brilliancy as a poet. The concentrated thought and the felicitous expression Veni, vidi, vici, of his famous letter, is surpassed only by the words of Moses, "Let there be light, and there was light." That he was not more drawn towards oratory and poetry was not for the want of capacity to master them, but because those mysterious impulses, both moral and æsthetic in their nature, which carry some great minds onward towards those higher and more spiritual efforts of the human intellect, did not stir his soul. Nature designed him for a man of action, and in this he surpassed all men of whom history has preserved anything approaching an accurate record. The vicissitudes of his life were as extraordinary as his achievements. Now overwhelmed with debt, and now the possessor of millions; now a captive to pirates, and now the Emperor of the world, he was moved to the most extraordinary actions alike by the power of his genius and the impulses of his passions. We are not surprised that Shakspeare pronounced him the "foremost man of all the world." He has been called the lone creative genius of the Roman world, the last one that ever rose upon the horizon of antiquity. His genius was essentially Roman. He was the bright consummate flower of the civilization of the mistress of the world-the living, personal embodiment of her greatness. In addition to the marvelous powers with which nature endowed him, he was adorned with all the accomplishments of the age in which he lived.

Under different circumstances Cæsar might have won as great a reputation as a man of letters as he has acquired

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as a general and a statesman. He was fully aware that a change in the literary language of his countrymen was as necessary as in their government and constitution. The rude though vigorous dialect of Plautus, or even of Varro, was not suited to be the organ of civilization throughout a subject world. A wide spread knowledge of Greek had made the Romans aware of their own deficiencies, and the united efforts of all men of culture to give form and refinement to the Latin tongue, culminated in the glories of the Augustan age. Cicero and Livy, Virgil and Horace, have remained as examples of Latin style during the whole of the Christian era. The language in which they wrote must have differed widely from anything which was spoken by their most cultivated contemporaries. It is not unreasonable to feel some regret that the cultivated language did not follow a course of development more suited to its inherent character, and that Lucretius and Cæsar were not adopted by the rhetoricians of the empire as models for precept and imitation. The excellence of the Latin language lies in its solidity and precision; its defects lie in a want of lightness and flexibility. Lucretius found it sufficient to ex press with admirable clearness very complex philosophical reasoning, and Cæsar exhibited its excellencies in their purest and chastest form. It is a misfortune that the Commentaries are not more often studied as a masterpiece of literature, but are relegated by the irony of fortune to the lower forms of schools. Their style is faultless, not a word is thrown away or used with a doubtful meaning, every expression is in its place, and each touch

serves to enhance the effect of the whole. Had Cæsar been writing history instead of military memoirs, he might have allowed himself greater freedom of ornament. We know from his treatise on grammar (De Analogia), often quoted by grammarians, that his success in literature was the result of careful study and meditation. As an orator he was acknowledged to be second to Cicero alone, and he is one of the few men in history who have quelled a rebellion by a speech.

Chapter Three.

JOHN MARSHALL.

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HE grandfather of Chief Justice Marshall was a native of Wales. He settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia, about the year 1730, where he married Elizabeth Markham, a native of England. This gentleman's eldest son, Thomas, the father of the Chief Justice, inherited the family estate called "Forest," consisting of a few hundred acres of poor land in Westmoreland. He removed from this county to Fauquier, soon after attaining the age of manhood, and having intermarried with Mary Keith, by which he became connected with the Randolphs, he settled upon a small farm at a place called Germantown where John Marshall was born. The great proprietor of

the northern neck of Virginia, including Fauquier County, was at that time Lord Fairfax, who gave George Washington the appointment of surveyor in the western part of his territory. Washington employed Thomas Marshall in the same business. They had been near neighbors from birth, associates from boyhood, and were always friends. Thomas Marshall, though a planter of retired habits and narrow fortune, was a man of great energy of character and vigor of intellect.

When Washington received command of the American armies in the war of the revolution, his friend and associate, Colonel Marshall, left his estate and large family, and embarked in the same cause. He was placed in command of the Third Virginia Regiment in the Continental establishment, and served with distinction under the immediate order of Washington, during the darkest and most eventful period of the war. This regiment performed very severe duties during the campaign of 1776 and 1777. It was present under the orders of Marshall at the battle of Trenton, and subsequently on the bloody field of Brandywine, where father and son served in different regiments, and each distinguished himself by good conduct and heroism.

Though without the advantages of an early education, Colonel Marshall was a man not only of great native endowments, but of considerable mental culture. He was a practical surveyor, adequately acquainted with the mathematics and astronomy, and familiarly conversant with history, poetry and general literature, of which he possessed most of the standard works in the