Publius Ventidius Bassus on the fate of the assassins

How could it be, senators, that we have come to this?

How could it be that Rome has sunk so low as to confuse traitors with heroes and murder with justice?

Up is not down, black is not white, and straw is not gold!

These men, these cowards, descended upon my commander Caesar like a pack of wild dogs, killing an unarmed man in order to keep power for themselves. After swearing their loyalty.

    And you debate what to do?

There is only one punishment for creatures such as these

There is only one punishment for mutiny

   But this will be done properly; we will not, as some might do, put Roman citizens to death without trial. No, this is Rome. Let each and every one of the conspirators stand trial for his crimes, regardless of rank or station. When they are found guilty, the Roman people will prevail!

    The punishment for mutiny will be given:

Let their hands be put on display as traitors' hand!

Let their tongues be plucked out to silence their lies!

Let their bodies be left to rot and sog in the Tiber, their names spat upon by all true citizens forever.

Ave Caesar

Gaius Octavius speaks concerning the assassin

Noble members of the Senate,

I come before you today with a lingering pain in my heart. The death of my dear great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar was the saddest news I’ve received in my lifetime and it upsets me still. Not only was Caesar a benevolent and great ruler to this fair nation but he was also a good man and a father to every Roman alike. He was a generous man who treated the republic with great respect, and that is what we owe to him. As it has been mentioned, Caesar had pardoned, trusted and loved many of you among us, but one especially, Brutus, and you returned the favor by a brutal and undeserved murder on sacred ground. I ask you, is that respect befitting such a kind and forgiving man?

My greatest interest today, conscript fathers, is to avenge the murder of my great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar. That self-righteous assassin acted without considering the feelings of the Roman citizens, who grieve openly for the loss of their courageous leader. It shows that the citizens must have been content with Caesar’s rule, otherwise they would have rejoiced in the murder of such a “tyrant,” as the assassin would call him. This “liberator” is clearly as selfish and power hungry as he claimed his target to be. This man deserves a punishment equal to their crime. He should be killed and his body tossed into the Tiber as is the proper punishment for a criminal. This needs to be handled swiftly so we can move on to the next important issue by reading Caesar’s acta and putting into action those decrees. This way we can restore stability to the republic, as Caesar would want it.

Thank you.

Gaius Ocatvius

Cicero in Defense of the Liberators

O Romans, I still hear a wailing and a gnashing of teeth in the streets. I hear some passionate followers of Caesar cry out for the destruction of those men who killed their king. Yes, their king for that is what the common man thinks of him. They have not, like many of you, managed to obscure the truth from themselves. His supporters in the senate would claim that he was a powerful man trying to restore the senate, but those who are being honest with themselves realize that he was trying to become king.
Did you think, O Caesar, that we should allow you to maintain the power you claimed, as long as we still had any real power as a senate? No, I suspect you did not, for why else would you fill this legislative body with your supporters, having no regards for the law of the republic, which clearly states that offices of those who will later join the senate must be filled b election? You must have known that a real senate would react poorly to your tyranny, and so you only allowed people to become part of the senate who you knew owed you and could say nothing against you. You did not allow for our freedom, and therefore it is right that the liberators removed you from your place of corrupt power. O Caesar, it was not anyone’s desire to see your blood spilt in a holy place. But it is the desire of all good men to preserve the republic, and so the liberators acted in the name of the good men who still reside here.
I have heard many say that Caesar would have restored the republic. Yes, he hid behind that guise, didn’t he? But when a man, upon gaining one position of power does not cede it after making reforms and instead takes another position of power and then actually moves on to an unlawful position of power, then it should be obvious that he does not mean to give his power up. It should be obvious to anyone who has examined his actions that he meant to gain all power and hold it for himself and his supporters. Caesar was a power hungry man who used lies and deceit to gain support of the senate and advance him to kingship and gave his followers gifts which they did not earn. Under his rule we were forced to silence our objections and I myself was even given the odious task of praising him. I did so in order to keep my position, so that one day I might have the opportunity to serve as a senator should again. Now I have that opportunity, now we all have that opportunity to speak out against the powerful tyrant who ruled over us as surely as ruled over the territories he conquered in battle. We all are capable of saying that, while Caesar was a brilliant man who brought good to Rome, his cleverness was dangerous to our republic. His way of deceit and subjugation was so strong and opposition crushed greatly that many were so fooled that they thought the republic was actually healthy. As if it could be under a rule of a king. The man had to be taken from power, and while it is regrettable that it had to be with his death, that was the only way a man so potent and harmful could be handled.
Therefore, do not punish those who removed him from office. Honor them. Celebrate that there are still men in this republic willing to do their duty to the state and act out against tyranny. Celebrate the potential for a return to the old ways, the ways in which the senate spoke for the people not for the interests of a few men. Celebrate that a demagogue should not be allowed to rise to power again, that no one shall be fooled into believing that the wolf who would devour us is our protector. Uphold the liberators, do not crush them. They did what everyone here was too cowardly, too stupid, or too weak to do. I am an old man and am so weak that I could not have done anything against this tyrant, and it is the downtrodden that are similarly weakened that we now try to protect. Those who still live in fear that Caesar’s heir will become king and keep them suppressed should fear no longer; I trust that the senate shall do its duty to the republic and protect them.
The liberators should under no circumstances be punished. They did right by the republic, and should be upheld as heroes. They were able to accomplish what no one else here was, the elimination of a tyrant from power. They are the men who destroyed your king, a king you should not have had, and catalyzed the return of the republic to its days of glory. Do not let their efforts be in vain. Make the men who fought for your liberation your heroes, not the tyrant who so “honorably” sought your subjugation. Do your duty and allow the liberators to remain in the senate, where they should be, as they are those who uphold the true values of the senate. Please put your faith in the virtues of Rome, the virtues of the republic and allow no one man the honor that belongs to the senate.
Allow the liberators to remain among us and vote with us as we fight to fulfill their legacy: the promise of freedom, that same promise which the ancestor of our Brutus made to the Roman people. As by rights Rome should not have a king, likewise those who liberated us from our potential king should be given the honors of heroes. We should praise these liberators if we are Romans, Roman who continue on in the great tradition of our republic. We should praise them, and, following their example, we should fight any who, following in the legacy of Caesar, would claim kingship over the unwitting public. Be aware of the threat which faces us, and be prepared to fight the evils of would-be tyrants. Uphold you honor Romans, and, returning the favor granted to you, save those who first liberated you from the hands of the tyrant Caesar.

Gaius Matius speech to the Senate concerning Caesar and the assassins

Senators, I begin by apologizing for my absence in the last convening of the senate. In my old age, the frequency with which illness visits my body has increased. I found it hard to speak due to my grief over the loss of my dear friend Caesar.
Indeed, I firmly believe in his desire to return the Republic to power when the time is right by the gods, and his leadership would have undoubtedly led to the restoration of the Republic. Therefore I am unique; I support Caesar and the return of the Republic as the gods will. All of this must be said in order for the following words to hold the significance with which they hold in my heart.
I believe that Caesar’s choices, however often brash, were a result of his devotion to the restoration of the Republic. Romans, we all have at some point in our lives felt the need to stand up for what we believe, and Caesar believed that he had the answers to lead us to victory and through victory, a better way of life. His divine lineage from the goddess Venus makes this claim of the possession of answers acceptable and right.
My opposition in the civil war in now way was to Caesar himself, for I see no boundaries in Caesar’s political and personal choices. I personally and politically stand for and defend Caesar in this time of his death. I believe that Caesar’s character drove his political decisions, and made him an emperor worth praise. Therefore, I stand with the men who continue to support Caesar, but know that my allegiance lies with the restoration of the Republic to which I took an oath.
Rome can not survive as these so-called liberators continue to live. Have you forgotten justice for us all, Caesar especially? Romans, we must make examples of these traitors for the sake of honoring justice, and honoring Caesar! We must carry out punishment in the name of justice, and sentence them to death. We must hold steady in the moment of great turmoil, and swiftly end their lives before all dreams of just government are destroyed by the dishonorable and unjust.

I begin in a spirit of sorrowful mourning for my dear friend Caesar, our fallen leader. I am here to urge my fellow Romans to keep close the memory of our great leader. There is no need for me to recount his great expedition in Gaul, his tireless invasion of Britain, his steady leadership during this regrettable civil war. For today, I remember Caesar as my friend. His fierce leadership in our great Roman empire shows the true character of our emperor, a man bold and magnificent inside as well as outside of these walls. I witnessed the dedication that Caesar held for Rome. I urge you all to never doubt Caesar’s profound desire to restore our great government. That very spirit that inspired my dear friend, inspiring him to make great but necessary changes to the government for us all, must serve as an inspiration to remember forever the intentions of these changes. I knew Caesar as a deliberate man, forceful and true. I again urge you, o Romans, to perpetuate this memory of our Caesar, my fallen friend. We must be as deliberate, true, great, dedicated, bold and steady in our remembrance of Caesar as he was in our government. In memory of his steadiness, we must follow custom and display Caesar’s body for at the very least a week’s time. In memory of his accomplishments, we must carry out funeral games to honor the murdered Caesar. In memory of his divine lineage, we must please the gods and show honor by deifying Caesar. O Romans, in the name of upholding of honor and virtue, we are obligated to Caesar the leader and friend of all countrymen.

Caesar's Funeral and tomorrow's Senatorial meeting

Patres conscripti (and Cleopatra),

Caesar's funeral took place yesterday. In accordance to the decree of the Senate, the funeral was conducted as a private event. However, a large crowd gathered at dawn outside Caesar's house and stayed there all day singing dirges and shouting curses against the assassins of the deceased. The crowd then followed the funerary procession and attended the cremation of the body along with Caesar's family and friends. One of the most memorable moments of the whole funeral was undoubtedly Mark Antony's eulogy for Caesar.

Mark Antony, the surviving consul, wishes to convene the senate tomorrow. The issue at hand is the fate of Caesar's assassins.

Cleopatra with some IMPORTANT news...

To whom it may concern,

Having received word of the untimely and unjust death of Gaius Julius Caesar, I, Cleopatra VII, write this letter from Egypt with an incredibly heavy heart. Like many of you, I am deeply affected by the death of Caesar, for he meant so much to so many people, not only as a ruler but also as a father and patron. I was lucky enough to have gotten close to the man that changed Rome for the better. He was a generous, benevolent, and courageous man, and we will all miss him dearly.

But the time has come for the rightful heir of Caesar to take their place at the helm of this unsteady empire during these turbulent times and steer Rome back into the peace and prosperity it has known for a lifetime. Caesarion, Caesar’s only and most loved son, would have been the choice of Caesar and is the rightful heir to his legacy. For as the blood of Caesar runs throughout the body of his son Caesarion, he shall be the one to rise to power when he will come of age, legally and by the will of his father.

But if this is not convincing enough to you noble Romans, the gods have blessed my womb with another gift of the great Gaius Julius Caesar, so that his name and legacy be carried on for generations to come and so that his legacy might not be diminished. I praise the gods, whom Caesar sits among now, for this glorious child of the heavens. I will raise him as a Roman, which is the fairest and most honorable way to live life.

With all of these things having been said, the time has come for a great Roman man- one with vision, one with great skills as a politician, as an orator, as a leader- to take the children of Caesar under his wing and teach them, by example, how to lead this nation. This man I hope would be one with a great vision for a brighter and more progressive Rome.

My grain is endless, my wealth is bottomless, but my heart is one that longs for the Roman nation to recover from this devastating loss. I wish all of Rome the best of luck and I hope to hear from the senate soon as to the will of Caesar.

Smooches,

Cleopatra