Ancient World

Caesar's greatness and glory came at last to a very sudden and violent end. He was assassinated. All the attendant circumstances of this deed, too, were of the most extraordinary character, and thus the dramatic interest which adorns all parts of the great conqueror's history marks strikingly its end.

[Jealousies awakened by Caesar's power.] [The Roman Constitution.] [Struggles and Conflicts.]

[Caesar receives many warnings of his approaching fate.]

by Jacob Abbott

[Three great European nations of antiquity.]

There were three great European nations in ancient days, each of which furnished history with a hero: the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans.

[Alexander.]

[Caesar's resolution.]

Caesar does not seem to have been much disheartened and depressed by his misfortunes. He possessed in his early life more than the usual share of buoyancy and light-heartedness of youth, and he went away from Rome to enter, perhaps, upon years of exile and wandering, with a determination to face boldly and to brave the evils and dangers which surrounded him, and not to succumb to them.

[His person and character.]

[Caesar's rise to power.]

[Caesar aspires to be a soldier.] [His success and celebrity.]

[Pompey.]

[The Rubicon.]

There was a little stream in ancient times, in the north of Italy, which flowed westward into the Adriatic Sea, called the Rubicon. This stream has been immortalized by the transactions which we are now about to describe.

[Its insignificance as a stream.]

Reduction of Naxos. - Actions off Cyprus. - Manners of Cimon. - Improvements in Athens. - Colony at the Nine Ways. - Siege of Thasos. - Earthquake in Sparta. - Revolt of Helots, Occupation of Ithome, and Third Messenian War. - Rise and Character of Pericles. - Prosecution and Acquittal of Cimon. - The Athenians assist the Spartans at Ithome. - Thasos Surrenders. - Breach between the Athenians and Spartans. - Constitutional Innovations at Athens. - Ostracism of Cimon.