did not want to take any steps for his own safety. He should have heeded his friends' advice.<hr>
But he was too generous to be capable of that prudence which so resembles fear<hr>
and often produces the same effects. Moreover, he believed that by proving to the Romans the<hr>
sincerity of his intentions, he would not need other precautions for his safety. He never<hr>
missed a chance to show the Romans that he valued his status as a Roman citizen<hr>
above all else. One day when he was returning from Alba, some hailed him as king, but he<hr>
responded to them that his name was Caesar, not king. Indeed, Caesar, you were right to prefer this name to<hr>
that of king. You made it so great that you could not abandon it without loss. After<hr>
living as Caesar, it was necessary to die as Caesar.<hr>
      You also remember, Lepidus, that when the Senate granted him new honors,<hr>
he showed extreme modesty by saying that these honors should rather have been<hr>
reduced than increased. You also know that when Mark Antony, out of reckless<hr>
devotion, offered him the royal crown, he refused it twice, and ordered it to be<hr>
placed on Jupiter's statue, as if to say that the Romans should be governed<hr>
only by the gods themselves. What more could he have done to show the Romans that he did not<hr>
want the tyranny than publicly refuse the mark of royalty? Did they want him to<hr>
have Mark Antony executed for this crime? No, that would not have been right, and he who had<hr>
forgiven his enemies a hundred offenses should also forgive one's friend's reckless ardor.<hr>
I well know that Pompey's supporters have said that Caesar contributed to certain<hr>
excessive favors granted to him in order to probe the will of the people. But know this,<hr>
Lepidus, if he had contributed, it was with the intention of refusing them to justify his motives.<hr>
     Ah, Lepidus, frankly speaking, it was Caesar's friends, flatterers and enemies all together who<hr>
crushed him under the shower of flowers they threw on him. The<hr>
firsts out of excessive affection, the seconds out of a desire to please and enrich themselves, and the others in order<hr>
to give people an excuse to criticize Caesar and to give an appearance of goodwill to<hr>
their plot against him. But tell me, Lepidus, what else could Caesar do but to refuse the<hr>
honors offered to him? Moreover, if he had wanted to be king, it would have been entirely<hr>
possible. The same arm that allowed him to conquer so many countries and win so many<hr>
victories would have secured his empire. He was well aware of the realities of the world to know<hr>
that he could not ascend to the throne by the sweetness and consent of all Romans. He<hr>
knew without a doubt that crowns are seized, not voluntarily accepted.<hr>
If he had intended to make himself king, he would have used force and not gentleness. Gaul would have<hr>
supplied him with an army powerful enough for that. After all, with five thousand foot soldiers<hr>
and three hundred horsemen, he had put Pompey to flight and took control of all of Italy.<hr>
After the battle of Pharsalus, it wouldn't have been harder for him to seize supreme authority.<hr>
The Gauls would have followed him with joy and would have come to Rome to reclaim the loot<hr>
that the Roman legions had once taken from them.<hr>
<hr>

<hr>

                                                    110<hr>