Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/421

45 B.C.] Every incident of monarchy was galling and degrading to those who had been nurtured in the proud atmosphere of aristocratic republicanism. There are indications that Cæsar himself was not blind to the feelings which his domination inspired, though he lacked the energy of purpose to correct the faults of which such feelings were the natural outcome. Cicero was dancing attendance one day in the antechamber of the Dictator, waiting for his turn of audience. "Can I doubt," exclaimed Cæsar, "that I am cordially hated, when Marcus Cicero has to sit there waiting, and cannot see me at his own convenience? Well if any one is good-natured it is Cicero, but no doubt he must hate me bitterly." Cicero had certainly no personal reason for disliking Cæsar, and those who have followed his utterances so far, have before them abundant evidence that personally he revered and admired him. What he hated was not the man but the monarch; yet his hatred of the monarch was sufficient to cause him not only to accept Cæsar's assassination as a necessary measure, but to triumph over it as a righteous retribution. Even when he doubts whether its practical results will not prove worthless, he sets down as clear gain "the exultation in the deed, and the exaction of the penalty desired by our hatred and indignation." Even "this same easy-tempered man," had felt the iron enter into his soul. To men of sterner mould the thrust of the dagger seemed the only possible answer to the ignominy under which they suffered.