James A. Froude

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his attendance, giving reasons to which he knew that Caesar would listen, unless the plot had been actually betrayed. It was now eleven in the forenoon. Caesar shook off his uneasiness, and rose to go. As he crossed the hall, his statue fell, and shivered on the stones. Some servant, perhaps, had heard whispers, and wished to warn him. As he still passed on, a stranger thrust a scroll into his hand, and begged him to read it on the spot. It contained a list of the conspirators, with a clear account of the plot. He supposed it to be a petition, and placed it carelessly among his other papers. The fate of the Empire hung upon a thread, but the thread was not broken, As Caesar had lived to reconstruct the Roman world, so his death was necessary to finish the work. He went on to the Curia, and the senators said to themselves that the augurs had foretold his fate, but he would not listen; he was doomed for his "contempt of religion." [23]

      Antony, who was in attendance, was detained, as had been arranged, by Trebonius. Caesar entered, and took his seat. His presence awed men, in spite of themselves, and the conspirators had determined to act at once, lest they should lose courage to act at all. He was familiar and easy of access. They gathered round him. He knew them all. There was not one from whom he had not a right to expect some sort of gratitude, and the movement suggested no suspicion. One had a story to tell him; another some favor to ask. Tullius Cimber, whom he had just made governor of Bithynia, then came close to him, with some request which he was unwilling to grant. Cimber caught his gown, as if in entreaty, and dragged it from his shoulders. Cassius,[24] who was standing behind, stabbed him in the throat. He started up with a cry, and caught Cassius's arm. Another poniard entered his breast, giving a mortal wound. He looked round, and seeing not one friendly face, but only a ring of daggers pointing at him, he drew his gown over his head, gathered the folds about him that he might fall decently, and sank down without uttering another word,[25] Cicero was present. The feelings with which he watched the scene are unrecorded, but may easily be imagined. Waving his dagger, dripping with Caesar's blood, Brutus shouted to Cicero by name, congratulating him that liberty was restored.[26] The Senate rose with shrieks and confusion, and rushed into the Forum. The crowd outside caught the words that Caesar was dead, and scattered to their houses. Antony, guessing that those who had killed Caesar would not spare himself, hurried off into concealment. The murderers, bleeding some of them from wounds which they had given one another in their eagerness, followed, crying that the tyrant was dead, and that Rome was free; and the body of the great Caesar was left alone in the house where a few weeks before Cicero told him that he was so necessary to his country that every senator would die before harm should reach him!

      [1] Apparently when Caesar touched there on his way to Egypt, after Pharsalia. Cicero says (_Philippic_ ii. 11): "Quid? C. Cassius ... qui etiam sine his clarissimis viris, hanc rem in Cilicia ad ostium fluminis Cydni confecisset, si ille ad eam ripam quam constituerat, non ad contrariam, navi appulisset."

      [2] To be distinguished from Publius Ligarius, who had been put to death before Thapsus.

      [3] The Gauls were especially obnoxious, and epigrams were circulated to insult them:--

      "Gallos Caesar in triumphum ducit, idem in Curiam. Galli braccas deposuerunt, latum clavum sumpserunt"

      SUETONIUS, _Vita Jullii Caesaris_, 80.

      [4] Suetonius.

      [5] The fifth, dating the beginning of the year, in the old style, from March.

      [6] Dion Cassius.

      [7] The second consul who had been put in held office but for a few hours.

      [8] Dion Cassius.

      [9] See the 2nd _Philippic_, passim. In a letter to Decimus Brutus, he says: "Quare hortatione tu quidem non egos, si ne ill quidem in re, quae a te gesta est post hominum memoriam maxim, hortatorem desidersti." _Ad Fam_. xi. 5.

      [10] _To Atticus_, xi. 5, 6.

      [11] _Ad Caelium, Ad Fam_. ii. 16.

      [12] _To Atticus_, xi. 7.

      [13] See _To Atticus_, xi. 7-9; _To Terentia, Ad Fam_. xiv. 12.

      [14] "Tantam enim mansuetudinem, tam inusitatam inauditamque clementiam, tantum in summ potestate rerum omnium modum, tam denique incredibilem sapientiam ac paene divinam tacitus nullo modo praeterire possum."--_Pro Marco Marcello_, 1.

      [15] _Pro Marco Marcello_, abridged.

      [16] "Non intelligis, si id quod me arguis voluisse interfici Caesarem crimen sit, etiam laetatum esse morte Caesaris crimen esse? Quid enim interest inter suasorem facti et approbatorem? Aut quid refert utrum voluerim fieri an gaudeam factum? Ecquis est igitur te excepto et iis qui illum regnare gaudebant, qui illud aut fieri noluerit, aut factum improbarit? Omnes enim in culp. Etenim omnes boni quantum in ipsis fuit Caesarem occiderunt. Aliis consilium, aliis animus, aliis occasio defuit. Voluntas nemini."--_2nd Philippic_, 12.

      [17] Dion Cassius.

      [18] So Dion Cassius states, on what authority we know not. Suetonius says that as Caesar was returning from the Latin festival some one placed a laurel crown on the statue, tied with a white riband.

      [19] The fact is certain. Cicero taunted Antony with it in the Senate, in the Second Philippic.

      [20] "Cum ad rem publicam liberandam accessi, HS. mihi fuit quadringenties amplius."--_Decimus Brutus to Cicero, Ad Fam_. xi. 10.

      [21] "Vellem Idibus Martiis me ad coenam invitsses. Reliquiarum nihil fuisset."--_Ad Cassium, Ad Fam_. xii. 4. And again: "Quam vellem ad illas pulcherrimas epulas me Idibus Martiis invitsses! Reliquiarum nihil haberemus."--_Ad Trebonium, Ad Fam_. x. 28.

      [22] Dion Cassius, _C. Julius Caesar_, xliv. 17.

      [23] "Spret religione."--Suetonius.

      [24] Not perhaps Caius Cassius, but another. Suetonius says "alter e Cassiis."

      [25] So says Suetonius, the best extant authority, who refers to the famous words addressed to Brutus only as a legend: "Atque ita tribus et viginti plagis confossus est, uno modo ad primum ictum gemitu sine voce edito. Etsi tradiderunt quidam Marco Bruto irruenti dixisse [Greek: kai su ei ekeinon kai su teknon]"--_Julius Caesar_, 82.

      [26] "Cruentum alte extollens Marcus Brutus pugionem, Ciceronem nominatim exclamavit atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gratulatus."--_Philippic ii_. 12.

      CHAPTER XXVII.

      [Sidenote: March 16, B.C. 44.] The tyrannicides, as the murderers of Caesar called themselves, had expected that the Roman mob would be caught by the cry of liberty, and would hail them as the deliverers of their country. They found that the people did not respond as they had anticipated. The city was stunned. The Forum was empty. The gladiators, whom they had secreted in the Temple, broke out and plundered the unprotected booths. A dead and ominous silence prevailed everywhere. At length a few citizens collected in knots. Brutus spoke, and Cassius spoke. They extolled their old constitution. They said that Caesar had overthrown it; that they had slain him, not from private hatred or private interest, but to restore the liberties of Rome. The audience was dead and cold. No answering shouts came back to reassure them. The citizens could not forget that these men who spoke so fairly had a few days before fawned on Caesar as the saviour of the Empire, and, as if human honors were too little, had voted a temple to him as a god. The fire would not kindle. Lepidus came in with troops, and occupied the Forum. The conspirators withdrew into the Capitol, where Cicero and others joined them, and the night was passed in earnest discussion what next was to be done. They had intended to declare that Caesar had been a tyrant, to throw his body into the Tiber, and to confiscate his property to the State. They discovered to their consternation that, if Caesar was a tyrant, all his acts would be invalidated. The praetors and tribunes held their offices, the governors their provinces, under Caesar's nomination. If Caesar's acts were set aside, Decimus Brutus was not governor of North Italy, nor Marcus Brutus of Macedonia; nor was Dolabella consul, as he had instantly claimed to be on Caesar's death. Their names, and the names of many more whom Caesar had promoted, would have to be laid before