And this we say without meaning to adopt as
gospel truths all the party reproaches of Anthony. Certainly he was
utterly unfurnished by nature with those endowments which seemed to be
indispensable in a successor to the power of the great Dictator. But
exactly in these deficiencies, and in certain accidents unfavorable to his
ambition, lay his security. He had been adopted by his grand-uncle,
Julius. That adoption made him, to all intents and purposes of law, the
son of his great patron; and doubtless, in a short time, this adoption
would have been applied to more extensive uses, and as a station of
vantage for introducing him to the public favor. From the inheritance of
the Julian estates and family honors, he would have been trained to mount,
as from a stepping-stone, to the inheritance of the Julian power and
political station; and the Roman people would have been familiarized to
regard him in that character. But, luckily for himself, the finishing, or
ceremonial acts, were yet wanting in this process--the political heirship
was inchoate and imperfect. Tacitly understood, indeed, it was; but, had
it been formally proposed and ratified, there cannot be a doubt that the
young Octavius would have been pointed out to the vengeance of the
patriots, and included in the scheme of the conspirators, as a fellow-
victim with his nominal father; and would have been cut off too suddenly
to benefit by that reaction of popular feeling which saved the partisans
of the Dictator, by separating the conspirators, and obliging them,
without loss of time, to look to their own safety.
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