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* RHODES. 107 RHODES. powerful neighbors, and joined in the war against I'lulip V. of ilaccdon. Later, durinf; the war with I'erseus, they endeavorod to olieck the Roman ad- vance, and the Roman Senate puuislied tliis pre- sumption by making Delos a free port, with dam- aging elVcct on the Rhodian trade. After the deatli of Ca=sar, whose side the Rliodians had taken against Pompeius in the eivil war, they were defeated in a naval engagement by Cassius, who in n.c. 42 entered tlic city by force, massacred the hostile leaders, seized the iiublic projierty, and rilled the temples. This visitation broke the power of Rhodes, but it long continued to main- tain its prestige as a scat of learning. Kven lui- der the Roman Empire, Rhodes continued to maintain a nominal independence and was not at- tached to any province, except for brief periods, wlien in disgrace with llie reigning Emperor. In the reorganization of the Empire by Dioch'tian this position was abolislied, and Rhodes became the centre of the Province of the Islands. It was afterwards attached to the Byzantine Empire and shared its fortunes till in 1309 it was oc- cupied by the Knights of Saint John of Jerusa- lem, who for over 200 years maintained themselves against the Turks, and even gained some foothold on the mainland. They withstood several sieges, notably one in 1480, but were attacked again in 1522 by Sultan Solyman the ilagnificeut. and after the most heroic resistance finally found tlicir position untenable, and were forced to aban- don the island. Consult: Berg. Die Iiiscl Ilhodiis (Brunswick, 1862), with fine illustrations; New- ton. Tnucls and Discoveries in the Lci-ant (Lon- don. 1805) : Guerin. Voyage dans Vile de Rhodes (2d. ed., Paris, ISSO) ; Salzmann. Xecrofiolc dc Camiros (ib., 1875) ; Biliotti and Cottret, L'ilo dc I'ltodes (Rhodes and Comjiiegne, 1881) ; Tarr, Rhodes in. Ancient Times (Cambridge. 1885) ; id., Rhodes in Modern Times (ib., 1887); Schuma- cher, De Rhodiorum Rcpuhlica (Heidelberg, ISSIj) ; Gilder. Geschichic der alten Rhodier (The ni:ziw, 1900). RHODES, C0LOS.SUS OF. See Colossus. RHODES, Cecil Johx (1853-1902). A South African statesman and financier, born at the vicarage of Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. .July o. 1853. In 1S70 his name was entered at Oriel College, Oxford, but an affection of the lungs compelled him in the same year to sail for Xatal, whence, in 1871. he made his way to the diamond fields at Kimberley. He speedily acquired a large fortune, and. with his health well restored, returned to matriculate at Oxford in 1873. From 1876 to 1881 lie spent one half of the vear at Oxford and at the end of that time took his B.A. and il.A. Early in life Rhodes gave evidence of the blending in him of the ma- terialist and the dreamer. Shrewd in the ad- vancement of his own interests, and not entirely nnaft'ected by the loose ethics of the mining camp, he was possessed at the same time of a profound conviction of the virtues of the British imperial system, and lie made it his life lilan to extend the sway of the British Empire over South Africa. In 1880 lie entered the Cape Parliament: there he directed bis efforts toward the estiililishment of cordial relations between the English and the Dutch in the Colony, and was instrumental in bringing about the annexation of Bechuanaland in 1884. This was a forward .step in the extension of British supremacy in South Vol. XVII.— 8. Africa, and brought the young statesninn into conllict with the Boer Republic of the Transvuiil, whose policy wa.s guided by the uinbitious and astute 'Ooni Paul' Kriigcr, Uliodes's one formid- able rival to the end. In 1H88 Kliodes obtained from Lobengula, King of the Matabele, the ces- sion of the immense region north of the Limpopo, which speedily came to be known as Kliciilc-.ja (q.v.), and in October, 1889, the Uritisli Sniilli Africa Company was incorporated, with nhiioxt full rights of sovereignty nver that territory. Rhodes was in fact the sole manager of the com- pany's atl'airs, and lie devoted to the development of the country the resources of the De Beers Con- solidated ilincs, a corporation controlling the en- tire diamond industry at Kimberley, organized by Rhodes in 1888. In 1890 Rhodes became Premier of Cape Colony, relainiug at the same time his (losl as niaiiaging director of Rhodesia. He eft'ecled much salutary legislation within the Colony, first definitely en- tered upon the scheme of a British Capi-tuCairo railway; found time to crush a formidalile insur- rection of the ilatabcles in 1893; yet found time, too, to play an unscrupulous game of politics in the Transvaal, where the discontent prevailing among the foreign inhabitants of .Jolianneslnirg afforded him the opportunity for plotting the overthrow of the South African Rc|niblic. The Jameson raid in December, 1895, coming before his schemes were ffilly matured, was a crushing blow for Rhodes, who now ajipeared before the world as the instigator of a piratical attempt on the government of a friendly nation. (See Tbans- VA.L; and J.ME.so.x. Leaniucr Stakr. ) He was forced to resign the Premiershi]) of Cape Colony, and for a time his political inllucncc was gone. For the next three years he devoted himself to the ali'airs of the Chartered Company, suppressed a second insurrection of the ilatabeles in 1896-97, and hastened the northward advance of his trans- continental railway and telegraph lines. In 1893 he reentered the Cap" Parliament, and had made some progress toward regaining his predominant position in South African affairs, when the Boer war broke out. During the early part of the war he was besieged at Kimberley, where he was at- tacked by his old illness. He went to lOgypt in the early part of 1901, but failing to find health there, returned in February. 1902, to Cape Col- oiiv, and died at Cape Town, March 20. 1902. He was buried on his estate in the Matoppo Hills, near Buluwayo, in Matabeleland. Rhodes's character was the subject of much diersc criticism. By some he was regarded as preeminentlv a man of money, actuated entirely by selfish motives, and one who for the attain- iiicnt of his ends did not scruple to plunge South Africa into war. To those of British inclina- tions be appeared rather as one of the great builders of empire, a descendant of Clive and Warren Hastings. This lineage, in great meas- ure, cannot be denied Rhodes, though there may have been in him also a touch of Sir -lohn Haw- kins and Sir Francis Drake. Rhodes's will, by which he left almost his entire fortune for the purpose of educating the Anglo-S;ixon .voiith to the idea of empire, radically modified previous- ly formed estimates upon his character. (S<'e Riioi)i:s ScnoLAR.sTTip.s. ) The various biographies of Rhodes natnrallv are prejudiced to a greater or lesser extent. "Vindex." Political Life and