Caesar, Julius; Rome -- History -- Republic, 265-30 B.C.
Cicero then said that he had heard a fear of assassination expressed by
Caesar. By whom, he asked, could such an attempt be made? Not by those
whom he had forgiven, for none were more attached to him. Not by his
comrades, for they could not be so mad as to conspire against the
general to whom they owed all that they possessed. Not by his enemies,
for he had no enemies. Those who had been his enemies were either dead
through their own obstinacy, or were alive through his generosity. It
was possible, however, he admitted, that there might be some such
danger.
* * * * *
"Be you, therefore," he said, again speaking to Caesar,--"be you
watchful, and let us be diligent. Who is so careless of his own and the
common welfare as to be ignorant that on your preservation his own
depends, and that all our lives are bound up in yours? I, as in duty
bound, think of you by night and day; I ponder over the accidents of
humanity, the uncertainty of health, the frailty of our common nature,
and I grieve to think that the Commonwealth which ought to be immortal
should hang on the breath of a single man. If to these perils be added
a nefarious conspiracy, to what god can we turn for help? War has laid
prostrate our institutions; you alone can restore them. The courts of
justice need to be reconstituted, credit to be recovered, license to be
repressed, the thinned ranks of the citizens to be repaired. The bonds
of society are relaxed. In such a war, and with such a temper in men's
hearts, the State must have lost many of its greatest ornaments, be the
event what it would. These wounds need healing, and you alone can heal
them. With sorrow I have heard you say that you have lived long enough.
For nature it may be that you have, and perhaps for glory. But for your
country you have not. Put away, I beseech you, this contempt of death.
Be not wise at our expense. You repeat often, I am told, that you do
not wish for longer life. I believe you mean it; nor should I blame
you, if you had to think only of yourself. But by your actions you have
involved the welfare of each citizen and of the whole Commonwealth in
your own. Your work is unfinished: the foundations are hardly laid, and
is it for you to be measuring calmly your term of days by your own
desires?... If, Caesar, the result of your immortal deeds is to be no
more than this, that, after defeating your enemies, you are to leave
the State in the condition in which it now stands, your splendid
qualities will be more admired than honored. It remains for you to
rebuild the constitution. Live till this is done. Live till you see
your country tranquil, and at peace. Then, when your last debt is paid,
when you have filled the measure of your existence to overflowing, then
say, if you will, that you have had enough of life. Your life is not
the life which is bounded by the union of your soul and body, your life
is that which shall continue fresh in the memory of ages to come, which
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