Page:Cicero And The Fall Of The Roman Republic.djvu/433

44 B.C.] been burned, Dolabella intervened with armed force and put many of them to death. Nevertheless we find him soon after accepting Antony's money, and early next year he led an army against the Liberators in Asia, put to death Trebonius who had fallen into his hands, and was himself defeated and killed by Cassius. All these old officers of Cæsar appear to have been merely time-servers and self-seekers, and to have had no policy except that which suited their own interests for the moment.

There were, however, more honest Cæsarians, who sincerely mourned their lost chief, and were unwilling that his death should go unavenged. Among these were Cicero's friends, Balbus, Oppius, Postumius, and Matius, and in the same category must be counted the consuls-elect Hirtius and Pansa, who, however, were brought later on in the interests of the commonwealth to renounce the prospect of vengeance. Men of this type generally followed the lead of Octavian, as soon as he was able to assert himself. Meanwhile their language was threatening and gave much anxiety to Cicero. Cicero visited Marius early in April, and found him maintaining, "that the entanglement is hopeless: if Cæsar with all his genius could not find a solution, who is to do so now?" "He protested," continues Cicero, "that all is ruined, in which he is very likely right: but he rejoiced at it, and declared that there will be an invasion of Gauls within twenty days. . . . To conclude, he said, 'the matter could not end here.'