Yet to knowingly build temples in their honor and temples of clemency, this is not found in all eras and this was not the case for Caesar. For, after all, he was not an oppressor and without a doubt, he deserved more recognition than he received.
Do you not remember, Lepidus, the day when he had Pompey’s statues reinstated and when Cicero declared that by re-erecting them, he had secured his own? This action was then seen as as admirable as it was. All Romans spoke only of this and agreed that Caesar was the greatest and most admirable of all heroes. On this occasion, Caesar appeared as fair as he was generous. As these statues had been erected for Pompey at a time when he was serving the Republic and not destroying it, he did not want him deprived of a mark of honor that he truly deserved. And then, tyrants are never safe. They fear everything and trust no one. They deem themselves deserving of a violent death, and by the precautions they take to avoid it, they show that they know they deserve it. But Caesar acted innocently; he trusted everyone. By delegating authority to Brutus and Cassius by appointing them magistrates, he did not want to take any measure for his own safety. He should have followed the advice of his friends. But he was too generous to be capable of this prudence that so resembles fear and often produces the same effects. Besides, he believed that by proving his sincerity to the Romans, he would need no other precautions for his safety. He did not miss any occasion to show the Romans his preference for his status as a Roman citizen to anything else. One day when he returned from Alba, some saluted him calling him king, but he replied that his name was Caesar, not King. Yes, Caesar, you were right to prefer this name to that of king. You made it so great that you could not relinquish it without suffering a loss. Having lived as Caesar, it was necessary to die as Caesar.
You also remember, Lepidus, that when the Senate bestowed new honors upon him, he showed extreme modesty by saying that these honors should have been reduced rather than increased. You also know that when Mark Antony, with an inconsiderate devotion, presented him with the royal diadem, he refused it twice and ordered that it be placed on the statue of Jupiter, as though to say that the Romans should only be governed by the gods themselves. What more could he do to show the Romans that he did not want tyranny than to publicly refuse the mark of royalty? Did they expect him to have Mark Antony executed for this crime? No, that would not have been fair, and he who had forgiven a hundred crimes to his enemies must also forgive this inconsiderate fervor to one of his friends. I am well aware that Pompey's supporters have said that Caesar had contributed to certain excessive favors that had been bestowed upon him in order to gauge the will of the people. But know this, Lepidus, if he had contributed, it was with the intention of rejecting them to justify his intentions.
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