Death of Caesar : The Story of History's Most Famous Assassination (9781451668827)
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Caesar’s will Suetonius, Julius Caesar 83.2; Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Caesar Augustus 17.48; Appian, Civil Wars 2.143; Cassius Dio, Roman History 44.35.2.
“in vast numbers” Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Caesar Augustus 17.49.
Antony was now the natural leader of a large force Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Caesar Augustus 17.50.
Gallic chieftain’s Caesar, Gallic War 6.19.4.
Caesar had left instructions for his funeral with his niece, Atia Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Caesar Augustus 17.48.
public funeral for Sulla the Dictator Appian, Civil Wars 1.105–6; Plutarch, Sulla 36–38. On Sulla’s funeral, see Arthur Keaveney, Sulla: the Last Republican, 2nd ed. (London and New York: Routledge, 2005), 174–76; on Sulla as a “Perfumed Corpse,” see Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010), 256.
funeral for his aunt Julia Suetonius, Julius Caesar 6.
Clodius’s funeral in 52 B.C. Cicero, For Milo 33, 90; Asconius, Commentary on Cicero’s “For Milo” 33, 42C; Cassius Dio, Roman History 40.49.3; Geoffrey S. Sumi, “Power and Ritual: The Crowd at Clodius’ Funeral,” Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 46.1 (1997): 80–102; W. Jeffrey Tatum, The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 241.
Modern experiments with beeswax funeral masks http://www.archaeology.org/news/1694–140106-roman-wax-masks-funeral, http://news.yahoo.com/uncannily-lifelike-roman-masks-recreated-wax-180427165.html.
ran to escort it as a kind of bodyguard Appian, Civil Wars 2.143.
If Appian is right, the armed men began to regret Appian, Civil Wars 2.143.
Cicero, Appian, Plutarch, and Dio Cicero, Philippics 2.91; Appian, Civil Wars 2.143–46; Plutarch, Antony 13.3; Cassius Dio, Roman History 44.35.4–50.
Suetonius says that Antony did not give a proper funeral oration at all Suetonius, Julius Caesar 84.2.
Appian gives a generally plausible, if overly dramatic, account Appian, Civil Wars 2.143–46.
The audience chanted to the sound of a flute Appian, Civil Wars 2.146; H. I. Flower, Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 125–26.
“Did I save them just so that they could destroy me?” Suetonius, Julius Caesar 84.2.
“honorable men” Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 3.28.83, 124, 151, 153.
Dio says that Lepidus’s soldiers prevented them Cassius Dio, Roman History 44.50.2–3; Appian, Civil Wars 2.148, says it was the priests of Jupiter who stopped them.
two “beings” bearing swords Suetonius, Julius Caesar 84.3.
Cicero says that rioters consisted of slaves and poor people Cicero, Letters to Atticus 14.10.2.
“ruffians, mostly slaves” Cicero, Philippics 2.91.5.
The crowd surged to the homes of Brutus and Cassius Plutarch, Caesar 68.2–3, Brutus 20.5–6; Suetonius, Julius Caesar 85; Cassius Dio, Roman History 44.50.4; Appian, Civil Wars 2.147; Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings 9.9.1.
Publius Servilius Casca—was strongly guarded Cassius Dio, Roman History 44.52.3.
Cicero claims that the same torches Cicero, Philippics 2.91.4.
“The pretty funeral oration was yours” Cicero, Philippics 2.91.2.
cui bono? Cicero, For Sextus Roscius Amerinus 84; For Milo 32.
“especially the Jews” Suetonius, Julius Caesar 84.5, following the translation into Italian and commentary by Carlotta Scantamburlo, Suetonio, Vita di Cesare, Introduzione, traduzione e commento (Pisa: Edizioni Plus, Pisa University Press, 2011).
Afterward, the consuls ruled Cassius Dio, Roman History 44.51.1.
he called Decimus a poisoner Cicero, Philippics 13.11.25.
“Et tu, Decime?” Appian, Civil Wars 2.143, 146.
letter survives from Decimus to Brutus and Cassius Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.1.
“moderate boost in dignitas”? Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.1.1.
“we must give in to fortune” Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.1.3.
He now told Hirtius that he wanted to stay in Rome Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.1.6.
In several letters written over the next year Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.10.1, 11.11.2, 11.14.2 (where Cicero cites a reference in one of Decimus’s letters to his detractors); cf. 11.4.1.
“a most wicked conspiracy” Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.13a.2.
Revolution, as Mao said, is not a dinner party Mao Zedong, “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan” (March 1927), in Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Tse-tung (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1967), 22.
Emerson said that when you strike at a king, you must kill him See Liva Baker, The Justice from Beacon Hill: The Life and Times of Oliver Wendell Holmes (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), 90–91.
CHAPTER 11. THE STRUGGLE FOR ITALY
By the time the messenger got to Apollonia On Octavian’s movements from Apollonia to Brundisium, see Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Caesar Augustus 16.38–18.57.
With the future uncertain, Atia recommended Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Caesar Augustus 16.38–39.
There were six legions Appian, Civil Wars 3.24.
Meanwhile, some officers went to Octavian Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Caesar Augustus 16.41, 17.46; Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome 2.59.5.
About the soldiers, though, he had no doubts Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Caesar Augustus 16.42.
Octavian cried Nicolaus of Damscus, Life of Caesar Augustus 18.51.
Cicero always believed the assassins made a mistake Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.11.2; Philippics 2.34.
Antony had his daughter engaged to Lepidus’s son It seems unlikely that the marriage ever took place. See Richard D. Weigel, Lepidus: The Tarnished Triumvir (London: Routledge, 1992), 47–48.
men wanted to consecrate the spot On the column and altar, I follow the arguments of Geoffrey S. Sumi, “Topography and Ideology: Caesar’s Monument and the Aedes Divi Iulii in Augustan Rome,” Classical Quarterly 61.1 (2011): 205–19. The main ancient sources are: Cassius Dio, Roman History 44.55.1; Suetonius, Julius Caesar 84.5, 85; Cicero, Philippics 1.5.
Cicero had mixed feelings Cicero, Letters to Atticus 16.8.1, 16.14.1, 16.15.3.
Octavian later claimed that the urban plebs Nicolaus of Damascus, Life of Augustus 28.108, cf. Appian, Civil Wars 3.28; Cassius Dio, Roman History 45.6.5.
where Brutus and Cassius withdrew after leaving the capital Plutarch, Brutus 21.1.
“a delightful place, right by the sea” Cicero, Letters to Atticus 12.19.
Rather than take a chance, Atticus had declined Nepos, Atticus 8.1–3.
said they had dismissed their friends from the cities of Italy Cicero, Letters to Atticus 11.2.1, end of May.
a scene later described by Cicero in a letter to Atticus Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.11; see also 15.12.
They heaped the most blame on Decimus Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.16.
“I’ve really never heard anyone say that!” Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.11.2.
Cicero calls Brutus depressed For example, Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.10–12.
Brutus and Cicero met a very important envoy Cicero, Letters to Atticus 16.4.1–2.
On August 4, Brutus and Cassius wrote a letter Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.3.1.
They cattily added that they were amazed Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.3.2.
“Bear in mind not only how long Caesar lived” Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.3.4.
he and Cassius issued edicts Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome 2.62.3.
He and Porcia had a tearful farewell Plutarch, Brutus 23.
Decimus had two legions Appian, Civil Wars 3.49; Cicero, Letters to Friends 10.24.3, which describes the second legion as having two years’ experience in 43 B.C
.
He claimed to have fought Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.4.
Decimus wrote to Cicero Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.4, 6.
Cicero promised to take care of Decimus’s dignitas Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.6.
He refers in other letters as well to Decimus’s dignitas Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.6a.1–2, 11.8.1.
how much the Roman people love him Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.8.1.
the greatest and most famous man of all Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.4.3.
Myrtilus Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.13.2, 16.11.5.
He hailed Decimus as a defender of the Republic Cicero, Philippics 4.8–9.
“At the age of nineteen” Res gestae divi Augusti (The Exploits of the Deified Augustus) 1.1.
He promptly paid each man 500 denarii and promised Appian, Civil Wars 3.48.
Both Antony and Octavian knew it Cassius Dio, Roman History, 45.14–15.
he feared Octavian Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.4a.2–3.
Cicero’s requests to come to Decimus’s aid Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.10.1,5; 1.12.2; 1.14.2.
he didn’t want “to offend” Caesar’s veterans Cicero, Philippics 13.13.
“a large number of gladiators” Appian, Civil Wars 3.49; Jürgen Malitz, Nikolaos von Damaskus, Leben des Kaisers Augustus, edited, translated, with a commentary (Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2003) 172, n. 327.
Valeria Paula Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.8.
He knew that the Senate was using him Appian, Civil Wars 3.64.
Trebonius had told Cicero that he was proud Cicero, Letters to Friends 12.16.4.
He and his allies carried out several grand gestures Cassius Dio, Roman History 46.36.1–5, 37.3–5; cf. Cicero, Philippics 8.7.20; Frontinus, Strategems 3. 13.7–8; Pliny, Natural History 10.110.
managed to float salt and sheep Frontinus, Strategems 3.14.3–4.
Conditions in Mutina were, in general, dreadful Cicero, Letters to Brutus 2.1; Letters to Friends 12.6.2.
the battle of Forum Gallorum The sources for the battle are Cicero, Letters to Friends 10.30; Appian, Civil Wars 3.66–70; Cassius Dio, Roman History 46.37.1–7.
If Appian is right about the battle, the veterans Appian, Civil Wars 3.68.
Galba sent Cicero a memorable account Cicero, Letters to Friends 10.30.
chronicle Galba’s military missteps in Gaul Caesar, Gallic War 3.1–6.
a second battle took place outside Mutina The sources for the battle are Appian, Civil Wars 3.71–72; Cassius Dio, Roman History 46.38; Suetonius, Augustus 10.4; Plutarch, Antony 17.1.
Antony claimed that Octavian Suetonius, Augustus 10.4.
Octavian Caesar was a hero at Mutina: Suetonius, Augutus 10.4.
a statue be erected in Pontius’s honor Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.15.8.
according to Appian, Decimus tried to smooth the way Appian, Civil Wars 3.73.
In a letter to Cicero on May 9, 43 B.C. Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.13.1.
Decimus told Octavian Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.10.4.
it served Octavian’s purpose to wound Antony Cassius Dio, Roman History, 45.14–15.
“If Caesar [Octavian] had listened to me” Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.10.4.
“the young man should be complimented” “laudandum adulescentem, ornandum, tollendum,” Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.20.1.
to feed his troops he spent not only his own fortune Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.10.5. See Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, vol. 2: 697.
He criticized Decimus for failing Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.10.2.
Lepidus was unreliable Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.9.1.
Decimus was in contact with the Allobroges Cicero, Letters to Friends 11.11.2.
Cicero asked Brutus and Cassius to send help Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.14.2; Cassius, Letters to Friends 12.9.2.
CHAPTER 12. VENGEANCE
“villainy and madness” Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.13.4.
“I only wish you could see how much I fear him!” Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.4a.3.
Porcia died after an illness The version in Plutarch, Brutus 53.5–7 is preferable to the lurid suicide account in Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings 4.6.5 and Appian, Civil Wars 4.136.
“Not only your army but all citizens” Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.9.2.
Servilia asked if they should send for Brutus now Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.18.1–2.
Now that Lepidus had defected to Antony, Brutus worried Cicero, Letters to Brutus 1.13.1.
“This will make him consul, if you won’t” Suetonius, Augustus 26.1, cf. Cassius Dio, Roman History 46.43.4.
the judge who had voted to acquit Brutus He was Silicius Corona: Cassius Dio, Roman History 46.49.5; Appian, Civil Wars 3.95.
She found asylum with Atticus Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15.11.2; Nepos, Atticus 11.
One source claims that Antony’s wife, Fulvia Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.8.4.
Censorinus Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome 2.14.3.
They disagree as to how Decimus died Appian, Civil Wars 3.98; Livy, Periochae 120; Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome 2.64.1; Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings 4.7.6, 9.13.3; Cassius Dio, Roman History 46.53.3, cf. Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 82.12.
“the sinews of war” Cicero, Philippics 5.5; Appian claims that Cassius echoed this comment, Appian, Civil Wars 4.99.
They committed themselves to fighting for the freedom Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.32.2.
the latter his kinsman, said Brutus Plutarch, Brutus 28.1.
he said that he felt more shame Plutarch, Brutus 28.2.
For his part, Brutus assaulted the cities of Lycia The account of Appian, Civil Wars 4.76–82 is more persuasive than the pro-Brutus public relations version in Plutarch, Brutus 30–32.
a massive number of legionaries Appian, Civil Wars 4.88, 108; see the discussion by Adrian Goldsworthy, Antony and Cleopatra (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010), 252.
According to Appian, Cassius addressed Appian, Civil Wars 4.98.
Every legionary got 1,500 Appian, Civil Wars 4.100.
They didn’t match the amount that Antony and Octavian Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.42.5.
they didn’t have it yet Appian, Civil Wars 4.99.
according to Appian, Cassius emphasized Appian, Civil Wars 4.99.
The gorgeous array of money See M. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage (London and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), vol. 1: 513–18, nos. 498–508; cf. 100; vol. 2: 741.
One coin, issued by Brutus and Casca Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, vol. 1: 518, no. 507/2; cf. 100; vol. 2: 741.
One coin, however, stands out from the rest Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, vol. 1: 518, no. 508/3; cf.100; vol. 2: 741.
“In addition to these activities” Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.25.3, Loeb translation.
Caesar’s friends claimed Cicero, Philippics 13.23; 2.31; on sicarii see also Suetonius, Julius Caesar 72.
“you will see me at Philippi” Plutarch, Brutus 36 and, on the vision’s second appearance, 48.1. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 4.2.325–36, has Brutus see Caesar’s ghost on the night before the battle but the sources tell a different story.
Cassius supposedly saw Caesar’s ghost Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings 1.8.8.
Brutus wrote with courage and acceptance to Atticus Plutarch, Brutus 29.9.
The odds were good for Brutus and Cassius at Philippi The sources on the battle are Appian, Civil Wars 4.109–31; Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.42.1–49.4; Plutarch, Brutus 40–52.
a veritable roll call of Roman nobles Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome 2.71.1–2.
Afterward, reports credited him with paying careful attention Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.41.3.
Some ancient writers said
On Cassius’s death see Plutarch, Brutus 43; Appian, Civil Wars 4.113–14; Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.46.2–5.
Cassius’s birthday Although the date of the first battle of Philippi is debatable, the sources state that it was his birthday. Plutarch, Brutus 40.4; Appian, Civil Wars 4.113.
“the last of the Romans” Appian, Civil Wars 4.114.
Brutus was no general Plutarch, Comparison of Dion and Brutus 3.1–2; Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome 2.72.2.
For once, Plutarch is more credible Plutarch, Brutus 50–52; Appian, Civil Wars 4.131; Cassius Dio, Roman History, 47.49.1–2; see Clarke, The Noblest Roman, 70–72.
Other nobles joined the ranks of the fallen Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome, 2.71.1–2.
“when virtue broke” Horace, Odes 7.2.11. On Horace and Brutus’s virtue more generally, see John Moles, “Politics, Philosophy, and Friendship in Horace: Odes 2,7,” in William S. Anderson, ed., Why Horace? A Collection of Interpretations (Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1999), 130–42.
As Plutarch says, even those who hated him for killing Caesar Plutarch, Brutus 1.2–3.
the story goes that when Antony found Brutus’s dead body Plutarch, Brutus 53.4.
all, that is, except his head Appian, Civil Wars 4.135; Suetonius, Augustus 13.1; Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.49.2.
“This was the noblest Roman of them all” Shakespeare, Julius Caesar 5.5.69.
sentiments about Brutus that Plutarch ascribes to him Plutarch, Brutus 29.7.
Brutus said that Antony would pay Plutarch, Brutus 29.10–11.
Military gravestones . . . contemporary poetry See Josiah Osgood, Caesar’s Legacy: Civil War and the Emergence of the Roman Empire (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press), 108–51.
massacred a large number of enemy senators Suetonius, Augustus 15.
Suetonius writes that within three years Suetonius, Julius Caesar 89.
Decimus Turullius Cassius Dio, Roman History 51.8.2–3; Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings 1.1.19.
Turullius’s colleague Cassius of Parma Velleius Paterculus, History of Rome 2.87.3; Valerius Maximus, Memorable Deeds and Sayings 1.7.7.
“little works” Horace, Epistles 1.4.3.
Cassius of Parma wrote satire Suetonius, Augustus 4.2; Kenneth Scott, “The Political Propaganda of 44–30 B.C.,” Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 11 (1933): 13–16.