Lucius Caesetius Flavus on Caesar's acta

Oh conscript fathers,

I speak to you today in the midst of turmoil and tumult the likes of which we may have never seen before. We sit at a crossroads for our republic, and it is the charge of those whom the republic has chosen to guide it to determine which route we travel. As always, I speak today not on behalf of myself, but rather on behalf of those glorious, downtrodden civilians who only now begin to emerge, fear-stricken, from their homes into a Rome free of Caesar and the specter of his harrowing tyranny.

Caesar, like any man absorbed in his own power, in his own hubris, like any man fooled by the cult of his own personality, saw to it that his legacy would extend beyond his mere mortal life. Indeed, it is but further, albeit unnecessary evidence of Caesar’s tyranny that he felt his influence should last even post mortem. But Caesar sleeps now for eternity. Antony and his band of power hungry cronies would have you believe that such is not the case, but indeed we no longer need to live in fear, as I was once forced to, of Caesar’s expansive command and repression.

We come together today to discuss the fate of Caesar’s acta. I have made my case against Caesar’s tyranny before, you are all aware of his persecution of me for the noble crime of removing a diadem from the head of our late tyrant. But we cannot deny that Caesar had a distinctly organized plan drawn out for the circumstance of his death. I ask you, if Caesar was a tyrant in life, why would he not be so in death? Indeed, it surprises me not that Antony, who himself stands to gain so much from the execution of Caesar’s will, supports the carrying out of these acta. However, let us not be swayed by the selfishness and greediness of those who seek to use Caesar’s death as a means of promulgating their agendas.

Simultaneously, I do not believe that the mere fact that his would-be successors seek to exploit his acta necessarily means that we should ignore them completely. Instead, I believe that we, as a senate, should review the acta and decide, on a case-by-case level, which of these serve the republic and its noble people and which of these serves Caesar’s villanous supporters. May we all remember why we are here, to lead the republic and to protect its citizens, I urge you to join me in moving forwards towards a republic in which no man reigns supreme.

Thank you