utions. All this time Gaul, lying
at the gates of Italy, was neglected (only the district between the
Cevennes and the Alps having been reduced), because the people were
more warlike, and less booty was to be gained. Yet, till that conquest
should be effected, Rome's work of civilizing the world was standing
still; nay, it was always menaced by northern invasions. This field of
action, then, Caesar marked out for himself, in which he could prepare
the means for assuming power at home, and at the same time render the
highest service to his country and humanity. His ardent spirit, his
incredible energy in all circumstances of his life, astonished his
contemporaries. Time pressed, for he was no longer young. While he was
absent from Rome, what revolutions might not mar his plans! Yet, ten
continuous years did he devote to this great task, which, if he had
achieved nothing else, would make his name one of the greatest in
history. In those ten years he conquered Gaul, from the Pyrenees to
the Rhine and the British Channel; conquered her so thoroughly, and
treated her so sensibly, that when the fierce struggle was over, she
frankly and even proudly accepted her new position. The culture, the
institutions, even the language of the victors, were eagerly adopted.
The grandsons of the men who had fought so gallantly against Caesar,
won full citizenship, took their seats in the Senate, and commanded
Roman armies.

These ten years decided the future of the West, and therefore of
Humanity. It is not merely the central position and natural advantages
of France, nor yet the admirable qualities of her people, which have
made her throughout mediaeval and modern history, the foremost of
European states. It is even more the result of her rapid and thorough
acceptance of Roman civilization. This made her the heir of Rome. This
enabled her, long afterward, to Romanize Germany and England in some
degree, and as it were at second-hand, by the arms of Charlemagne and
William.

It had been arranged between Caesar and Pompey, that during the absence
of the former in Gaul, the latter should act with the popular party,
and keep the nobility in the condition of impotence to which it had
been reduced in the consulship of Caesar. Partly from jealousy of
Caesar, partly from sheer incapacity, Pompey, after much vacillation
and duplicity, finally allied himself with the nobles, thinking with
their aid to crush his rival and thereafter to be supreme. T