12. Caesar, from that moment,
thought no more of defending himself; but, looking upon Brutus, cried
out, "_Et tu Brute!_"--And you too, O Brutus! Then covering his head,
and spreading his robe before him, in order to fall with decency, he
sunk down at the base of Pompey's statue: after having received three
and twenty wounds, from those whom he vainly supposed he had disarmed
by his benefits.
[Sidenote: U.C. 709.]
13. Caesar was killed in his fifty-sixth year, and about fourteen years
after he had begun the conquest of the world.
[Illustration: Death of Julius Caesar.]
14. If we examine his history, we shall be at a loss whether most
to admire his great abilities, or his wonderful fortune. To pretend to
say, that from the beginning he planned the subjection of his native
country, is doing no great credit to his well-known penetration, as a
thousand obstacles lay in his way, which fortune, rather than conduct,
was to surmount; no man, therefore, of his sagacity, would have begun
a scheme in which the chances of succeeding were so many against him.
Pages:
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474