Having returned from Apollonia

I would first begin by addressing some concerns about the legions underneath my command. Soldiers loyal to their former general, Gaius Julius Caesar, have sworn their loyalty to myself and my staff commanding the Parthian Army.

As I return to Rome, however, I do not come with the intention of marching upon the city. I have not come with my Army, and have no intention of marching on Rome. I state this as a gesture of good will to the Senate and Citizenry of Rome.

Similarly, since I have been recognized as the legitimate heir of Gaius Julius Caesar, my adoptive father, I intend to honor his financial obligations to the best of my ability.

Finally, I would like to extend my appreciation to the former Magister Equitum, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, for finally doing what needed to be done. During my travels, I was extremely dismayed, and even shocked, to hear that the Senate was locked in quarrel over what to do with the body of my adoptive father, the former dictator Gaius Julius Caesar. It was not bad enough that he was slain on the very floor of the Senate, by men he appointed to their positions, but that they would not even allow him a proper burial was an outrageous indignity.

I was quite shocked to hear of Marcus Aemilius' decision to march upon the Forum with soldiers loyal to Gaius Julius Caesar, but not entirely surprised. This is something many in the Senate have failed to see, but I have known all this time: Rome's warriors loved Caesar. They loved him as their General, and they continue to love him.

I would have much preferred the public funeral, endorsed by the Senate, which my father so richly deserved, however, it is far better and more appropriate this than he be tossed into the Tiber River like the thug the men who murdered him claim he was. In either case, what is done is done, and would prefer not to dwell the flaws in Marcus Aemilius Lepidus' actions so much as the honorable thing he has done, both for the Roman citizenry and the Roman army, which both loved Caesar.

If only it were always possible to honor a man's good deeds and forgive his crime. While my father has finally been buried with some form dignity, the men who murdered him are still free citizens and still enjoy their comfortable positions in the Senate. In particular is Marcus Junius Brutus, leader of the conspiracy.

For a moment, I will try and put aside the sort of injustice that has been done personally to me, and the injustice committed against a man who did so much for Rome. A man who these assassins owe their positions to, whom he had shown clemency after they fought against him. I will try to put aside this most detestable of conspiracies.

What kind of message do we send to the Roman People when such a blatant murderer of one of Rome's leaders, the city fathers, is allowed to walk the streets a free man? What does this say to ambitious men, of whom there are no shortage here. That all their problems can be solved by running a dagger into the backs of those who disagree with them? That murder, not rhetoric or tactics, is the means to ascend to power? That we, as Romans, would tolerate this surely means that we have failed whatever honor we have left. These men must be made examples of to ensure the Republic doesn't descend into madness.

If it were up to myself, I'd have these murders dealt with as they are—murderers. That they be declared public enemies and face death. But these are not the streets outside the Forum, this is the Senate of Rome. We must acknowledge the political realities of the situation. Marcus Junius Brutus, and his fellow conspirators, must pay for their crimes to demonstrate that we Romans are not a people who solve their differences by gutting each other like gladiators. Let them, at the absolute minimum, be stripped of their titles in the Senate, and exiled from Rome.