was confessedly a tyranny, for the monarchy received in addition
to its irresponsibility the character of permanency; and when
Cicero[579] in the Senate had proposed the highest honours[580] to
him, which though great were still such as were befitting a human
being, others by adding still further honours and vying with one
another made Caesar odious and an object of dislike even to those who
were of the most moderate temper, by reason of the extravagant and
unusual character of what was decreed; and it is supposed that those
who hated Caesar cooperated in these measures no less than those who
were his flatterers, that they might have as many pretexts as possible
against him and might be considered to make their attempt upon him
with the best ground of complaint. For in all other respects, after
the close of the civil wars, he showed himself blameless; and it was
not without good reason that the Romans voted a temple to Clemency to
commemorate his moderate measures. For he pardoned many of those who
had fought against him, and to some he even gave offices and honours,
as to Brutus and Cassius, both of whom were Praetors. He also did not
allow the statues of Pompeius to remain thrown down, but he set them
up again, on which Cicero said that by erecting the statues of
Pompeius, Caesar had firmly fixed his own. When his friends urged him
to have guards and many offered their services for this purpose, he
would not consent, and he said, that it was better to die at once than
to be always expecting death. But for the purpose of surrounding
himself with the affection of the Romans as the noblest and also the
securest protection, he again courted the people with banquets and
distribution of corn, and the soldiers with the foundation of
colonies, of which the most conspicuous were Carthage[581] and
Corinth, to both of which it happened that their former capture and
their present restoration occurred at once and at the same time.

LVIII. To some of the nobles he promised consulships and praetorships
for the future, and others he pacified with certain other offices and
honours, and he gave hopes to all, seeking to make it appear that he
ruled over them with their own consent, so that when Maximus[582] the
consul died, he appointed Caninius Revilius consul for the one day
that still remained of the term of office. When many persons were
going, as was usual, to salute the new consul and to form part of his
train Cicero said, "We mus