"
LUCRETIUS, lib. iii. 11. 842-854.
[18] In the following century when Caesar's life had become mythic, a
story was current that when Caesar was speaking on this occasion a
note was brought in to him, and Cato, suspecting that it referred to
the conspiracy, insisted that it should be read. Caesar handed it to
Cato, and it proved to be a love letter from Cato's sister, Servilia,
the mother of Brutus. More will be said of the supposed liaison
between Caesar and Servilia hereafter. For the present it is enough to
say that there is no contemporary evidence for the story at all; and
that if it be true that a note of some kind from Servilia was given to
Caesar, it is more consistent with probability and the other
circumstances of the case, that it was an innocent note of business.
Ladies do not send in compromising letters to their lovers when they
are on their feet in Parliament; nor, if such an accident should
happen, do the lovers pass them over to be read by the ladies'
brothers.
[19] "Victrix causa Deis placuit, sed victa Catoni."--LUCAN.
CHAPTER XII.
[Sidenote: B.C. 62.]
The execution of Lentulus and Cethegus was received in Rome with the
feeling which Caesar had anticipated. There was no active sympathy with
the conspiracy, but the conspiracy was forgotten in indignation at the
lawless action of the consul and the Senate.
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