Here the author believes not being in the position to go into every detail
and directs her attention on a house, or rather on a room in this house at
the opposite end of the city of Rome, where some remarkable men met in the
evening of Martius 14 in the year of 44 BC.
Gaius Trebonius: How long do you think you want to sit there and grin broadly at the ceiling?
Quintus Ligarius: Hm? Oh, I've just imagined how it will be after the senate's session. People will be content with our work. They'll celebrate this day as a red-letter-day.
Gaius: Sure they do. We are going to free the people of the cruel dictator's tyranny. A fantastic idea, isn't it?
Quintus: Good. Well, you know what to do tomorrow?
Gaius: Tell the Consul Marcus Antonius a nice little story in front of the entrance, so that he won't appear in the senate in time.
Quintus: Good. Ah, it's Marcus Brutus coming. He Marce, nice to see you've come here.
Brutus: I've heard, you don't plan to kill the second Consul any more. A wise decision, I always said this!
Quintus: You've indeed convinced us. He seemed really too precious and too strong to me to risk a second murder. Are Decimus Brutus, Gaius Longinus and Lucius Timber ready?
Brutus: I met them this afternoon, they are ready to make tomorrow a success for the honour of the Republic.
Quintus: Great! Questions? No? Well, as everything is clear, we should fill the night with sleep. Good night!
Brutus and Gaius: Good night!
The next morning, Caesar suffered badly from a fierce headache. No, not just one, it seemed as if Hannibal's elephants were arranging a race in his head. Grumpy he sat down at the breakfast table. His wife looked at him in concern.
"How's my little Gaius?"
Caesar sighed. "I won't sit in the senate today. I'm ill."
"Oh, and this short before your big battle! You should really lay down at once, I make the doctor come."
"Aw, won't be that bad. I'll simply stay in bed today and we'll see tomorrow."
"Was a more amusing evening yesterday a your Magister's?"
"Stop mocking about me or my parties, woman! I celebrate whenever and as long as I want!"
"Okay, okay, Iulius. You should really go to bed!"
"I'm just going to change the senate's session before."
Everyone was on his place, Marcus Brutus had assured himself. Who was missing, was Caesar. Had someone told him? He took a deep breath and let it out in one go in relief when he saw his victim come around the corner. He turned to him. "Ave Caesar. Who's getting honoured today?"
"Nobody, I'm going to adjourn the session."
"Oh Caesar, may I ask, why?"
"My corpus won't stand the pressure, I have to give him some rest."
"Just before your campaign against the Parthers? Won't the people misunderstand this like you aren't equal to the battle? Especially now you have to show power and not adjourn the session."
"Maybe you're right, we ought to enter first and see. Work will change my mind off my aches."
As Brutus followed Caesar into Pompeius' Curia, he swept off the sweat of his forehead.
Marcus was already sitting when he saw Caesar and Brutus enter the building. He noticed the nervousness in Brutus' face. He followed him with his eyes, until the man had sat down in some distance from Caesar. Perhaps I'm seeing ghosts, he thought in silence. Nevertheless he had asked his son, Jesse and Amanda to wait in front of the Curia if something worse happened.
Before the session began, Lucius Tillius Cimber went to the front, with a request of grace for his brother. Caesar refused.
At that moment this Lucius pulled off Caesar's toga. Immediately about fifty men jumped off the chairs and ran to Caesar, each of them armed with a knife or a dagger. You heard screams, a wild massacre had begun, everyone wanted to stab Caesar first, and if not, then at least second or third, if once at all.
Marcus had also jumped off his seat nut didn't dare to approach at the mass one inch. from the number of screams he guessed that not only Caesar was hit by the sharp things, but because of the narrowness the aggressors stabbed themselves, although unintentionally.
Only after some minutes, that seemed like eternity to Marcus, the assassins let go of their victim, but Brutus stabbed one last time at Caesar, at which the man got up from his seat, turned to him and asked him bitterly, "You, too, Brutus?", before he broke down soiled with blood in front of Pompeius' statue.
Brutus cleaned his dagger and put it in. He wanted to stand now in front of the public and explain everything, and tell that the Republic had been rescued from a dictatorship.
In the meantime, Marcus went to the front and checked the corpse. Twenty-three stabs, before he had broken down. Marcus sighed, dejected and went outside where Brutus was standing and doing a speech about their good intentions with their plan. But the shocked men who flew out of the Curia, handed their panic over to the people, also the conspirators were taken by the panic and flew. Turmoil broke out and bloody wars about the succession of the dictator. While Stephanus was trying to arrest the murderers who had flown and were on their ways to their provinces, Marcus, Amanda and Jesse took care of the injured and dead people that could be found in every street and every alley.
From now on, everybody knew, nothing would be the same as then.
T H E E N D
Gaius Trebonius: How long do you think you want to sit there and grin broadly at the ceiling?
Quintus Ligarius: Hm? Oh, I've just imagined how it will be after the senate's session. People will be content with our work. They'll celebrate this day as a red-letter-day.
Gaius: Sure they do. We are going to free the people of the cruel dictator's tyranny. A fantastic idea, isn't it?
Quintus: Good. Well, you know what to do tomorrow?
Gaius: Tell the Consul Marcus Antonius a nice little story in front of the entrance, so that he won't appear in the senate in time.
Quintus: Good. Ah, it's Marcus Brutus coming. He Marce, nice to see you've come here.
Brutus: I've heard, you don't plan to kill the second Consul any more. A wise decision, I always said this!
Quintus: You've indeed convinced us. He seemed really too precious and too strong to me to risk a second murder. Are Decimus Brutus, Gaius Longinus and Lucius Timber ready?
Brutus: I met them this afternoon, they are ready to make tomorrow a success for the honour of the Republic.
Quintus: Great! Questions? No? Well, as everything is clear, we should fill the night with sleep. Good night!
Brutus and Gaius: Good night!
The next morning, Caesar suffered badly from a fierce headache. No, not just one, it seemed as if Hannibal's elephants were arranging a race in his head. Grumpy he sat down at the breakfast table. His wife looked at him in concern.
"How's my little Gaius?"
Caesar sighed. "I won't sit in the senate today. I'm ill."
"Oh, and this short before your big battle! You should really lay down at once, I make the doctor come."
"Aw, won't be that bad. I'll simply stay in bed today and we'll see tomorrow."
"Was a more amusing evening yesterday a your Magister's?"
"Stop mocking about me or my parties, woman! I celebrate whenever and as long as I want!"
"Okay, okay, Iulius. You should really go to bed!"
"I'm just going to change the senate's session before."
Everyone was on his place, Marcus Brutus had assured himself. Who was missing, was Caesar. Had someone told him? He took a deep breath and let it out in one go in relief when he saw his victim come around the corner. He turned to him. "Ave Caesar. Who's getting honoured today?"
"Nobody, I'm going to adjourn the session."
"Oh Caesar, may I ask, why?"
"My corpus won't stand the pressure, I have to give him some rest."
"Just before your campaign against the Parthers? Won't the people misunderstand this like you aren't equal to the battle? Especially now you have to show power and not adjourn the session."
"Maybe you're right, we ought to enter first and see. Work will change my mind off my aches."
As Brutus followed Caesar into Pompeius' Curia, he swept off the sweat of his forehead.
Marcus was already sitting when he saw Caesar and Brutus enter the building. He noticed the nervousness in Brutus' face. He followed him with his eyes, until the man had sat down in some distance from Caesar. Perhaps I'm seeing ghosts, he thought in silence. Nevertheless he had asked his son, Jesse and Amanda to wait in front of the Curia if something worse happened.
Before the session began, Lucius Tillius Cimber went to the front, with a request of grace for his brother. Caesar refused.
At that moment this Lucius pulled off Caesar's toga. Immediately about fifty men jumped off the chairs and ran to Caesar, each of them armed with a knife or a dagger. You heard screams, a wild massacre had begun, everyone wanted to stab Caesar first, and if not, then at least second or third, if once at all.
Marcus had also jumped off his seat nut didn't dare to approach at the mass one inch. from the number of screams he guessed that not only Caesar was hit by the sharp things, but because of the narrowness the aggressors stabbed themselves, although unintentionally.
Only after some minutes, that seemed like eternity to Marcus, the assassins let go of their victim, but Brutus stabbed one last time at Caesar, at which the man got up from his seat, turned to him and asked him bitterly, "You, too, Brutus?", before he broke down soiled with blood in front of Pompeius' statue.
Brutus cleaned his dagger and put it in. He wanted to stand now in front of the public and explain everything, and tell that the Republic had been rescued from a dictatorship.
In the meantime, Marcus went to the front and checked the corpse. Twenty-three stabs, before he had broken down. Marcus sighed, dejected and went outside where Brutus was standing and doing a speech about their good intentions with their plan. But the shocked men who flew out of the Curia, handed their panic over to the people, also the conspirators were taken by the panic and flew. Turmoil broke out and bloody wars about the succession of the dictator. While Stephanus was trying to arrest the murderers who had flown and were on their ways to their provinces, Marcus, Amanda and Jesse took care of the injured and dead people that could be found in every street and every alley.
From now on, everybody knew, nothing would be the same as then.
T H E E N D