[17] Dion Cassius.
[18] So Dion Cassius states, on what authority we know not. Suetonius says that as Caesar was returning from the Latin festival some one placed a laurel crown on the statue, tied with a white riband.
[19] The fact is certain. Cicero taunted Antony with it in the Senate, in the Second Philippic.
[20] “Cum ad rem publicam liberandam accessi, HS. mihi fuit quadringenties amplius.”—Decimus Brutus to Cicero, Ad Fam. xi. 10.
[21] “Vellem Idibus Martiis me ad coenam invitâsses. Reliquiarum nihil fuisset.”—Ad Cassium, Ad Fam. xii. 4. And again: “Quam vellem ad illas pulcherrimas epulas me Idibus Martiis invitâsses! Reliquiarum nihil haberemus.”—Ad Trebonium, Ad Fam. x. 28.
[22] Dion Cassius, C. Julius Caesar, xliv. 17.
[23] “Spretâ religione.”—Suetonius.
[24] Not perhaps Caius Cassius, but another. Suetonius says “alter e Cassiis.”
[25] So says Suetonius, the best extant authority, who refers to the famous words addressed to Brutus only as a legend: “Atque ita tribus et viginti plagis confossus est, uno modo ad primum ictum gemitu sine voce edito. Etsi tradiderunt quidam Marco Bruto irruenti dixisse [Greek: kai su ei ekeinon kai su teknon]”—Julius Caesar, 82.
[26] “Cruentum alte extollens Marcus Brutus pugionem, Ciceronem nominatim exclamavit atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gratulatus.”—Philippic ii. 12.