But the humor of conciliation and the theory of "the atoning sacrifice"
had caught the Senate. Caesar had done great things for his country. It
would please the army that he should have an honorable sepulture.
[Sidenote: March, B.C. 44.]
If they had refused, the result would not have been greatly different.
Sooner or later, when the stunning effects of the shock had passed off,
the murder must have appeared to Rome and Italy in its true colors. The
optimates talked of the Constitution. The Constitution in their hands had
been a parody of liberty. Caesar's political life had been spent in
wresting from them the powers which they had abused. Caesar had punished
the oppressors of the provinces. Caesar had forced the nobles to give the
people a share of the public lands. Caesar had opened the doors of
citizenship to the libertini, the distant colonists, and the provincials.
It was for this that the Senate hated him. For this they had fought
against him; for this they murdered him. No Roman had ever served his
country better in peace or war, and thus he had been rewarded.
Such thoughts were already working in tens of thousands of breasts. A
feeling of resentment was fast rising, with as yet no certain purpose
before it. In this mood the funeral could not fail to lead to some fierce
explosion. For this reason Antony had pressed for it, and the Senate had
given their consent.
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