Western Civilization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Western Civilization - Essay Example Only by examining the facts can one make a decision on right or wrong. Although not one of the actual assassins, Cicero makes the argument that some members of the conspiracy had brought up what he referred to as â€Å"petty crimes† (one of the instances was fraudulent buying and selling). His viewpoint was that made little sense when the emperor’s real crime was the simple fact that he declared himself king and that in itself justified the Emperor’s death. Indeed, Cicero goes so far to state that such views are that of an insane person (and â€Å"immoral†) and those that followed him were just as mad as Caesar. In his case, he states that the Empire was once a free state with free people and that removing somebody like Caesar (either by force or peaceful means) was not only reasonable but in fact warranted. Cassius Dio on the other hand, makes an entirely different viewpoint in that killing Caesar was perhaps not totally justified and only brought unnecessary war and sedition to Rome. Granted, it could be argued that unlike Cicero, Cassius lived close to three hundred years after the event and was writing history as based upon the documents available to him. Yet historians such as Cassius often provide valuable insight many years after the fact, maybe unprejudiced, whereas those like Cicero were inflamed and caught up in the moment. Cassius does make a valid point in that the senators and other leaders courted Caesar like he was a king, such as riding into the city on horseback in full regalia and naming him Father of His Country. True Caesar’s ego made him giddily accept such â€Å"honors† and the man truly believed he was deserving of those favors. So why then use this as a later excuse to later kill him? Cassius points out that they hoped to convince Caesar that he was a mere mortal and when that failed (the Emperor actually believd himself otherwise!), the conspiracy took