The month of January 44 BC brought on the final 2 1/2 months of Caesar's life. At this point it seems there was not yet a conspiracy against him. But of course he was under the greatest suspicion. Clearly the remainder of the aristocrats wanted to see just how far Caesar would go. One interesting honor that Caesar received was the immunity that was only given to the Tribunes. At games he was allowed to sit with them. If Caesar was insulted, the guilty would be outlawed. Caesar was also made sole Censor for life. But what really set thing on the downward turn was the fact that he did not refuse the possibility of being made Dictator for life.

But Caesar had been trying to make himself look good with the people by trying to carry out great public works. Rome in 44 BC was an unimpressive poor urban sprawl. Most buildings were built of sun-dried brick. Caesar set about building new buildings in marble. A new Rostra was being built, along with new temples such as the Concordia Nova, as well as new court-houses and marketplaces that followed a Greek tradition. A new vast public library was to be built under the watch of Marcus Terrentius Varro. The Senate-house, the Curia Hostilia, had suffered much damage during the last 60 years. It had its roof torn off and been burnt twice in 80 BC and 52 BC. Caesar decided with the senate's approval to build a new meeting house to be named the "Curia Julia." The Curia Hostilia, which had been earlier repaired was now demolished. Outside Rome the Pontine marshes were to be filled or drained. A canal was to be dug in the Corinthian Isthmus to speed trade and transport. Caesar had the Pomerium of Rome itself extended and it was decreed that Caesar could be buried within it. It is clear that many people didn't mind this. Cassius Dio himself tells us that monarchy is the efficient form of government. So it seems that some were dissatisfied with the mob rule democracy/oligarchy that had been going on. Caesar at this time was said to be offered the right to have sexual relations with as many women he wanted. Now we are told of the beginning of the conspiracy.

Gaius Cassius Longinus was the Praetor Peregrinus of Rome in 44 BC. In January the Senate granted many of its honors to Caesar and they went in a delegation, including Cassius, to see him, then sitting in his new temple of Venus Genetrix. Now when the senators came to announce the grants Caesar didn't stand up in respect. This angered both the Senators and the citizens present. Dio tells us that Caesar may have had diarrhea, but that he later went home on foot, causeing further anger. Suetonius tells us that Cornelius Balbus held him in his seat as he did try to rise. Plutarch supports this, putting in the mouth of Balbus: "Will you not remember, you are Caesar, and claim the honor which is due to your merit." Plutarch also says that Caesar did realize how serious this event was. Back at home afterward, distressed and laying his neck bare before his friends, saying that he was ready to offer it to anyone who would give the stroke. Only after this, according to Plutarch, was his malady (probably progressive epilepsy) used as his excuse for not rising, but the real truth he says was that Cornelius Balbus held him down. Suetonius does also mention another version; that he made no attempt to rise at all, but on the contrary frowned angrily on Gaius Trebatius when he suggested that he should rise. If what Caesar did at his house is true, he realized his error of not taking control of the moment, allowing either his own pride or his flunky to dictate the event. The downward slide of Caesar's popularity among the aristocracy began here. Sometime a little later someone put up a diadem on Caesar's statue on the Rostra. The Tribunes Gaius Epidius Marullus and Lucius Caesetius Flavius took the diadems off and Caesar was not pleased. He didn't say anything now, but clearly this showed that the government was not prepared to let Caesar rule as King.

Caesar was after all Consul for the year until he planned to leave the city for the war in the east with Parthia. This was to include a punitive expedition against the Dacians who were attacking allied territory. Perhaps Caesar was willing to stay as dictator for 10 years and be made King after he returned. This war could infact unite the people behind Caesar completely. To win a war against the external enemy is far more effective in gaining support than a civil war against a fellow Roman. Caesar had also been named "Pater Patriae" which means "father of the nation". But some of the people were prepared to have a "King Caesar" now. He soon celebrated the Latin festival and was returning to Rome from the Alba Mount on January 26. Some men saluted him as "Rex" which is latin for king. Caesar is said to be suprised and said that he was no "Rex" but "Caesar". Rex was also a cognomen of another noble family. Quintus Marcius Rex was consul in 68 BC. But what went wrong was the fact that the two tribunes that had taken down the laurels from the statue on the Rostra, had the men who cried out "Rex" arrested. Caesar then ordered these men released then hauled off the Tribunes to the Senate and had them stripped of their positions. Caesar even tried to have Flavius disinherited. This action is also said to have happened after the Lupercalia 3 weeks later, but it is much more likely that this happened now (as Cassius Dio says). Now perhaps Caesar seems to have decided to accept the offer of assuming the title "Dictator Perpetuus", Dictator for life. These words also began to be put on the currency. He would officially appear as dictator perpetuus at the next major public festival, the Lupercalia.

On February 15, 44 BC the festival of the Lupercalia was celebrated. This ancient festival involved young men running the course of the ancient Pomerium of Romulus. One of the young men who ran the course was the consul Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) who was actually about 38. On this day Julius Caesar sat on his gilded chair on the Rostra, dressed in his purple robe. This was the robe that the old kings of Rome had worn. He also was wearing a golden wreath. It seems quite clear that Caesar was now comfortable in assuming the position of Dictator Perpetuus and appearing so in Public. This was the next best thing to actually being king. Since this festival is held to commemerate an historic event of the first king of Rome drawing the boundary of the first settlement on the Palatine, Caesar must have thought; "if they want me king, we'll see today." He seems to have planned the event to see how the common people would react. It was a thin line to walk. This was to be a clear test of how the people valued their "Libertas" or freedom of preserving the traditions. After Antony had run the course and still wearing his goatskin thong, he ran up into the forum and was lifted by the priests onto the Rostra and then tried to place a Diadem (a coronet with a laurel that he'd twisted around it while running) on Caesar's head. He said "The people offer this to you through me." Now at this moment there was a small shout of acclamation from a few friends of Antony. Plutarch is certain that this was staged, and it likely was. Caesar quickly refused this offer and avoided having it touch his head. At this action the people loudly applauded Caesar. Antony again offered the crown to Caesar. Again, hardly anyone shouted support. Caesar, like the master politician he was, got up and verbally refused Antony. The crowd went wild with approval. Caesar said "Jupiter alone is king of the Romans" and sent the diadem to be dedicated to the statue of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. He had it entered in the official records that he'd refused the crown when offered by the consul. Here Plutarch says that the crown ended up on one of Caesar's statues and the incident with the Tribunes occured. That is quite unlikely. But the whole event, if it was to see if the Romans would accept Caesar as king, was a failure. If it was the opposite, to prove he had no ambition to be king, it was a moderate success. But the arguement over Caesar's true political goals make this question unanswerable. In any event Caesar saw that the people didn't want a king. The common people may have been convinced of Caesar's position, but others weren't so sure.

Now the consiracy was increased. Caesar himself would have been aware that certain people didn't like the position that he was in. But as I said he seems to have given this not much worry. Caesar says that he preffered to die one death than die countless times as a coward. Again this is supported by suggestions of Caesar's arrogance and feeling of immortality. When Caesar was told that Antony and Dolabella were in a plot against him, he said that he didn't fear fat men with long hair, but those with lean and pale looks. By this they think he means Gaius Cassius.

Gaius Cassius Longinus, as said, was Praetor Peregrinus for 44 BC. It is said that he already had a grudge against Caesar for not endorsing him for the position of Urban Praetor and for stealing his lions in Greece. Cassius was more than qualified for the position of Urban Praetor, as Caesar understood. He however wanted the position for his close friend, Marcus Junius Brutus. Marcus Brutus was a plebian and was at this time about 41 years old. It was rumoured he was Caesar's son. It was well known that Caesar was involved with Brutus' mother Servilia. As consul in 59 had bought her a pearl valued at six million sesterces. He likely had a genuine affection for Brutus and had arranged for him to be elected Consul for 40 BC. Before he had pardoned him and Cassius in August of 48. Afterwards Caesar gave him the governorship of the vital province of Cisalpine Gaul. So why would someone like this want Caesar dead? Cassius was main instigator. He used the fact that many people were leaving letters for Brutus saying: "You are asleep Brutus" and "You are no longer Brutus." As well people were leaving messages at the foot of the statue of Lucius Junius Brutus, Marcus' "supposed" ancestor. One message left was: "Oh, that you were still alive." A message was left at Caesar's statue beside it: "First of all was Brutus consul, since he drove the kings from Rome; Since this man drove out the consuls, he at last is made our king." And it was circulating that Caesar may try legal means to be named king. It was prophesized by the Sybilline books that only a king could conquer the Parthians. So it was believed by Cassius that on the Kalends (1st) of March, that Lucius Cotta would move that Caesar be named king, but likely that of all territories outside of Italy only. When Brutus told Cassius that he wouldn't attend that meeting Cassius asked what would happen if they ask for him. Brutus replied:

"It will be my business then not to hold my peace but to stand up boldly, and die for the liberty of my country."

"But what Roman will suffer you to die? What, do you not know yourself, Brutus? Or do you think that those writings that you find upon your praetor's seat were put there by weavers and shopkeepers, and not by the first and most powerful men of Rome? From other Praetors, indeed, they expect largesses and shows and gladiators, but from you they claim, as an hereditary debt, the extirpation of tyranny; they are all ready to suffer anything on your account, if you will but show yourself such as they think you are and expect you should be."

However it was clear that they would have to move fast. No-one would vote against the prophesy of the Sybilline books. And even if some did, the majority of the new 900 member Senate was loyal to Caesar. Upwards of 60 men joined in the conspiracy against him. One important member of the plot was Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, who was an ally of Caesar. Another was the tribune Publius Servilius Casca. One important person not involved was Marcus Tullius Cicero. It was thought that Cicero, now an old man, would let the secret leak out. So he was not included. So the question for the rest was how to get at Caesar. Caesar didn't seem to like having a bodyguard follow him around all the time, so it wasn't physically difficult. One plan was to toss him from the voting bridge, the Pons Suffragiorum. Caesar was to hold elections for more future magisrates in March. But the idea agreed on was the attack at the meeting place of the Senate. And it would have to be done soon. Caesar had let it be known that he would leave Rome for the east on March 18. One last meeting of the Senate was to be held. It was to occur in the Curia inside the Theatre complex of Pompey in the Campus Martius. The date was to be March 15, the Ides of March!

The conspiracy against Caesar was not as airtight as those involved wanted. In this world of backstabbing and bribary, keeping a secret was next to impossible. However right up until the Ides it seems that Caesar wasn't aware of anything serious. However some may have realized that if there was anything that was going to happen it would be on the Ides of March. Sometime in March when Caesar was making sacrifices (according to Suetonius and Plutarch) a soothsayer named Spurinna warned him of danger no later than the Ides of March. What was more stirring was that it was said that the sacrificial animal had no heart, to give a little drama. This wasn't the only bad omen that occured that was recorded. When construction was going on in Capua for new country estates, a tomb was found that was belived to be the one of the founder, Capys. A warning in the tomb said that the man responsible for the disturbance of the grave would be slayed by his countrymen. This meant Caesar since it was one of his laws that allowed the work in Capua. Suetonius was quite serious about the truth of this. Another was said to be that on March 14, a king-bird carried a sprig of laurel into the Curia of Pompey and was torn to pieces by other birds. Also on that day it was said that Caesar had dinner with Marcus Lepidus who was leaving for the east the next day. At the occasion Caesar answered a question on what was the best death. His answer was "A sudden one." But the most famous omen was believed by all, and even recorded by Livy. Caesar's wife Calpurnia is said to have dreamed that a pinnacle set on Caesar's house by the Senate had collapsed. It was also said that she dreamed that Caesar was stabbed in her arms. In any event when the sun rose after six in the morning, Calpurnia begged Caesar not to go to the Senate this day. It seems that Caesar himself was concerned that his wife was acting so strangely. He also is said to have dreamed of flying above the clouds holding the hand of Jupiter. How would anyone know? Then when word came that the day's sacrifices were inauspicious, Caesar sent word for Antony to dimiss the Senate.

Meanwhile in the theatre complex the conspirators had been waiting with all the other Senators since dawn. They were able to sneak weapons to the site in boxes meant for documents. This is likely to be the truth since it seems that the other Senators who were present that day didn't have any weapons. Brutus had infact had a dagger on him all day and no-one knew it. Cassius Dio says that the conspirators had gladiators waiting in an annex to the building to control any violence. But soon it became evident that Caesar wasn't coming and it began to circulate that he wasn't coming at all. So Decimus Brutus went off to Caesar's house, possibly the Dominus Publica in the Forum Romanum. Of all the conspirators Caesar would trust him the most. First he mocked the words of the priests. Then he played on Caesar's vanity saying that the senate was ready to vote him king of all the lands and seas outside Italy. Why would he break up a full senate prepared to do that? Should they wait until Calpurnia has better dreams? And if he still wishes to dismiss the Senate, he should do it in person. Decimus Brutus then walked Caesar out and to the Senate. It was toward the end of the fifth hour, about 11 o'clock in the morning.

While this was happening the conspirators Cassius and Brutus were not giving anything away. They performed their duties as Praetors all morning. So it was just waiting for Caesar to arrive. But at this time certain people were making it known to them that they knew of the plan. The senator Popilius Laenas said to Brutus and Cassius:

"My wishes are with you, that you may accomplish what you design, and I advise you to make no delay, for the thing is now no secret."

All sources say that on the journey to the senate, a man gave Caesar a scroll that told of the plot. Caesar held it in his left hand and tried to read it, but was prevented from doing so by the crowd that kept approaching his litter. The man who handed him the scroll was said by Plutarch to be Artemidorus. Also on the journey Caesar met Spurinna, the soothsayer whom he saw before. Caesar and Spurinna then exchanged those immortal lines:

Caesar: "The Ides of March are come."

The reply: "Aye Caesar, but not gone."

So then, before noon on March 15, 44 BC, the 707th year from the founding of the city, in the 463rd year of the Republic, Dictator Perpetuus Gaius Julius Caesar entered the Senate one last time. As he came in all the Senators stood up in respect. Cassius was seen to be facing Pompey's statue as if asking for help. Then Caesar sat in his raised chair and the conspirators gathered around him as to petition. Publius Servilius Casca stood behind him. Tillius Cimber then asked for a pardon for his exiled brother. Caesar refused and when they didn't back off, Caesar stood up. At this moment Tillius Cimber grabbed Caesar's robe and pulled it from his shoulders. This was the signal for the attack. Suetonius says that at this moment Caesar said "Why, this is violence!" Then from behind Publius Casca stabbed Caesar in the shoulder near the neck. According to Plutarch, Caesar is to have said in Latin:

"Vile Casca, what does this mean?"

Immediately there was panic in the senate chamber. Brutus tried to give reason for the act but obviously none were about to listen to him. He wanted all to run and proclaim liberty! The senators rushed outside and soon everbody in the area was in a panic. Soon the conspirators made their way up onto the Capitoline hill. Caesar's dead body lay on the floor of the Curia for some time until three slaves got the body and took it back on a litter to Caesar's house, with one arm hanging down. Caesar's body was examined by the physician Antistius. He concluded that only one wound Caesar received was fatal, which was in the breast (likely through the heart).

While Caesar's body lay in his house, it was uncertain what would become of Rome. The conspirators had planned to dispose of Caesar's body in the Tiber, then seize his property. However events over the next couple of days would ensure that Caesar would be remembered in various fashions quite different then the murderers thought he would.

Now the reasons for the assasination of Caesar are debated over the very day this work is written. In the end it is clear that Caesar had simply reached a pinnacle of power that could only be countered by his death. Those who came after Julius Caesar seemed to have understood that he had received too much power too quickly. This caused jealousy amongst the aristrocrats from whom this power was really taken. If Caesar had been given this power in a war situation while fighting an external enemy, things could very well have been different. But they were not. So what did the Romans think of Caesar's death? Clearly there were those who were glad. They called it Liberty, and Freedom, but others didn't. One of these men was the co-consul and friend of Caesar, Marcus Antonius.

One thing that the conspirators had made a critical mistake on was the decision to leave Mark Antony alive. They seem to think that after Caesar's death that he would make a deal that would allow things to return to normal. By doing this they made a grave error. Antony had not been in the Senate when Caesar was killed and soon he took to flight to avoid anything against his person, discarding his consular robe. Antony likely first saw Caesar's dead body at Caesar's own house. Antony went there to get Caesar's private papers. At some point Caesars' father-in-law Lucius Calpurnius Piso had Caesar's will retrieved from the Vestals and it was first read at Antony's house. Meanwhile on the Capitol the conspirators were awaiting an offer. From Plutarch's Life of Brutus it appears that Brutus came down from the Capitol made an attempt to speak to the people on the 15th, but had to retreat back up to the Capitol when bad things were said about Caesar, probably by the Praetor Cornelius Cinna. But in Cassius Dio it seems to have happened differently. It is said:

"And when they met in the assembly (on the 15th), the assassins had much to say against Caesar and much in favour of democracy, and they bade the people take courage and not expect any harm. For they had killed him, they declared, not to secure power or any other advantage, but in order that they might be free and independent and be governed rightly. By speaking such words they calmed the majority, especially since they injured no one. But faring, for all that, that somebody might plot against them in turn, they themselves went up to the Capitol, in order, as they claimed, to pray to the gods, and there they spent the day and night."

The next day the Senate met again and the conspirators were assigned provinces and Antony was thanked for avoiding another civil war. Brutus was given Crete and Cassius was given Africa. Decimus Brutus was given Cisalpine Gaul. Either now or the day before Publius Cornelius Dolabella entered his consulship. By the acts of amnesty it seemes that Antony wanted to have things return to a feeling of normality. However if Antony wanted this it wouldn't likely happen. By ratifying Caesar's acts the government was at least two years away from being normal. Sometime around now Caeasar was to be enrolled among the Gods. And sometime after this Senate meeting Antony wanted the will of Caesar read to the people and a public funeral to calm them. Cassius opposed the suggestion but Brutus agreed to it. The funeral likely took place on the night of March 18. It is said by other authors to have been on March 20. On the night of the event, Antony spoke a brilliant funeral speech. Caesar's body was being conveyed to his family's tomb when Antony took the opportunity to speak the eulogy over it. According to Cassius Dio he ended it by saying:

"Of what avail, O Caesar, was your humanity, of what avail your inviolability, of what avail the laws? Nay, though you enacted many laws that men might not be killed by their personal foes, yet how mercilessly you yourself were slain by your friends! And now, the victim of assassination, you lie dead in the Forum through which you often led the triumph crowned; wounded to death, you have been cast down upon the rostra from which you often addressed the people. Woe for the blood-bespattered locks of gray, alas for the rent robe, which you assumed, it seems, only that you might be slain in it!"

The will of Caesar granted a certain amount of money to each Roman citizen as well as gardens along the Tiber for public parkland. It is said by Plutarch that Antony "unfolded the bloody garment of Caesar, showed them in how many places it was pierced, and the number of his wounds." At this point the crowd could no longer hold there anger back and some people cried for the death of the killers. At this point Brutus and his followers wisely left Rome, likely wishing they'd killed Antony when they had the chance. People argued whether to burn the body of Caesar on the Capitoline hill or in the room of the theatre where he was killed. The people instead took the body and burned the corpse of the Dictator in the forum on a pile of tables and benches from the shops in the market place. We are also told that people threw their cloths into the flames. When the fire died down people took torches from it and went off to burn down the houses of the conspirators. Freedmen of Caesar took away his bones and put them in the tomb of his family. Many foreigners, including Jews, payed their respects to Caesar. After this an alter was set up on the site where the body was burned. The people wanted to worship Caesar as a true god. For the moment this was not condoned for political reasons. Later on January 1, 42 BC Gaius Julius Caesar was proclaimed as DIVUS JULIUS. In the last days of July 44 BC a comet was seen for seven days during the victory games held for Caesar. It was believed that Caesar's soul itself was ascending to heaven.

In every way Gaius Julius Caesar was a great man, and will never be forgotten as long as man walks the Earth.