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he had not besere pardoned, to return into Italy, and admit ted them to a capaci ty of bearing ossices both civit anilmilitary. Ηe even erected again the statues of Sylla and Pompey, which had been thrown down by the populuce. And any machinations against hina, or reflections uponhim, he cho se rather to pux a stop to, than punish. Ac- cordingly, With regarit to any conspiracies against hi mvrhich were discovered, or nightly cabals , he went nosti ther than to intimate by a proclamation that he kne of them ; and sis to thos e who indulged thenaseives in the liberty of reflecting severely upon him, he only warn-ed them in a public speecla not to persist in their obloquy. He bore Mili great moderation a virulent libclwritten against hina by Aulus Caecinna, and the abusive lampo Ons of Pitholaiis, most highly reflecting on his re,
putation. LXXVI. His other actions and declarations, howOVO
milli regard to the public, so far out eigh ali his good qualities, that it is thought he abused his pomer, and was justly cui oss. For he not only accepted of eXCesia sive honors, as the Consulmip every year successively, the Dictator sti ip for life , and the Superintendency of the
public manners, but likewis e the titie of Imperator, and the Father of his country, besides a statue amongs f the Lings, and a throne in the place allotted to the Senatorsin the theatre. He even sumered some things to he decreed for him, that were uniuitable to the greatest of human kiud ; such as a goiden chair in the Senate-house, and upon the bench when lae sat for the triat os caua es, a stately chariol in the Circensi an procession, temples, altars, images near the Gods, a bed os state in the temples, a peculiar priest, and a college of pri estis, like those ap- Potnted in honor of Pan, and that one of the monilis
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should be called by his name. He 1iadeed both assumedio himself, and granted to others, every hind of distinctiori at plealare. In his third and fourtii Consulitiis, he had only the titie of the ossice, being content with thepower os Dictator, Malch was conferred upon him atthe sanae time ; and in both years he substituted other Consuls in his room, during the three last monilis; so that in the intervals he held no assem biles of the people, fortite election os magistrates, excepting only Tribunes and
AEdiles of the commons ; and appo inted ossicers, under the name of Praesedis, instead of the Praetors, to administer me assairs of the city during his absence. The honor of the Consul ip, which had just hecome vacant by the sudden death of one of the Consuis, he instantly conferred, the day bes ore the fit st of January, upon a person who requested it of him, for a sew houi s. With
stant iis age of his country, he nominated the magistrates for severat years to come . He granted the insignia os the Consular dignity to ten persoris of Praetorian rank. He called up into the Senate seme who had been madefree of the City, and even natives of Gaul, who were Iitile beller than barbarians. He likewise appo inted tothe management of the mini, and the public revenue of the state, sonae of his own servants ; and entrusted the command of three legions, which he lesit at Alexandria, to an old calamite of his, the son of his Deed-man Ru
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most invincibie odium, was his receiving the whole bodyof the Senate sitiing, when they came to wait upon himbes ore the temple of Venus GenitriX, with many honorabie decrees in his favor. Some say, as he attempted torise, he was held down by Corn. Balbus. Others say, he did not attempt it at all, but looked semewhat disia pleased at C. Trebatius, who put him in minit os standingup. This bellaviour appeared the more intolerable in him, hecause, when one of the Tribunes of the commons, Pontius Aquila, would not rise up to him, as in his triumph he passed by the place where they sat, he was somuch omen led, that he cried oui, Weli then, master Tribune, ta ke the govertament out of my hands. V Andfor sonae days aster, he never promised a favor to any Person, without this proviso, is Pontius Aquila willet liqw of it. LXXIX. To this extraordinary a Tront iapon the Se
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round it, and the Tribunes of the commons, Epid iis Marullus, and Caesetius Flavus, ordei ed the ribbon to butaken away, and the man to be carried to prison ; being much concerned either that the mention of his ad vance-ment to regat power had been so unluckily made, or, ashe pretended, that the glory of refusing it had been thusta ken stom him, he reprimanded the Tribunes very severely, and dismissed them both frona their ossice. From
name is Caesar, not Κing. V And at the feast of the Lupercalia when the Coni ut Anthoni in the Rostra piat acrown upon his head severat times, he as osten put ita way, and sent it into the Capitol to Jupiter. A reportv as CXtremely current, that he had a desigia os removingio Alexandria or Ilium, wl ther he pro possed to transfer the strength of the empire, to dra in Italy by new levies, and to leave the goverriment of the city to be ad minita tered by his frientis. To this repori it was added, that in the neXt me ting of the Senate, L. Cotta, one of the fifteen commissioners entrusi ed with the care of the ' Si
The Lupercalia was a festivat, celebrated in a placecalled Lupercal, in the monili os February, in honor of Pan. During the solemnity, the Luperci, or priests of that God, ran Up and down the city nahed, with only a girdie of goat 'sia in round their wais , and thongs of the fame in thei rhands ; with whicli they Iriicii thos e they met, particularlymArried women, Who were thetice supposed to be rendered prolisi C.' The origin of these celebrated books is sald to have
been as follo in s. A certain woman, nam ed Amalthpea, Came
om a foreigu country to Tarquinius Superbus, Wishing to
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bylys books, would mahe a motion in the house, that asthere was in thos e books a prophecy, that the Parthiatis seli ni ne books of Sibylline or prophetic oracles. Upon
Tarquin's refusal to give her the price whicli sae aled, saewent away and burni three of them; returning soon after, and demanding the sanae price for the remaining si X. Bein gnoru ridiculed by the king, as a sensetesse old woman, stiewent, and burni other three; and coming bach, demanded, as before, the sanae price for the three whicli remat ned. Tarquin, sui prised at the strange conduct of the woman, consulted the Augura what he stiould do. They, regrettingthe losse of the books which had been destroyed, advised the Ling to give the price required. The woman theres ore de- livered the books, and having destred them to be caret utly hepi, dis appeared. Tarquin committed the care of thoi ebooks to two men os illustrious birili, 'One of Whom, prov-
ordering him to be sewed up alive in a sack, and thrown into the sea ; the mode os punissiment afterwards inflicted ut onparricides. The number of persons appotnted to the care ofiliose oracles was increassed, at different times, to ten, iiDteen, and by Julius Caesar to si xteen. The Sibyllane bookswere supposed to contain the fate of the Roman goversament, and therefore, iapon occasions os public qanger orcalamity, the Leepers were frequently ordered by the Senateto consuli tho se oracular productions. They were deposit-ed in a sto ne chest, under ground, in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus ; but the Capitol being buriat in the time of the Marsic War, the Sibylline books perimed with it. To sup ply this lossi, we are informed by Tacitus that ambas adorswere sent every where to collest the oracles of the Sibyls; for there were other women of this denomination bestides Amalthaea who Came to Tarquin . One of them, the Erythraean Sibyl, Cicero telis us, hi sed to ut ter her oracles Nilli
sucii ambigui ty, that whatever happened, sae might seem toliave predicted it.
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that titie conferre t upon him. LXXX. Thirs was the rea n why the conspiratorsagainst his life precipitate i the eXecution of their desigia, test they should be obliged to comply with the propos al. Instead theres ore of caballing any longer separalely, in Gali parties, they now united their counseis ; the peoplethemselves being dissatisfied with the present state os a LDirs, both privately and publicly condemning the tyranny under whicli they labored, and calling out forseme patriois to asseri their Cause against the usurper. Upon the admission os foreigners into the Senate,' abillet was posted up in these words: A good deed: that no one sinould shew a new Senator the way to thehouse.'' These verses mere likewise currently repeated :
Gallos Caesar in triumphum ducit: iidem in curia' Galli braccas deposuerunt, latum clavum sumpserunt. The vanquisii 'd Gauis, triumphant Dom distrest, Have chang'd their braccae for Patrician drest.
for the last three monilis of his Consul si1ip, entered thetheatre, and his ossicer, according to custom, bid thepeopte tahe notice who was Coming, they ali ci ted o ut, He is no Consul. V Aster the removes of Caesetius and Marullus froin their ossice, they were found to have a great many votes at the neXt election of Consul s. Some wro te under the statue of L. Brutus, Would you were alive J V and under the statue os Caesar himself these lines:
Brutus, quia reges eiecit, Consul primus factus est: Hic, quia Consules ejecit, rex postremo iactus est. Brutu*ν
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Above siYty persons Were engaged in the conspiracyagainst him, the clites of whom were C. Cassius, M. and Decimus Brutus. It was at first debated amongst them, whether they should attach him in the Field of Mars, as he was summon ing the tribes to vote, and me of themshould throw him Osf the bridge, whilst others should beready to stab him upon his fati ; or else in the Sacred
Way, or in the entrance of the theatre. But aliter public notice was given by proclamation sor the Senate toasiemble upon the Ides of Marcii, in the Senate-hous
bulli by Pompey, they approved both of the time and place, as most proper for their Pui pose. LXXXI. Caesar had warning given him of his fato by severat plain prodigies. A few monilis bufore, whens me of the colony setiled, by virtve of a law proposed by himself, at Capua, were demolis hing me old sepul-clires, for the buit ling of country-houses, and were themore eager in that work, because they discovered sontevesseis of antique workmans hip; a table of brass was found in a tonab, in whicli Capys the founder of Capua was salil to he buried, with an inscription in the Greela language to this essedi Whenever the bones of Capys Come to be discovered, a descendent of Julus will be salia by the han is of his relatioris, and his death revenged bydreadfui devastations throughout Italy. Lest any person sinould regarit this anecdote as a fabulo us sit ory, it Was Circula ted opon the authori ty of C. Balbus, an intimate friend of Caesar's. A few days like vise bes ore his death, me hors es, which, upon his passing the Rubi
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con, he had consecrated, and lpi loose to grage withoiit any keeper, he was informed, absta ined entii ely Domeat ing, and wept copio asty . The so oth-sayer Spurinna,iapon the credit of me ominous appearances in a sacri
was tu nablino: down, and her lius baiad shabbed in her bo-sem ; immediately upon whicli the chamber-doors se Open. On account not only of these omens, biu hi bad state of health, he was in sonae doubt whether heshould not kecp at home, and delay to sonae other timethe bus1ness which he intended to propos e to the Senate ;but Decimus Brutus ad vising him not to dis appotiat ille Senators who were mei in a fuli house, and waited his Coming, he was prevalled upon to go, and accordinglys et forward about five o'cloch. In his way, there Wasput into his hands a paper, containing an account of the
with standing victim aster victim was flain, without any favorabie appea rances in the en traiis, he, dis regarilingali iliose admonitions, entered the house, laughing at Spurinna as a false prophet, because the Ides of March were come, Vithout any misclites having b fallen him. Towhicli the so oth sayer replieri They are Come, indeed, but not past.'
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LXXXII. When he had sat down, the conspira torsgathered ahout hi in under Color of paying their compli ments : and immedia tely Cimber Tullius, Who had en-gaged to begin the onset, advancing nearer than the rest, as is he had sonac favor to reque si of him, Caesar madesigns to him to defer it to sonae other time. The formerim mediately seired hi in by the toga, opon both shoulders ;
them too, thou, my son ' i' ' The conspirators dispersing
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them lues upon the perpetration of the act , he lay sors ome time after he was dea d, untii three of his faves putthe body into a chair, and carried it home, with one of the chair-potes hanging lower than the rest, for want ofa foui th man to bear it. Amongs many wounds, there was none mortal, in the opinion of the surgeon Antistius, but the second, which he received in tho breast. The conspirators Once intended to drag his body, after they had hilled him, into the Tiber, to confiscate his estate, and cancel ait the acts of his administration ; but Dom scar of M. Antony, and Lepidus, Master of the horse to Caesaras Dictator, they relinquished the dessign. LXXXIII. At the instance of L. Piso his sather-in-law, his mill was opened and read in M. Antony's house, which he had made on the Ides of the preceding Septem
mitted to the custody of the oldest of the Vestat Virgins. Tubero insornas us, that in ali his wilis, made Domthe time of his fir9: Consul stlip to the breahing out of the civit war, Cn. Pompey was his heir, and the fame was noti fied in a public manner to the army. But in his last, he named three heirs, the grand iis of his sisters; C. Oc-
an acknowledgement to that purpose, at the moment of his death. Exclusive of this objection, the apostrophe seemstoo verbose, both for the fuddennesi and celerity of the occasion. But this is not all. Can we suppose that Caesar, though a perfect master of the Gree k, would at fuch a time have expressed liimself in that langu age, rather than the
Latin, his familiar longue, and in Ghich he spolie with peculiar elegance ρ Upon the whole, the probability is, that
the words ultered by Caesar were, Et tu Brufe s whicli, while equalty expressive os astonissiment with the other, and evenos tenderness, are both more naturat, and more emphatic. tavius