Livy, Periochae 116-120
Titus Livius or Livy (59 BCE - 17 CE): Roman historian, author of the authorized version of the history of the Roman republic.
A large part of Livy's History of Rome since the Foundation is now lost, but fortunately we have an excerpt, called the Periochae, which helps us reconstruct the general scope. This translation was made by Jona Lendering.
From Book 116 (which is the eighth dealing with the civil war) |
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[116.1] [45 BCE] Caesar celebrated a fifth triumph, for his Spanish victory. |
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[116.2] [44] After the Senate decreed many of the highest honors (such as the right to be called "father of the fatherland" together with an eternal inviolability and dictatorship), several grudges rose against him: because he did not rise from his throne in front of the temple of Venus Genetrix when the senators arrived to present him with these honors; because, when his fellow consul Mark Antony, dancing with the luperci, placed a diadem on his head, he placed it on his throne; and because he expelled the tribunes of the plebs Epidius Marullus and Caesetius Flavus from office after they had caused hostility towards him, arguing that he was aiming at one man rule. |
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[116.3] For these reasons, a conspiracy was formed against him, its leaders being Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius, and, from Caesar's own men, Decimus Brutus and Gaius Trebonius. With twenty-three stabs he was murdered in the Curia Pompeia, and the Capitol was occupied by the assassins. |
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[116.4] The Senate decreed an amnesty for the murder, and when the besieged conspirators had received the children of Antony and Lepidus as hostages, they descended from the Capitol. |
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[116.5] By Caesar's will, Gaius Octavius, the grandson of his sister, was adopted as his son and made heir to half his estate. |
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[116.6] When Caesar's corpse was brought to the field of Mars, it was burned in front of the Speaker's platform by the plebs. |
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[116.7] The office of dictator was banned forever. |
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[116.8] One Chamiates, a man of the lowest rank, pretending to be the son of Gaius Marius, caused disturbances among the credulous plebs, but was killed. |