voices of God or the Scourges of God. Leaving aside the question of faith, namely, whether the perfectly normal man is the purest revelation of a manyphased divinity, or whether the latter speaks more eloquently in violation, irruption, fanaticism; whether we love God more as a law or as a magic charm: in no other hero does the law embody itself so much as a definite form, or does nature achieve so rich a magic as in Caesar. No other is so clear and firm, in spite of the mystery of the creative spirit; no other so much a genius, in spite of classical discipline ; no other so fully conditioned by place and time, and yet so perfect a statesman of an immutable order. It is for this reason that we choose him as the simplest embodiment of the true ruler.

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information
Series Title
-
Call Number
321.03
Publisher
California : University of California Libraries.,
Collation
vi, 319 p. ; 23 cm
Language
English
ISBN/ISSN
-
Classification
321.03
Content Type
-
Media Type
-
Carrier Type
-
Edition
-
Subject(s)
CAESAR ROMAWI
Specific Detail Info
-
Statement of Responsibility
Other Information
Cataloger
Firli
Source
https://archive.org/
Validator
-
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
-
Journal Volume
-
Journal Issue
-
Subtitle
-
Parallel Title
-
Other version/related

No other version available

File Attachment
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment