now busily engaged with preparations for a war against the
Parthians, who had been a menace to Syria ever since the defeat of
Crassus. This defeat Caesar aimed to avenge and, in addition, to
definitely secure the eastern frontier of the empire. An army of sixteen
legions and 10,000 cavalry was being assembled in Greece for this
campaign, and Caesar was about to leave Rome to assume command. He is said
to have been informed that a conspiracy against his life was on foot, but
to have disregarded the warning. He had dismissed his body-guard of
soldiers and refused one of senators and equestrians. On the fatal day he
entered the Senate chamber, where the question of granting him the title
of king in the provinces was to be discussed. A group of the conspirators
surrounded him, and, drawing concealed daggers, stabbed him to death. He
fell at the foot of Pompey's statue.

*Estimate of Caesar's career.* By the Roman writers who preserved the
republican tradition Brutus, Cassius, and their associates were honored as
tyrannicides who in the name of liberty had sought to save the republic.
Cato, who had died rather than witness the triumph of Caesar, became their
hero. But this is an extremely narrow and partizan view. The republic
which Caesar had overthrown was no system of popular government but one
whereby a small group of Roman nobles and capitalists exploited for their
own personal ends and for the satisfaction of an idle city mob millions of
subjects in the provinces. The republican organs of government had ceased
to voice the opinion even of the whole Roman citizen body. The governing
circles had proven themselves incapable of bringing about any improvement
in the situation and had completely lost the power of preserving peace in
the state. Radical reforms were imperative and could only be effective by
virtue of superior force. In his resort to corruption and violence in
furthering his own career and in his appeal to arms to decide the issue
between himself and the Senate, Caesar must be judged according to the
practices of his time. He was the child of his age and advanced himself by
means which his predecessors and contemporaries employed. That he was
ambitious and a lover of power is undeniable but hardly a cause for
reproach; and who shall blame him, if when the Senate sought to destroy
him by force, he used the same means to defend himself. His claim to
greatness lies not in his ability to outwit his rivals in the poli