And in all other ways, too, Brutus had as large a share in Caesar’s power as he wished. Indeed, had he wished it, he might have been first among Caesar’s friends and exercised the greatest power;

but the party of Cassius drew him away from such a course. Not that he was reconciled to Cassius himself as yet, after their struggle for honours, but he gave ear to the friends of Cassius, who urged him not to suffer himself to be charmed and softened by Caesar, but rather to flee the tyrant’s kindnesses and favours, for these were shown to him, not to reward his virtue, but to root out his vigour and his haughty spirit.

However, even Caesar was not wholly without suspicion, nor free from the effects of accusations against Brutus, but, while he feared his high spirit, his great repute, and his friends, he had faith in his character.

Once, when he was told that Antony and Dolabella were plotting revolution, he said it was not the fat and long-haired fellows that troubled him, but those pale and lean ones;Cf. , lxii. 5. meaning Brutus and Cassius.

And again, when certain ones were accusing Brutus to him, and urging him to be on his guard against him, he laid his hand upon his breast and said: What? Think ye not that Brutus can wait for this poor flesh? implying that no one besides Brutus was fit to succeed him in such great power.

And verily it appears that Brutus might have been first in the city with none to dispute him, could he have endured for a little while to be second to Caesar, suffering his power to wane and the fame of his successes to wither.

But Cassius, a man of violent temper, and rather a hater of Caesar on his own private account than a hater of tyranny on public grounds, fired him up and urged him on.

Brutus, it is said, objected to the rule, but Cassius hated the ruler, and among other charges which he brought against him was that of taking away some lions which Cassius had provided when he was about to be aedile; the beasts had been left at Megara, and when the city was taken by Calenus,Cf. , xliii. 1. Caesar appropriated them.

And the beasts are said to have brought great calamity upon the Megarians. For these, just as their city was captured, drew back the bolts and loosened the fetters that confined the animals, in order that they might obstruct the oncoming foe, but they rushed among the unarmed citizens themselves and preyed upon them as they ran hither and thither, so that even to the enemy the sight was a pitiful one.