Divus Cæsar.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3891, 18 June 1881, Page 1

Divus Cæsar.

la recorded histpry, : no s&ftle'.'kisV (perhaps intb the "(Mfe^ptiott of Miab^et) has prbducea ye^e^tt,-^B<)J^i|tV;'Md so enduring as Julias Csesar. ' Itis tbf'mprp remarkable^ that in i&o lanj^uaKA^'^ aocient or modern, is there any actequare bio* graphy of Jhiina. '.{.s#. Laeari,: ,W.^as an incarnation of Satan. . . '.' To Cicero, he; appeared at first as a young, man of fashion, who was,wasting his. time,.and talents. He, was past forty'when, he began to show what was in him. May it not hare been that he remained in Rome, hoping that some useful career might open for him, till the steady growth of anarchy and corruption taught him that nothing was to be looked for there? Life 'was slipping away, arid he wished to aebbm* plish something ineHndrable: before he died. But for Cffls&r, Arioristas might tlaV© been an Alaric,'arid Europe might, haye been Teutoriised four centuries befpre its time. In ten years Caspar had forced baclk 7 the Germans .into their forests. He tad invaded Britain. The Gauls had become an integral part ot the J^pman, nation, and.infused new tjtality into the bVaina and sinews of the Eiripirer" '-Vof^sfiSK** ser?ice the reward which the aristooracy thought him to deserve was degradation, dishbnorir, .and afterwards, ofwioorse, death/The comin'on serial of mankind repudiated the enormous injustie¥ jHis adoring legions',' instead of demariding'pay to remain on his side, contiributed p^;t of their own purses the eipenWi of ihe wars which-. followed- ' Tbe aris^iiw fdied hara;' The flower of th?m^l!;ajs,J|«r. sal in. Then it was all over; the B*pub> > lioan constitution of , Rpme. had destroyed' by its own .rioes; ;jCa>pff v wai sole sovereign of the civilised; WiffMi>and so effeetaally was the work aceom|4ifhed that bis own death oould riot uaaie it. Order and authority were I r^eatablibhed under a military empire, and tliißftaan dominion, which was on the edge qf^disso* lution, received a new lease of existence. Was it to be wondered at if men aaid that the doer of such exploits war sojafeanng more than man? Csssar had found the worrargSiri^ corruption. All; that mankind had gained from the beginning of recorded time, ail that Greece had bequeathed of art and culture, all the fruits of the langrtitruggles of Rome.to coerpe unwilling barbarians into; pbdiftnce to law, 1 was on the brink |of pprishinfi. - The human race. mighiTKare fallen f-int» primsvad .'*sw«gery. Casar, by hir own resolute^rwHlrwd . teken anarchy, by the throat anddestroyad $'i called a (iod. • W,as tnere nor /lere % not a living God come among tiiem'nrUae form of man ? Wasnot Cajsat^Hehii P "There is a doubt wheth#T'CaM«l*him«lf iri bis own lifetime' tftf ttf !^eric2; of i?thes^^ef rt«Prosfer«|l>t. So calm, so rational 'an ;iriteflect 'wm as can be seen, Csssar hid no religious convictiont whtt«Terl J"Bi ,v^d death to be the hmit t of, hj^ and on existence m^aps^aentWell e-|et butJittleiwljWt^^d«p4lpe conspiracy to kill him, be rtfua4 kluk*

precautis|^ o sge ? had lived- long enough, and did not care to continue. Whatever might have been his own thoughts upon the,g(i\bj,ect|,the popular feeling was not to lie Yestrained. He was enrolled among the Gods. That he had been received 'ifato. heaven wasQ»of^a mere 'figure of Bpe&ch, -but i the real, conviction of mankind. Augustus, who had been brought up br C»sar, shared?- probably in his unclepopini6riß. J ,*€aesar had named him _«hiß-Jbeir, ifitb ajust-insighfcintphis extraordinary quslf l^. $§j£ejurned the con? \ fidence by a profound veneration to ; C^iar'a memory. r iHe encouraged the piety:/Like;his ■'"' uncle, Augußtus was Ponti'fexMaximus ; r -, but unlike. him he made his office v i9!al^v. u^e, was punctilious in his j5 . jreVgioug observances. He reformed the * sriesthood -.held to the traditions; of . nifl fathers; looked unfavorably on here* sies and new opinions; and forbade the fi.'iiovelTfornis of worship which were coming in from the East. He did not permit himself to be addressed as Dominus or Lord. No or temples were ericiledi td him at Eome.V'and in the provinces only as the genius of the Empire;! On r|>ublic buildings at Ephesus „ he if found to have been described by the »^rfngUtr*- title of* Godl" : It is curious to^consider that St. Paul must have Seen these words there. The idea of X the Sonship was already not unfamiliar. .. It is. certain that Augustus, notwithatapd- -' ifig'hiW modesty, was regarded throughout the Roman dominions, not only as the Son of God, bnt as an incarnation of God ■—a prcsoens Bivus, a second revelation in the flesh of the reality of the celestial powers; and during his long reign the harassed peasant, who at last could till, hi** farm and eat bis bread in, safety, poured libations with unhesitating faith to the divinity of the Emperor. On his death the popular belief received official , ratification.. Legends gathered about his &qtory> IJe was found to have been born * of a virgin. His mother had conceived him ina'vuidu in the Temple of Apollo. ; ■ The place of his. birth was held sacred. i No; curious visitor was allowed to intrude J v there. No one might enter except to ■ pray. A still more remarkable story was believed in Borne in Seutonius' time, which it is difficult to suppose was not in some-way connected with the Gospel history. A few months before his birth a . prodigy wasobserved, which the augers interpreted to mean that a child was I, coming into i.the. world who was to be \Z king of Borne. .The Senate passed a vote t that t no; infant born that year would be :j; allowed to lire. : ' Under Augustus society in the last ■ pangs d£3rßSolution, had been restored to life, arid if the divine rule over the world '-'- be a rule of justice, the public administration under the second Caasar must have

seemed, when compared with the age -which...preceded. it, like the return of •^Astraa; sA%d again, if we look at the ulterior jp.urposes of Providence, it was ..',' the i consolidation of the empire, the , establishment of peace, order, and j a common : government round the basin of the Mediterranean, which ?'■ enabled the Appstles to carry Christianity '(' through the world; and to organise a CalholicChurch ; while the chief difficnl- {'. ties were silready removed which would have interfered with the acceptance of the " Christian'creed. Already' the Roman '• believed that;a Son of God who J ? Wa'st.*^!l^?'*'^^-' had '\»een born of a huiian^oWer md a divine FathJßr, tbat '' Mlhad rSJM° c.d I as T a.king, that, he, had 0 est'abifsnedS"^dominrdns over mankind, 0 iuS that afteS.Ks death he hj*4 gope^back h to Heaveb, frr>n» which te had descended, ij there to remaiiP fat BVe*v.' It was no figure of: speech! tjM> St. ■ Paul spoke of the Of Secular powetfi&s ordained of God; and j 1 '■' yet a brief trial sufficed: to exhaust the j '% divinity of the imperial purple;; The ■! general ar^ministration continued to be :; tolerated f°r centuries ;' but the imperial 0 dignity/tended to'become hereditary • to !' oe'boi^ to mere earthly greatness is a. ® i'ever;^ trial; and the youth never existed ?* wh'o l'^ou.ld.be educated uninjured; inCthe. -, «£nef that he,was, more than, a' man. 1 When Herod spoke, the people said it was:; the voice of God, and he was smitten with' worms-b'eeause-he'gave not God glory. 0 The younger Caesar? • were smitten with j the genius of wickedness, as a rebuke ';' ev«Sn more significant to the unpermitted '), and audacious assumption. M v It remained for Nero, the pupil of 1 Seneca, the accomplished artist, poet, painter, sculptor, musician, public singer; 0 it was reserved for him to exhibit, as a , pracens Divus, the . most detestable Qualities which have been ever witnessed in combination in any human being. For Nero exhausted the list of possible enormities, leaving not one crime unperpetrated of which man is capable, and always'in the most hideous forms. To „ make his wickedness complete, ha was 'without the temptation of violent appetites <, which, in reducing a man to a beast, give j, him some degree the excuses of a beast. ; ; He was cruel without being naturally 0- ferocious y'ifi (.wasf depraved, yet had little • . capacity for sensual enjoyment; and with -■ intellect sufficient to know what was good h he.chose evil from deliberate preference of it. <i a. 'A* famous 'French actress watched by deathbeds in the hospitals, that she might tV '<siUß.f' the art of expiring on'the stage. The bolder Nero committed incest with

his mother that he might realise the seniatio&s of and murdered her "tnatf-he might comprehend the situation ii of - Oreites- Under Nero's fearful -'-"'entople, the/inoperial court of Rome bee«BB« •■ gilded. brothel. Chastity was turned into a jest, vice was virtue, and .fame lay in exoess of infamy. The , wisest sank to. the level of the worst. The few,honourable men who refused to to follow with the stream were made away' with, as if the emperor desired to " cut out virtue by the roots ; and with a '! yet'stranger appropriateness, when Rero \iad set Rome on fire, he selected the "'- Christian converts as scapegoats for his guilt. He smeared them with pitch, and " «et th«m to blaze as torches in his gardens to light his midnight revels. What those revels were fpo modern language can decently describe. After these outrages it seems a desecration of a sacred word to speak of Nero s. ■< in connection with religion; yet it was " Nero's destiny in this world to fulfil the ■ measure of perfect infamy. As he had destroyed virtue, one further step was necessary—to destroy the belief in any r~~aojnree of virtue. He was without con1' acienoe, ' and: therefore could have no H 'reverence. He was fearless, and had no superstition. Belief of his own be had noner save -for-* time in the Syrian goddes* of i indeoency. He had some Vnotion of Fate'; for fate, he had a strange '^ iffltt|r^Dation was to -make >him one day ' ** Kitfg of the Jews." Bat Nero was his Own God and maker of gods, and belief in God became impossible when Nero was

regarded as a personation of him. He had his temples and bis priests. He had murdered his wife Octafia; he afterwards .kicked to death, his, mistress Poppcea; but> while, Popposa w*s -in favor she shared his divine honours with hi to, and a child which she bore him was [to have been a god too, had it not unfortunately died, i . To this pass the world had come in the. kingdom of heaven upon earth which was to have been realised by the divinity of the Casars. It is startling to rememb;er that Nero was the C»sar to whom Paul appealed, that it was in the Home of Nero that; tit Paul dwelt two years in his own house, that it was in the household of Nero that he found or made converts to Christianity. The parricides, the incests, the wholesale murders, the "abomination of desolation" in the polluted saloons of the palace, were actually witnessed by persons with whom he was in daily intercourse. St. Paul withj his own eyes may have seen "the son of perdition sitting in the temple of I God] showing that he was God," and we need go no further to look for his meaning. Yet in his epistles written from Borne he says little of these things;" These words are perhaps his only allusion to them. -■;■_, Fboxtde.