He then goes on to give authority for the use of sustinere, which he wishes to be restored, and finally remarks :

'You see how much more interest I take in the exact meaning of inhibere than in the political news, than in the career of Pollio, Pansa, or Critonius, and, certainly, than in the news about Metellus and Balbinus.'

Caesar could forgive his enemies, especially those who used against him only the sword and not the pen. But his clemency was not always based on the noblest motives. He left the learned Nigidius Figulus to die in foreign exile, while he permitted the return, at least to Sicily, of the contemptible Caecina, who purchased his pardon by his Whines' (liber Querelarum he calls it himself), in which he sounded the lowest note of self-abasement and adulation. And Caesar's clemency has been much exaggerated by writers like Froude. Gaul was the scene of terrible acts of retribution. He executed the whole Senate of the Veneti; he permitted what was almost a massacre of the Usipetes and Tencteri; he flogged Gutruatus to death, and cut the right hands off all the brave men whose only crime was that they held to the last against him their town Uxellodunum. Indeed, he seems to have had very few scruples when the interest of the dominant race clashed with those of the subject peoples. It is amazing that he seems to have completely failed to recognize the nobleness of Vercingetorix. Bacon, in his Essay on Revenge, quotes the desperate saying of Cosmus, Duke of Florence, against perfidious or

1 B. G. iii. 16; iv 15; viii. 38, 44. Pliny (H. N. vii. 92) [cp. Plutarch Caes. 15 fin.] says that Caesar acknowledged himself that he had killed in battle 1,192,000, exclusive of those who fell in the Civil Wars, and Pliny adds non equidem in gloria posuerim tantam etiam coactam humani generis iniuriam. Dr. Arnold (op. cit. ii. 110) says in reference to this passage: We may judge what credit ought to be given him [Caesar] for his clemency in not opening lists of proscription after his sword had already cut off his principal adversaries, and had levelled their party with the dust': cp. p. 63, The security of his government could not be ensured by massacres, when everyone seemed ready to submit to his power.' There is a great deal in this; but one must, in our opinion, concede to Caesar that he conducted the Civil Wars with much greater clemency than might have been, and indeed was, expected, while his opponents were still very strong. His doing so was self-interest perhaps, but it was a new and lofty form of self-interest in his own fine words Haec nova sit ratio vincendi ut misericordia et liberalitate nos muniamus Att. ix. 7 C. 3 (347): cp. ix. 16. 1, 2 (374) and Marcell. 12.

neglecting friends,' that though we are commanded to forgive our enemies, it is nowhere enjoined on us to forgive our friends. Cicero, as we have seen, could pardon even his friends. When his black guard kinsman,' young Quintus, had grace enough to tell him that he felt keenly the estrangement between himself and his uncle, Atticus, Cicero replied (681. 1) at once with exquisite kindness, Why then do you permit the estrangement to exist?'— adding, I used the word pateris in preference to committis,' which would have meant, Why do you bring on yourself his anger? and which indeed would have been none too hard. At the beginning of the epoch which we have been considering, in April, 46, Cicero wrote to his learned friend Varro,' words which nearly sum up his view of the way in which men, such as they were, should get through the troublous times on which they had fallen:

6

6

Be it ours to adhere firmly to a life of study, a practice once essential to my happiness, but now essential to my existence; to be ready to come, ay and eager to run, to help in building up the constitution, if called to that task, whether as master-builder or even only as common workman; if not wanted, to write and read about the science of politics, and from our study, if the Senate and Forum are closed to us, to do our best in our writings and books to guide the destinies of the State, and to pursue our inquiries on morals and legislation.'

1 Fam. ix, 2. 5 (461).

II-ANTONY SUCCEEDS CAESAR.'

It was about half-past eleven o'clock on the Ides of March when Caesar fell dead. The suddenness and unexpected nature of the event struck with panic those senators who were not in the conspiracy, and they fled so that when Brutus turned to justify his deed, as he had no doubt arranged, he found no one to address. Accordingly, the conspirators proceeded out from the Senate House brandishing their daggers, carrying aloft a pilleus, the symbol of liberty, and, as is stated, many times calling on the name of Cicero as on one whose devotion to the free State and whose high character assured them that he would approve their action. But outside all was confusion, everyone trying to fly, as they did not know what was going to happen next. Brutus attempted to speak, but failed. With the escort of some gladiators whom Decimus Brutus had hired for the games that were in progress, they made their way to the Capitol, ostensibly to return thanks to the gods for the success of their enterprise. There they fortified themselves, and thence sent messengers to some of the more prominent Republicans whom they had not indeed enrolled. among themselves to take actual part in the deed, but on whose sympathy they could rely. Cicero was no doubt one of these."

1 Cp. 712. 2 vivit tyrannis, tyrannus occidit, cp. 719. 2; 728. 3 Quis enim non vidit regni heredem relictum? Also 718. 6; 723. 1; 724. 6; Dio Cass. xliv. 53. 5 (Αντώνιος) αὐτὸς δ ̓ ὡς καὶ κληρονόμος οὐ μόνον τῆς οὐσίας ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς δυναστείας τοῦ Καίσαρος ὢν πάντα διεχείριζε; xΙν. 41. 43 πρὸς τὴν διαδοχὴν τῆς δυναστείας αὐτοῦ (Καίσαρος) ἐπειγόμενος; Appian iii. 15 τῆς τυραννίδος διάδοχον; Plut. Brut. 21 ̓Αντωνίου σχεδὸν εἰς μοναρχίαν καθισταμένου.

2 The narrative of events immediately following the murder is found in Dio Cass. xliv. 20 ff.; Appian Bell. Civ. ii. 118 ff.; Plut. Brut. 18; Nic. Dam. 25 ff. A wellknown coin of Brutus represents on the obverse a 'pilleus' between two daggers and underneath EID MAR. But these coins were not struck until two years later (Dio xlvii. 25. 3.). See Eckhel, vi. 24.

3 We do not believe that Cicero was present in the Senate at the time of the assassination; for we should probably have heard more from him of the exciting scene if such had been the case. The passage (719. 4) Quid mihi attulerit ista domini mutatio praeter laetitiam quam oculis cepi iusto interitu tyranni, may mean that he actually gazed on Caesar's corpse, or it may imply no more than that he saw the whole altered state of things at Rome which resulted from the death of Caesar.

He would appear to have already received a note from L. Minucius Basilus, one of the actual participants, telling of the assassination; and the little note Fam. vi. 15 (699) is probably, but by no means certainly, an excited acknowledgment of the bewildering news.

Arrived at the Capitol, the conspirators had time to think; and to realize with some dismay that they had not considered what they would do next when their victim had been sacrificed. Many senators and other constitutionalists repaired to the Capitol in the early afternoon, and a long and anxious deliberation began. There was no doubt at all that the essential thing to do was to summon the Senate: the question was, who was to summon it? Should it be the proper authority to do so, the surviving consul, Antony? They might reasonably reflect that he was not by any means so opposed to them and their deed as he afterwards showed himself to be. He had only recently been reconciled to Caesar, who had not approved of his vigorous action against the democratical party in 47, and had not, prior to his return from Spain in the late summer of 45, received him back into favour. Antony had no doubt grown in years and in prudence, and Caesar may have seen no stronger and more trustworthy man to leave at Rome to manage affairs while he himself was absent on the Parthian War. But Antony was plainly not absolutely devoted to Caesar; for he knew of the plot, and does not appear to have given1 Caesar the information which he could have given. Cicero, who naturally disapproved of and distrusted Antony (hardly any two men could have been more opposite to one another), urged vigorous measures. The two praetors, Brutus and Cassius, who had been leaders of the conspiracy, should take upon themselves the duty of the suspected consul, and summon the Senate to deliberation and the people to arms (713. 1; 744. 2).

This would have been the wise course, but it was not adopted. After long deliberation, it was decided that Antony should be asked to come to the Capitol, and discuss with the liberators as to the restoration and defence of the Republic. Their making this suggestion was a guarantee that Antony should not lose any of the honours which he had obtained from

1 Cicero (Phil. ii 34) says it was notorious that Trebonius had sounded Antony on the point at Narbo during the previous summer: cp. Plut. Ant. 13.

Caesar. This appeal to the consul was the legal and constitutional course; but Cicero still disapproved, and refused to take any part in the deputation to Antony. It was evening when the deputation reached Antony's home. He must have been during all that afternoon in sore perplexity. When the murder had been perpetrated, he cast away the insignia of his office and hastened homeward. Of the Caesareans no one except Lepidus came to his house that afternoon. Hirtius was in the city, and

conferred with Antony later; but the other prominent Caesareans, Balbus, Oppius, Pausa, Calenus, and Sallust, did not appear at all upon that fatal day. The fact that Lepidus alone came must have made Antony uncertain as to the extent of the conspiracy-so well was the secret kept; and when he found out on the arrival of the deputation that the conspiracy embraced in large numbers Caesareans as well as Pompeians, he must have feared that the request to come to the Capitol was a ruse on the part of the conspirators, and that, once arrived there, Caesar's colleague in the consulship would share his fate. He may have thought, too, that they had their plans well considered, that they were full of resolution and vigour, and that, if he refused their proposal straight off, they would speedily come and make an end of him. So delay seemed his best chance. Accordingly he asked for a day to consider his position; and, probably to his great surprise, the deputation agreed to this request.

We can imagine the thrill of joy and hope that Antony must have felt when his request was granted and the deputation withdrew. Once he and Lepidus were again alone, with all the additional knowledge they had obtained from the interview, they quickly formed their resolutions. Resistance must be made. They would appeal to the people and to the soldiers against the conspirators. The heads of the collegia would organize the populace; and Caesar's veterans would quickly unite to revenge their murdered commander. Lepidus, too, had some small military contingent at hand which he was going to lead to his province of Narbonensis. They would form a nucleus round which the

1 Phil. ii. 89. He attributed the adoption of this course not to Decimus and Marcus Brutus, but to those other dullards (aliorum brutorum) among the constitutionalists who called their lack of enterprise prudence and wisdom (719. 2).