As the senators had not stayed to listen to their explanations, the conspirators now determined to tell the people that Cæsar was dead.
So they marched through the streets crying that the tyrant had been killed, and bidding all those who loved the Republic to join them.
But the citizens turned away, with scarcely concealed horror, and hurrying into their shops and houses, shut the doors.
They had seen Cæsar that very morning. It could not be true that he was indeed dead, as Brutus said. In awed whispers they spoke of him to one another, and many wept, for now they forgot their suspicions, and remembered only that they had loved Cæsar, and that he had been their friend.
The next day, when the people assembled in the Forum, Brutus spoke to them. He told them, not of the dead Cæsar’s faults, but of the Republic and its needs, and the people listened in silence.
But when Brutus sat down, another of the conspirators began to speak, accusing Cæsar of one crime after another. This was more than the people could bear. The interruptions grew louder and more threatening every moment, until at length the conspirators, fearing that a riot would take place, fled to the Capitol for safety.
On the following morning the Senate met, and Antony, caring no longer to hide, was seen walking through the streets toward the Senate-house. The people feared for his safety, because he had been the friend of Cæsar, and begged him to beware, lest he too was murdered. But he lifted his toga that they might see that he was clad in armour.
Even to meet the Senate, the conspirators did not venture to leave the Capitol, but they sent Cicero to be their spokesman.
Cicero’s eloquence may have moved the senators. In any case, Mark Antony, who was one of the Consuls, agreed that the conspirators should be received in peace.
It was also arranged that Cæsar should be given a public funeral.