No stronger evidence is needed of the
demoralization of the Roman Senate than the completeness with which they
were able to disguise from themselves the baseness of their treachery. One
man only they were able to attract into co-operation who had a reputation
for honesty, and could be conceived, without absurdity, to be animated by
a disinterested purpose.
Marcus Brutus was the son of Cato's sister Servilia, the friend, and a
scandal said the mistress, of Caesar. That he was Caesar's son was not too
absurd for the credulity of Roman drawing-rooms. Brutus himself could not
have believed in the existence of such a relation, for he was deeply
attached to his mother; and although, under the influence of his uncle
Cato, he had taken the Senate's side in the war, he had accepted afterward
not pardon only from Caesar, but favors of many kinds, for which he had
professed, and probably felt, some real gratitude. He had married Cato's
daughter Portia, and on Cato's death had published a eulogy upon him.
Caesar left him free to think and write what he pleased. He had made him
praetor; he had nominated him to the governorship of Macedonia. Brutus was
perhaps the only member of the senatorial party in whom Caesar felt
genuine confidence. His known integrity, and Caesar's acknowledged regard
for him, made his accession to the conspiracy an object of particular
importance.
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