§84Funere indicto rogus extructus est in Martio campo iuxta Iuliae tumulum et pro rostris aurata aedes ad simulacrum templi Veneris Genetricis collocata; intraque lectus eburneus auro ac purpura stratus et ad caput tropaeum cum ueste, in qua fuerat occisus.
The funeral being proclaimed, a pyre was erected in the Campus Martius near the tomb of Julia, and before the rostra a gilded shrine was placed, after the model of the temple of Venus Genetrix; within it was a couch of ivory draped with gold and purple, and at its head a trophy with the robe in which he had been slain.
praeferentibus munera, quia suffecturus dies non uidebatur, praeceptum, ut omisso ordine, quibus quisque uellet itineribus urbis, portaret in Campum.
To those who brought offerings, since the day did not seem likely to suffice, it was commanded that, omitting all order, each should carry them into the Campus by whatever streets of the city they pleased.
inter ludos cantata sunt quaedam ad miserationem et inuidiam caedis eius accommodata, ex Pacuui Armorum iudicio:
men seruasse, ut essent qui me perderent?
et ex Electra Acili ad similem sententiam.
During the games, some verses adapted to move pity and indignation at his murder were sung, from Pacuvius' 'Judgment of Arms': 'Did I save them, that there should be those to destroy me?' and from the 'Electra' of Acilius, to a similar effect.
laudationis loco consul Antonius per praeconem pronuntiauit senatus consultum, quo omnia simul ei diuina atque humana decreuerat, item ius iurandum, quo se cuncti pro salute unius astrinxerant; quibus perpauca a se uerba addidit.
In place of a funeral oration, the consul Antony pronounced by a herald the decree of the senate, by which it had decreed to him all honors at once, both divine and human, likewise the oath by which they had all bound themselves for the safety of this one man; to which he added a very few words of his own.
lectum pro rostris in forum magistratus et honoribus functi detulerunt.
The magistrates and those who had held office carried the couch into the forum before the rostra.
quem cum pars in Capitolini Iouis cella cremare pars in curia Pompei destinaret, repente duo quidam gladiis succincti ac bina iacula gestantes ardentibus cereis succenderunt confestimque circumstantium turba uirgulta arida et cum subselliis tribunalia, quicquid praeterea ad donum aderat, congessit.
While some intended to burn it in the cella of Jupiter on the Capitol, and others in the senate-house of Pompey, suddenly two men, girt with swords and brandishing two javelins each, set fire to it with blazing torches, and immediately the crowd of bystanders piled on dry brushwood, and the tribunals with their benches, and whatever else was at hand for a gift.
deinde tibicines et scaenici artifices uestem, quam ex triumphorum instrumento ad praesentem usum induerant, detractam sibi atque discissam iniecere flammae et ueteranorum militum legionarii arma sua, quibus exculti funus celebrabant; matronae etiam pleraeque ornamenta sua, quae gerebant, et liberorum bullas atque praetextas.
Then the flute-players and actors tore off the robes which they had put on from the equipage of his triumphs for the present occasion, rent them, and threw them into the flames; and the legionaries of the veteran soldiers threw in their own arms, with which they had adorned themselves to celebrate the funeral; many matrons also threw in their ornaments which they wore, and the bullae and praetextae of their children.
In summo publico luctu exterarum gentium multitudo circulatim suo quaeque more lamentata est praecipueque Iudaei, qui etiam noctibus continuis bustum frequentarunt.
In the deepest public mourning, a multitude of foreign nations lamented in circles, each after its own fashion, and especially the Jews, who also frequented the site of the pyre for successive nights.
§85plebs statim a funere ad domum Bruti et Cassi cum facibus tetendit atque aegre repulsa obuium sibi Heluium Cinnam per errorem nominis, quasi Cornelius is esset, quem grauiter pridie contionatum de Caesare requirebat, occidit caputque eius praefixum hastae circumtulit.
Immediately after the funeral, the populace hastened with torches to the houses of Brutus and Cassius, and being repusled with difficulty, met Helvius Cinna on the way, and through a mistake of his name, as if he were Cornelius, whom they were seeking because he had made a severe speech against Caesar the day before, killed him and carried his head about fixed upon a spear.
postea solidam columnam prope uiginti pedum lapidis Numidici in foro statuit inscripsitque
"parenti patriae"
. apud eam longo tempore sacrificare, uota suscipere, controuersias quasdam interposito per Caesarem iure iurando distrahere perseuerauit.
Afterwards they erected in the forum a solid column of Numidian marble, nearly twenty feet high, and inscribed upon it: 'To the Father of his Country.' By this they continued for a long time to sacrifice, to make vows, and to settle certain controversies by oath taken in the name of Caesar.
§86Suspicionem Caesar quibusdam suorum reliquit neque uoluisse se diutius uiuere neque curasse quod ualitudine minus prospera uteretur, ideoque et quae religiones monerent et quae renuntiarent amici neglexisse.
Caesar left a suspicion in the minds of some of his friends that he did not wish to live any longer, and did not care because he was using less favorable health, and therefore neglected both what the portents warned and what his friends reported.
sunt qui putent, confisum eum nouissimo illo senatus consulto ac iure iurando etiam custodias Hispanorum cum gladiis †adinspectantium se remouisse.
There are some who think that, trusting in that latest decree of the senate and their oath, he even removed his Spanish guards who used to attend him with swords.
alii e diuerso opinantur insidias undique imminentis subire semel quam cauere solitum ferunt: non tam sua quam rei publicae interesse, uti saluus esset: se iam pridem potentiae gloriaeque abunde adeptum; rem publicam, si quid sibi eueniret, neque quietam fore et aliquanto deteriore condicione ciuilia bella subituram.
Others, on the contrary, think that he was accustomed to undergo at once the conspiracies threatening from all sides rather than to beware of them continually: that it was not so much of importance to himself as to the commonwealth that he should be safe; that he had long since acquired power and glory in abundance; but that the commonwealth, if anything should happen to him, would not be quiet and would undergo civil wars under much worse conditions.
§87illud plane inter omnes fere constitit, talem ei mortem paene ex sententia obtigisse.
This was clearly agreed upon among almost all, that such a death befell him almost according to his wish.
nam et quondam, cum apud Xenophontem legisset Cyrum ultima ualitudine mandasse quaedam de funere suo, aspernatus tam lentum mortis genus subitam sibi celeremque optauerat; et pridie quam occideretur, in sermone nato super cenam apud Marcum Lepidum, quisnam esset finis uitae commodissimus, repentinum inopinatumque praetulerat.
For once, when he had read in Xenophon that Cyrus in his last illness had given certain commands about his funeral, despising so slow a kind of death, he had wished for a sudden and swift one for himself; and on the day before he was slain, in a conversation that arose at dinner at the house of Marcus Lepidus, as to what kind of end of life was the most convenient, he had preferred a sudden and unexpected one.
§88Periit sexto et quinquagensimo aetatis anno atque in deorum numerum relatus est, non ore modo decernentium, sed et persuasione uolgi.
He perished in the fifty-sixth year of his age and was ranked among the number of the gods, not only by the formal decree of those who voted it, but also by the conviction of the common people.
siquidem ludis, quos primos consecrato ei heres Augustus edebat, stella crinita per septem continuos dies fulsit exoriens circa undecimam horam, creditumque est animam esse Caesaris in caelum recepti; et hac de causa simulacro eius in uertice additur stella.
For during the games, which his heir Augustus first exhibited in honor of his consecration, a hairy star shone for seven successive days, rising about the eleventh hour, and it was believed to be the soul of Caesar received into heaven; and for this reason a star is added to the crown of his statue.
Curiam, in qua occisus est, obstrui placuit Idusque Martias Parricidium nominari, ac ne umquam eo die senatus ageretur.
It was resolved that the Senate-house in which he was slain should be walled up, and that the Ides of March should be called Parricide, and that the senate should never be held on that day.
§89percussorum autem fere neque triennio quisquam amplius superuixit neque sua morte defunctus est.
Moreover, hardly any of his assassins survived him for more than three years, nor did any die a natural death.
damnati omnes alius alio casu periit, pars naufragio, pars proelio; nonnulli semet eodem illo pugione, quo Caesarem uiolauerant, interemerunt.
All being condemned perished, each by a different misfortune, some by shipwreck, some in battle; and some killed themselves with that very dagger with which they had violated Caesar.