Searching for “=+Caesar -Cicero”

and were consequently going to propose that this title be granted to Caesar. The conspirators believed this to be true, and because a vote would be demanded of the magistrates, among whom were Brutus and Cassius, owing to the importance of the measure, and they neither dared to oppose it nor would submit to remain silent, they hastened forward their plot before any business connected with the measure should come up.

It had been decided by them to make the attempt in the senate, for they thought that there Caesar would least expect to be harmed in any way and would thus fall an easier victim, while they would find a safe opportunity by having swords instead of documents brought into the chamber in boxes, and the rest, being unarmed, would not be able to offer any resistance.

But in case any one should be so rash, they hoped at least that the gladiators, many of whom they had previously stationed in Pompey’s Theatre under the pretext that they were to contend there, would come to their aid; for these were to lie in wait somewhere there in a certain room of the peristyle. So the conspirators, when the appointed day was come, gathered in the senate-house at dawn and called for Caesar.

As for him, he was warned of the plot in advance by soothsayers, and was warned also by dreams. For the night before he was slain his wife dreamed that their house had fallen in ruins and that her husband had been wounded by some men and had taken refuge in her bosom; and Caesar dreamed he was raised aloft upon the clouds and grasped the hand of Jupiter.

Moreover, the sacrifices which he offered because of these occurrences were not at all favourable, and the birds he used in divination forbade him to leave the house. Indeed, to some the incident of his golden chair seemed ominous, at least after his murder; for the attendant, when Caesar delayed his coming, had carried it out of the senate, thinking that there now would be no need of it.

Caesar, accordingly, was so long in coming that the conspirators feared there might be a postponement,—indeed, a rumour got abroad that he would remain at home that day,—and that their plot would thus fall through and they themselves would be detected. Therefore they sent Decimus Brutus, as one supposed to be his devoted friend, to secure his attendance.

This man made light of Caesar’s scruples and by stating that the senate desired exceedingly to see him, persuaded him to proceed. At this an image of him, which he had set up in the vestibule, fell of its own accord and was shattered in pieces.

For, though they had planned to kill both him and Lepidus, they feared they might be maligned as a result of the number they destroyed, on the ground that they had slain Caesar to gain supreme power and not to set free the city, as they pretended; and therefore they did not wish Antony even to be present at the slaying. As for Lepidus, he had set out on a campaign and was in the suburbs.

While Trebonius, then, talked with Antony, the rest in a body surrounded Caesar, who was as easy of access and as affable as any one could be; and some conversed with him, while others made as if to present petitions to him, so that suspicion might be as far from his mind as possible.

so that by reason of their numbers Caesar was unable to say or do anything, but veiling his face, was slain with many wounds. This is the truest account, though some have added that to Brutus, when he struck him a powerful blow, he said: “Thou, too, my son?”

And when they met in the assembly, the assassins had much to say against Caesar and much in favour of democracy, and they bade the people take courage and not expect any harm. For they had killed him, they declared, not to secure power or any other advantage, but in order that they might be free and independent and be governed rightly.

While affairs were in this state Lepidus, learning what had taken place, occupied the Forum by night with his soldiers and at dawn delivered a speech against the assassins. As to Antony, although he had fled immediately after Caesar’s death, casting away his robe of office in order to escape notice and concealing himself through the night,

What did Pompey, what did this Caesar himself do, to make no mention here of Catiline or Clodius? Did they not at first fight against each other, and that in spite of their relationship, and then fill with countless evils not only our own city or even the rest of Italy, but practically the entire world?

What then? Did we have peace after this? Peace, when Caesar himself lies slain in this fashion, when the Capitol is occupied, when the Forum is filled with arms and the whole city with fear?

And now, since we are in common the fathers of all the people, not in name only, but in reality, let us not enter into a discussion of all the fine points, lest we all perish. For that matter anybody could find much to blame in Caesar himself, so that he would seem to have been justly slain,