Except his bastard by Cleopatra, he had no son; nor was his power so absolute or so quietly settled that he could have a thought of bequeathing the Empire, like a private inheritance, to his sister’s grandson, Octavius.  While he was absent there was no reason to fear any violence or maladministration in Italy or in Rome.  Cicero would have had the chief authority in the Senate.  The praetorship of the city had been conferred upon you by the favour of Caesar, and your known credit with him, added to the high reputation of your virtues and abilities, gave you a weight in all business which none of his party left behind him in Italy would have been able to oppose.  What a fair prospect was here of good order, peace, and liberty at home, while abroad the Roman name would have been rendered more glorious, the disgrace of Crassus revenged, and the Empire extended beyond the utmost ambition of our forefathers by the greatest general that ever led the armies of Rome, or, perhaps, of any other nation!  What did it signify whether in Asia, and among the barbarians, that general bore the name of King or Dictator?  Nothing could be more puerile in you and your friends than to start so much at the proposition of his taking that name in Italy itself, when you had suffered him to enjoy all the power of royalty, and much more than any King of Rome had possessed from Romulus down to Tarquin.

Brutus.—­We considered that name as the last insult offered to our liberty and our laws; it was an ensign of tyranny, hung out with a vain and arrogant purpose of rendering the servitude of Rome more apparent.  We, therefore, determined to punish the tyrant, and restore our country to freedom.

Atticus.—­You punished the tyrant, but you did not restore your country to freedom.  By sparing Antony, against the opinion of Cassius, you suffered the tyranny to remain.  He was Consul, and, from the moment that Caesar was dead, the chief power of the State was in his hands.  The soldiers adored him for his liberality, valour, and military frankness.  His eloquence was more persuasive from appearing unstudied.  The nobility of his house, which descended from Hercules, would naturally inflame his heart with ambition.  The whole course of his life had evidently shown that his thoughts were high and aspiring, and that he had little respect for the liberty of his country.  He had been the second man in Caesar’s party; by saving him you gave a new head to that party, which could no longer subsist without your ruin.  Many who would have wished the restoration of liberty, if Caesar had died a natural death, were so incensed at his murder that, merely for the sake of punishing that, they were willing to confer all power upon Antony and make him absolute master of the Republic.  This was particularly true with respect to the veterans who had served under Caesar, and he saw it so plainly that he presently availed himself of their dispositions.