Cæsar had in his will made the grandson of his sister Julia, C. Octavius, his heir _ex dodrante_ after the payment of all legacies; the remaining quarter he had bequeathed to his wife’s relations: Antony and L. Piso, were not among the heirs. Cæsar’s aunt Julia, had been married to Marius; his sister Julia, the wife of M. Atius Balbus, had a daughter Atia, who was married to C. Octavius, the son of C. Octavius: this last was a worthy man, and but for his early death, would have risen to the consulship. Whether these Octavii belonged to those who in former days had acted a part in history, especially the colleague of Tib. Gracchus, is a point which I do not clearly know. I am, however, inclined to deny it, as they are spoken of too positively as having been _ordinis equestris_. At the time of Cæsar’s murder, C. Octavius was in his nineteenth year, having been born on the 23d of September, 689. Cæsar had taken an interest in this young man after his return from Spain; for hitherto he does not seem to have bestowed any attention upon him. He had settled that he was to accompany him in the Parthian war, and thenceforth remain with him to finish his education: until then, he had sent him to Apollonia in Illyricum, to get Grecian learning there. The Greek language was at that time quite common among the Romans: Cassius and Messalla spoke it to each other;[19] and in Cicero’s letters there are long passages in Greek, without the writers being themselves aware of it: Cicero’s Greek, however, has sometimes a peculiarly foreign air about it; it would be interesting to make this at once the subject of an accurate research. When Octavius had heard the sad news, he came up to Rome, and presented himself to Antony as Cæsar’s heir, ready to enter upon his inheritance. This was a most unpleasant arrival for Antony, who had the most urgent reasons not to let the property go out of his hands: for as he was answerable for it, he had to look sharp that no mistake should be made, and that it should be most faithfully administered; just as was the case with those with whom Napoleon had deposited the five millions. Octavius is the first example which I know of in history of an adoption by will; afterwards, this was very often done. Antony now tried to deter Octavius: he as well as others represented to him that he had better give it up, telling him that he was still too young: his mother and his stepfather had allowed themselves to be intimidated. But he already had Agrippa for his adviser, a man of whom, at a later period, there is a great deal of good to be said, but whose conduct at this crisis brought sad consequences upon the republic. But for Agrippa, Octavius would have played quite a different part: he would have let himself be intimidated; or else would have been overpowered, and Brutus would at last have been obliged to take upon himself the dictatorship, though perhaps under a different name, as the _dictatura_ had been