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Suet. Iul. 80-82 – Original:
quae causa coniuratis maturandi fuit destinata negotia, ne assentiri necesse esset. Consilia igitur dispersim antea habita et quae saepe bini terniue ceperant, in unum omnes contulerunt, ne populo quidem iam praesenti statu laeto, sed clam palamque detrectante dominationem atque assertores flagitante. [2] peregrinis in senatum allectis libellus propositus est: ‚Bonum factum: ne quis senatori nouo curiam monstrare uelit!‘ et illa uulgo cane bantur: Gallos Caesar in triumphum ducit, idem in curiam: Galli bracas deposuerunt, latum clauum sumpserunt. Quinto Maximo suffecto trimenstrique consule theatrum introeunte, cum lictor animaduerti ex more iussisset, ab uniuersis conclamatum est non esse eum consulem. [3] post remotos Caesetium et Marullum tribunos reperta sunt proximis comitiis complura suffragia consules eos declarantium. subscripsere quidam Luci Bruti statuae: ‚utinam uiueres!‘ item ipsius Caesaris: Brutus, quia reges eiecit, consul primus factus est:
hic, quia consules eiecit, rex postremo factus est. [4] conspiratum est in eum a sexaginta amplius, Gaio Cassio Marcoque et Decimo Bruto principibus conspirationis. qui primum cunctati utrumne in Campo per comitia tribus ad suffragia uocantem partibus diuisis e ponte deicerent atque exceptum trucidarent, an in Sacra uia uel in aditu theatri adorirentur, postquam senatus Idibus Martiis in Pompei curiam edictus est, facile tempus et locum praetulerunt.
Sed Caesari futura caedes euidentibus prodigiis denuntiata est. paucos ante menses, cum in colonia Capua deducti lege Iulia coloni ad extruendas uillas uetustissima sepulcra dissicerent idque eo studiosius facerent, quod aliquantum uasculorum operis antiqui scrutantes reperiebant, tabula aenea in monimento, in quo dicebatur Capys conditor Capuae sepultus, inuenta est conscripta litteris uerbisque Graecis hac sententia: quandoque ossa Capyis detecta essent, fore ut illo prognatus manu consanguineorum necaretur magnisque mox Italiae cladibus uindicaretur. [2] cuius rei, ne quis fabulosam aut commenticiam putet, auctor est Cornelius Balbus, familiarissimus Caesaris. proximis diebus equorum greges, quos in traiciendo Rubiconi flumini consecrarat ac uagos et sine custode dimiserat, comperit pertinacissime pabulo abstinere ubertimque flere. et immolantem haruspex Spurinna monuit, caueret periculum, quod non ultra Martias Idus proferretur. [3] pridie autem easdem Idus auem regaliolum cum laureo ramulo Pompeianae curiae se inferentem uolucres uarii generis ex proximo nemore persecutae ibidem discerpserunt. ea uero nocte, cui inluxit dies caedis, et ipse sibi uisus est per quietem interdum supra nubes uolitare, alias cum Ioue dextram iungere; et Calpurnia uxor imaginata est conlabi fastigium domus maritumque in gremio suo confodi; ac subito cubiculi fores sponte patuerunt. [4]
Ob haec simul et ob infirmam ualitudinem diu cunctatus an se contineret et quae apud senatum proposuerat agere differret, tandem Decimo Bruto adhortante, ne frequentis ac iam dudum opperientis destitueret, quinta fere hora progressus est libellumque insidiarum indicem ab obuio quodam porrectum libellis ceteris, quos sinistra manu tenebat, quasi mox lecturus commiscuit. dein pluribus hostiis caesis, cum litare non posset, introiit curiam spreta religione Spurinnamque irridens et ut falsum arguens, quod sine ulla sua noxa Idus Martiae adessent: quanquam is uenisse quidem eas diceret, sed non praeterisse.
assidentem conspirati specie officii circumsteterunt, ilicoque Cimber Tillius, qui primas partes susceperat, quasi aliquid rogaturus propius accessit renuentique et gestum in aliud tempus differenti ab utroque umero togam adprehendit: deinde clamantem: ‚ista quidem uis est!‘ alter e Cascis auersum uulnerat paulum infra iugulum. [2] Caesar Cascae brachium arreptum graphio traiecit conatusque prosilire alio uulnere tardatus est; utque animaduertit undique se strictis pugionibus peti, toga caput obuoluit, simul sinistra manu sinum ad ima crura deduxit, quo honestius caderet etiam inferiore corporis parte uelata. atque ita tribus et uiginti plagis confossus est uno modo ad primum ictum gemitu sine uoce edito, etsi tradiderunt quidam Marco Bruto irruenti dixisse: [3] καὶ σὺ τέκνον; exanimis diffugientibus cunctis aliquamdiu iacuit, donec lecticae impositum, dependente brachio, tres seruoli domum rettulerunt. nec in tot uulneribus, ut Antistius medicus existimabat, letale ullum repertum est, nisi quod secundo loco in pectore acceperat. [4]
Fuerat animus coniuratis corpus occisi in Tiberim trahere, bona publicare, acta rescindere, sed metu Marci Antoni consulis et magistri equitum Lepidi destiterunt.
Projekttitel: eManual Alte Geschichte
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Übersetzung: Alexander Thomson
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Übersetzung:
For this reason the conspirators precipitated the execution of their design, that they might not be obliged to give their assent to the proposal. Instead, therefore, of caballing any longer separately, in small parties, they now united their counsels; the people themselves being dissatisfied with the present state of affairs, both privately and publicly condemning the tyranny under which they lived, and calling on patriots to assert their cause against the usurper. Upon the admission of foreigners into the senate, a hand-bill was posted up in these words: „A good deed! let no one shew a new senator the way to the house.“ These verses were likewise currently repeated: “The Gauls he dragged in triumph through the town, Caesar has brought into the senate-house, And changed their plaids for the patrician gown. ”When Quintus Maximus, who had been his deputy in the consulship for the last three months, entered the theatre, and the lictor, according to custom, bid the people take notice who was coming, they all cried out, „He is no consul.“ After the removal of Cesetius and Marullus from their office, they were found to have a great many votes at the next election of consuls. Some one wrote under the statue of Lucius Brutus „Would you were now alive!“ and under the statue of Caesar himself these lines: “Because he drove from Rome the royal race, Brutus was first made consul in their place. This man, because he put the consuls down, has been rewarded with a royal crown.” About sixty persons were engaged in the conspiracy against him, of whom Caius Cassius, and Marcus and Decimus Brutus were the chief. It was at first debated amongst them, whether they should attack him in the Campus Martius when he was taking the votes of the tribes, or some bf them should throw him off the bridge. whilst others should be ready to stab him upon his fall; or else in the Via Sacra, or at the entrance of the theatre. But after public notice had been given by proclamation for the senate to assemble upon the ides of March, in the senate-house built by Pompey, they approved both of the time and place, as most fitting for their purpose.
Casar had warning given him of his fate by indubitable omens. A few months before, when the colonists settled at Capua, by virtue of the Julian law, were demolishing some old sepulchres, in building countryhouses, and were the more eager at the work, because they discovered certain vessels of antique workmanship, a tablet of brass was found in a tomb, in which Capys, the founder of Capua, was said to have been buried, with an inscription in the Greek language to this effect: „Whenever the bones of Capys come to be discovered, a descendant of Iulus will be slain by the hands of his kinsmen, and his death revenged by fearful disasters throughout Italy.“ Lest any person should regard this anecdote as a fabulous or silly invention, it was circulated upon the authority of Caius Balbus, an intimate friend of Caesar’s. A few days likewise before his death, he was informed that the horses, which, upon his crossing the Rubicon, he had consecrated, and turned loose to graze without a keeper, abstained entirely from eating, and shed floods of tears. The soothsayer Spurinna, observing certain ominous appearances in a sacrifice which he was offering, advised him to beware of some danger, which threatened to befall him before the ides of March were past. The day before the ides, birds of various kinds from a neighbouring grove, pursuing a wren which flew into Pompey’s senate-house, with a sprig of laurel in its beak, tore it in pieces. Also, in the night on which the day of his murder dawned, he dreamt at one time that he was soaring above the clouds, and, at another, that he had joined hands with Jupiter. His wife Calpurnia fancied in her sleep that the pediment of the house was falling down, and her husband stabbed on her bosom; immediately upon which the chamber doors flew open. On account of these omens, as well as his infirm health, he was in some doubt whether he should not remain at home, and defer to some other opportunity the business which he intended to propose to the senate; but Decimus Brutus advising him not to disappoint the senators, who were numerously assembled, and waited his coming, he was prevailed upon to go, and accordingly set forward about the fifth hour. In his way, some person having thrust into his hand a paper, warning him against the plot, he mixed it with some other documents which he held in his left hand, intending to read it at leisure. Victim after victim was slain, without any favourable appearances in the entrails; but still, disregarding all omens, he entered the senate-house, laughing at Spurinna as a false prophet, because the ides of March were come without any mischief having befallen him. To which the soothsayer replied, „They are come, indeed, but not past.“
When he had taken his seat, the conspirators stood round him, under colour of paying their compliments; and immediately Tullius Cimber, who had engaged to commence the assault, advancing nearer than the rest, as if he had some favour to request, Casar made signs that he should defer his petition to some other time. Tullius immediately seized him by the toga, on both shoulders; at which Casar crying out, „Violence is meant!“ one of the Cassii wounded him a little below the throat. Caesar seized him by the arm, and ran it through with his style; and endeavouring to rush forward, was stopped by another wound. Finding himself now attacked on all hands with naked poniards, he wrapped the toga about his head, and at the same moment drew the skirt round his legs with his left hand, that he might fall more decently with the lower part of his body covered. He was stabbed with three and twenty wounds, uttering a groan only, but no cry, at the first wound; although some authors relate, that when Marcus Brutus fell upon him, he exclaimed, „What! art thou, too, one of them!“ Thou, my son!“ The whole assembly instantly dispersing, he lay for some time after he expired, until three of his slaves laid the body on a litter, and carried it home, with one arm hanging down over the side. Among so many wounds, there was none that was mortal, in the opinion of the surgeon Antistius, except the second, which he received in the breast. The conspirators meant to drag his body into the Tiber as soon.as they had killed him; to confiscate his estate, and rescind all his enactments; but they were deterred by fear of Mark Antony, and Lepidus, Caesar’s master of the horse, and abandoned their intentions.
Projekttitel: eManual Alte Geschichte
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Autor_in: Falk Wackerow
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Suet. Iul. 80-82
Leitfragen:
1) Weshalb wollten die Senatoren Caesar töten?
2) Welche Bilder benutzt Sueton, um die Umstände der Ermordung zu illustrieren?
3) Welche Folgen hatte Caesar Tod für die Republik?
Kommentar:
Der obige Text stammt aus der Feder des Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, des wohl bekanntesten Verfassers von Caesarenviten. Aufgrund verschiedener Anstellungen am Hof unter den Kaisern Trajan und Hadrian verfügte er über unvergleichliche Einsichten in den Alltag der Herrscher.
Im Jahre 44 v. Chr. hatte Gaius Iulius Caesar den bisherigen Höhepunkt seiner Macht erreicht. Die Anhänger des Pompeius waren geschlagen, der Rest des Senats unterwürfig, man hatte ihn zum dictator perpetuus, zum Diktator auf Lebenszeit, ernannt. Doch die Opposition hatte der Niederlage im Bürgerkrieg zum Trotz die Werte der Republik nicht vergessen und wartete auf den Moment, wieder die Macht zu ergreifen. Eine Gruppe von etwa sechzig Verschwörern aus dem Senatorenstand kam zu dem Schluss, dass nur ein Tyrannenmord das Gleichgewicht im Staat wiederherstellen könne. Nicht nur die ungeheure Machtfülle Caesars, sondern besonders die Neubesetzung von Ämtern mit alten Weggefährten und die Aufstockung des Senats mit treuen Gefolgsleuten bedrohten die althergebrachte Vorherrschaft vieler senatorischer Familien. Sie fürchteten, gegenüber den Aufsteigern ins Hintertreffen zu geraten. Im Text wird das an dem Ausspruch deutlich, Caesar habe die Stammestracht der Gallier mit der Toga der römischen Oberschicht vertauscht und diese nach Rom in den Senat gebracht. Der Allmacht Caesars standen die Senatoren dennoch recht hilflos gegenüber, weshalb die anticaesarische Propaganda vor allem auf die Gleichsetzung der caesarischen Politik mit der Ergreifung der Königsherrschaft Bezug nahm. Denn die Erinnerung an die etruskischen Könige war auch in der späten Republik noch stark vorhanden, die als Despoten empfundenen Herrscher verhasst. Damit hofften die Caesargegner das einfache Volk gegen Caesar einzunehmen, was sich in dem bei Sueton wiedergegebenen Graffito auf der Statue niedergeschlagen hat. Die zahlreichen Warnungen und bösen Omina, die Caesar vor dem Attentat erreichten, sind wohl nachträglich zur Dramatisierung und Glorifizierung seines Lebens beigefügt worden. Ebenso können die Aussprüche während des Attentats als unhistorisch gelten.
Der Tod des Alleinherrschers hatte nicht die von seinen Mördern erhofften Auswirkungen, vielmehr kam es zu einem erneuten Ausbruch des Bürgerkrieges. Die „Erbengemeinschaft“ Caesars, bestehend aus seinem wichtigsten Unterfeldherrn Marcus Antonius, seinem Adoptivsohn Gaius Octavius und seinem Reiterführer Marcus Aemilius Lepidus schwor Rache. Diese Männer teilten das Reich unter sich auf und schlugen die Caesarmörder in mehreren Schlachten. An einer Wiederherstellung der alten Republik war keiner von ihnen interessiert.