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citizens,someofwhomowedallthattheyhadtohim,andthat
hewouldfalltosolowanestatethatnofriendjno,noteven
aslavejwouldapproachhisdeadbody,inwhatagonyofsoul
wouldhehavespenthislife!
InthedescriptionofthecircumstancesofCaesar)sdeath,ashort
adverbialoftheplaceisprovided.Ciceroisnotprecisewiththe
venueasthislocationwasobviousforhimandforhiscontempo-
raries.Livymayhavewrittenonthesubjectmore,butoutofbook
CXVI,whichconcernstheseevents,onlyaperiochahasbeenleft.
Tecontentofthisperiocha,similarlyasCicerohasit,attributesthe
placeoftheseincidentswiththecuriaofPompey,withnofurther
particulars.2Tisinformationwasthenrepeatedbymanywriters
andhistoriographers,whoweretakingitfromtheirpredecessors
mostprobablywithnodeeperreflection.3Somesourcesskipato-
pographicalelementaltogether,statingonlythatCaesarwaskilled
inthecuria.4
Asimilarlysuccincttermoftheassassinationvenuecanalsobe
foundintheLifeoftheDeifiedJuliusbySuetonius;however,we
maycomeacrosssomeadditionaldatainhiswork.Whileconsid-
eringvariousplacesandwaysforputtingtheirintentionsintoef-
fect,andhavingheardthatCaesarhadsummonedthesenateon
theIdesofMarchinthecuriaofPompey,theassassinsdecidedon
namelythislocationandtime.5Furtheron,amongnumerousex-
traordinarysigns(prodigia),whichweretoprophesythenighdeath
ofCaesar,Suetoniusrecollectsthatontheeveoftheassassination
attempt,somebirdsfromanearbygrovewereseensettingofin
pursuitofagoldcrestwhilstitwascarryingatinylaurelbranch
towardsthecuria,whichwasthentorntopiecesbythesebirdsin-
sidethisbuilding.6Inafurtherpartofthebiographyjwithinthe
2Liv.Per.116.
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