That Caesar's success was beneficial
to Rome's subjects we do not dispute; but that the change he effected
was of the sweeping character claimed for it, or that Caesar ever thought
of being the reformer that his admirers declare him to have been, are
things yet to be proved. The change that came from the substitution of
the Imperial polity for the Republican was the result of circumstances,
and it was of slow growth. Imperialism was an Octavian, not a Julian
creation, as any reader will be able to understand who goes through the
closing chapters of Mr. Merivale's third volume. The first Caesar's
imperial career was too short, and too full of hard military work, to
admit of much being done by him of a political character; nor would it
have been possible for him, had he been a much younger man, and had he
lived for years, to accomplish what was effected by Augustus. The
terrible crisis that followed his death, and which lasted until the
decision of "the world's debate" at Actium gave a master to the Roman
world, prepared the way for the work that was done by his grand-nephew
and adopted son. The severe discipline which the Romans went through
between the day of Munda and that of Actium made them more acquiescent
in despotism than they would have been found, if Julius Caesar's mild
sway had been continued through that interval.
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