ROMAN FASCES
Bundle of rods and axe bound together and borne before emperors and other rulers as symbols of power
THE BASILICA JULIA—Roman Forum (restored)
A DENARIUS
Stamped with the head of Cæsar. A denarius was a silver coin worth about 20 cents
Personal Appearance, Friends and Character
The Romans as a people belonged to the Mediterranean race, and the great majority, therefore, were short and dark, like the Sicilians of today. Cæsar, however, was tall and fair, with round, well-proportioned limbs and black piercing eyes. His portraits on coins and in sculpture show a spare face with a high, broad forehead inclined to baldness, representing a physique too delicate to sustain the enormous activities of his brain. To the end of his days he paid, perhaps, an excessive attention to his personal appearance, and was especially gratified when the Senate in his honor decreed him the privilege of wearing a laurel wreath; for he found it a means of covering his baldness. There was in his face and manner a frank sympathy that won the hearts of all those that came into close touch with him; and in spite of brutal conquests he developed an expression of gentleness and clemency mentioned by writers of his age.