Augustus Road

"Look, Caesar's spirit is sighing and crying!" Amadeus saw the reflected signal from the hill over there and shouted immediately. Then all the mobs present looked up in the direction of his voice. Indeed, Caesar's eyebrows were drooping, his face was sad, and it seemed that he was stained with tears.

At this time, the chorus hidden behind the bronze door of the temple sang a low chant in unison, making it sound like Caesar was sad. Then on the gable, Caesar's face slowly faded and disappeared.

Antony was so stunned that he forgot to order the follow-up team to lift the coffin and move forward. But when he came to his senses and was about to give the order, the former military tribunes Avinus and Fonteus suddenly lit the javelins in their hands and threw them into Caesar's coffin. The flames rose up, and the other people stopped moving forward. They took turns to throw the collected furniture, sticks and any other flammable things next to Caesar's coffin, and soon a huge funeral pile was formed.

.. ??Then the old soldiers went forward and threw their weapons and gold medals into the funeral pyre. Then the women took off their jewelry and the amulets of their children and threw them in. Lepidus also followed the crowd, holding flowers to mourn the dictator. Only Antony was still walking around the funeral pyre, silently, and occasionally poking his head and trying to look inside, like a forgotten child who still didn't know what to do. When Korpurnia, Caesar's wife, appeared and put the remaining bones picked up by the cremation into an urn, Amadeus appeared in front of the crowd again. He made a strong request. "This funeral pyre. I will donate all my property and build it into an altar with a stone tablet. All the people can come here during festivals to express their grief for Caesar and hold sacrificial activities. The Senate and other institutions cannot interfere with its existence. Of course, the most urgent thing is that we need a blood sacrifice for Caesar. What do you think it is?"

"The heads of the three traitors Brutus, Cassius and Decimus!" Many people shouted wildly with Amadeus, so they all lit torches from the embers of the funeral pyre, and then like a mountain torrent, they went towards the Capitoline.

In the end, only many Jews were left in the square, still guarding the funeral pyre and crying. They vowed to keep vigil for Caesar day and night without rest until the Civil Movement Festival (June 15).

In the Temple of Jupiter, the conspirators gathered in fear. Discussing today's funeral, many people were frightened by Caesar's "spirit". They walked around restlessly, and Spinzel was the first to lose patience. He shouted at Brutus, "I have said long ago that strict confidentiality measures must be taken for this incident. Participants must offer sacrifices to the gods and swear to keep the secret. As a result, the whole city knew about it before. Otherwise, how could Luca, a two-faced man, take everyone's list and run to Antony to confess?" "Please understand that we are not plotting. There is nothing shameful about removing a tyrant for the Republic." Brutus replied.

"You are a stubborn guy, as stupid as your dead father!" Spinzel cursed.

As a result, Brutus just flared his nose a few times and tried his best to restrain himself, while Spinzel kept cursing. Sometimes he scolded his accomplices for being stupid, sometimes blamed Aetius for the slow delivery of the letter, and sometimes cursed the dead ghost Luca who leaked the secret. Several senators were so angry that they argued with him, and then a physical conflict broke out, and fists and feet flew in the temple.

"Shut up, stop it. What we should be most concerned about now is what Anthony is going to do now that he has the list?" Casca shouted to stop the fight, and then brought up this topic.

Everyone was silent for a while. Ulabella, who was the most nervous, covered his forehead and face, regretting to death: Why did he not hold back at the beginning? This assassination had nothing to do with him. He took the initiative to get involved. It was all vanity and fame that made him do it. Then he slowly raised his head and said in a voice as trembling as the candlelight, "If Antony handed this list to Lepidus, then before the legions of Cisalpine Gaul or the army of Pompey's party came to Rome, Lepidus would definitely declare a public enemy, followed by a massacre, a massacre throughout the city of seven hills - we will have nowhere to stay, Lepidus, Antony's followers, retainers and armed slaves will search for us all over the city, sewers, chimneys, basements, we will hide here like rats, with women and children, slaves will report us for a little reward, sisters, wives and daughters will be raped by lowly soldiers and servants at will, homes, honors and property will be gone, everything will be ruined."

This kind of horrible scene, the slightly older people present have an impression, that is the most common during the civil war of Marius, Cinna and Sulla, it is like a heavy yoke, pressing on the heart of any Roman, a bloody massacre.

After hearing what Eulabella said, many senators squatted down and cried in despair. Some of them still held on to hope and said it was okay. When Lepidus' vanguard troops entered Rome, they swore publicly that they would not declare a public enemy.

As a result, Ulabella grabbed the back of the neck of the senator who was speaking, dragged him to the window of the temple, pointed at the crowd of people who were blocking the way like a dragon of fire at the foot of the mountain and said, "Very good, then please hold this feeling of mutual understanding, calmly walk down the mountain, and return to your own home. I will wait to pick up the fragments of your body on the street in the future, if the crows and wild dogs have not turned them into food!" The senator was immediately terrified when he saw this scene, and dared not say anything more.

"Don't be so pessimistic for the time being. If Antony had this list in his hand and wanted to kill us all, he could have done it long ago." Brutus suddenly spoke and analyzed, "At least now Lepidus has never confirmed our list of personnel in public, which means that Antony did not give him the list." Then, he paced a few steps, then looked at the scene at the foot of the mountain and said, "I think there is a gap between Antony and Lepidus, and we can use this."

"How to use it? There are not only people outside, but also several of their legions!" Spinzer made a loud noise again.

"Lepidus is the most difficult to deal with. Relatively speaking, we can target Antony." Brutus said, "The Senate can induce him to compromise with us by offering him five-year re-election as consul, concurrent governorship of Macedonia and Syria, and eight legion numbers, and squeeze Lepidus out and wait for the opportunity of reversal." Brutus said confidently, "I am willing to take on this task."

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