Know your role

Good men of the Senate, what are we to do? For all of you it seems that there is only one right answer; the problem lies within the fact that I am looking at 900 right answers. With Caesar’s Will having been read publicly his intentions for the empire are no secret and the people eagerly await their bequests. It is no surprise to anyone here that Caesar was no fool. He knew exactly what he was doing when he left the people well taken care of. Yes, he did owe them his power. He did owe them that. He also owed everyman in this room for that same power. So now we are left with an adoring public that feels closer to their late Caesar than ever before and a grumbling senate divided and guilty. If those responsible for this murder were not in my audience it seems the answer would be simple. The assassins would be hunted and put to immediate death. Yet, this is not the case.
In order for the proper actions to take place, the decision on what the act truly was needs to be decided. If it was a murder, it should be dealt with as a murder. If the killing was a noble act of tyrant-slaying, exalt the liberators and erect statues in the forum. Whatever the case may be it needs to be done quickly and it needs to be done fairly. Histories are being recorded as we speak and our hesitations are allowing ignorant men to create stories as they see fit. Our job in this Senate is to maintain order. We as survivors of the Empire hold the power in our hands. If the men who committed this act expect to be let off without prosecution then they expect the Republic to be no more. I am not calling for their death in any shape or form; I am calling for a step away from the oligarchy which is at our porch, the triumphrant which is in the doorway, and the dictator with his hand on your shoulders. If we do not address this murder in the same manner as we would for any other person of political importance, we are allowing those with the longest dagger to rule the ballot boxes. For these reasons, there must be a proper trial.
We are still Roman senators and we still have a job to do. Just as Caesar’s power did not protect him from death, their power as senators will not secure their fates either. This is a matter for Senators to debate and the Gods to finalize. If we move in haste to hail these men as liberators you run the risk of riots in the very streets which you were trying to protect. The Roman people will not take kindly to those whom they appointed, picking off the man who just left them lush gardens and tangible, clinking love. Though they may balk at the notion of a trial as opposed to a manhunt, a trial is a very reasonable and deliberate course of action for the matter at hand. Unless you want the decision of the taking of the life of Gaius Julius Caesar to be considered rash, you should not act as such lest the same fate fall upon you the next time you step onto the senate floor. Now is the time to redeem yourselves’ men. For if you follow the laws of Rome today, you may live to have a say in the law of Rome tomorrow.