Note 113 — TRANSLATION

Suetonius, Caes., 80, alone agrees with Nicolaus in recounting the four tentative plans discussed by the conspirators before it was decided that Caesar be killed in the senate on March 15, but he is far less explicit. According to Appian, 2, 115, Caesar was to have set out for the East within four days of that date; hence the conspirators must have felt that there was no time to lose. The motions which Caesar wished to introduce at this session of the senate referred to final preparations and assignments before he departed for Parthia. Dio 44, 15, says that Brutus and Cassius felt that the motion might be put that Caesar be declared king in order to assure victory over the Parthians in accordance with a Sibylline prophecy (see chap. 20, note 96), and since they could not vote for the measure, from conviction, nor against it, from policy, they decided to kill him before suspicion should become directed against themselves. In this connection, see Appian 2, 113; Plutarch, Brut., 10, where attempts have been made to reproduce the supposed dialog between Brutus and Cassius on the subject.