Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 1.djvu/69

MARC ANTONY 37 was assassinated by a knot of rancorous, perfidious aristocrats, whom he had pardoned and promoted. Their purblind spite was powerless to avert the inevi- table advent of monocracy. What they did effectually extinguish for more than a century, was the possibility of amnesty, conciliation, and mutual confidence. Careless as usual of historical truth, the great English poet has glorified the mur- derers of Csesar. Dante, never forgetting the moral responsibility of art, has reserved the lowest circle of hell for Brutus, Cassius, and Judas Iscariot. It imports little to the greatness of such a one as Caesar, to add that in an age of oratory he stood in the first rank of orators ; that his historical writings are an unrivalled model of vigor, lucidity, and elegance ; that he carried his scien- tific culture to a point very unusual among his countrymen ; and that his per- sonal prowess and feats of endurance were the admiration of veteran soldiers Women loved him, and he loved them. Enjoying life thoroughly, he was tem- perate in all things. To no man has it been given to approach more nearly to the perfection of human nature complete, evenly balanced, and self-controlled. MARC ANTONY (83-30 B.C.) M ARCUS ANTONIUS, or Marc Antony, grandson of Antonius the orator, and son of Antonius Creticus, seems to have been born about 83 B.C. While still a child he lost his father, whose example however, had he been spared, would have done little for the improvement of his char- acter. Brought up under the influence of the disreputable Cornelius Lentulus Sura, whom his mother had married, Antony spent his youth in profligacy and extrava- gance. For a time he co-operated with the reprobate Clodius in his political plans, chiefly, it is supposed, through hostility to Cicero, who had caused Lentulus, his step- father, to be put to death as one of the Catiline conspirators ; but he soon with- drew from the connection, on account of a disagreement which, appropriately enough, arose in regard to his relations to his associate's wife, Flavia. Not long after, in 58 B.C., he fled to Greece, to escape the importunity of his creditors ; and at length, after a short time spent in attendance on the philosophers at