It was this that led the conspirators to hasten in carrying out their designs, in order to avoid giving their assent to this proposal.
Quae causa coniuratis maturandi fuit destinata negotia, ne assentiri necesse esset.
Therefore the plots which had previously been formed separately, often by groups of two or three, were united in a general conspiracy, since even the populace no longer were pleased with present conditions, but both secretly and openly rebelled at his tyranny and cried out for defenders of their liberty.
Consilia igitur dispersim antea habita et quae saepe bini ternive ceperant, in unum omnes contulerunt, ne populo quidem iam praesenti statu laeto, sed clam palamque detrectante dominationem atque assertores flagitante.
On the admission of foreigners to the Senate, a placard was posted: God bless the Commonwealth! let no one consent to point out the House to a newly made senator. The following verses too were sung everwhere:— Caesar led the Gauls in triumph, led them to the senate house; Then the Gauls put off their breeches, and put on the laticlave.1
Peregrinis in senatum allectis libellus propositus est: Bonum factum: ne quis senatori novo curiam monstrare velit! Et illa vulgo canebantur: Gallos Caesar in triumphum ducit, idem in curiam; Galli bracas deposuerunt, latum clavum sumpserunt.
1Bonum factum (sit) was a formula prefixed to edicts, here used in jest; cf. the similar formulas in proposals to the senate, Aug. lviii. 3, Calig. xv. 3. · See note on xlv. 3.
When Quintus Maximus, whom he had appointed consul in his place for three months, was entering the theatre, and his lictor called attention to his arrival in the usual manner, a general shout was raised: He’s no consul! At the first election after the deposing of Caesetius and Marullus, the tribunes, several votes were found for their appointment as consuls. Some wrote on the base of Lucius Brutus’ statue, Oh, that you were still alive; and on that of Caesar himself: First of all was Brutus consul, since he drove the kings from Rome;Since this man drove out the consuls, he at last is made our king.
Quinto Maximo suffecto trimenstrique consule theatrum introeunte, cum lictor animadverti ex more iussisset, ab universis conclamatum est non esse eum consulem. Post remotos Caesetium et Marullum tribunos reperta sunt proximis comitiis complura suffragia consules eos declarantium. Subscripsere quidam Luci Bruti statuae: Utinam viveres! item ipsius Caesaris: Brutus, quia reges eiecit, consul primus factus est; Hic, quia consules eiecit, rex postremo factus est.
More than sixty joined the conspiracy against him, led by Gaius Cassius and Marcus and Decimus Brutus. At first they hesitated whether to form two divisions at the elections in the Campus Martius, so that while some hurled him from the bridge as he summoned the tribes to vote, the rest might wait below and slay him; or to set upon him in the Sacred Way or at the entrance to the theatre. When, however, a meeting of the Senate was called for the Ides of March in the Hall of Pompey, they readily gave that time and place the preference.2
Conspiratum est in eum a sexaginta amplius, Gaio Cassio Marcoque et Decimo Bruto principibus conspirationis. Qui primum cunctati utrumne in Campo per comitia tribus ad suffragia vocantem partibus divisis e ponte deicerent atque exceptum trucidarent, an in Sacra Via vel in aditu theatri adorirentur, postquam senatus Idibus Martiis in Pompei curiam edictus est, facile tempus et locum praetulerunt.
2The pons suffragiorum, a temporary bridge of planks over which the voters passed one by one, to cast their ballots; Cic. Ad Att. i. 14; Ovid, Fasti, v. 634.