y his will placed him in the second degree
of succession; he also gave him the province of Cisalpine Gaul, which
Brutus held after Caesar's death, and appointed him to be consul for
B.C. 42. In the year B.C. 43, after M. Antonius had united himself
with M. Lepidus, the governor of Gallia Narbonensis, and L. Munatius
Plancus and Asinius Pollio had also joined M. Antonius, Decimus Brutus
attempted to make his escape into Macedonia to Marcus Brutus; but he
was overtaken in the Alps by the cavalry of Antonius, and put to death
after abjectly praying for mercy. This was the just punishment of a
treacherous friend who helped Caesar to the supreme power and then
betrayed him (Vell. Paterculus, ii. 61). Like many other men, he did
well enough when he was directed by others, but when he was put in
command, he lost his head and threw away the opportunities that he
had. There are extant several of his letters to Ciecro and letters of
Cicero to him. (Dion Cassius, 43. c. 53, and the references in the
notes; Drumann, _Geschichte Roms_, Junii.)]

[Footnote 605: It was usual for the Romans in their wills to
substitute an heres, one or more (in the Roman sense), to take the
property in case the person who was first named in the will for any
reason did not take it. Caesar's first heres was his great nephew, C.
Octavius, afterwards Augustus.]

[Footnote 606: It was the general opinion that some roll or writing
was put into Caesar's hands, which informed him of the conspiracy; but,
as is usual in such cases, there were different statements current
about the particulars of this circumstance. Compare Dion Cassius, 44.
c. 18.]

[Footnote 607: According to Dion Cassius (41. c. 52) the Senate was
assembled in the curia ([Greek: synedrion]), which Pompeius had
built.]

[Footnote 608: The two sects of Greek philosophy that had most
adherents among the Romans were those of the Epicureans and the
Stoics. Cassius, as an Epicurean, would have no faith in any
superhuman powers; but in the moments of danger a man's speculative
principles give way to the common feelings of all mankind. I have kept
Plutarch's word "enthusiasm," which is here to be understood not in
our sense, but in the Greek sense of a person under some superhuman
influence.]

[Footnote 609: This is a mistake of Plutarch, who has stated the fact
correctly in his Life of Brutus (c. 17). It was Caius Trebonius who
kept Antonius engaged in talk, as we learn from Dion Cassius (44. c