orum,[6] with a band of
soldiers at his devotion; and Antony, being consul, was permitted to
command them. 19. Their first step was to possess themselves of
Caesar's papers and money, and the next to assemble the senate. 20.
Never had this august assembly been convened upon so delicate an
occasion, as to determine whether Caesar had been a legal magistrate,
or a tyrannical usurper; and whether those who killed him merited
rewards or punishments. Many of them had received all their promotions
from Caesar, and had acquired large fortunes in consequence of his
appointments: to vote him an usurper, therefore, would be to endanger
their property; and yet, to vote him innocent, might endanger the
state. In this dilemma they seemed willing to reconcile extremes; they
approved all the acts of Caesar, and yet granted a general pardon to
the conspirators.

21. This decree was very far from giving Antony satisfaction, as it
granted security to a number of men who were the avowed enemies of
tyranny, and who would be foremost in opposing his schemes of
restoring absolute power. As, therefore, the senate had ratified all
Caesar's acts without distinction, he formed a plan of making him rule
when dead as imperiously as he had done when living. 22. Being
possessed of Caesar's books of accounts, he so far gained over his
secretary as to make him insert whatever he thought proper. By these
means, great sums of money, which Caesar would never have bestowed,
were distributed among the people; and every man who had any seditious
designs against the government was there sure to find a gratuity. 23.
Things being in this situation, Antony demanded of the senate that
Caesar's funeral obsequies should be performed. This they could not
decently forbid, as they had never declared him a tyrant:
accordingly, the body was brought forth into the Forum with the utmost
solemnity; and Antony, who charged himself with these last duties of
friendship, began his operations upon the passions of the people by
the prevailing motives of private interest. 24. He first read to them
Caesar's will, in which he made Octavius, his sister's grandson, his
heir, permitting him to take the name of Caesar, and bequeathed him
three parts of his private fortune; which, in case of his death,
Brutus was to have inherited. To the Roman people were left the
gardens which he possessed on the other side of the Tiber; and to
every citizen three hundred sesterces. Unfolding Caesar