Etsi tradiderunt quidam Marco Bruto irruenti dixisse
[Greek: kai su ei ekeinon kai su teknon]"--_Julius Caesar_, 82.
[26] "Cruentum alte extollens Marcus Brutus pugionem, Ciceronem
nominatim exclamavit atque ei recuperatam libertatem est
gratulatus."--_Philippic ii_. 12.
CHAPTER XXVII.
[Sidenote: March 16, B.C. 44.]
The tyrannicides, as the murderers of Caesar called themselves, had
expected that the Roman mob would be caught by the cry of liberty, and
would hail them as the deliverers of their country. They found that the
people did not respond as they had anticipated. The city was stunned. The
Forum was empty. The gladiators, whom they had secreted in the Temple,
broke out and plundered the unprotected booths. A dead and ominous silence
prevailed everywhere. At length a few citizens collected in knots. Brutus
spoke, and Cassius spoke. They extolled their old constitution. They said
that Caesar had overthrown it; that they had slain him, not from private
hatred or private interest, but to restore the liberties of Rome. The
audience was dead and cold. No answering shouts came back to reassure
them. The citizens could not forget that these men who spoke so fairly had
a few days before fawned on Caesar as the saviour of the Empire, and, as
if human honors were too little, had voted a temple to him as a god.
Pages:
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642