a market town of Flintshire, in North Wales, situated in W. Long. 3° 25'. N. Lat. 53° 20'. Caesalpinia brasiletto, or Brazilwood. See Botany Index. Of this there are three species, the most remarkable of which is the brasiliensis, commonly called Brasiletto. It grows naturally in the warmest parts of America, from whence the wood is imported for the dyers, who use it much. The demand has been so great, that none of the large trees are left in any of the British plantations; so that Mr Catesby owns himself ignorant of the dimensions to which they grow.
The largest remaining are not above two inches in Caesalpinia thickness, and eight or nine feet in height. The branches are slender and full of small prickles; the leaves are pinnated; the lobes growing opposite to one another, broad at their ends, with one notch. The flowers are white, papilionaceous, with many stamina and yellow apices, growing in a pyramidal spike, at the end of a long slender stalk: the pods enclose several small round seeds. The colour produced from this wood is greatly improved by solution of tin in aqua regia.* See Colour-making and Dyeing.
The second fort is a native of the same countries with the first, but is of a larger size. It sends out many weak irregular branches, armed with short, strong, upright thorns. The leaves branch out in the same manner as the first; but the lobes, or small leaves, are oval and entire. The flowers are produced in long spikes like those of the former, but are variegated with red. These plants may be propagated from seeds, which should be sown in small pots filled with light rich earth early in the spring, and plunged in a bed of tanner's bark. Being tender, they require to be always kept in the stove, and to be treated in the same manner as other exotics of that kind.
Caesalpinus, of Arezzo, professor at Pisa, and afterwards physician to Pope Clement VIII., one of the capital writers in botany. See Botany Index.
Caesar, Julius, the illustrious Roman general and historian, was of the family of the Julii, who pretended they were descended from Venus by Aeneas. The descendants of Ascanius, son of Aeneas and Creusa, and named Julius, lived in Alba till that city was ruined by Tullus Hostilius king of Rome, who carried them to Rome, where they flourished. We do not find that they produced more than two branches. The first bore the name of Tullus, the other that of Caesar. The most ancient of the Caesars were those who were in public employments in the 11th year of the first Punic war. After that time we find there was always some of that family who enjoyed public offices in the commonwealth, till the time of Caius Julius Caesar, the subject of this article. He was born at Rome the 12th of the month Quintilis, year of the city 653, and lost his father An. 669. By his valour and eloquence he soon acquired the highest reputation in the field and in the senate. Beloved and respected by his fellow-citizens, he enjoyed successively every magisterial and military honour the public could bestow consistent with its own free constitution. But at length having subdued Pompey the great rival of his growing power, his boundless ambition effaced the glory of his former actions: for, pursuing his favourite maxim, "that he had rather be the first man in a village than the second in Rome," he procured himself to be chosen perpetual dictator; and, not content with this unconstitutional power, his faction had resolved to raise him to the imperial dignity; when the friends of the civil liberties of the republic rashly assassinated him in the senate-house, where they should only have seized him and brought him to a legal trial for usurpation. By this impolitic measure they defeated their own purpose, involving the city in consternation and terror, which produced general anarchy, and paved the way to the revolution they wanted to prevent; the monarchical government being absolutely founded on the murder of Julius Caesar. He fell in the 56th year of his age, 43 years before before the Christian era. His commentaries contain a history of his principal voyages, battles, and victories. The London edition in 1712, in folio, is preferred.
The detail of Cæsar's transactions (so far as is consistent with the limits of this work) being given under the article ROME, we shall here only add a portrait of him as drawn by a philosopher*.
"If, after the lapse of 18 centuries, the truth may be published without offence, a philosopher might, in the following terms, censure Cæsar without calumniating him, and applaud him without exciting his blushes.
"Cæsar had one predominant passion: it was the love of glory; and he passed 40 years of his life in seeking opportunities to foster and encourage it. His soul, entirely absorbed in ambition, did not open itself to other impulses. He cultivated letters; but he did not love them with enthusiasm, because he had not leisure to become the first orator of Rome. He corrupted the one half of the Roman ladies, but his heart had no concern in the fiery ardours of his senses. In the arms of Cleopatra, he thought of Pompey; and this singular man, who disdained to have a partner in the empire of the world, would have blushed to have been for one instant the slave of a woman.
"We must not imagine, that Cæsar was born a warrior, as Sophocles and Milton were born poets. For, if nature had made him a citizen of Sybaris, he would have been the most voluptuous of men. If in our days he had been born in Pennsylvania, he would have been the most inoffensive of Quakers, and would not have disturbed the tranquillity of the new world.
"The moderation with which he conducted himself after his victories, has been highly extolled; but in this he showed his penetration, not the goodness of his heart. Is it not obvious, that the display of certain virtues is necessary to put in motion the political machine? It was requisite that he should have the appearance of clemency, if he inclined that Rome should forgive him his victories. But what greatness of mind is there in a generosity which follows on the usurpation of the supreme power?
"Nature, while it marked Cæsar with a sublime character, gave him also that spirit of perseverance which renders it useful. He had no sooner begun to reflect, than he admired Sylla; hated him, and yet wished to imitate him. At the age of 15, he formed the project of being dictator. It was thus that the prescient Montesquieu conceived, in his early youth, the idea of the Spirit of Laws.
"Physical qualities, as well as moral causes, contributed to give strength to his character. Nature, which had made him for command, had given him an air of dignity. He had acquired that soft and infatuating eloquence, which is perfectly suited to seduce vulgar minds, and has a powerful influence on the most cultivated. His love of pleasure was a merit with the fair sex; and women, who even in a republic can draw to them the suffrages and attention of men, have the highest importance in degenerate times. The ladies of his age were charmed with the prospect of having a dictator whom they might subdue by their attractions.
"In vain did the genius of Cato watch for some time to sustain the liberty of his country. It was unequal to contend with that of Cæsar. Of what avail were the eloquence, the philosophy, and the virtue of this republican, when opposed by a man who had the address to debauch the wife of every citizen whose interest he meant to engage; who, professing an enthusiasm for glory, wept, because, at the age of 30, he had not conquered the world like Alexander; and who, with the haughty temper of a despot, was more dextrous to be the first man in a village than the second in Rome.
"Cæsar had the good fortune to exist in times of trouble and civil commotions, when the minds of men are put into a ferment; when opportunities of great actions are frequent; when talents are everything, and those who can only boast of their virtues are nothing. If he had lived a hundred years sooner, he would have been no more than an obscure villain; and, instead of giving laws to the world, would not have been able to produce any confusion in it.
"I will here be bold enough to advance an idea, which may appear paradoxical to those who weakly judge of men from what they achieve, and not from the principle which leads them to act. Nature formed in the same mould Cæsar, Mahomet, Cromwell, and Kouli Khan. They all of them united to genius that profound policy which renders it so powerful. They all of them had an evident superiority over those with whom they were surrounded; they were conscious of this superiority, and they made others conscious of it. They were all of them born subjects, and became fortunate usurpers. Had Cæsar been placed in Persia, he would have made the conquest of India; in Arabia, he would have been the founder of a new religion; in London, he would have stabbed his sovereign, or have procured his assassination under the sanction of the laws. He reigned with glory over men whom he had reduced to be slaves; and, under one aspect, he is to be considered as a hero; under another, as a monster. But it would be unfortunate, indeed, for society, if the possession of superior talents gave individuals a right to trouble its repose. Usurpers accordingly have flatterers, but no friends; strangers respect them; their subjects complain and submit; it is in their own families that humanity finds her avengers. Cæsar was affianced by his son, Mahomet was poisoned by his wife, Kouli Khan was massacred by his nephew, and Cromwell only died in his bed because his son Richard was a philosopher.
"Cæsar, the tyrant of his country; Cæsar, who destroyed the agents of his crimes, if they failed in addresses; Cæsar, in fine, the husband of every wife, and the wife of every husband, has been accounted a great man by the mob of writers. But it is only the philosopher who knows how to mark the barrier between celebrity and greatness. The talents of this singular man, and the good fortune which constantly attended him till the moment of his assassination, have concealed the enormity of his actions."
Cæsar, in Roman antiquity, a title borne by all the emperors, from Julius Cæsar to the destruction of the empire. It was also used as a title of distinction for the intended or presumptive heir of the empire, as king of the Romans is now used for that of the German empire. This title took its rise from the surname of the first emperor, C. Julius Cæsar, which, by a decree of the senate, all the succeeding emperors were to bear. Under his successor, the appellation of Augustus being appropriated to the emperors, in compliment to that prince, the title Cæsar was given to the second person in the empire, though still it continued to be given to the first; and hence the difference between Cæsar used simply, and Cæsar with the addition of Imperator Augustus.
The dignity of Cæsar remained to the second of the empire, till Alexius Comnenus having elected Nicephorus Melissenus Cæsar by contract; and it being necessary to confer some higher dignity on his own brother Isaacius, he created him Sebactocrator with the precedence over Melissenus; ordering, that in all acclamations, &c., Isaacius Sebactocrator should be named the second, and Melissenus Cæsar the third.
Cæsar, Sir Julius, a learned civilian, was descended by the female line from the duke de Cesarini in Italy; and was born near Tottenham in Middlesex, in the year 1557. He was educated at Oxford, and afterwards studied in the university of Paris, where, in the year 1581, he was created doctor of the civil law, and two years after was admitted to the same degree at Oxford, and also became doctor of the canon law. He was advanced to many honourable employments, and for the last 20 years of his life was master of the rolls. He was remarkable for his extensive bounty and charity to all persons of worth, so that he seemed to be the almoner-general of the nation. He died in 1639, in the 79th year of his age. It is very remarkable that the manuscripts of this lawyer were offered (by the executors of some of his descendants) to a cheesemonger for waste paper; but being timely inspected by Mr Samuel Pateron, this gentleman discovered their worth, and had the satisfaction to find his judgement confirmed by the profession, to whom they were sold in lots for upwards of £500, in the year 1757.
Cæsar Augusta, or Cæsarea Augusta, in Ancient Geography, a Roman colony situated on the river Iberus in the Hither Spain, before called Salduba, in the territories of the Edetans. Now commonly thought to be Saragossa.
Cæsarea, the name of several ancient cities, particularly one on the coast of Phoenicia. It was very conveniently situated for trade; but had a very dangerous harbour, so that no ships could be safe in it when the wind was at south-west. Herod the Great, king of Judea, remedied this inconvenience by an immense expense and labour, making it one of the most convenient havens on that coast. He also beautified it with many buildings, and bestowed 12 years on the finishing and adorning it.
Cæsarian operation. See Midwifery.
Cæsarians, Cæsarienses, in Roman antiquity, were officers or ministers of the Roman emperors: They kept the account of the revenues of the emperors; and took possession, in their name, of such things as devolved or were confiscated to them.
Cæsarodunum, in Ancient Geography, a town of the Turones in Celtic Gaul; now Tours, the capital of Touraine. See Tours.
Vol. V. Part I.
Cæsaramagus, in Ancient Geography, a town of the Trinobantes in Britain; by some supposed to be Chelmsford, or others Brentford, and by others Purfleet.
Cæsena, in Ancient Geography, a town of Gallia Cispadana, situated on the rivers Iapris and Rubicon; now Cesena, which see.
Cæsia sylva, in Ancient Geography, a wood in Germany, part of the great Sylva Hercynia, situated partly in the duchy of Cleves, and partly in Westphalia, between Wefel and Kesfeld.
Cæsones, a denomination given to those cut out of their mothers wombs. Pliny ranks this as an auspicious kind of birth; the elder Scipio Africanus, and the first of the family of Cæsars, were brought into the world in this way.
Cæstus, in antiquity, a large gauntlet made of raw hide, which the wrestlers made use of when they fought at the public games.—This was a kind of leathern strap, strengthened with lead or plates of iron, which encompassed the hand, the wrist, and a part of the arm, as well to defend these parts as to enforce their blows.
Cæstus, or Cæstum, was also a kind of girdle, made of wool, which the husband untied for his spouse the first day of marriage, before they went to bed.
This relates to Venus's girdle, which Juno borrowed of her to entice Jupiter to love her. See Cestus.
Cæsura, in the ancient poetry, is when, in the scanning of a verse, a word is divided so, as one part seems cut off, and goes to a different foot from the rest: as,
Menti[ri no]li, nun[quam men]dacia/profunt.
where the syllables ri, li, quam, and men, are caesuras.
Cæsura, in the modern poetry, denotes a rest or pause towards the middle of an Alexandrian verse, by which the voice and pronunciation are aided, and the verse, as it were, divided into two hemistichs. See Pause.
Cæteris paribus, a Latin term in frequent use among mathematical and physical writers. The words literally signify, the rest (or other things) being alike or equal. Thus we say the heavier the bullet, cæteris paribus, the greater the range; i.e., by how much the bullet is heavier, if the length and diameter of the piece and strength of the powder be the same, by so much will the utmost range or distance of a piece of ordnance be the greater. Thus also, in a physical way, we say, the velocity and quantity circulating in a given time through any section of an artery, will, cæteris paribus, be according to its diameter, and nearness to or distance from the heart.
Cætobrix, in Ancient Geography, a town of Lusitania, near the mouth of the Tagus, on the east side; now extinct. It had its name from its fishery; and there are still extant fish ponds on the shore, done with plaster of Paris, which illustrate the name of the ruined city.