IMPERIAL CLAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15930, 29 May 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

IMPERIAL CLAY.

BY KtJDIS VERBIS.

When- Julius Cssar swam across the Bay of Alexandria with his arms in one hand and his Commentaries in the other, tho love of fame, that last infinity of noble mind, most surely had obsessed his soul. Conscious of genius, well equipped for conquest, the man who could reform the calendar, and metaphorically, step on time, who could adorn a capital and set in motion arts and industries which succeeding centuries have fostered—who, at the age of twenty-two—was entrusted with the command of a blockading fleet, know, as he communed with his soul, that greatness lay before him.

But Cesar placed in the imperial seat found fain» misfortune. His fall being hastened by injudicious friends, wisdom forsook him, and his depositions of offended tribunes was the presage of disaster. ... He had come, he had seen, he had conquered; he was still undefeated, and honing to placate the people he made it bis business to devise new conquests old method which megalomaniacs have from time to time revived.

Events, however, over which " the foremost man in all the world" had no control, were moving quickly, and as every schoolboy knows, or ought to know, he fell, very greatly, it is true, at the feet of Pompey's statue. Caesar had conquered Pompey, but had not reckoned with " resentiul Death." Nevertheless great Caesar's clay had been inspired to purpose. To a large extent he had been an agent for good, and his course in general was that of a bright particular star, though dimmed, it must bo admitted, when swayed by a passion of revenge he ordered the crucifixion of a pirate crew. Cruelty, it must not be forgotten, was in those heathen ages a common vice of conquerors ; l'or the fact that this illustrious specimen was punishing rapacity; i sad declension certainly from martial virtue; but considering the period, he had not yet, in the opinion of mankind, been swept from his very princely plane. . . But

Cssar, butchered, turned to clay, To make a. Roman holiday, was in comparison with Attila, the King of the Huns, and the scourge of God—a very babe in crime. Comparison.", reputed odious, have sometimes to be made. A peacej hating, truce-breaking German, having thrown so terrible a figure upon the screen I of time, it is but fair retaliation to coni front it with its presentment in history. The savage robber who laid waste j seventy flourishing cities, the Hun who ; murdered his brother, declaring that he himself had found the sword of the tutelar god, who. armed with this authority, undertook to rule the earth, his mercenary reign by exacting I tribute from the Goths, Ostrogoths, and | others, adding their forces to his own; , | plundering and destroying from the Black i Sea to the Adriatic. Failing of success at Constantinople and only partially recompensed by the submission of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, Attila turned his attention to the Gauls, and passing the I Rhine, Moselle, and Seine, prepared to I besieg; the city of his envious desire. But for the bravery of its citizens and the courage of its bishops. Attila might once more have proved \ ictorious ; but, like the greedy and unscrupulous, whose confidencs j melts in moments of defeat, this notorious Hun betook himself to soothsayers, and though their compel forbade him to proceed, oblivious of warning circumstance and the temperament of nations fighting in defence, marched once more into the field 1 —this time into the biggest nnd'blqoditet ■ of battles. One hundred and. six thousand, so it is declared, -were slain,' and the miserable author of this carnage, enraged ' at its futility, ordered'. his equipage and 1 treasure to be piled, so that his body ' might be burned with them in case of ultimate defeat. But escape from peril had no effect upon this military maniac; his demands became intolerable, his fury when resisted terrible. The manner of his death matching the evil tenor of his life, lie passed its closing hours in a night of feasting and debauchery; and yet—-this man of most malign presentment man of KalmuckTartar origin, has been forced again upon the notice of a world in arms by an imperial anostle and devout discipline of his cult. .".. . " Whom the gods would destroy, they first made mad," and history need not bo reviewed to prove it. Monomaniacs and paranoics are more than ever in evidence, and the racial descendant of. Attila devising mischief, murder, and massacre, not only in warfare but on the highways and seaways of the innocent, may, or may not, be considered accountable for his action." It is well, however, that crime and honours, even on so vast a scale, cannot kill the optimistic in man. He is learning more surely than he ever learned before, that it is a very long lane indeed that lias no turning. He is watching for the way of the wicked to be turned upside down. For the policies of potentates are. 'wisely over-ruled. Already the indolence and insolence, attacking nations in their pride of prime, have received a necessary check. Our en«y satisfaction with things at home and abroad, our toleration of abuses, and neglect of precautionary measures, are now a year-old 6tory. The bad manners of a monarch have changed all that. Infamous doing and undoing have aroused the manhood of three Empires, and consolidated the forces of each. Already evil has been overcome with good. Great armies have been sent against the enemy, and added' to continually, our own Dominion and ths neighbouring States responding loyally to urgent need. Manhood, in numbers and strength, has been asserted with unfailing vigour, and almost unparallelled • distinction. From our far end of the earth, handled by officers of daring, skill, and precision, manhood in the mass and individually, has shown its "stuff" in action, its fortitude in suffering, its gallantry in field and trench, while tho unconquerable spirit with which it stormed Gallipoli ', might furnish our young sea-land with an Iliad for its own. But the roll of honour is 100 freshlyI stained, too ruddy with the blood of youth i ti> call for plaudit or bespeak memorial j while the faces of those who follow are ! set toward the front. . . Full- of the I spirit which inflamed their clay who now I aro gathered to tho dust, fired by tho ' same patriot indignation and welded by ! discipline, the men who now fall in, though i in the rear, will soon have part and parcel i in their fame. . . Away from school I and counting-house, from farms and fac- ' tories. from mine and colliery; from high j pursuits, with strength of hand, gifts of | mind and heart, and a deep sense of God's compelling grace. Away ! as happy I warriors, to Holy War. hich in heart and j confident of victory, dreaming of days like | tbore on -which is set already the memory of our" love and nride. Only clay. ._ . ■ I but. clay imperishable, charged with its I lessons for those who even now arc buckI ling on their armour, soon to be as fit as j those who fell in Flanders, or died so ! elori-'uslv on fields of old renown. . . . ! Simplv clay; but clay from which emerges j something for ever challenging our praise; I of value so precious, so illimitable in issue, J that thought is burdened by its pathos i and speech is at a loss. I Mothers, sisters, wives, the well-beloved ; of heroes, realising to the hitter full tin I majesty of martial death, the mystery that I surrounds the missing, the agonies of those who still make mortal fight need to give erateftil thanks that in so great a cause their happy warriors died; that their bright example will urgo on other sons, and comfort other mothers, that their message- summons from the things that do not matter to the things that do, from pursuit or riches and delights of ease, from indij vidual considerations to the, quitting of themselves like men who realise that naI tional service is centre and circumference j of national defence. J Honour and war have over sought I To make the brave their own. Ere Time could set their might at nougat, - Or youth bo overthrown.