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Plutarch |
Plutarch (A.D.
46?–c.A.D. 120). Plutarch’s Lives.
Vol. 12, pp. 315-321 of
The Harvard Classics
(Ides of March,
March 15.)
Twice warned of the
danger that threatened him on the Ides of March, although "the
earth rocked and the stars fell and headless men walked in the
Forum," Cæsar goes to the doom awaiting him in the Senate
Chamber.
Fate, however, is to all appearances
more unavoidable than unexpected. For many strange prodigies and
apparitions are said to have been observed shortly before the event.
As to the lights in the heavens, the noises heard in the night, and
the wild birds which perched in the forum, these are not perhaps
worth taking notice of in so great a case as this. Strabo, the
philosopher, tells us that a number of men were seen, looking as if
they were heated through with fire, contending with each other; that
a quantity of flame issued from the hand of a soldier’s servant, so
that they who saw it thought he must burnt, but that after all he had
no hurt. As Cæsar was sacrificing, the victim’s heart was missing,
a very bad omen, because no living creature can subsist without a
heart. One finds it also related by many, that a soothsayer bade him
prepare for some great danger on the ides of March. When the day was
come, Cæsar, as he went to the senate, met this soothsayer, and said
to him by way of raillery, “The ides of March are come;” who
answered him calmly. “Yes, they are come, but they are not past.”
The day before this assassination, he supped with Marcus Lepidus; and
as he was signing some letters, according to his custom, as he
reclined at table, there arose a question what sort of death was the
best. At which he immediately, before any one could speak, said, “A
sudden one.”
After this, as he was in bed with his
wife, all the doors and windows of the house flew open together; he
was startled at the noise, and the light which broke into the room,
and sat up in hie bed, where by the moonshine he perceived Calpurnia
fast asleep, but heard her utter in her dream some indistinct words
and inarticulate groans. She fancied at that time she was weeping
over Cæsar, and holding him butchered in her arms. Others say this
was not her dream, but that she dreamed that a pinnacle which the
senate, as Livy relates, had ordered to be raised on Cæsar’s house
by way of ornament and grandeur, was tumbling down, which was the
occasion of her tears and ejaculations. When it was day, she begged
of Cæsar, if it were possible, not to stir out, but to adjourn the
senate to another time; and if he slighted her dreams, that he would
be pleased to consult his fate by sacrifices, and other kinds of
divination. Nor was he himself without some suspicion and fears; for
he never before discovered any womanish superstition in Calpurnia,
whom he now saw in such great alarm. Upon the report which the
priests made to him, that they had killed several sacrifices, and
still found them inauspicious, he resolved to sent Antony to dismiss
the senate.
In this juncture, Decimus Brutus,
surnamed Albinus, one whom Cæsar had such confidence in that he made
him his second heir, who nevertheless was engaged in the conspiracy
with the other Brutus and Cassius, fearing lest if Cæsar should put
off the senate to another day, the business might get wind, spoke
scoffingly and in mockery of the diviners, and blamed Cæsar for
giving the senate so fair an occasion of saying he had put a slight
upon them, for that they were met upon his summons, and were ready to
vote unanimously, that he should be declared king of all the
provinces out of Italy, and might wear a diadem in any other place
but Italy, by sea or land. If any one should be sent to tell them
they might break up for the present, and meet again when Calpurnia
should chance to have better dreams, what would his enemies say? Or
who would with any patience hear his friends, if they should presume
to defend his government as not arbitrary and tyrannical? But if he
was possessed so far as to think this day unfortunate, yet it were
more decent to go himself to the senate, and to adjourn it in his own
person. Brutus, as he spoke these words, took Cæsar by the hand, and
conducted him forth. He was not gone far from the door, when a
servant of some other person’s made towards him, but not being able
to come up to him, on account of the crowd of those who pressed about
him, he made his way into the house, and committed himself to
Calpurnia, begging of her to secure him till Cæsar returned, because
he had matters of great importance to communicate to him.
Artemidorus, a Cnidian, a teacher of
Greek logic, and by that means so far acquainted with Brutus and his
friends as to have got into the secret, brought Cæsar in a small
written memorial, the heads of what he had to depose. He had observed
that Cæsar, as he received any papers, presently gave them to the
servants who attended on him; and therefore came as near to him as he
could, and said, “Read this, Cæsar, alone, and quickly, for it
contains matter of great importance which nearly concerns you.”
Cæsar received it, and tried several times to read it, but was still
hindered by the crowd of those who came to speak to him. However, he
kept it in his hand by itself till he came into the senate. Some say
it was another who gave Cæsar this note, and that Artemidorus could
not get to him, being all along kept off by the crowd.
All these things might happen by
chance. But the place which was destined for the scene of this
murder, in which the senate met that day, was the same in which
Pompey’s statue stood and was one of the edifices which Pompey had
raised and dedicated with his theatre to the use of the public,
plainly showing that there was something of a supernatural influence
which guided the action, and ordered it to that particular place.
Cassius, just before the act, is said to have looked towards Pompey’s
statue, and silently implored his assistance, though he had been
inclined to the doctrines of Epicurus. But this occasion and the
instant danger, carried him away out of all his reasonings, and
filled him for the time with a sort of inspiration. As for Antony,
who was firm to Cæsar, and a strong man, Brutus Albinus kept him
outside the house, and delayed him with a long conversation contrived
on purpose. When Cæsar entered, the senate stood up to show their
respect to him, and of Brutus’ confederates, some came about his
chair and stood behind it, others met him, pretending to add their
petitions to those of Tillius Cimber, in behalf of his brother, who
was in exile; and they followed him with their joint supplications
till he came to his seat. When he was sat down, he refused to comply
with their requests, and upon their urging him further, began to
reproach them severally for their importunities, when Tillius, laying
hold of his robe with both his hands, pulled it down from his neck,
which was the signal for the assault. Casca gave him the first cut,
in the neck, which was not mortal nor dangerous, as coming from one
who at the beginning of such a bold action was probably very much
disturbed. Cæsar immediately turned about, and laid his hand upon
the dagger and kept hold of it. And both of them at the same time
cried out, he that received the blow, in Latin, “Vile Casca, what
does this mean?” and he that gave it, in Greek, to his brother,
“Brother, help!” Upon this first onset, those who were not privy
to the design were astonished, and their horror and amazement at what
they saw were so great, that they durst not fly nor assist Cæsar,
nor so much as speak a word. But those who came prepared for the
business inclosed him on every side, with their naked daggers in
their hands. Which way soever he turned, he met with blows, and saw
their swords levelled at his face and eyes, and was encompassed, like
a wild beast in the toils, on every side. For it had been agreed they
should each of them make a thrust at him, and flesh themselves with
his blood; for which reason Brutus also gave him one stab in the
groin. Some say that he fought and resisted all the rest, shifting
his body to avoid the blows, and calling out for help, but that when
he saw Brutus’ sword drawn, he covered his face with his robe and
submitted, letting himself fall, whether it were by chance, or that
he was pushed in that direction by his murderers, at the foot of the
pedestal on which Pompey’s statue stood, and which was thus wetted
with his blood. So that Pompey himself seemed to have presided, as it
were, over the revenge done upon his adversary, who lay here at his
feet, and breathed out his soul through his multitude of wounds, for
they say he received three and twenty. And the conspirators
themselves were many of them wounded by each other, whilst they all
levelled their blows at the same person.
When Cæsar was dispatched, Brutus
stood forth to give a reason for what they had done, but the senate
would not hear him, but flew out of doors in all haste, and filled
the people with so much alarm and distraction that some shut up their
houses, others left their counters and shops. All ran one way or the
other, some to the place to see the sad spectacle, others back again
after they had seen it. Antony and Lepidus, Cæsar’s most faithful
friends, got off privately, and hid themselves in some friends’
houses. Brutus and his followers, being yet hot from the deed,
marched in a body from the senate-house to the capitol with their
drawn swords, not like persons who thought of escaping, but with an
air of confidence and assurance, and as they went along, called to
the people to resume their liberty, and invited the company of any
more distinguished people whom they met. And some of these joined the
procession and went up along with them, as if they also had been of
the conspiracy, and could claim a share in the honor of what had been
done. As, for example, Caius Octavius and Lentulus Spinther, who
suffered afterwards for their vanity, being taken off by Antony and
the young Cæsar, and lost the honor they desired, as well as their
lives, which it cost them, since no one believed they had any share
in the action. For neither did those who punished them profess to
revenge the fact, but the ill-will. The day after, Brutus with the
rest came down from the capitol, and made a speech to the people, who
listened without expressing either any pleasure or resentment, but
showed by their silence that they pitied Cæsar, and respected
Brutus. The senate passed acts of oblivion for what was past, and
took measures to reconcile all parties. They ordered that Cæsar
should be worshipped as a divinity, and nothing, even of the
slightest consequence, should be revoked, which he had enacted during
his government. At the same time they gave Brutus and his followers
the command of provinces, and other considerable posts. So that all
people now thought things were well settled, and brought to the
happiest adjustment.
But when Cæsar’s will was opened,
and it was found that he had left a considerable legacy to each one
of the Roman citizens, and when his body was seen carried through the
market-place all mangled with wounds, the multitude could no longer
contain themselves within the bounds of tranquillity and order, but
heaped together a pile of benches, bars, and tables, which they
placed the corpse on, and setting fire to it, burnt it on them. Then
they took brands from the pile, and ran some to fire the houses of
the conspirators, others up and down the city, to find out the men
and tear them to pieces, but met, however, with none of them, they
having taken effectual care to secure themselves.
One Cinna, a friend of Cæsar’s,
chanced the night before to have an odd dream. He fancied that Cæsar
invited him to supper, and that upon his refusal to go with him,
Cæsar took him by the hand and forced him, though he hung back. Upon
hearing the report that Cæsar’s body was burning in the
market-place, he got up and went thither, out of respect to his
memory, though his dream gave him some ill apprehensions, and though
he was suffering from a fever. One of the crowd who saw him there,
asked another who that was, and having learned his name, told it to
his next neighbor. It presently passed for a certainty that he was
one of Cæsar’s murderers, as, indeed, there was another Cinna, a
conspirator, and they, taking this to be the man, immediately seized
him, and tore him limb from limb upon the spot.
Brutus and Cassius, frightened at
this, within a few days retired out of the city. What they afterwards
did and suffered, and how they died, is written in the Life of
Brutus. Cæsar died in his fifty-sixth year, not having survived
Pompey above four years. That empire and power which he had pursued
through the whole course of his life with so much hazard, he did at
last with much difficulty compass, but reaped no other fruits from it
than the empty name and invidious glory. But the great genius which
attended him through his lifetime, even after his death remained as
the avenger of his murder, pursuing through every sea and land all
those who were concerned in it, and suffering none to escape, but
reaching all who in any sort or kind were either actually engaged in
the fact, or by their counsels any way promoted it.
The most
remarkable of mere human coincidences was that which befell Cassius,
who, when he was defeated at Philippi, killed himself with the same
dagger which he had made use of against Cæsar. The most signal
preternatural appearances were the great comet, which shone very
bright for seven nights after Cæsar’s death, and then disappeared,
and the dimness of the sun, 1 whose orb
continued pale and dull for the whole of that year, never showing its
ordinary radiance at its rising, and giving but a weak and feeble
heat. The air consequently was damp and gross, for want of stronger
rays to open and rarify it. The fruits, for that reason, never
properly ripened, and began to wither and fall off for want of heat,
before they were fully formed. But above all, the phantom which
appeared to Brutus showed the murder was not pleasing to the gods.
The story of it is this.
Brutus, being to pass his army from
Abydos to the continent on the other side, laid himself down one
night, as he used to do, in his tent, and was not asleep, but
thinking of his affairs, and what events he might expect. For he is
related to have been the least inclined to sleep of all men who have
commanded armies, and to have had the greatest natural capacity for
continuing awake, and employing himself without need of rest. He
thought he heard a noise at the door of his tent, and looking that
way, by the light of his lamp, which was almost out, saw a terrible
figure, like that of a man, but of unusual stature and severe
countenance. He was somewhat frightened at first, but seeing it
neither did nor spoke any thing to him, only stood silently by his
bedside, he asked who it was. The spectre answered him, “Thy evil
genius, Brutus, thou shalt see me at Philippi.” Brutus answered
courageously, “Well, I shall see you,” and immediately the
appearance vanished. When the time was come, he drew up his army near
Philippi against Antony and Cæsar, and in the first battle won the
day, routed the enemy, and plundered Cæsar’s camp. The night
before the second battle, the same phantom appeared to him again, but
spoke not a word. He presently understood his destiny was at hand,
and exposed himself to all the danger of the battle. Yet he did not
die in the fight, but seeing his men defeated, got up to the top of a
rock, and there presenting his sword to his naked breast, and
assisted, as they say, by a friend, who helped him to give the
thrust, met his death.
Note 1.
————Solem
quis dicere falsum
Audeat?
ille etiam cæcos instare tumultus
Sæpe
monet, fraudemque et operta tumescere bella.
Ille
etiam exstincto miseratus Cæsare Romam;
Cum
caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit,
Impiaque
æternam timuerunt sæcula noctem.
Virg.
Georg. I. 463.
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