hid themselves in other people's houses. Meantime Brutus
and his confederates, yet warm from the slaughter, marched in a body
with their bloody swords in their hands, from the senate house to the
Capitol, not like men that fled, but with an air of gayety and
confidence, calling the people to liberty, and stopping to talk with
every man of consequence whom they met. There were some who even joined
them and mingled with their train, desirous of appearing to have had a
share in the action and hoping for one in the glory. Of this number were
Caius Octavius and Lentulus Spinther, who afterward paid dear for their
vanity, being put to death by Antony and young Caesar; so that they
gained not even the honor for which they lost their lives, for nobody
believed that they had any part in the enterprise; and they were
punished, not for the deed, but for the will.

Next day Brutus and the rest of the conspirators came down from the
Capitol and addressed the people, who attended to their discourse
without expressing either dislike or approbation of what was done. But
by their silence it appeared that they pitied Caesar, at the same time
that they revered Brutus. The senate passed a general amnesty; and, to
reconcile all parties, they decreed Caesar divine honors and confirmed
all the acts of his dictatorship; while on Brutus and his friends they
bestowed governments and such honors as were suitable; so that it was
generally imagined the Commonwealth was firmly established again, and
all brought into the best order.

But when, upon the opening of Caesar's will, it was found that he had
left every Roman citizen a considerable legacy, and they beheld the
body, as it was carried through the Forum, all mangled with wounds, the
multitude could no longer be kept within bounds. They stopped the
procession, and, tearing up the benches, with the doors and tables,
heaped them into a pile, and burned the corpse there. Then snatching
flaming brands from the pile, some ran to burn the houses of the
assassins, while others ranged the city to find the conspirators
themselves and tear them in pieces; but they had taken such care to
secure themselves that they could not meet with one of them.

One Cinna, a friend of Caesar's, had a strange dream the preceding night.
He dreamed--as they tell us--that Caesar invited him to supper, and, upon
his refusal to go, caught him by the hand and drew him after him, in
spite of all the resistance he could make.