The conspiracy against Cæsar's life had been formed as early as the beginning of the year. It had been set on foot by C. Cassius Longinus, a personal enemy of Cæsar's, and more than sixty persons were privy to it. Private hatred alone seems to have been the motive of Cassius, and probably of several others. Many of them had taken an active part in the war against Cæsar, and had not only been forgiven by him, but raised to offices of rank and honor. Among others was M. Junius Brutus, who had been pardoned by Cæsar after the battle of Pharsalia, and had since been treated almost as his son. In this very year Cæsar had made him Prætor, and held out to him the prospect of the Consulship. Brutus, like Cato, seems to have been a sincere Republican, and Cassius persuaded him to join the conspiracy, and imitate his great ancestor who freed them from the Tarquins. It was now arranged to assassinate the Dictator in the Senate-house on the Ides or 15th of March. Rumors of the plot got abroad, and Cæsar was strongly urged not to attend the Senate. But he disregarded the warnings which were given him. As he entered, the Senate rose to do him honor; and when he had taken his seat, the conspirators pressed around him as if to support the prayer of Tillius Cimber, who entreated the Dictator to recall his brother from banishment. When Cæsar began to show displeasure at their importunity, Tillius seized him by his toga, which was the signal for attack. Casca struck the first blow, and the other conspirators bared their weapons. Cæsar defended himself till he saw Brutus had drawn his sword, and then exclaiming, "And thou, too, Brutus!" he drew his toga over his head, and fell pierced with three-and-twenty wounds at the foot of Pompey's statue.
Cæsar's death was undoubtedly a loss not only to the Roman people, but the whole civilized world. The Republic was utterly lost. The Roman world was now called to go through many years of disorder and bloodshed, till it rested again under the supremacy of Augustus. The last days of the Republic had come, and its only hope of peace and security was under the strong hand of military power.
Cæsar was in his 56th year at the time of his death. His personal appearance was noble and commanding; he was tall in stature, of a fair complexion, and with black eyes full of expression. He never wore a beard, and in the latter part of his life his head was bald. His constitution was originally delicate, and he was twice attacked by epilepsy while transacting public business; but, by constant exercise and abstemious living, he had acquired strong and vigorous health, and could endure almost any amount of exertion. He took pains with his person, and was considered to be effeminate in his dress.
Cæsar was probably the greatest man of antiquity. He was at one and the same time a general, a statesman, a lawgiver, a jurist, an orator, a poet, a historian, a philologer, a mathematician, and an architect. He was equally fitted to excel in every thing, and has given proofs that he would have surpassed almost all other men in any subject to which he devoted the energies of his extraordinary mind. One fact places his genius for war in a most striking light. Till his 40th year, when he went as Proprætor into Spain, he had been almost entirely engaged in civil life and his military experience must have been of the most limited kind. Most of the greatest generals in the history of the world have been distinguished at an early age: Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Frederick of Prussia, and Napoleon Bonaparte, gained some of their most brilliant victories under the age of 30; but Cæsar, from the age of 23 to 40, had seen nothing of war, and, notwithstanding, appears all at once as one of the greatest generals that the world has ever seen.
