_ædiles Cereales_ even remained limited to the _plebs_. Had Cæsar died in peace, the state would have been in the same disorganization, as if he had never lived; perhaps it would have been still worse off. His sound sense and his powerful understanding told him, that the solution of the problem was not so easy as Sylla had dreamed; that, on the contrary, it was very difficult, the first condition being that he should become a prince, a condition which of course would seem quite intolerable even in the eyes of many of his partisans, who were quite ready to go on with him as fellow-rebels. And in Cicero’s books _de Republica_, we may remark throughout his conviction that the Rome of his day could not possibly remain any longer as it was, and that it wanted a king; yet Cicero undoubtedly said to himself the whole time, that no one would listen to his advice. The title of king had a great charm for Cæsar, as it has had indeed for many a practical man, Cromwell among others. It was so managed that when Cæsar at the Lupercalia had seated himself on the _suggestum_, Antony offered him the diadem, to see how the people would take it; but Cæsar made a show of declining it, as the people were alarmed, and thereupon a general shout of applause and praise burst forth, which now made it impossible for him to do what he wished. Antony then had the diadem put upon the statue of Cæsar; two of the tribunes, however, Cæsetius Flavus and Epidius Marullus, took it down. Cæsar’s real feelings now betrayed themselves; for, he looked upon this as a personal insult, and having lost all command of himself, wanted to have them arrested: the least that he could be prevailed upon to do, was to deprive them of their office and banish them. This made an immense sensation. On the other hand, he had himself committed a fault, perhaps from absence of mind. When the senate issued those extravagant decrees which conferred upon him unlimited power, and a deputation from the whole body now brought them to him, he neglected to rise from the curule chair, and saluted them but very slightly. This want of courtesy people did not forgive, who had granted to Cæsar everything that he could have wished, but still expected some sort of acknowledgment in return. Cicero, who certainly was no democrat, wrote soon afterwards, _turpissimi consulares, turpis senatus, populus fortis, infimus quisque honore fortissimus_. The first part of this is true, the latter part exaggerated.