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Froude, James Anthony, 1818-1894

"Caesar: a Sketch"


But enough and too much on this miserable subject. Men will continue to
form their opinions about it, not upon the evidence, but according to
their preconceived notions of what is probable or improbable. Ages of
progress and equality are as credulous of evil as ages of faith are
credulous of good, and reason will not modify convictions which do not
originate in reason.
Let us pass on to surer ground.
In person Caesar was tall and slight. His features were more refined than
was usual in Roman faces; the forehead was wide and high, the nose large
and thin, the lips full, the eyes dark gray like an eagle's, the neck
extremely thick and sinewy. His complexion was pale. His beard and
mustache were kept carefully shaved. His hair was short and naturally
scanty, falling off toward the end of his life and leaving him partially
bald. His voice, especially when he spoke in public, was high and shrill.
His health was uniformly strong until his last year, when he became
subject to epileptic fits. He was a great bather, and scrupulously clean
in all his habits, abstemious in his food, and careless in what it
consisted, rarely or never touching wine, and noting sobriety as the
highest of qualities when describing any new people. He was an athlete in
early life, admirable in all manly exercises, and especially in riding.


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