Caesar had been urged by letter
to take part in the movement, and he may have hurried home either to
examine the prospects of success or perhaps to prevent an attempt which,
under the circumstances, he might think criminal and useless. Lepidus was
not a wise man, though he may have been an honest one. The aristocracy had
not yet proved that they were incapable of reform. It might be that they
would digest their lesson after all, and that for a generation to come no
more revolutions would be necessary.
[Sidenote: B.C. 77. Caesar aet. 23.]
Caesar at all events declined to connect himself with this new adventure.
He came to Rome, looked at what was going on, and refused to have anything
to do with it. The experiment was tried without him. Young Cinna, his
brother-in-law, joined Lepidus. Together they raised a force in Etruria,
and marched on Rome. They made their way into the city, but were met in
the Campus Martius by Pompey and other consul, Catulus, at the head of
some of Sylla's old troops; and an abortive enterprise, which, if it had
succeeded, would probably have been mischievous, was ended almost as soon
as it began. The two leaders escaped. Cinna joined Sertorius in Spain.
Lepidus made his way to Sardinia, where in the next year he died, leaving
a son to play the game of democracy under more brilliant auspices.
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