only of vast importance to his country and
to the civilized world, but its benefits have extended to the present
day. What consummate folly, then, to say nothing of the wickedness,
was displayed by the conspirators who put him to death; for instead of
the wise, the noble, the magnanimous, they exalted to supreme power
one of the basest men in all Rome--Augustus, who, as one of the
second Triumvirate, consented to the murder of his intimate and noble
friend, Cicero.

[Illustration: JULIUS CAESAR. (_From an Ancient Sculpturing._)]

THE GERMANS.

(_By Julius Caesar._)

The Germans differ much from these usages, for they have neither
Druids to preside over sacred offices, nor do they pay great regard to
sacrifices. They rank in the number of the gods those alone whom they
behold, and by whose instrumentality they are obviously benefited,
namely, the sun, fire, and the moon; they have not heard of the other
deities even by report. Their whole life is occupied in hunting and
in the pursuits of the military art; from childhood they devote
themselves to fatigue and hardships. Those who have remained chaste
for the longest time receive the greatest commendation among their
people; they think that by this the growth is promoted, by this the
physical powers are increased and the sinews are strengthened.

They do not pay much attention to agriculture, and a large portion of
their food consists in milk, cheese, and flesh; nor has any one a
fixed quantity of land or his own individual limits; but the
magistrates and the leading men each year apportion to the tribes and
families, who have united together, as much land as, and in the place
which, they think proper, and the year after compel them to remove
elsewhere. For this enactment they advance many reasons--lest seduced
by long-continued custom, they may exchange their ardor in the waging
of war for agriculture; lest they may be anxious to acquire extensive
estates, and the more powerful drive the weaker from their
possessions; lest they construct their houses with too great a desire
to avoid cold and heat; lest the desire of wealth spring up, from
which cause divisions and discords arise; and that they may keep the
common people in a contented state of mind, when each sees his own
means placed on an equality with those of the most powerful.

It is the greatest glory to the several states to have as wide deserts
as possible around them, their frontiers having been laid