In general, the anecdotes which express most vividly the splendid
character of the first Caesar, are those which illustrate his defiance of
danger in extremity,--the prodigious energy and rapidity of his decisions
and motions in the field; the skill with which he penetrated the designs
of his enemies, and the exemplary speed with which he provided a remedy
for disasters; the extraordinary presence of mind which he showed in
turning adverse omens to his own advantage, as when, upon stumbling in
coming on shore, (which was esteemed a capital omen of evil,) he
transfigured as it were in one instant its whole meaning by exclaiming,
"Thus do I take possession of thee, oh Africa!" in that way giving to an
accident the semblance of a symbolic purpose; the grandeur of fortitude
with which he faced the whole extent of a calamity when palliation could
do no good, "non negando, minuendove, sed insuper amplificando,
_ementiendoque_;" as when, upon finding his soldiery alarmed at the
approach of Juba, with forces really great, but exaggerated by their
terrors, he addressed them in a military harangue to the following effect:
"Know that within a few days the king will come up with us, bringing with
him sixty thousand legionaries, thirty thousand cavalry, one hundred
thousand light troops, besides three hundred elephants.
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