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THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.
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JULIUS CAESAR--HIS SUPERSTITION.
[A curious paper, entitled _The Caesars_, will be found in
_Blackwood's Magazine_ for the present month. It is full of attractive
lore, and contains, to our thinking, a masterly estimate of the actual
character of Caesar. It displays very considerable learning, research,
and knowledge of life, or that treasure which we call world-knowledge.
It is not a cut-and-dry classical character "by way of abstract," but
such a whole-length portrait as we wish to see drawn of every great
man of antiquity, respecting whose merits mankind are, as it were,
still groping in comparative ignorance or misconception. We quote two
interesting passages--one embodying the personal portrait of
Caesar--the other the superstitious weakness commonly attributed to
him.]
In person, Caesar was tall, fair, and of limbs distinguished for their
elegant proportions and gracility. His eyes were black and piercing.
These circumstances continued to be long remembered, and no doubt were
constantly recalled to the eyes of all persons in the imperial
palaces, by pictures, busts, and statues; for we find the same
description of his personal appearance three centuries afterwards, in
a work of the Emperor Julian's.
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