在其辉煌的一生中，恺撒赢得了四次重大战争，四次举行凯旋入城仪式，每次都威风八面地走在游行队伍的最前头。他如愿以偿地成为了人民膜拜的英雄。

　　Then Ceasar appeared in the Senate to report upon his adventures, and the grateful Senate made him "dictator" for ten years. It was a fatal step.

　　恺撒来到元老院，向元老们描述他波澜壮阔的冒险事业。于是感激涕零的元老们任命他为"独裁 官"，为期10年。这是致命的一步。

　　The new dictator made serious attempts to reform the Roman state. He made it possible for freemen to become members of the Senate. He conferred the rights of citizenship upon distant communities as had been done in the early days of Roman history. He permitted "foreigners" to exercise influence upon the government. He reformed the administration of the distant provinces which certain aristocratic families had come to regard as their private possessions. In short he did many things for the good of the majority of the people but which made him thoroughly unpopular with the most powerful men in the state. Half a hundred young aristocrats formed a plot "to save the Republic." On the Ides of March (the fifteenth of March according to that new calendar which C?sar had brought with him from Egypt) C?sar was murdered when he entered the Senate. Once more Rome was without a master.

　　新任独裁 官施行了许多有力的措施，来改革危机四伏的国家现状。他让自由 民获得了成为元老院成员的资格。他恢复罗马古制，给子边疆地区的人民以公民权。他允许"外国人"参与政府，对国家政策施加一定的影响。他改革了某些边远行省的行政管理，以兔它们沦为某些贵族世家领地和私有财产。一句话，恺撒做了许多照顾大多数人利益的事情，因而也成为特权阶层的敌人。50个年轻贵族联合策划了一个"拯救共和国"的阴谋。按恺撒从埃及引进的新历，也就是3月15日那天，他步人元老院出席会议，一群年轻贵族蜂拥而上，将他杀害。罗马再一次没有了领袖。

　　There were two men who tried to continue the tradition of Caesar's glory. One was Antony, his former secretary. The other was Octavian, Caesar's grandnephew and heir to his estate.

　　有两个人试图延续恺撒的光荣。一个是安东尼，恺撒的前秘书。另一个是渥大维，恺撒的外甥兼地产继承人。