§77nec minoris inpotentiae uoces propalam edebat, ut Titus Ampius scribit: nihil esse rem publicam, appellationem modo sine corpore ac specie. Sullam nescisse litteras, qui dictaturam deposuerit. debere homines consideratius iam loqui secum ac pro legibus habere quae dicat.
Nor did he utter words of less insolence openly, as Titus Ampius writes: that the republic was nothing, a mere name without body or form; that Sulla did not know his letters, since he had laid down the dictatorship; and that men ought now to speak with him more considerately, and hold what he said as laws.
eoque arrogantiae progressus est, ut haruspice tristia et sine corde exta quondam nuntiante futura diceret laetiora, cum uellet; nec pro ostento ducendum, si pecudi cor defuisset.
And he advanced to such a pitch of arrogance that, when a soothsayer once reported unfavorable entrails without a heart, he said that the omens would be more favorable when he wished, and that it should not be considered as a portent if a beast lacked a heart.
§78Verum praecipuam et exitiabilem sibi inuidiam hinc maxime mouit.
But he aroused the chief and fatal hatred against himself especially from this.
adeuntis se cum plurimis honorificentissimisque decretis uniuersos patres conscriptos sedens pro aede Veneris Genetricis excepit.
He received the entire body of conscript fathers, who were approaching him with numerous and most honorable decrees, while sitting in front of the temple of Venus Genetrix.
quidam putant retentum a Cornelio Balbo, cum conaretur assurgere; alii, ne conatum quidem omnino, sed etiam admonentem Gaium Trebatium ut assurgeret minus familiari uultu respexisse.
Some think he was held back by Cornelius Balbus when he attempted to rise; others, that he did not even make an attempt at all, but even looked with a less than friendly countenance at Gaius Trebatius when he suggested that he should rise.
idque factum eius tanto intolerabilius est uisum, quod ipse triumphanti et subsellia tribunicia praeteruehenti sibi unum e collegio Pontium Aquilam non assurrexisse adeo indignatus sit, ut proclamauerit: 'repete ergo a me Aquila rem publicam tribunus!' et nec destiterit per continuos dies quicquam cuiquam nisi sub exceptione polliceri: 'si tamen per Pontium Aquilam licuerit. ' §79adiecit ad tam insignem despecti senatus contumeliam multo arrogantius factum.
And this action of his seemed all the more intolerable because he himself, when celebrating a triumph and riding past the tribunes' benches, had been so indignant that Pontius Aquila, one of the college, did not rise for him, that he cried out: 'Take back then, Aquila, the republic, you tribune!' and for days together he did not cease to promise anything to anyone except with the reservation: 'If Pontius Aquila permits, however.' To so signal an insult to the slighted senate he added a much more arrogant deed.
nam cum in sacrificio Latinarum reuertente eo inter inmodicas ac nouas populi acclamationes quidam e turba statuae eius coronam lauream candida fascia praeligata inposuisset et tribuni plebis Epidius Marullus Caesetiusque Flauus coronae fasciam detrahi hominemque duci in uincula iussissent, dolens seu parum prospere motam regni mentionem siue, ut ferebat, ereptam sibi gloriam recusandi, tribunos grauiter increpitos potestate priuauit.
For when, on his return from the Latin Festival, amidst the excessive and novel acclamations of the people, someone from the crowd had placed upon his statue a laurel crown bound with a white fillet, and the tribunes of the plebs Epidius Marullus and Caesetius Flavus had ordered the fillet to be removed from the crown and the man to be taken into bonds, grieved either that the mention of his kingship had been made with so little success, or, as he pretended, that the glory of refusing it had been snatched from him, he severely rebuked the tribunes and deprived them of their power.
neque ex eo infamiam affectati etiam regii nominis discutere ualuit, quanquam et plebei regem se salutanti Caesarem se, non regem esse responderit et Lupercalibus pro rostris a consule Antonio admotum saepius capiti suo diadema reppulerit atque in Capitolium Ioui Optimo Maximo miserit.
Nor was he able from that time on to shake off the infamy of having also aspired to the royal title, although he replied to a plebeian who saluted him as king that he was Caesar and not a king, and at the Lupercalia, from the rostra, he repeatedly rejected the diadem offered to his head by the consul Antony, and sent it to the Capitol to Jupiter Optimus Maximus.
quin etiam uaria fama percrebruit migraturum Alexandream uel Ilium, translatis simul opibus imperii exhaustaque Italia dilectibus et procuratione urbis amicis permissa, proximo autem senatu Lucium Cottam quindecimuirum sententiam dicturum, ut, quoniam fatalibus libris contineretur Parthos nisi a rege non posse uinci, Caesar rex appellaretur.
Nay, even various rumors spread abroad that he would move to Alexandria or Ilium, having at the same time transferred the resources of the empire, exhausted Italy by levies, and left the administration of the city to his friends; and that at the next meeting of the senate Lucius Cotta, one of the fifteen commissioners, would propose that since it was written in the books of fate that the Parthians could not be conquered except by a king, Caesar should be styled king.
§80quae causa coniuratis maturandi fuit destinata negotia, ne assentiri necesse esset.
This was the cause for the conspirators to hasten their planned designs, so that they would not be forced to assent.
Consilia igitur dispersim antea habita et quae saepe bini terniue ceperant, in unum omnes contulerunt, ne populo quidem iam praesenti statu laeto, sed clam palamque detrectante dominationem atque assertores flagitante.
Therefore, the plans which had previously been held separately and which two or three had often formed, they all brought together into one, since not even the people were now pleased with the present state, but secretly and openly rejected the tyranny and demanded liberators.
peregrinis in senatum allectis libellus propositus est: 'Bonum factum: ne quis senatori nouo curiam monstrare uelit!' et illa uulgo cane bantur:
Gallos Caesar in triumphum ducit, idem in curiam:
Galli bracas deposuerunt, latum clauum sumpserunt.
When foreigners were admitted into the senate, a placard was posted: 'A good deed: let no one be willing to show a new senator the way to the senate-house!' and the following was commonly sung: Caesar leads the Gauls in triumph, and the same into the senate-house; The Gauls have put off their trousers, and put on the broad purple stripe.
Quinto Maximo suffecto trimenstrique consule theatrum introeunte, cum lictor animaduerti ex more iussisset, ab uniuersis conclamatum est non esse eum consulem.
When Quintus Maximus, a substitute consul for three months, entered the theater, and his lictor according to custom ordered the people to pay attention, a shout was raised by everyone that he was not a consul.
post remotos Caesetium et Marullum tribunos reperta sunt proximis comitiis complura suffragia consules eos declarantium.
After the removal of the tribunes Caesetius and Marullus, at the next elections many ballots were found declaring them consuls.
subscripsere quidam Luci Bruti statuae: 'utinam uiueres!' item ipsius Caesaris:
Brutus, quia reges eiecit, consul primus factus est:
hic, quia consules eiecit, rex postremo factus est.
Some wrote on the statue of Lucius Brutus: 'Would that you were alive!' and likewise on that of Caesar himself: Brutus, because he drove out the kings, was made the first consul; This man, because he drove out the consuls, has at last been made king.
conspiratum est in eum a sexaginta amplius, Gaio Cassio Marcoque et Decimo Bruto principibus conspirationis.
A conspiracy was formed against him by more than sixty persons, Gaius Cassius, and Marcus and Decimus Brutus being the leaders of the conspiracy.
qui primum cunctati utrumne in Campo per comitia tribus ad suffragia uocantem partibus diuisis e ponte deicerent atque exceptum trucidarent, an in Sacra uia uel in aditu theatri adorirentur, postquam senatus Idibus Martiis in Pompei curiam edictus est, facile tempus et locum praetulerunt.
Who at first hesitated whether, in the Campus Martius during the elections, they should divide into parties and throw him from the bridge as he was calling the tribes to vote, and slaughter him when caught below, or attack him on the Sacred Way or at the entrance to the theater, after the senate was summoned to meet on the Ides of March in the curia of Pompey, they easily preferred this time and place.