Caesar was warned of the conspiracy but took little heed. He had always taken his life in his hand. He knew that he walked in constant danger. When a soothsayer warned him to beware the Ides of March he only laughed; and when the Ides (March 15) came and his wife implored him to stay indoors, he paid no attention but set out for a meeting of the Senate as usual to transact his daily business, hearing petitions and so on.
It was the day chosen by the conspirators. One of them detained Marcus Antonius, who generally watched over his chief’s safety: the others gathered round Caesar. At a sudden signal, they fell upon him with their daggers. Caesar was unarmed. At the foot of the statue of Pompeius, which he had himself caused to be set up in a place of honour, he fell. Pierced by six and thirty wounds he died. Marcus Brutus raised his dagger, dyed with Caesar’s blood, and holding it aloft declared that he had freed Rome from a tyrant.
A CINERARY URN
So Caesar fell (44). Years of bitter civil war followed. Then at last Caesar’s nephew and adopted son, Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus, did that which Brutus had slain Caesar to prevent—changed the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. All the Emperors bore the name of Caesar. Throughout the vast world over which the Roman eagles flew, Julius Caesar was worshipped almost as a god.
A ROMAN WATER-CARRIER
with his water-skin on his back