[597] I have translated this according to the reading of Sintenis. Compare the Life of Brutus, c. 8. Cæsar was very lean. As to the writings compare Dion Cassius (44, c. 12).
[598] See the Life of Brutus, c. 89.
Cæsar. Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Shakspere, Julius Cæsar, Act i. Sc. 2.
[600] The passage was in the Historical Memoirs. See the Life of Sulla, c. 26; and the Life of Lucullus, c. 28. Notes.
[601] The Ides of March were the 15th, on which day Cæsar was murdered.
[602] Compare Dion Cassius (44. c. 17). Cæsar also had a dream.
[603] I have kept Plutarch's word, which is Greek. Suetonius (Cæsar, c. 81) expresses it by the Latin word "fastigium," and also Florus (iv. 2), Cicero (Philipp. ii. 43), and Julius Obsequens (c. 127), who enumerates the omens mentioned by Plutarch. The passage of Livius must have been in the 116th Book, which is lost. See the Epitome. The word here probably means a pediment. But it also signifies an ornament, such as a statue placed on the summit of a pediment.
[604] Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was the son of Decimus Junius Brutus, Consul B.C. 77, and grandson of Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus, Consul B.C. 138. He was adopted by Aulus Postumius Albinus, Consul, B.C. 99, whence he took the name Albinus. He served under Cæsar in Gaul, during which campaign he destroyed the fleet of the Veneti. (Gallic War, iii. 12, &c.) Decimus Brutus was a great favourite with Cæsar, who by his will placed him in the second degree of succession; he also gave him the province of Cisalpine Gaul, which Brutus held after Cæsar's death, and appointed him to be consul for B.C. 42. In the year B.C. 43, after M. Antonius had united himself with M. Lepidus, the governor of Gallia Narbonensis, and L. Munatius Plancus and Asinius Pollio had also joined M. Antonius, Decimus Brutus attempted to make his escape into Macedonia to Marcus Brutus; but he was overtaken in the Alps by the cavalry of Antonius, and put to death after abjectly praying for mercy. This was the just punishment of a treacherous friend who helped Cæsar to the supreme power and then betrayed him (Vell. Paterculus, ii. 61). Like many other men, he did well enough when he was directed by others, but when he was put in command, he lost his head and threw away the opportunities that he had. There are extant several of his letters to Ciecro and letters of Cicero to him. (Dion Cassius, 43. c. 53, and the references in the notes; Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Junii.)