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Froude, James Anthony, 1818-1894

"Caesar: a Sketch"

So
he pardoned and advanced Marcus Brutus, his friend Servilia's son, who had
fought against him at Pharsalia, and had been saved from death there by
his special orders. So he pardoned and protected Cicero; so Marcus
Marcellus, who, as consul, had moved that he should be recalled from his
government, and had flogged the citizen of Como, in scorn of the
privileges which Caesar had granted to the colony. So he pardoned also
Quintus Ligarius,[2] who had betrayed his confidence in Africa; so a
hundred others, who now submitted, accepted his favors, and bound
themselves to plot against him no more. To the widows and children of
those who had fallen in the war he restored the estates and honors of
their families. Finally, as some were still sullen, and refused to sue for
a forgiveness which might imply an acknowledgment of guilt, he renewed the
general amnesty of the previous year; and, as a last evidence that his
victory was not the triumph of democracy, but the consolidation of a
united Empire, he restored the statues of Sylla and Pompey, which had been
thrown down in the revolution, and again dedicated them with a public
ceremonial.
Having thus proved that, so far as he was concerned, he nourished no
resentment against the persons of the optimates, or against their
principles, so far as they were consistent with the future welfare of the
Roman State, Caesar set himself again to the reorganization of the
administration.


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