He spoke with respect of Silanus.
He did not suppose him to be influenced by feelings of party animosity.
Silanus had recommended the execution of the prisoners, either because he
thought their lives incompatible with the safety of the State, or because
no milder punishment seemed adequate to the enormity of their conduct. But
the safety of the State, he said, with a compliment to Cicero, had been
sufficiently provided for by the diligence of the consul. As to
punishment, none could be too severe; but with that remarkable adherence
to _fact_, which always distinguished Caesar, that repudiation of
illusion and sincere utterance of his real belief, whatever that might be,
he contended that death was not a punishment at all. Death was the end of
human suffering. In the grave there was neither joy nor sorrow. When a man
was dead he ceased to be.[17]He became as he had been before he was born.
Probably almost every one in the Senate thought like Caesar on this
subject. Cicero certainly did. The only difference was that plausible
statesmen affected a respect for the popular superstition, and pretended
to believe what they did not believe. Caesar spoke his convictions out.
There was no longer any solemnity in an execution. It was merely the
removal out of the way of troublesome persons; and convenient as such a
method might be, it was of graver consequence that the Senate of Rome, the
guardians of the law, should not set an example of violating the law.
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