tical
arena or outgeneral his enemies on the field of battle, but in his
realization, when the fate of the civilized world was in his hands, that
the old order was beyond remedy and in his courage in attempting to set up
a new order which promised to give peace and security both to Roman
citizens and to the provincials. Caesar fell before he had been able to
give stability to his organization, but the republic could not be
quickened into life. After Caesar some form of monarchical government was
inevitable.

CHAPTER XV

THE PASSING OF THE REPUBLIC: 44-27 B. C.

I. THE RISE OF OCTAVIAN

*The political situation after Caesar's death.* Caesar had made no
arrangements for a successor, and his death produced the greatest
consternation in Rome. The conspirators had made no plans to seize the
reins of power, and instead of finding their act greeted with an outburst
of popular approval, they were left face to face with the fact that
although Caesar was dead the Caesarian party lived on in his veterans and
the city populace, led by the consul Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius
Lepidus, Caesar's master of the horse. The Senate met on 17 March, and it
was evident that a majority of its members supported the assassins, but
they were afraid of the legion which Lepidus had under his orders and the
Caesarian veterans in the city. Antony, who had obtained possession of
Caesar's papers and money, took the lead of the Caesarian party and came
to terms with their opponents. It was agreed that the conspirators should
go unpunished, but that the acts of Caesar should be ratified, even those
which had not yet been carried into effect, that his will should be
approved, and that he should receive a public funeral.

The reading of Caesar's will revealed that he had left his gardens on the
right bank of the Tiber as a public park, had bequeathed a donation of
three hundred sesterces (about fifteen dollars) to each Roman citizen and
had adopted his grand-nephew Caius Octavius as his son and heir to
three-fourths of his fortune. By a speech delivered to the people on the
day of Caesar's funeral Antony skilfully enflamed popular sentiment
against Caesar's murderers. The mob seized the dictator's corpse, burned
it in the forum and buried the ashes there. The chief conspirators did not
dare to remain in the city; Decimus Brutus went to his province of
Cisalpine