It was one of the buildings which Pompey had raised and dedicated along with his theatre, and a statue of Pompey stood there.* They say that Cassius before the act turned his eyes to this statue and silently invoked it; he was inclined to the doctrines of Epicurus, but the hour and the imminence of danger inspired him with emotions that made him forget his theories.* Antony who was a powerful man and loyal to Caesar was kept out of the way by Brutus Albinus, who purposely arranged a long interview with him.*
When Caesar entered, the senate rose out of respect for him. Some of Brutus’s confederates took up their position behind his chair others went towards him as though to support Tillius Cimber’s petition on behalf of his exiled brother, and followed Tillius to Caesar’s seat.* Caesar sat down and waved their petitions away. They became more vehement in their requests and he showed annoyance, till Tillius seized his robe with both hands and began to pull it off his neck. This was the signal for the attack. Casca gave him the first blow, striking him in the neck.* He was naturally nervous at the opening of their great venture, and the wound was a slight one and not mortal. Caesar turned, and seizing the dagger held it, at the same time crying out in Latin, “Miserable Casca, what are you doing?” while his murderer shouted in Greek, “Brother, help.” So the murder began.
* Pompey, properly Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 BC), was a Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. Together with Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus, he formed the first Triumvirate in 61-54 BC, the Rule of Three, as the Roman Republic gradually moved towards a form of dictatorship. In 48 BC, Pompey was decisively beaten by Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus, and afterwards assassinated in Egypt.
* Plutarch implies that Cassius was a materialist for whom speaking to the dead should have been a waste of effort. Epicurus (341-270 BC) did not believe in an afterlife, and did not believe that even the gods (whatever they may be) can influence our lives, except in the sense that we may usefully project our morality onto them.
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (81-43 BC) was a Roman general and politician. Marcus Antonius (83-30 BC), known in English as Mark Antony, was another significant figure in the transformation of the Roman Republic into an empire. He became a rival of Julius Caesar’s adopted son Octavian, but Octavian crushed Antony’s forces at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, claiming the title Emperor Augustus in 27 BC.
* Lucius Tillius Cimber (?-?42 BC) was a Roman senator who had been one of Caesar’s warmest admirers and received the Governorship of Bithynia as a reward. However, he became disillusioned and joined the conspirators, agreeing to grab Caesar’s toga as a signal to strike. He subsequently raised a fleet in Bithynia to help the ‘Liberators’ continue their campaign against Caesar’s loyalists.
Publius Servilius Casca Longus (84-42 BC) was Plebeian Tribune in 43 BC; he and his brother Titedius had been childhood friends of Caesar. Fearing retribution for his part in Caesar’s death, Casca fled Rome and was stripped of his office. He fought at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, in which Caesar’s loyalists Mark Antony, Octavian and Marcus Lepidus led an army of Rome’s western provinces against an army from the eastern provinces, led by Caesar’s assassins Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius. The ‘Triumvirs’ defeated the ‘Liberators’; Cassius and Brutus committed suicide, and Casca died too, possibly by his own hand.