[Illustration: Death of Julius Caesar.] 14. If we examine his history, we shall be at a loss whether most to admire his great abilities, or his wonderful fortune. To pretend to say, that from the beginning he planned the subjection of his native country, is doing no great credit to his well-known penetration, as a thousand obstacles lay in his way, which fortune, rather than conduct, was to surmount; no man, therefore, of his sagacity, would have begun a scheme in which the chances of succeeding were so many against him. It is most probable that, like all very successful men, he made the best of every occurrence; and his ambition rising with his good fortune, from at first being content with humbler aims, he at last began to think of governing the world, when he found scarcely any obstacle to oppose his designs. Such is the disposition of man, whose cravings after power are then most insatiable when he enjoys the greatest share.[4] 16. As soon as the conspirators had despatched Caesar, they retired to the Capitol, and guarded its accesses by a body of gladiators which Brutus had in pay. 17. The friends of the late dictator now began to find that this was the time for coming into greater power than before, and for satisfying their ambition under the pretence of promoting justice: of this number was Antony. 18. He was a man of moderate abilities, of excessive vices, ambitious of power only because it gave his pleasures a wider range to riot in; but skilled in war, to which he had been trained from his youth.[5] He was consul for this year, and resolved, with Lep'idus, who like himself was fond of commotions, to seize this opportunity of gaining a power which Caesar had died for usurping. Lep'idus, therefore, took possession of the Forum,[6] with a band of soldiers at his devotion; and Antony, being consul, was permitted to command them. 19. Their first step was to possess themselves of Caesar's papers and money, and the next to assemble the senate. 20. Never had this august assembly been convened upon so delicate an occasion, as to determine whether Caesar had been a legal magistrate, or a tyrannical usurper; and whether those who killed him merited rewards or punishments. Many of them had received all their promotions from Caesar, and had acquired large fortunes in consequence of his appointments: to vote him an usurper, therefore, would be to endanger their property; and yet, to vote him innocent, might endanger the state. In this dilemma they seemed willing to reconcile extremes; they approved all the acts of Caesar, and yet granted a general pardon to the conspirators.