[614] M. Æmilius Lepidus, son of M. Lepidus, consul B.C. 78. He afterwards formed one of the Triumviri with M. Antonius and Octavianus Cæsar. This was the Lepidus with whom Cæsar supped the day before he was murdered. He was a feeble man, though something of a soldier. Shakspere has painted him in a few words:
Antony. This is a slight unmeritable man,
Meet to be sent on errands.
Julius Cæsar, Act iv. Sc. 1.
There is more of him in the Lives of Brutus and Antonius.
[615] I do not know who this Caius Octavius is. There is probably some mistake in the name. Lentulus was the son of P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, consul B.C. 57. He had, like many others, experienced Cæsar's clemency. Plutarch is mistaken in saying that this Spinther was put to death, though he was probably included in the proscription. (See Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Lentuli, p. 545.) The Lentulus who is mentioned as having been put to death in Egypt (Life of Pompeius, c. 80) was L. Cornelius Lentulus Crus, consul B.C. 49.
The disturbances which followed Cæsar's death are more particularly described in the Lives of Brutus and Antonius.
[616] Cæsar made Caius Octavius, his sister's grandson, his first heres. He left a legacy to every Roman citizen, the amount of which is variously stated. He also left to the public his gardens on the Tiber. (Suetonius, Cæsar, c. 83); Dion Cassius (44. c. 35).
Shakspere has made a noble scene of the speech of Antonius over Cæsar's body on the opening of the will:
Ant. Here is the will, and under Cæsar's seal;
To every Roman citizen he gives,
To every several man, seventy-five drachmas:
Moreover he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbours and new planted orchards,
On this side Tiber; he hath left them you
And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures,
To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Cæsar. When comes such another?
Julius Cæsar, Act iii. Sc. 2.