HISTORICAL

CHARACTERS IN

THE DRAMA.

1. CAIUS JULIUS CAESAR was born in July, 100 B. C. He belonged to the Julian family, one of the most ancient in Rome, and was made a priest of Jupiter when a mere boy. In 83 B. C. he married Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, and soon after went to Nicomedes, the king of Bithynia, and subsequently to this won distinction in the Roman campaign in Cicilia. About 76 B. C., while on his way to Rhodes to study oratory under Appolonius Molo, he was captured by pirates, and after being ransomed by his friends, manned a fleet and destroyed them. In 68 B. C. he was elected quaestor at Rome. The same year his wife died, and in 67 B. C. he married Pompeia, a relative of Pompey. He became aedile in 65 B. C., and gained great favour with the people by the splendour of the public games he instituted. In 64 B. C. he was chosen Pontifex Maximus. Becoming praetor in 62 B. C. he was sent a year later as propraetor to Spain, and in the year 60 B. C. was chosen one of the consuls, his daughter Julia soon after becoming the wife of Pompey. He then formed a secret alliance with Pompey and Crassus, known as the first triumvirate. About this time the government of Gaul was decreed to him for five years, and in 58 B. C. his famous Gallic campaigns began. In two years he had subdued the Helvetii, the German Ariovistus, and the Belgic tribes. In 56 B. C. he conquered the rest of Gaul and in 55 he destroyed two German tribes that had tried to establish themselves in the province. He also bridged the Rhine and carried the war into the German territory, and the same year invaded Britain.

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The next few years to 51 B. C. were spent in completing the pacification of Gaul. Meantime his daughter who had married Pompey died, and in 50 B. C. the senate, influenced by his enemies, commanded him to disband his army, which he refused to do, he then crossing the Rubicon marching towards Rome, while Pompey, the consuls, and most of the senate fled towards Capua, Pompey escaping into Greece. Caesar then reduced Pompey's followers in Spain to submission, and upon his return to Rome was declared dictator. He afterwards defeated Pompey at the battle of Pharsalia, who escaped into Egypt, where he was cruelly murdered. Caesar, having followed him there, was captivated by Cleopatra, whom he established upon the throne which her brother claimed, and then marched against Pharnaces, king of Pontus, defeating him near Zela, sending to the senate the famous, message, Veni, vidi, vici. Returning to Rome in September, 47 B. C., he started the same year for Africa, where he routed the Pompeian forces under Scipio at Thapsus, returning to Rome master of the world, but was soon called into Spain to quell an insurrection headed by the sons of Pompey, whom he utterly defeated at the battle of Munda. This was the last of Caesar's wars, and he henceforth devoted himself to the interests of his country and the world, reforming the calendar, enacting salutary laws, and carrying out great públic improvements, The senate had made him imperator for life, and praefectus Morum; and he was already pontifex maximus, or head officer of the religion of the state. Having no children, he had adopted his grand-nephew Octavius as his successor and inheritor of his name. At this point the play begins, his assassination occurring in the year 44 B. C.

2. OCTAVIUS CAESAR was born at Velitrae, near Rome, in the year 63 B. C., being a grand-nephew of Julius Caesar. After the death of the latter he

claimed the inheritance, but found a rival in Antony, whom he defeated near Modena. The senate, jealous of his growing power, transferred the command of the army to Decimus Brutus; but he was elected consul before reaching the legal age, and formed the triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus, against Marcus Brutus and the other republicans. Then followed the events of the play, ending with the battle of Philippi, 42 B. C. Octavius and Antony soon quarrelled, but were reconciled, and combined their forces against Sextus Pompey, who Octavius defeated while Antony was away in Egypt. Antony's infatuation for Cleopatra and his neglect of Octavia, the sister of Octavius, led to an irreconcilable breach between the two and the war which ended in his ruin at Actium, 31 B. C. Octavius was now master of the Roman empire, and received the title of Augustus from the senate in 27 B. C. His death occurred in August, 14 A. D.

3. MARCUS ANTONIUS was born about 83 B. C., and was somewhat noted for youthful indiscretions, but did good service under Caesar in various campaigns, being after colleague with Caesar in the consulship. His subsequent relations with Cleopatra led to his ruin and suicide after the battle of Actium in the year 30 B. C.

4. MARCUS JUNIUS BRUTUS was born 80 B. C. Cato Uticensis was his maternal uncle, and became his father-in-law. In the civil wars Brutus sided with Pompey; but after the battle of Pharsalia he became the intimate friend of Caesar. The remainder of his history is included in the play. His death by his own hand occurred as related therein.

5. CAIUS CASSIUS LONGINUS was quaestor under Crassus in the disastrous expedition against the Parthians in 53 B. C., but later defeated the Parthians in Syria. He commanded a fleet for Pompey and surrendered to Caesar after the battle of Pharsalia. His subsequent career is shown in the play.

6. CALPURNIA was the daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, who was consul in 58 B. C. She was married to Caesar in 59 B. C., and was his fourth wife; the other three being Cossutia, Cornelia, and Pompeia. .Little else is known of her history beyond what Plutarch narrates and Shake-speare incorporates in the play.

7. PORTIA (or Porcia as the name is also spelt) was the daughter of Cato and the wife of Brutus. Plutarch is the chief authority for the details of her life, and most of these have been made use of by the dramatist.

8. PUBLIUS SERVILIUS CASCA. Of this character we know little except that he was tribune of the people at the time he joined the conspiracy against Caesar, that he fought at Philippi, and that he died soon after the battle.

9. CAIUS TREBONIUS had been a tribune of the people in 55 B. C., and was also one of Caesar's legates in Gaul. He was elected city praetor in 48 and counsul in 45 B. C. He took part in the conspiracy, as described in the play; and in 43 B. C. he was killed at Smyrna by Dollabella.

10. QUINTUS LIGARIUS fought for Pompey in the civil war, and after Pharsalia renewed the war against Caesar in Africa. Caesar pardoned him, forbidding him to enter Italy, but the eloquence of Cicero's oration (Pro Ligario) in his behalf, was the means of revoking the sentence of banishment. His gratitude was afterward shown by his part in the conspiracy.

11. DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS (the Decius Brutus of the play) had served under Caesar in Gaul, and been commander of his cavalry. He was slain in 33 B. C. by Camillus a Gaul, to whom he had fled for refuge, and who was greatly indebted to him for former favors, and his head was sent to Antony.

12. LUCIUS TILLIUS CIMBER (the Mettulus Cimber of the play) was a partisan of Caesar in the

civil war, but turned against him subsequently and became one of his assassins.

13. LUCIUS CORNELIUS CINNA was a son of the more famous Roman of the same name. He was a brother-in-law of Caesar, and a son-in-law of Pompey. He was praetor in 44 B. C., when he entered into the conspiracy.

14. CAIUS HELVIUS CINNA, who, according to Plutarch, was killed by the mob because he was mistaken for the conspirator, was a poet of no mean order, if we may judge of him by the tributes of his contemporaries and the few fragments of his works that have come down to us. He was a companion and friend of Catullus, and is supposed to be the Cinna of Virgil's ninth Eclogue.

15. The CICERO of the play is of course the great orator (106-43 B. C.), but the slight part he performs calls for no extended account of him here.

16. The young CATO was a son of Cato Uticensis and brother of Portia.

The remaining characters need no special mention.