Searching for “=+Caesar -Cicero”

Porcia, as has been said, was a daughter of Cato, and when Brutus, who was her cousin, took her to wife, she was not a virgin; she was, however, still very young, and had by her deceased husband a little son whose name was Bibulus. A small book containing memoirs of Brutus was written by him, and is still extant.

A meeting of the senate having been called, to which it was expected that Caesar would come, they determined to make their attempt there; for they could then gather together in numbers without exciting suspicion, and would have all the best and foremost men in one place, who, once the great deed was done, would straightway espouse the cause of liberty.

It was thought, too, that the place of meeting was providentially in their favour; for it was one of the porticoes about the theatre, containing a session-room in which stood a statue of Pompey. This statue the city had erected in his honour when he adorned that place with the porticoes and the theatre. Hither, then, the senate was summoned about the middle of March (the Romans call the day the Ides of March), so that some heavenly power seemed to be conducting Caesar to Pompey’s vengeance.

When the day came, Brutus girt on a dagger, to the knowledge of his wife alone, and went forth, while the rest assembled at the house of Cassius and conducted his son, who was about to assume what was called the “toga virilis,” down to the forum. Thence they all hastened to the portico of Pompey and waited there, expecting that Caesar would straightway come to the meeting of the senate.

The conspirators (for so they shall be called) could not hear what he said, but judging from their suspicions that what he told Caesar was a revelation of their plot, they were disconcerted in their plans, and mutually agreed by looks which passed between them that they must not await arrest, but at once dispatch themselves.

Caesar thus slain, Brutus went out into the middle of the session-room and tried to speak, and would have detained the senators there with encouraging words; but they fled in terror and confusion, and there was a tumultuous crowding at the door, although no one pressed upon them in pursuit. For it had been firmly decided not to kill any one else, but to summon all to the enjoyment of liberty.

For he would not give up the belief that Antony, who was a man of good parts, ambitious, and a lover of fame, if once Caesar were out of the way, would assist his country in attaining her liberty, when their example had induced him to follow emulously the nobler course. Thus Antony’s life was saved by Brutus; but in the fear which then reigned, he put on a plebeian dress and took to flight.

At sight of him the multitude, although it was a mixed rabble and prepared to raise a disturbance, was struck with awe, and awaited the issue in decorous silence. Also when he came forward to speak, all paid quiet attention to his words; but that all were not pleased with what had been done was made manifest when Cinna began to speak and to denounce Caesar. The multitude broke into a rage and reviled Cinna so bitterly that the conspirators withdrew again to the Capitol.

After this, the subjects of Caesar’s will and of his burial came up for discussion. Antony demanded that the will should be read publicly, and that the body should be carried forth to burial, not secretly, nor without honours, lest this also should exasperate the people. Cassius, indeed, vehemently opposed these measures, but Brutus yielded and agreed to them, thus making a second mistake, as it was thought.

Already, too, the people were disturbed because Antony was assuming almost absolute power, and they longed for Brutus; it was also expected that he would be present in person and conduct the spectacles which it was his duty as praetor to furnish. But Brutus learned that many of the veteran soldiers of Caesar who had received land and cities from their commander, were now plotting against his life and in small bands streaming into the city. He therefore had not the courage to come. The people, however, had their spectacles, in spite of his absence, and these were very lavishly and magnificently appointed.

Then sailing to Demetrias, whence great quantities of arms, which the elder Caesar had ordered to be made for his Parthian war, were being conducted to Antony, he took possession of them. After Hortensius the praetor had delivered up Macedonia to him, and while all the surrounding kings and potentates were uniting on his side, word was brought that Caius, the brother of Antony, had crossed over from Italy and was marching directly to join the forces under Vatinius in Epidamnus and Apollonia.

But as he was about to cross into Asia, tidings came to him of the change that had taken place at Rome. For Octavius Caesar had been strengthened by the senate against Antony, and after ejecting his rival from Italy, was himself now an object of fear, soliciting the consulship illegally, and maintaining large armies, of which the city had no need.

And the strongest reason for the favour and fame which he achieved was the confidence felt in his principles. For no one had expected that Pompey the Great, if he overthrew Caesar, would insist on dismissing his forces in obedience to the laws, but all thought that he would continue to retain his power, appeasing the people by using the name of consulship or dictatorship or some other less obnoxious form of government.

But Brutus, we are told, was not accused even by his enemies of such a departure from his principles; nay, Antony at least, in the hearing of many, declared that in his opinion Brutus was the only conspirator against Caesar who was impelled by the splendour and by what seemed to him the nobility of the enterprise, whereas the rest banded together against the man because they envied and hated him.

Many were his memorable achievements in meting out rewards or punishments to those who deserved them, but I shall here describe only that in which both he himself and the chief men of Rome took especial pleasure. When Pompey the Great, after he had been stripped of his great power by Caesar, put in as a fugitive at Pelusium in Egypt, the guardians of the boy king were holding a council with their friends, at which opinions differed.