This is directed to Heraklia's post, a few back in the thread. I have come to believe that the illness afflicting the Republic was well beyond redemption as of the Ides of March 44 BCE. Irrespective of what Cassius and Brutus might have tried to do on the day of or day after the assassination, the hard truth is that the armies of Rome were where the power really resided. Unfortunately, for more than two generations, probably since Marius, soldiers had thought of their leaders as their generals, not the abstraction called "Rome"...and much less the corrupt and discredited debating society the Senate had become. Caesar's legionaires loved himand probably would not have readily accepted any replacement, particularly anyone connected with Caesar's murder. Moreover, by this time the ranks were populated heavily with Italians,Gauls and Spaniards and other men only recently made part of the Roman political framework, whose loyalty to the Republic was thin at best. One of the key weaknesses of the Roman Republic (which was a lesson to the founders of our own republic)was in its system of loyalty of the military to military leaders instead of to civilian ones. It is my conjecture that the only reason Octavian and Antony (and Lepidus to a lesser extent) were able to so easily step into roles of military power succeeding Caesar was because Antony had been a trusted veteran with Caesar's campaigns, the troops knew and trusted him, as he had lived in tents in the mud with them on the campaigns. Octavian to a lesser extent also was identifed with Caesar's military campaigns, and had the advantage of being Caesar's heir. I believe the only man who could have brought the military power to bear in favor of the restoration of the Republic was Pompey, who in addition to being dead as of the Ides of March was already of an age and disposition beyond where such exploits would have been easily done. I think Cicero knew this. He and other supporters of the Republic were, by 44 BCE ,quite used to trading safety and luxury in return for sacrifice of a few "liberties." This lesson echoes throguh the ages to the 21st century.