Caesar, Julius; Rome -- History -- Republic, 265-30 B.C.
He whom no foreign enemy
could hurt has been killed by his fellow-countrymen--he, who had so
often shown mercy, by those whom he had spared. Where, Caesar, is your
love for mankind? Where is the sacredness of your life? Where are your
laws? Here you lie murdered--here in the Forum, through which so often
you marched in triumph wreathed with garlands; here upon the Rostra
from which you were wont to address your people. Alas for your gray
hairs dabbled in blood! alas for this lacerated robe in which you were
dressed for the sacrifice!"[4]
Antony's words, as he well knew, were a declaration of irreconcilable
war against the murderers and their friends. As his impassioned
language did its work the multitude rose into fury. They cursed the
conspirators. They cursed the Senate who had sate by while the deed was
being done. They had been moved to fury by the murder of Clodius. Ten
thousand Clodiuses, had he been all which their imagination painted
him, could not equal one Caesar. They took on themselves the order of
the funeral. They surrounded the body, which was reverently raised by
the officers of the Forum. Part proposed to carry it to the Temple of
Jupiter, in the Capitol, and to burn it under the eyes of the
assassins; part to take it into the Senate-house and use the
meeting-place of the Optimates a second time as the pyre of the
people's friend. A few legionaries, perhaps to spare the city a general
conflagration, advised that it should be consumed where it lay. The
platform was torn up and the broken timbers piled into a heap. Chairs
and benches were thrown on to it, the whole crowd rushing wildly to add
a chip or splinter. Actors flung in their dresses, musicians their
instruments, soldiers their swords. Women added their necklaces and
scarves. Mothers brought up their children to contribute toys and
playthings. On the pile so composed the body of Caesar was reduced to
ashes. The remains were collected with affectionate care and deposited
in the tomb of the Caesars, in the Campus Martius. The crowd, it was
observed, was composed largely of libertini and of provincials whom
Caesar had enfranchised. The demonstrations of sorrow were most
remarkable among the Jews, crowds of whom continued for many nights to
collect and wail in the Forum at the scene of the singular ceremony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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