Excerpt from The Greatness and Decline of Rome, Vol. 3 Capitol. At the same time the leading members Of the aristo cratic party had recovered from their first bewilderment and were attempting to secure information concerning the con spirators Cicero, in the utmost excitement and anxiety, wrote a laconic note to Basilus, Offering his congratulations and asking what he and his friends proposed to do. Antony was no less anxious for immediate news; Who had killed Caesar and who should be consulted in so dangerous a crisis Thus messengers began to speed through the streets of Rome upon that afternoon, collecting news and carrying letters and messages in every direction. The discussion So profound an animosity towards Cmsar had been gathering in the capiml' in the depths Of men's minds during recent years, that it was not difficult to find a number of senators who were bold enough to accept the conspirators' invitation to the Capitol. Among them was Cicero, who arrived almost beside himself with de light; the excitement Of the crisis had at length aroused the weary and dissatisfied scholar from his long inactivity. Deliberations were at once begun. It was clear that the Senate must be assembled as soon as possible: the question then arose, who should convoke it. By the laws of the con stitution, this was the function of the surviving consul, and some senators proposed to apply to him: the idea was by no means so irrational as has been supposed by modern historians, who are too prone to forget that the conspirators could not criticise the proposal in the light of subsequent events. Only a few months earlier Antony, with Brutus, Cassius and Trebonius, had been a moderate Caesarean. He had eventually joined the Opposite faction; but his debts, the slights to which the dictator had exposed him, and the solicitations of his wife, Fulvia, might serve as his excuse and lead his former friends to hope that he would cease this temporary aberration now that Caesar was dead. Cicero, on the other hand, was delighted to. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.