From August B. C. 48, when he defeated Pompey at Pharsalia, till March B. C. 44, when he was assassinated, Julius Cæsar was supreme master of the Roman world. Senate and people vied with each other in conferring dignities upon him; and all the great offices and titles recognized by the Roman constitution――as consul, dictator, censor, tribune, etc.――were concentrated in his person, while he exercised the virtual patronage of almost all the rest. In short, the Commonwealth may be said to have ceased when he defeated Pompey; and had he lived long enough, there is no doubt that he would have fully established the Empire. It was not so much, however, in organic changes of the constitution, as in practical reforms of vast moment, that Cæsar exercised the enormous power which had been placed in his hands. Besides the various measures of reform which he actually carried into effect during his dictatorship, among which his famous reform of the Calendar deserves especial mention, there were innumerable schemes which he had projected for himself, and some of which he would probably have executed, had his life not been cut short. To extend the Roman dominion in the East; to drain the Pontine marshes; to cut through the Isthmus of Corinth; to prepare a complete map of the Roman Empire; to draw up a new digest of Roman law; to establish public libraries in the metropolis――such were a few of the designs which this great man entertained at the time when the conspiracy was formed which led to his assassination. At the head of this plot, which consisted of about sixty persons of note, were Brutus and Cassius, both men of the highest abilities, and esteemed by Cæsar; and the former at least actuated by motives of the purest character. The immediate occasion of the conspiracy was the rumor that Cæsar intended to accept the title of king, which some of his adherents were pressing upon him. When the plot was matured (B. C. 44) it was resolved that Cæsar should be assassinated in the senate-house on the ides (the 15) of March, on which day it was understood a motion was to be brought forward by some of his friends for appointing him king of Italy. ‘Upon the first onset,’ says Plutarch, ‘those who were not privy to the design were astonished, and their horror of the action was so great, that they durst not fly, nor assist Cæsar, nor so much as speak a word. But those who came prepared for the business enclosed him on every side, with their naked daggers in their hands, and which way soever he turned he met with blows, and saw their swords leveled at his face and eyes. Brutus gave him one stab in the groin. Some say that he fought and resisted all the rest, and moved from one place to another calling for help; but when he saw Brutus’s sword drawn, he covered his face with his robe, and quietly surrendered himself, till he was pushed, either by chance or design, to the pedestal on which Pompey’s statue stood, which by that means was much stained with his blood: so that