That Caesar was intellectually among the greatest men of all time is beyond question.

Both strategist and as historian he is supreme.

His "thrasonical boast" was sober truth, and he stands above military or literary criticism, a lesson and a model.

But he was steeped in all the vices of his age, and his motive was personal ambition.

The Republic did not give him sufficient scope, and therefore he would have destroyed it, if he had not been himself destroyed.
Froude adopted the position of a great German professor and historian, Theodor Mommsen, whose prejudices were as strong as his learning was profound.