the contemptuous manner in which he speaks at first of Archimedes. It is in the beginning, where-intending to compare the unhappy life of Dionysius the tyrant with the felicity of one passed in sober virtue and abounding with wisdom-he says: "I will not compare the lives of a Plato or an Archytas, persons of consummate learning and wisdom, with that of Dionysius, the most horrid, the most miserable, and the most detestable that can be imagined. I shall have recourse to a man of his own city, a little obscure person, who lived many years after him. I shall produce him from his dust, and bring him into view with his rule and compasses in his hand." Not to dwell on the high birth of Archimedes, since his greatness was of a different class, as the most famous geometrician of antiquity, whose sublime discoveries have in all ages been the admiration of the learned, why should Cicero have treated this man as little and obscure, as a common artificer employed in making machines, unless it be, perhaps, because the Romans, with whom a taste for geometry and such speculative sciences never gained much ground, esteemed nothing great but what related to government and policy?

"Let others better mould the running mass
Of metals, and inform the breathing brass,
And soften into flesh a marble face;

Plead better at the bar, describe the skies,

And when the stars descend, and when they rise.
But, Rome, 'tis thine alone with awful sway
To rule mankind, and make the world obey;
Disposing peace and war, thy own majestic way."

AUGUSTUS CESAR, the first Emperor of Rome, was the heir of Caius Julius Cæsar, and succeeding to his public as well as his private fortune, became the most powerful monarch of his time. The Roman Empire as established by him remains forever unique in the annals of the world. His original name was Caius Octavius, and he was called, after his adoption by his uncle Julius Cæsar, Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus. Augustus was a later hereditary surname given to him by the Senate.

Caius Octavius was born at Velitræ, in Latium, on the 23d of September, 63 B.C., and was the son of Caius Octavius, an equestrian (a noble, but not a patrician), who obtained the office of prætor, and died when his son was four years old. His mother, Atia, was a daughter of Julia, who was a sister of Cæsar, the Dictator. Soon after the death of her husband Atia married L. Marcius Philippus, who directed the education of young Octavius. At the age of twelve he delivered a funeral eulogium on his grandmother Julia, and four years later, according to Roman custom, he assumed the toga virilis or "manly gown." His beauty and talents attracted the attention of many eminent persons.

Julius Cæsar, having no son, adopted Octavius as his heir, caused him to be enrolled among the patricians, and trained him for the highest public honors. In 45 B.C., Octavius accompanied Cæsar, then dictator, to Spain. He was

next sent to the camp where several legions were stationed at Apollonia in Illyricum, to complete his military education. He was employed in the camp here when Cæsar was killed in March, 44 B.C. Octavius had become a favorite of the army, which was willing to support his claim; but he preferred to go privately to Rome to claim his inheritance, accompanied by his friend Vipsanius Agrippa.

By the published will of the Dictator, Octavius was declared his adopted son and heir. Rome was then divided into two parties-the republican liberators led by Brutus and Cassius; and the friends of Cæsar led by Mark Antony, then one of the consuls. The latter was the most powerful man in Rome, and had possession of the papers and money of the late dictator and refused to give them up. The young Octavius temporized, and by his artful and prudent conduct, used his competitors for his own interest, gained the favor of Cicero and other senators, and showed himself more than an equal match for experienced politicians. It was afterwards unjustly alleged that he hired assassins to kill Antony during his consulship. Plutarch says Antony was informed that Octavius had designs on his life, and that Antony opposed him in his application for the office of tribune, and did everything to affront him. At first Octavius demanded nothing but the private property which Cæsar had bequeathed to him; but he declared he was resolved to avenge the death of Cæsar. Near the end of 44 B.C., Antony and Octavius each endeavored to gain the support of the veterans of Cæsar, and other troops stationed in different parts of Italy. Octavius had to contend not only against Antony, but also against Decimus Brutus, who had possession of Cisalpine Gaul. Cicero by his eloquence incensed the people against Antony and induced the Senate to declare him a public enemy.

In January, 43 B.C., the Senate gave Octavius the command of an army with the title of prætor and the right to vote in the Senate. While Antony was besieging D. Brutus in Mutina (now Modena), the Senate sent Octavius with the Consuls Hirtius and Pansa to fight against Antony. The army of the Senate defeated Antony near Mutina; but Hirtius and Pansa were killed in that battle. The death of the con

suls threw the command of the army into the hands of Octavius, who was present at the battle; but the Senate, aiming to check his growing power and ambition, gave the command of their army to D. Brutus. When Octavius found that Cicero's aim was to restore the liberty of the republic, he abandoned him and prepared for a coalition with Antony. The adhesion of a large part of the army to his cause enabled Octavius to defy the authority of the Senate. Marching to Rome at the head of his army, he encamped on the Campus Martius in August, 43, and was elected consul.

Octavius soon led his army northward and met Antony and Lepidus, who commanded a large army in Cisalpine Gaul. The three leaders, Octavius, Antony and Lepidus, found that their present interests could be harmonized, and therefore formed the first triumvirate. By it they divided among themselves the provinces of the empire; but to ratify the agreement they ordered a bloody proscription, each party sacrificing some of his friends to the enmity of another triumvir. "I believe," says Plutarch, "there never was anything so atrocious or so execrably savage as this commerce of murder; for while a friend was given up for an enemy received, the same action murdered at once the friend and the enemy." To please Antony Octavius consented to the murder of Cicero. The triumvirs confiscated the estates of those who were proscribed.

In 42 B.C. Antony and Octavius crossed into Macedonia, and there commanding in person defeated the republican army of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi. Octavius is said to have treated the defeated party with excessive cruelty; and he satisfied the cupidity of his soldiers by confiscating for their benefit much of the best land in Italy. A remnant of the republican party took refuge with Sextus Pompey, who was master of the sea. While Antony was employed in Asia and Greece, Octavius had a contest with Antony's wife Fulvia, an ambitious and powerful woman, who instigated a revolt or sedition, and was aided by Lucius Antonius, a brother of the triumvir. After several battles had been fought, Fulvia was finally defeated, and peace was restored. Antony married Octavia, his rival's sister, and took for his share the eastern half of the empire, while young Cæsar took the western part,

and Lepidus obtained Africa. Cæsar divorced his wife Scribonia and married Livia, the wife of Claudius Nero.

Sextus Pompey was powerful at sea and master of Sicily and Sardinia; but in the year 36 the fleet of Cæsar gained a decisive victory over him. The mediocre or imbecile Lepidus became an insignificant private citizen, and Antony and Cæsar remained the only competitors for the empire. The latter strove to gain the favor of the people, and to remedy the confusion and demoralization caused by the civil wars. He established a firm government and suppressed the anarchy and robbery which had prevailed. He professed a design to restore the republic and a willingness to retire to private life. In 33 B.C. he became consul for the second time. The Romans were offended and disgusted by the liaison of Antony with Cleopatra, and by his arrogant conduct and luxurious habits. In his infatuation for Cleopatra Antony repudiated his wife Octavia. In the meantime his crafty rival was marching by stealthy steps to supreme and undivided power, and the triumvirate, which had accomplished his temporary ends, was now dissolved.

The rupture between the two triumvirs was precipitated by the ambition and jealousy of Cleopatra, who wished to become Empress of the East, and the Roman government declared war against her. Cæsar became consul for the third time in 31 B.C. In the spring of that year, a large fleet commanded by Agrippa entered the Adriatic, and Cæsar landed with the legions in Epirus. According to Plutarch, Antony had five hundred armed vessels, besides 100,000 infantry and 12,000 horse. Though his army on land was superior in number to that of his rival, he put his confidence in his fleet to gratify Cleopatra, whose motive for preferring a naval battle was that in case her fleet was defeated, she would have a better opportunity to escape. In September, 31 B.C., Agrippa gained the decisive naval victory at Actium, which rendered Cæsar sole master of the Roman Empire. The victor did not return directly to Rome, nor hasten to assume any new title or dignity. After the battle of Actium, he went to Egypt, which was made a Roman province. Antony, who was in Egypt, challenged his rival to fight in single combat; but he coldly de