Original
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg048.perseus-grc2:66
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἤδη που φέρει καὶ τὸ αὐτόματον· ὁ δὲ δεξάμενος τὸν φόνον ἐκεῖνον καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα χῶρος, εἰς ὃν ἡ σύγκλητος ἠθροίσθη τότε, Πομπηΐου μὲν εἰκόνα κειμένην ἔχων, Πομπηΐου δὲ ἀνάθημα γεγονὼς τῶν προσκεκοσμημένων τῷ θεάτρῳ, παντάπασιν ἀπέφαινε δαίμονός τινος ὑφηγουμένου καὶ καλοῦντος ἐκεῖ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἔργον γεγονέναι. καὶ γὰρ οὖν καὶ λέγεται Κάσσιος εἰς τὸν ἀνδριάντα τοῦ Πομπηΐου πρὸ τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως ἀποβλέπων ἐπικαλεῖσθαι σιωπῇ, καίπερ οὐκ ἀλλότριος ὢν τῶν Ἐπικούρου λόγων ἀλλʼ ὁ καιρὸς, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἤδη τοῦ δεινοῦ παρεστῶτος ἐνθουσιασμὸν ἐνεποίει καὶ πάθος ἀντὶ τῶν προτέρων λογισμῶν. Ἀντώνιον μὲν οὖν πιστὸν ὄντα Καίσαρι καὶ ῥωμαλέον ἔξω παρακατεῖχε Βροῦτος Ἀλβῖνος, ἐμβαλὼν ἐπίτηδες ὁμιλίαν μῆκος ἔχουσαν· εἰσιόντος δὲ Καίσαρος ἡ βουλὴ μὲν ὑπεξανέστη θεραπεύουσα, τῶν δὲ περὶ Βροῦτον οἱ μὲν ἐξόπισθεν τὸν δίφρον αὐτοῦ περιέστησαν, οἱ δὲ ἀπήντησαν, ὡς δὴ Τιλλίῳ Κίμβρῳ περὶ ἀδελφοῦ φυγάδος ἐντυχάνοντι συνδεησόμενοι, καὶ συνεδέοντο μέχρι τοῦ δίφρου παρακολουθοῦντες. ὡς δὲ καθίσας διεκρούετο τὰς δεήσεις καὶ προσκειμένων βιαιότερον ἠγανάκτει πρὸς ἕκαστον, ὁ μὲν Τίλλιος τὴν τήβεννον αὐτοῦ ταῖς χερσὶν ἀμφοτέραις συλλαβὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ τραχήλου κατῆγεν ὅπερ ἦν σύνθημα τῆς ἐπιχειρήσεως, πρῶτος δὲ Κάσκας ξίφει παίει παρὰ τὸν αὐχένα πληγὴν οὐ θανατηφόρον οὐδὲ βαθεῖαν, ἀλλʼ, ὡς εἰκὸς, ἐν ἀρχῇ τολμήματος μεγάλου ταραχθείς, ὥστε καὶ τὸν Καίσαρα μεταστραφέντα τοῦ ἐγχειριδίου λαβέσθαι καὶ κατασχεῖν. ἅμα δέ πως ἐξεφώνησαν ὁ μὲν πληγεὶς Ῥωμαϊστί μιαρώτατε Κάσκα, τί ποιεῖς; ὁ δὲ πλήξας Ἑλληνιστὶ πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφόν ἀδελφέ, βοήθει. τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς γενομένης τοὺς μὲν οὐδὲν συνειδότας ἔκπληξις εἶχε καὶ φρίκη πρὸς τὰ δρώμενα, μήτε φεύγειν μήτε ἀμύνειν, Ἀλλὰ μηδὲ φωνὴν ἐκβάλλειν τολμῶντας, τῶν δὲ παρεσκευασμένων ἐπὶ τὸν φόνον ἑκάστου γυμνὸν ἀποδείξαντος τὸ ξίφος, ἐν κύκλῳ περιεχόμενος καὶ πρὸς ὅ τι τρέψειε τὴν ὄψιν πληγαῖς ἀπαντῶν καὶ σιδήρῳ φερομένῳ καὶ κατὰ προσώπου καὶ κατʼ ὀφθαλμῶν διελαυνόμενος ὥσπερ θηρίον ἐνειλεῖτο ταῖς πάντων χερσίν ἅπαντας γὰρ ἔδει κατάρξασθαι καὶ γεύσασθαι τοῦ φόνου. διὸ καὶ Βροῦτος αὐτῷ πληγὴν ἐνέβαλε μίαν εἰς τὸν βουβῶνα. λέγεται δὲ ὑπό τινων ὡς ἄρα πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους ἀπομαχόμενος καὶ διαφέρων δεῦρο κἀκεῖ τὸ σῶμα καὶ κεκραγώς, ὅτε Βροῦτον εἶδεν ἐσπασμένον τὸ ξίφος, ἐφειλκύσατο κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὸ ἱμάτιον καὶ παρῆκεν ἑαυτόν, εἴτε ἀπὸ τύχης εἴθʼ ὑπὸ τῶν κτεινόντων ἀπωσθεὶς, πρὸς τὴν βάσιν ἐφʼ ἧς ὁ Πομπηΐου βέβηκεν ἀνδριάς. καὶ πολὺ καθῄμαξεν αὐτὴν ὁ φόνος, ὡς δοκεῖν αὐτὸν ἐφεστάναι τῇ τιμωρίᾳ τοῦ πολεμίου Πομπήϊον ὑπὸ πόδας κεκλιμένου καὶ περισπαίροντος ὑπὸ πλήθους τραυμάτων, εἴκοσι γὰρ καὶ τρία λαβεῖν λέγεται καὶ πολλοὶ κατετρώθησαν ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων, εἰς ἓν ἀπερειδόμενοι σῶμα πληγὰς τοσαύτας.
Translation
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg048.perseus-eng2:66
So far, perhaps, these things may have happened of their own accord; the place, however, which was the scene of that struggle and murder, and in which the senate was then assembled, since it contained a statue of Pompey and had been dedicated by Pompey as an additional ornament to his theatre, made it wholly clear that it was the work of some heavenly power which was calling and guiding the action thither. Indeed, it is also said that Cassius, turning his eyes toward the statue of Pompey before the attack began, invoked it silently, although he was much addicted to the doctrines of Epicurus; but the crisis, as it would seem, when the dreadful attempt was now close at hand, replaced his former cool calculations with divinely inspired emotion. Well, then, Antony, who was a friend of Caesar’s and a robust man, was detained outside by Brutus Albinus, who purposely engaged him in a lengthy conversation but Caesar went in, and the senate rose in his honour. Some of the partisans of Brutus took their places round the back of Caesar’s chair, while others went to meet him, as though they would support the petition which Tillius Cimber presented to Caesar in behalf of his exiled brother, and they joined their entreaties to his and accompanied Caesar up to his chair. But when, after taking his seat, Caesar continued to repulse their petitions, and, as they pressed upon him with greater importunity, began to show anger towards one and another of them, Tillius seized his toga with both hands and pulled it down from his neck. This was the signal for the assault. It was Casca who gave him the first blow with his dagger, in the neck, not a mortal wound, nor even a deep one, for which he was too much confused, as was natural at the beginning of a deed of great daring; so that Caesar turned about, grasped the knife, and held it fast. At almost the same instant both cried out, the smitten man in Latin: Accursed Casca, what doest thou? and the smiter, in Greek, to his brother: Brother, help!. So the affair began, and those who were not privy to the plot were filled with consternation and horror at what was going on; they dared not fly, nor go to Caesar’s help, nay, nor even utter a word. But those who had prepared themselves for the murder bared each of them his dagger, and Caesar, hemmed in on all sides, whichever way he turned confronting blows of weapons aimed at his face and eyes, driven hither and thither like a wild beast, was entangled in the hands of all; for all had to take part in the sacrifice and taste of the slaughter. Therefore Brutus also gave him one blow in the groin. And it is said by some writers that although Caesar defended himself against the rest and darted this way and that and cried aloud, when he saw that Brutus had drawn his dagger, he pulled his toga down over his head and sank, either by chance or because pushed there by his murderers, against the pedestal on which the statue of Pompey stood. And the pedestal was drenched with his blood, so that one might have thought that Pompey himself was presiding over this vengeance upon his enemy, who now lay prostrate at his feet, quivering from a multitude of wounds. For it is said that he received twenty-three; and many of the conspirators were wounded by one another, as they struggled to plant all those blows in one body.
Edition note
These discouraged belief in superhuman powers.
Edition note
By Caius Trebonius, rather, as Plutarch says in the Brutus, xvii. 1. Cf. Appian, B. C. ii. 117; Cicero, ad fam. x. 28