Maggior vede il periglio.”[[73]]
In his dedication, the highest compliment he can pay to Alfonso d’Este is to number the mighty Julius among his ancestors. In the prologue his approaching death troubles the gods, and Jove promises for him immortality among the celestials as the only fitting reward for his merit, while ruin and destruction await his assassins. In the play the First Messenger refers to him as “huom divino.”[[74]] The Chorus sings his praises:
“Così dunque
Quei, che pur dianzi un folgor fu di guerra,
Un’ Achille, un Alcide di possanza,
Un’ Ulisse di senno, e d’accortezza,
Un Ciro, un Alessandro d’ardimento,
Di magnaminità, di cortesia,
Estinto giace miserabilmente.”—P. 127.
Criticism cannot be too guarded in considering as evidence of personal bias the words of an author’s character, but cumulative evidence is certainly not without its influence. The chorus later in the play refers to Caesar again, and as