Dio's Rome Volume II Part 15

Later he was released; some time after he was enrolled in the senate, and was now appointed praetor by Caesar; by degrees he advanced to such prominence as to conquer the Parthians and hold a triumph over them.

All those who were to hold office the first year after that were appointed in advance, but for the second year the consuls and tribunes only: and no one got any closer than this to being nominated for the third year. Caesar himself intended to be dictator both years, and designated Octavius in advance as master of the horse for the second, though he was at that time a mere lad. For the time being, while this was going on, Caesar appointed Dolabella consul in his own stead, leaving Antony to finish the year out in office. To Lepidus he a.s.signed Gallia Narbonensis with the adjoining portions of Spain, and made two men masters of horse in their place, each separately. Owing, as he did, favors to many persons he repaid them by such appointments as these and by priesthoods, adding one to the "Quindecimviri", and three others to the "Septemviri," as they were called.

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

44

The following is contained in the Forty-fourth of Dio's Rome.

About the decrees pa.s.sed in honor of Caesar (chapters 1-11).

About the conspiracy formed against him (chapters 12-18).

How Caesar was murdered (chapters 19-22).

How a decree was pa.s.sed that the people should not bear malice against one another (chapters 23-34).

About the burial of Caesar and the oration delivered over him (chapters 35-53).

Duration of time, to the end of the 5th dictatorship of Julius Caesar, held in company with Aemilius Lepidus as Master of the Horse, and to the end of his 5th consulship, shared with Marcus Antonius. (B.C. 44 = a.u.

710).

(_BOOK 44, BOISSEVAIN_.)

[B.C. 44 (_a.u._ 710)]

[-1-] This Caesar did as a preliminary step to making a campaign against the Parthians, but a baleful frenzy which fell upon certain men through jealousy of his onward progress and hatred of his being esteemed above others caused the death of the leader by unlawful means, while it added a new name to the annals of infamy; it scattered decrees to the winds and brought upon the Romans seditions again and civil wars after a state of harmony. They declared that they had proved themselves both destroyers of Caesar and liberators of the people, but in fact their plot against him was one of fiendish malice, and they threw the city into disorder when at last it possessed a stable government. [-2-] Democracy has a fair appearing name which conveys the impression of bringing equal rights to all from equal laws, but its results are seen not to agree at all with its t.i.tle. Monarchy, on the contrary, strikes the ear unpleasantly, but is a very excellent government to live under. It is easier to find one single excellent man than many, and if even this seems to some a difficult feat, it is quite inevitable that the other proposition be acknowledged to be impossible; for the acquirement of virtue is not a characteristic of the majority of men. And again, even though one reprobate should obtain supreme power, yet he is preferable to a mult.i.tude of such persons, as the history of the Greeks and barbarians and of the Romans themselves proves. For successes have always been greater and more in number in the case both of cities and of individuals under kings than under popular rule, and disasters do not happen so easily in monarchies as in ochlocracies. In cases where a democracy has flourished anywhere, it has nevertheless reached its prime during a short period when the people had neither size nor strength that abuses should spring up among them from good fortune or jealousies from ambition. For a city so large as this, ruling the finest and the greatest part of the known world, containing men of many and diverse natures, holding many huge fortunes, occupied with every imaginable pursuit, enjoying every imaginable fortune, both individually and collectively,--for such a city to practice moderation under a democracy is impossible, and still more is it impossible for the people, unless moderation prevails, to be harmonious. If Marcus Brutus and Gaius Ca.s.sius had stopped to think this over they would never have killed the city's head and protector nor have made themselves the cause of countless ills both to their own persons and to all the rest of mankind then existing.

[-3-] It happened as follows, and his death was due to the cause I shall presently describe. He had not aroused dislike without any definite justification, except in so far as it was the senators themselves who had by the novelty and excess of their honors sent his mind soaring; and then, after filling him with conceit, they found fault with his prerogatives and spread injurious reports to the effect that he was glad to accept them and behaved more haughtily as a result of them. It is true that sometimes Caesar erred by accepting some of the honors voted him and believing that he really deserved them, yet most blameworthy are those who, after beginning to reward him as he deserved, led him on and made him liable to censure by the measures that they voted. He neither dared to thrust them all aside, for fear of being thought contemptuous, nor could he be safe when he accepted them. Excess in honors and praises renders conceited even the most modest, especially if such rewards appear to have been given with sincerity. [-4-] The privileges that were granted him (in addition to all those mentioned) were of the following number and kinds. They will be stated all together, even if they were not all moved or ratified at one time. First, then, they voted that he should always appear even in the city itself wearing the triumphal garb and should sit in his chair of state everywhere except at festivals. At that time he got the right to be seen on the tribune's benches and in company with those who were successively tribunes. And they gave him the right to offer the so-called _spolia opima_ at the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, as if he had slain some hostile general with his own hand, and to have lictors that always carried laurel, and after the Feriae Latinae to ride from Albanum to the city mounted on a charger. In addition to these remarkable privileges they named him father of his country, stamped his image on the coinage, voted to celebrate his birthday by public sacrifice, ordered that there be some statue of him in the cities and all the temples of Rome, and they set on the rostra two, one representing him as the savior of the citizens and the other as the rescuer of the city from siege, along with the crowns customary for such achievements. They also pa.s.sed a resolution to build a temple of Concordia Nova, on the ground that through his efforts they enjoyed peace, and to celebrate an annual festival in her honor. [-5-] When he had accepted these, they a.s.signed to him the charge of filling the Pontine marshes, cutting a ca.n.a.l through the Peloponnesian isthmus, and constructing a new senate-house, since that of Hostilius although repaired had been demolished. The reason given for that action was that a temple of Good Fortune might be built there, which Lepidus, indeed, while master of the horse had completed: but the real intention was that the name of Sulla should not be preserved in it and that another senate-house, newly constructed, might be named the Julian, just as they had called the month in which he was born July, and one of the tribes (selected by lot) the Julian. And Caesar himself, they voted, should be sole censor for life and enjoy the immunities bestowed upon the tribunes, so that if any one should outrage him by deed or word, that man should be an outlaw and involved in the curse, and further that his son, should he beget or adopt one, was to be appointed high priest.

[-6-] As he seemed to like this, a gilded chair was granted him, and a garb that once the kings had used and a body-guard of knights and senators: furthermore they decided that prayers should be made for him publicly every year, that they would swear by his Fortune and that all the deeds he was yet to do should receive confirmation. Next they bestowed upon him a quinquennial festival, as to a hero, and managers of sacred rites for the festival of naked boys in Pan's honor,[110]

const.i.tuting a third priestly college which they called the Julian, and on the occasion of all combats in armor one special day of his own each time both in Rome and the rest of Italy. When he showed himself pleased at this, too, then they voted that his gilded chair and crown set with precious gems and overlaid with gold should be carried into the theatre on an equal footing with those of the G.o.ds, and that on the occasion of the horse-races his chariot should be brought in. And finally they addressed him outright as Julian Jupiter and ordered a temple to be consecrated to him and to his Clemency, electing Antony as their priest like some Dialis.

[-7-] At the same time with these measures they pa.s.sed another which well indicated their disposition. It gave him the right to place his tomb within the pomerium; and the decrees regarding this matter they inscribed with gold letters on silver tablets and deposited beneath the feet of the Capitoline Jupiter, thus pointing out to him very clearly that he was a man. When they began to honor him it was with the idea that he would be reasonably modest; but as they went on and saw that he was delighted at what they voted,--he accepted all but a very few of their gifts,--various men kept at different times proposing various greater marks of esteem, all in excess, some as an act of extreme flattery toward him, and others as one of sarcastic ridicule. Actually some dared to suggest permitting him to have intercourse with, as many women[111] as he liked, because even at this time, though fifty years old, he still had numerous mistresses. Others, and the majority, followed the course mentioned because they wished to make him envied and disliked as quickly as possible, that he might the sooner perish. Of course precisely that happened, though Caesar took courage on account of these very measures to believe that he would never be plotted against by the men who had voted him such honors, nor by any one else, because they would prevent it; and in consequence from this time he dispensed with a bodyguard. Nominally he accepted the privilege of being watched over by the senators and knights and thus did away with his previous guardians.

[-8-] Once on a single day they had pa.s.sed in his honor an unusually large number of decrees of especially important character, that had been voted unanimously by all the rest except Ca.s.sius and a few others, who became notorious for this action: yet they suffered no harm, a fact which conspicuously displayed their ruler's clemency. So, then, they approached him as he was sitting in the fore-part of the temple of Venus with the intention of announcing to him in a body their decisions;--such business they transacted in his absence, in order to have the appearance of doing it not under compulsion but voluntarily. And either by some Heaven-sent fatuity or through excess of joy he received them sitting, an act which aroused so great indignation among them all, not only senators but all the rest, that it afforded his slayers one of their chief excuses for their plot against him. Some who subsequently tried to defend him said that owing to diarrhoea he could not control the movement of his bowels and had remained where he was in order to avoid a flux.

They were not able, however, to persuade the majority, since not long after this he arose and walked home without a.s.sistance; hence most men suspected him of being inflated with pride and hated him for his supercilious behavior, when it was they themselves who had made him disdainful by the extreme nature of their honors. After this occurrence suspicion was increased by the fact that somewhat later he submitted to being made dictator for life.

[-9-] When he had reached this point, the conduct of the men plotting against him became no longer doubtful, and in order to embitter even his best friends against him they did their best to traduce the man and finally called him "king,"--a name which was often heard in their consultations. When he refused the t.i.tle and rebuked in a way those that so saluted him, yet did nothing by which he could be thought to be really displeased at it, they secretly adorned his statue, which stood on the rostra, with a diadem. And when Gaius Epidius Marullus and Lucius Caesetius Flavus, tribunes, took it down, he became thoroughly angry, although they uttered no insulting word and furthermore spoke well of him before the people as not desiring anything of the sort.[-10-] At this time, though vexed, he remained quiet; subsequently, however, when he was riding in from Albanum, some men again called him king, and he said that his name was not king but Caesar: then when those tribunes brought suit against the first man that termed him king, he no longer restrained his wrath, but showed evident irritation, as if these officials were actually aiming at the stability of his government. For the moment he took no revenge upon them: later, when they issued public notice to the effect that they found themselves not at liberty to speak freely and without molestation for the public good, he appeared exceedingly angry and brought them into the senate-house, where he accused them and put their conduct to the vote. He did not put them to death, though some declared them worthy of that penalty, but first having removed them from the tribuneship through the motion of Helvius Cinna, their colleague, he erased their names from the senate. Some were pleased at this, or pretended to be, on the ground that they would have no need to incur danger by free speech, and keeping out of politics they viewed events as from a watch tower. Caesar, however, received an ill name from this fact, too, that whereas he should have hated those that applied to him the name of king, he let them go and found fault instead with the tribunes.

[-11-] Something else that happened not long after these events proved still more clearly that while pretendedly he shunned the t.i.tle, in reality he desired to a.s.sume it. When he had entered the Forum at the festival of the Lupercalia, at which naked boys competed, and was sitting on the rostra in his golden chair adorned with the royal apparel and conspicuous by his crown wrought of gold, Antony with his fellow priests saluted him as king and surrounding his brows with a diadem said: "The people gives this to you through my hands." He answered that Jupiter alone was king of the Romans and sent the diadem to him to the Capitol, yet he was not angry and caused it to be inscribed in the records that the royalty presented to him by the people through the consul he had refused to receive. It was accordingly suspected that this had been done by some pre-arranged plan and that he was anxious for the name but wished to be somehow compelled to take it, and the consequent hatred against him was intense. After this certain men at the elections proposed those tribunes previously mentioned for the office of consul, and approaching Marcus Brutus and such other persons as were of high spirit attempted privately to persuade them and incited them to action publicly. [-12-] They scattered broadcast many letters (taking the fullest advantage of his having the same name as the great Brutus who overthrew the Tarquins), declaring that he was not truly that man's descendant: for _he_ had put to death both his sons, the only ones he had, when they were mere lads, and was left no offspring surviving. This att.i.tude was, however, a mere ruse on the part of the majority, adopted in order that being in family akin to that famous man he might be induced to undertake similar deeds. They kept continually invoking him, crying out "Brutus, Brutus!", and adding further: "We need a Brutus."

Finally on the statue of the early Brutus they wrote "Would that thou wert living," and upon their contemporary's platform (he was praetor at the time) "Brutus, thou sleepest," and "Thou art not Brutus."

[-13-] These incidents persuaded him, especially as he had displayed hostility to Caesar from the start, to attack the leader, who had nevertheless shown himself later his benefactor. He was also influenced by the fact that he was, as I stated, both nephew and son-in-law of Cato of Utica so-called. And his wife Portia was the only woman, as they say, who had knowledge of the plot. She encountered him in the midst of his meditation upon these very matters and enquired in what he was so absorbed. When he made no answer, she suspected that she was distrusted on account of physical weakness, for fear she should reveal something even unwillingly under torture; hence she performed a noteworthy deed.

She secretly inflicted a deep wound in her thigh to test herself and see if she could endure painful treatment. And when she found herself not overdistressed, she despised the wound, and came to him and said: "You, my husband, though you trusted that my spirit would not utter a secret, nevertheless were distrustful of my body, and you acted in accordance with human reason. But I have found that I can make even it keep silence." Having said this she disclosed her thigh and after making known the reason for what she had done, said: "Tell me boldly now all that you are concealing, for to make me speak fire, lashes, and goads shall alike be powerless. I was not born that kind of woman. Therefore if you shall still distrust me, it is better for me to die than live. If such be the case, let no one think me longer the daughter of Cato or your wife." Hearing this Brutus marveled; and he no longer hid anything from her but felt strengthened himself and related to her the whole story. [-14-] After this he obtained as an a.s.sociate also Gaius Ca.s.sius, who had himself been preserved by Caesar and moreover honored with a praetorship; he was the husband of Brutus's sister. Next they proceeded to gather those who were of the same mind as themselves, and these proved to be not few in number. There is no need of my giving a list of most of the names, for I might thus become wearisome, but I cannot omit Trebonius and Decimus Brutus, whom they also named Junius and Albinus.

For these joined in the plot against Caesar though they also had been greatly benefited by him,--Decimus having been appointed consul for the second year and a.s.signed to Hither Gaul.

[-15-] They came very near being detected by reason of the number of those concerned and by their delay. Caesar, however, would not receive any information about such an undertaking and punished very severely those who brought any news of the kind. Still, they stood in awe of him and put the matter off, fearing that although he had no guard they might be killed by the persons surrounding him at various times; and thus they ran the risk of being discovered and perishing. Indeed, they would have suffered this fate, had they not been forced even against their will to hasten the plot. A report went abroad, true or false after the manner of reports, that the so-called fifteen priests were declaring that the Sibyl had said the Parthians should never be captured in any other way than by a king, and the people were consequently preparing to propose that this t.i.tle be granted to Caesar. The conspirators believed this to be true, and because a vote would be demanded of the officials, among whom were Brutus and Ca.s.sius, owing to the seriousness of the measure, they felt that they neither dared to oppose it nor could submit to keep silent, and so hurried on the consummation of the plot before any business connected with the measure could come up.

[-16-] 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 so fall an easier victim, while they would possess opportunity coupled with security by having their swords instead of doc.u.ments brought in boxes, and that the rest being unarmed would be unable to make any resistance. In case any one should be so rash, they expected at least that the gladiators, many of whom they had previously stationed in Pompey's Theatre under the pretext that they were to practice with arms, would a.s.sist them. These were to lie in wait there in a certain room of the peristyle. The conspirators, when the appointed day had come, gathered in the senate-hall at dawn and called for Caesar.

[-17-] As for him, he was warned of the plot in advance by the soothsayers, and was warned also by dreams. The night before he was slain his wife had a vision of their house fallen in ruins, her husband wounded by some men and taking refuge in her bosom, and of Caesar being raised aloft upon the clouds and grasping the hand of Jupiter. Moreover omens not few nor indistinct crossed his path. The arms of Mars, at that time deposited at his house by virtue of his position as high priest and by ancestral custom, made a great noise at night, and the doors of the chamber where he slept opened of their own accord. The sacrifices which he offered because of these occurrences indicated nothing favorable and the birds with which he practiced divination forbade him to leave the house. After his a.s.sa.s.sination, finally, some recalled a weighty incident in connection with his gilded chair,--that the servant, as Caesar was slow in coming, carried it out of the senate, thinking that he would have no further need of it.

[-18-] Caesar for this reason was so long in coming that the conspirators feared there might be a postponement (a rumor circulated, indeed, that he would remain at home that day), and their plot thus fall through and they themselves be detected. Therefore they sent Decimus Brutus, as one appearing to be a devoted friend, to secure his attendance. This man made light of Caesar's scruples and by adding that the senate was extremely anxious to behold him, persuaded him to go forward. At this an image of his which he kept set up in the vestibule fell of its own accord and was shattered to pieces. He ought then to have changed his purpose, but instead he paid no attention to this and would not listen to some one who was giving him information of the plot. He received from him a little roll in which all the preparations made for the attack had been accurately inscribed, but did not read it, thinking that it was some other not very pressing matter. In brief, he was so confident that to the soothsayer who had warned him to beware of that day he said jokingly: "Where are your prophecies? Don't you see that the day over which you were all of a tremble is here and I am alive?" And the other, they say, answered only this: "Yes, it is here, but not yet gone."

[-19-] Now when he finally reached the senate Trebonius delayed Antony somewhere at a distance outside. They had planned to kill both him and Lepidus. But fearing that they might be ill spoken of as a result of the number of those destroyed, and that it might be said that they had slain Caesar to gain power and not to free the city, as they pretended, they did not wish Antony even to be present at his slaughter. As for Lepidus, he had set out on a campaign and was in the suburbs. Antony was held by Trebonius in conversation. Meanwhile the rest in a body surrounded Caesar (he was as easy of access and ready to be addressed as any one could have wished), and some talked among themselves, while others presented pet.i.tions to him, so that suspicion might be as far from his mind as possible. When the right moment came, one of them approached him as if to express his thanks for some favor or other and pulled his cloak from his shoulder; for this, according to the agreement, served to the conspirators as a signal raised. Thereupon they attacked him from many sides at once and wounded him to death, 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. In times past some have made a declaration like this, that to Brutus who struck him severely he said: "Thou, too, my child?"

[-20-] A great outcry naturally arose from all the rest who were inside and who were standing nearby outside at the suddenness of the event and because they were not acquainted with the slayers, their numbers, or their intention; and all were thrown into confusion, believing themselves in danger; so they themselves started in flight by whatever way each man could, and they alarmed those who met them by saying nothing definite, but merely shouting out these words: "Run, bolt doors!

Run, bolt doors!" The rest, taking it up from one another as each one echoed the cries, filled the city with lamentations, and they burst into shops and houses to hide themselves. Yet the a.s.sa.s.sins hurried just as they were to the Forum, indicating both by their gestures and their shouts not to be afraid. At the same time that they said this they called continuously for Cicero: but the crowd did not believe that they were sincere, and was not easily calmed. Late in the day at last they gradually began to take courage and became quiet, as no one was killed or arrested. [-21-] When they met in the a.s.sembly the a.s.sa.s.sins had much to say against Caesar and much in favor of the democracy, and they bade the people take courage and not expect any harm. 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. By speaking such words they calmed the majority, especially since they injured no one. Fearing for all that that somebody might concert measures against them the conspirators ascended the Capitoline with the avowed intention of offering prayer to the G.o.ds, and there they spent the day and night. And at evening they were joined by some of the other prominent men who had not shared in the plot, but were anxious, when they saw the perpetrators praised, to secure the glory of it, as well as the prizes which those concerned expected. With great justice the affair happened to turn out the opposite way: they did not secure any reputation for the deed because they had not been partakers of it in any way, but they shared the danger which fell upon the ones who committed it just as much as if they themselves had been the plotters.

[-22-] Seeing this, Dolabella likewise did not see fit to keep quiet, but entered upon the consular office though it did not yet belong to him, and after a short speech to the people on the situation ascended the Capitol. While affairs were in this condition Lepidus, learning what had taken place, by night occupied the Forum with his soldiers and at dawn delivered a speech against the a.s.sa.s.sins. Antony immediately after Caesar's death had fled, casting away his robe of office in order to escape notice, and had concealed himself through the night. When, however, he ascertained that the a.s.sa.s.sins were on the Capitol and Lepidus in the Forum, he a.s.sembled the senate in the precinct of Tellus and brought forward the business of the hour for deliberation. Some said one thing, some another, as each of them thought about it: Cicero, whose advice they followed, spoke to this effect:--

[-23-] "On every occasion I think no one ought to say anything merely for the sake of winning favor or to show his spite, but to reveal just what the man in each case thinks to be the best. We demand that those who are praetors or consuls shall do everything from upright motives, and if they make any errors we demand an account from them even if their slip was accidental; and it will be unbearable if in debates, where we are complete masters of our own opinion, we shall abandon the common welfare with a view to private advantage. For this reason, Conscript Fathers, I have always thought that I ought to advise you on all matters with simplicity and justice, but especially under the present circ.u.mstances, when, if without being over-captious we come to an agreement, we shall be preserved ourselves and enable all the rest to survive, but if we wish to examine everything minutely, I fear ill fortune--but at the very opening of my address I do not wish to say anything displeasing. [-24-] Formerly, not very long ago, those who had arms usually also got control of the government and consequently issued orders to you as to the subjects on which you must deliberate, but you could not look forward and see what it was proper for them to do. But now practically all conditions are so favorably placed that the matter is in your hands and the responsibility rests upon you; and from your own selves you may obtain either concord and with it liberty, or seditions and civil wars again and a master at the close of them.

Whatever you decide to-day all the rest will follow. This being the state of the case as I see it, I declare that you ought to abandon your mutual enmities or jealousies or whatever name should be applied to them, and return to that ancient condition of peace and friendship and harmony. For you should remember this, if nothing else, that so long as we enjoyed that kind of government, we acquired lands, fortunes, glory and allies, but ever since we were led into abusing one another, so far from growing better we have become decidedly worse off. I am so firmly convinced that nothing else at present could save the city that if we do not to-day, at once, with all possible speed, adopt some policy, we shall never be able to regain our position.

[-25-] "Notice carefully that I am speaking only the truth, of which you may convince yourselves if you regard present conditions and then consider our position in old times. Do you not see what is taking place,--that the populace is again being divided and torn asunder and that, some choosing this side, and some that, they have already fallen into two parties and two camps, that the one side has taken timely possession of the Capitol as if they feared the Gauls or somebody, and the other side with headquarters in the Forum is preparing to besiege them and so behaving like Carthaginians, and not as though they too were Romans? Do you not hear that though formerly citizens often differed, even to the extent of occupying the Aventine once, and the Capitol, and some of them the Sacred Mount, as often as they were reconciled one with another on equal terms (or by yielding but a small point) they at once stopped hating one another, to live the rest of their lives in such peace and harmony that in common they carried through successfully many great wars? As often, on the other hand, as they had recourse to murders and a.s.sa.s.sinations, the one side deceived by the justification of defending themselves against the encroachments of the other, and the other side by an ambition to appear to be inferior to none, no good ever came of it. Why need I waste time by repeating to you, who know them equally well, the names of Valerius, Horatius, Saturninus, Glaucia, the Gracchi? With such examples before you, not of foreign origin but native to this land, do not hesitate to strive after the right course and guard against the wrong. Having from the events of history received a proof of the outcome of the situation on which you are deliberating, regard my exhortation no longer as mere words but believe that the welfare of the community is at stake this instant. Do not for any doubtful theory cast away the certainty of hope, but trusting to a reliable pledge secure in advance a sure result for your calculations.

[-26-] "It is in your power, if you receive this evidence that I mentioned from your own land and your own ancestors, to decide rightly.

And this is why I did not wish to cite instances from abroad, though I might have mentioned countless of them. One instance, nevertheless, I will offer from the best and most ancient city from which our fathers did not disdain to introduce certain laws; for it would be a disgrace for us who so far surpa.s.s the Athenians in strength and sense, to deliberate less well than they. They were once--of course you all know this--at variance, and as a result were overcome in war by the Lacedaemonians and endured a tyranny of the more powerful citizens; and they did not obtain a respite from evils until they made a compact and agreement to forget their past injuries, though many and severe, and never to allow a single reproach because of them or to bear malice against any one. Now when they had attained such a degree of wisdom, they not only ceased enduring tyrannies and seditions, but flourished in every way, regaining their city, laying claim to the sovereignty of the Greeks, and finally becoming powerful enough to decide frequently on the preservation or destruction both of the Lacedaemonians themselves and of the Thebans. Now notice, that if those men who seized Phyle and came home from the Peirseus had chosen to take vengeance on the city party for wrongs suffered, they would, to be sure, have seemed to have performed a justifiable action, but they would have undergone, as well as have caused, many evils. Just as they exceeded their hopes by defeating their foes, they might perhaps themselves have been in turn unexpectedly worsted. [-27-] In such matters there is nothing sure, and one does not necessarily gain the mastery as a result of being strong, but vast numbers who were confident have failed and vast numbers who were looking to defeat somebody have perished before they could strike.

The party that is overreached in any transaction is not bound to be fortunate just because it is wronged, nor is the party which has the greater power bound to be successful just because it surpa.s.ses, but both are equally subservient to human uncertainty and the mutability of fortune, and the issue they secure is often not in accordance with the favorable prognostications of the one side, but proves to be what the other actually dared not expect. As a result of this, and of intense rivalry (for man is strongly given when wronged or believing himself wronged to become beyond measure bold) many are on many occasions inspired to undergo dangers even beyond their strength, with the determination to conquer or at least not to perish utterly without having shed some blood. So it is that partly conquering and partly defeated, sometimes gaining the mastery over others and again falling prostrate themselves, some are altogether annihilated and others gain a Cadmean victory, as it is called, and at a time when the knowledge can avail them nothing they perceive that their plans were ill drawn.

[-28-] "That this is so you also have learned by experience. Consider, Marius for some time had power in seditions; then he was driven out, collected a force, and accomplished what you know. Likewise Sulla--not to speak of Cinna or Strabo or the rest who intervene--influential at first, then subdued, then making himself ruler, authorized every possible terrible severity."

After that Lepidus, evidently with the intention of following in their footsteps, inst.i.tuted a kind of sedition of his own and stirred nearly the whole of Italy. When we at last got rid of him too, remember what we suffered from Sertorius and from the exiles with him. What did Pompey, what did this Caesar himself do?--not to mention here Catiline or Clodius. Did they not at first fight against each other, and that in spite of their relationship, and then fill full of countless evils not only our own city or even the rest of Italy, but practically the entire world? Well, after Pompey's death and that great destruction of the citizens, did any quiet appear? Whence could it? By no means. Africa knows, Spain knows the mult.i.tudes who perished in each of those lands.

What then? Did we have peace after this? How is it possible, when Caesar himself lies slain in this fashion, the Capitol is occupied, all through the Forum arms are seen, and throughout the city fear exists? [-29-] In this way, when men begin a seditious career and seek ever to repay violence with violence and inflict vengeance without care for propriety, without care for human limitations, but according to their desires and the power that arms give them, there necessarily arises in each such case a kind of circle of ills, and alternate requitals of outrages take place. The fortunate party abounds in insolence and sets no limits to the advantage it may take, and the party that is crushed, if it does not perish immediately, rages at the disaster and is eager to take vengeance on the oppressor, until it sate its wrath. Then the remainder of the mult.i.tude, even if it has not been previously involved in the transactions, now through pity of the beaten and envy of the victorious side, cooperates with the former, fearing that it may suffer the same evils as the downtrodden element and hoping that it may win the same success as the force temporarily in the ascendant. Thus the portion of the citizens that is not concerned is brought into the dispute and one cla.s.s takes the evil up against another, through pretence of avenging the side which is for the moment at a disadvantage, as if they were repelling a regular, everyday danger; and individually they free themselves from it, but they ruin the community in every way. [-30-] Do you not see how much time we have lost in fighting one another, how many great evils we have endured meanwhile, and, what is worse than that, inflicted? And who could count the vast ma.s.s of money of which we have stripped our allies and robbed the G.o.ds, which furthermore we have contributed ourselves from what we did not possess, and then expended it against one another? Or who could number the ma.s.s of men that have been lost, not only of ordinary persons (that is beyond computation) but of knights and senators, each one of whom was able in foreign wars to preserve the whole city by his life and death? How many Curtii, how many Decii, Fabii, Gracchi, Marcelli, Scipiones have been killed? Not, by Jupiter, to repel Samnites or Latins or Spaniards or Carthaginians, but only to perish themselves in the end. And for those under arms who died, no matter how deep sorrow one might feel for them, there is less reason to lament. They entered the battles as volunteers, if it is proper to call volunteers men compelled by fear, and they met even if an unjust at least a brave death, in an equal struggle; and in the hope that they might even survive and conquer they fell without grieving. But how might one mourn as they deserve those who were pitiably destroyed in their houses, in the roads, in the Forum, in the senate-chamber even, on the Capitol even, by violence--not only men but also women, not only those in their prime, but also old men and children? And after subjecting one another to so many of these reprisals of such a nature as all our enemies put together never inflicted upon us (nor were we ever the authors of anything similar to them), so far from loathing such acts and manfully wishing to have done with them, we rejoice and hold festivals and term those who are guilty of them benefactors. Honestly, I cannot deem this life that we have been leading human; it is rather that of wild beasts which are consumed by one another.

[-31-] "For what is definitely past, however, why should we lament further? We cannot now prevent its having happened. Let us fix our attention upon the future. That is, indeed, the reason why I have been mentioning former events, not for the purpose of giving a list of national calamities which ought never to have occurred, but that by exhibiting them I might persuade you to preserve at least what is left.

This is the only benefit one can derive from evils,--to guard against ever again enduring anything similar. This is most within your power at the present moment, while the danger is just beginning, while not many have yet united, and those who are unruly have gained no advantage over one another nor suffered any setback, so that by hope of superiority or anger at inferiority they are led to enter danger heedlessly and contrary to their own interests. Still, in this great work you will be successful without undergoing any toil or danger, without spending money or ordering murders, but simply by voting just this, that no malice shall be borne on the part of any. [-32-] Even if any errors have been committed by certain persons, this is not a time to enquire carefully into them, nor to convict, nor to punish. You are not at the moment sitting in judgment over any one, that you should need to search out what is just with absolute accuracy, but you are deliberating about the situation that has arisen and how the excitement may in the safest way be allayed. This is something we could not bring about, unless we should overlook some few things, as we are wont to do in the case of children.

When dealing with them we do not take all matters carefully into account, and many things we of necessity overlook. For venial sins it is not right to chastise them remorselessly, but rather to admonish them gently. And now, since we are not only named fathers of all the people in common, but are in reality such, let us not enter into a discussion of all the fine points, lest we all incur ruin; for anybody could find much fault with Caesar himself so that he would seem to have been justly slain, or again might bring heavy charges against those that killed him, so that they would be thought to deserve punishment. But such action is for men who are anxious to arouse seditions again. It is the task of those who deliberate rightly not to cause their own hurt by meting out exact justice, but to win preservation by a use at the same time of clemency. Accordingly, think of this that has happened as if it had been a kind of hail storm or deluge that had taken place and give it to forgetfulness. Now, if never before, gain a knowledge of one another, since you are countrymen and citizens and relatives, and secure harmony.

[-33-] "Now, that none of you may suspect that I wish to grant any indulgence to Caesar's a.s.sa.s.sins to prevent their paying the penalty, just because I was once a member of Pompey's party, I will state one fact to you. I think that all of you are firmly of the opinion that I have never adopted an att.i.tude of friendship or hostility toward any one for purely personal reasons, but it was always for your sake and for the public freedom and harmony that I hated the one cla.s.s and loved the other. For this reason I will pa.s.s over the rest that might be said, and make merely a brief statement to you. I am so far from doing this that I mentioned and not looking out for the public safety, that I affirm the others, too, should be granted immunity for their high-handed acts, contrary to established law, in Caesar's lifetime, and they ought to keep the honors, offices, and gifts which they received from him, though I am not pleased with some of them. I should not advise you to do or to grant anything further of the kind: but since it has been done, I think you ought not to be troubled overmuch about any of these matters. For what loss so far-reaching could you sustain if A or B holds something that he has obtained outside of just channels and contrary to his deserts as the benefit you could attain by not causing fear or disturbance to men who were formerly of influence?

"This is what I have to say for the present, in the face of pressing need. When feeling has subsided, let us then consider any remaining subjects of discussion."

[-34-] Cicero by the foregoing speech persuaded the senate to vote that no one should bear malice against any one else. While this was being done the a.s.sa.s.sins also promised the soldiers that they would not undo any of Caesar's acts. They perceived that the military was mightily ill at ease for fear it should be deprived of what he had given it, and so they made haste, before the senate reached any decision whatever, to antic.i.p.ate the others' wishes. Next they invited those who were present there down below to come within hearing distance, and conversed with them on matters of importance; as a result of the conference they sent down a letter to the Forum announcing that they would take nothing away from anybody nor do harm in other ways, and that the validity of all acts of Caesar was confirmed. They also urged a state of harmony, binding themselves by the strongest oaths that they would be honest in everything. When, therefore, the decisions of the senate also were made known, the soldiers no longer held to Lepidus nor did the others have any fear of him, but hastened to become reconciled,--chiefly at the instance of Antony,--quite contrary to his intention. Lepidus, making a pretence of vengeance upon Caesar, was anxious to inst.i.tute a revolution and as he had legions at his command he expected that he would succeed to his position as ruler and gain the mastery; these were his motives in endeavoring to further a conflict. Antony, as he perceived his rival's favorable situation and had not himself any force at his back, did not dare to adopt any revolutionary measures for the time being, and furthermore he persuaded Lepidus (to prevent his becoming greater) to bow to the will of the majority. So they came to terms on the conditions that had been voted, but those on the Capitol would not come down till they had secured the son of Lepidus and the son of Antony to treat as hostages; then Brutus descended to Lepidus, to whom he was related, and Ca.s.sius to Antony, being a.s.sured of safety. While dining together they naturally, at such a juncture, discussed a variety of topics and Antony asked Ca.s.sius: "Have you perhaps got some kind of dagger under your arm even now?" To which he answered: "Yes, and a big one, if you too should desire to play the tyrant."

[-35-]This was the way things went at that time. No damage was inflicted or expected, and the majority were glad to be rid of Caesar's rule, some of them even conceiving the idea of casting his body out unburied. The conspirators well pleased did not undertake any further superfluous tasks and were called "liberators" and "tyrranicides." Later his will was read and the people learned that he had made Octavius his son and heir and had left Antony, Decimus, and some of the other a.s.sa.s.sins to be the young man's guardians and inheritors of the property in case it should not come to him, and furthermore that he had directed various bequests to be given to different persons, and to the city the gardens along the Tiber, as well as thirty denarii (according to the record of Octavius himself) or seventy-five according to some others, to each of the citizens. This news caused an upheaval and Antony fanned the flames of their resentment by bringing the body most inconsiderately[112] into the Forum and exposing it covered with blood as it was and with gaping wounds. There he delivered over it a speech, in every way beautiful and brilliant but not suited to the state of the public mind at that time.

His words were about as follows:--

[-36-] "If this man had died as a private citizen, Quirites, and I had happened to be a private citizen, I should not have needed many words nor have rehea.r.s.ed all his achievements, but after making a few remarks about his family, his education, and his character, and possibly mentioning some of his services to the state, I should have been satisfied and should have refrained from becoming wearisome to those not related to him. But since this man has perished while holding the highest position among you and I have received and hold the second, it is requisite that I should deliver a twofold address, one as the man set down as his heir and the other in my capacity as magistrate. I must not omit anything that ought to be said but speak what the whole people would have chanted with one tongue if they could have obtained one voice. I am well aware that it is difficult to hit your precise sentiments. Especially is it no easy task to treat matters of such magnitude,--what speech could equal the greatness of the deeds?--and you, whose minds are insatiable because of the facts that you know already, will not prove lenient judges of my efforts. If the speech were being made among men ignorant of the subject, it would be very easy to content them, for they would be startled by such great deeds: but as the matter stands, through your familiarity with the events, it is inevitable that everything that shall be said will be thought less than the reality. Outsiders, even if through jealousy they should distrust it, yet for that very reason must deem each statement they hear strong enough: but your gathering, influenced by good-will, must inevitably prove impossible to satisfy. You yourselves have profited most by Caesar's virtues and you demand his praises not half-heartedly, as if he were no relation, but out of deep affection as one of your very own. I shall strive therefore to meet your wishes to the fullest extent, and I feel sure that you will not criticise too closely my command of words or conception of the subject, but will, out of your kindness of heart, make up whatever is lacking in that respect.

[-37-] "I shall speak first about his lineage, though not because it is very brilliant. Yet this too has considerable bearing on the nature of excellence, that a man should have become good not through force of circ.u.mstances but by inherent power. Those not born of n.o.ble parents may disguise themselves as honest men but may also some day be convicted of their base origin by innate qualities. Those, however, who possess the seed of honesty, descending through a long line of ancestors, cannot possibly help having an excellence which is of spontaneous growth and permanent. Still, I do not now praise Caesar chiefly because he was sprung from many n.o.ble men of recent times and kings and G.o.ds of ancient days, but because in the first place he was a kinsman of our whole city,--we were founded by the men that were his ancestors,--and secondly because he not only confirmed the renown of his forefathers who were believed by virtue to have attained divinity, but actually increased it; if any person disputed formerly the possibility of Aeneas ever having been born of Venus, he may now believe it. The G.o.ds in past times have been reported as possessing some unworthy children, but no one could deem this man unworthy to have had G.o.ds for his ancestors. Aeneas himself became king, as likewise some of his descendants. This man proved himself so much superior to them that whereas they were monarchs of Lavinium and Alba, he refused to become king of Rome; and whereas they laid the foundation of our city, he raised it to such heights that among other services he established colonies greater than the cities over which they ruled.

[-38-] "Such, then, is the state of his family. That he pa.s.sed through a childhood and education corresponding to the dignity of his n.o.ble birth how could one feel better a.s.sured than by the certain proofs that his deeds afford? When a man possesses conspicuously a body that is most enduring and a soul that is most steadfast in the face of all contingencies alike of peace and war, is it not inevitable that he must have been reared in the best possible way? And I tell you it is difficult for any man surpa.s.singly beautiful to show himself most enduring, and difficult for one who is strong in body to attain greatest prudence, but most difficult of all for the same man to shine both in words and in deeds. Now this man--I speak among men who know the facts, so that I shall not falsify in the least degree, for I should be caught in the very act, nor heap up exaggerated praises, for then I should obtain the opposite results of what I wish. If I do anything of the kind, I shall be suspected with the utmost justice of braggadocio, and it will be thought that I am making his excellence less than the reputation which already exists in your own minds. Every utterance delivered under such conditions, in case it admits even the smallest amount of falsehood, not only bestows no praise on its subject but defeats its own ends. The knowledge of the hearers, not agreeing with the fict.i.tious declaration, takes refuge in truth, where it quickly finds satisfaction and learns as well what the statement ought to have been; and then, comparing the two, detects the difference. Stating only the truth, therefore, I affirm that this Caesar was at the same time most able in body and most amiable in spirit. He enjoyed a wonderful natural talent and had been scrupulously trained in every kind of education, which always enabled him (not unnaturally) to comprehend everything that was needed with the greatest keenness, to interpret the need most plausibly, and to arrange and administer matters most prudently. No shifting of a favorable situation could come upon him so suddenly as to catch him off his guard, nor did a secret delay, no matter how long the postponement, escape his notice. He decided always with regard to every crisis before he came in contact with it, and was prepared beforehand for every contingency that could happen to him. He understood well how to discern sharply what was concealed, to dissimulate what was evident in such a way as to inspire confidence, to pretend to know what was obscure, to conceal what he knew, to adapt occasions to one another and to give an account of them, and furthermore to accomplish and cover successfully in detail the ground of every enterprise. [-39-] A proof of this is that in his private affairs he showed himself at once an excellent manager and very liberal, being careful to keep permanently what he inherited, but lavish in spending with an unsparing hand what he gained, and for all his relatives, except the most impious, he possessed a strong affection. He did not neglect any of them in misfortune, nor did he envy them in good fortune, but he helped the latter to increase their previous property and made up the deficiencies for the former, giving some money, some lands, some offices, some priesthoods. Again, he was wonderfully attached to his friends and other a.s.sociates. He never scorned or insulted any one of them, but while courteous to all alike he rewarded many times over those who a.s.sisted him in any project and won the devotion of the rest by benefits, not bowing to any one of brilliant position, nor humiliating any one who was bettering himself, but as if he himself were being exalted through all their successes and acquiring strength and adornment he took delight in making the largest number equal with himself. While he behaved thus toward his friends and acquaintances, he did not show himself cruel or inexorable even to his enemies, but many of those who had come into collision with him personally he let off scotfree, and many who had actually made war against him he released, giving some of them honors and offices. To this degree was he in every way inclined to right conduct, and not only had no baseness in his own making, but would not believe that it was found in anybody else.

[-40-] "Since I have reached these statements, I will begin to speak about his public services. If he had lived a quiet existence, perhaps his excellence would never have come to light; but as it was, by being raised to the highest position and becoming the greatest not only of his contemporaries but of all the rest who had ever wielded any influence, he displayed it more conspicuously. For nearly all his predecessors this supreme authority had served only to reveal their defects, but him it made more luminous: through the greatness of his excellence he undertook correspondingly great deeds, and was found to be a match for them; he alone of men after obtaining for himself so great good fortune as a result of true worth neither disgraced it nor treated it wantonly. The brilliant successes which he regularly achieved on his campaigns and the highmindedness he showed in everyday duties I shall pa.s.s over, although they are so great that for any other man they would const.i.tute sufficient praise: but in view of the distinction of his subsequent deeds, I shall seem to be dealing with small matters, if I rehea.r.s.e them all with exactness. I shall only mention his achievements while ruling over you. Even all of these, however, I shall not relate with minute scrupulousness. I could not possibly give them adequate treatment, and I should cause you excessive weariness, particularly since you already know them.