[ WP ] You 're the only Roman senator who was n't briefed on the whole 'kill Julius Caesar ' thing .

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, thinking, *gods, did they carve these damned things out of iron? * but no such discomfort showed on my face. The Theater of Pompey was a splendid place to have a Senate meeting, with both a lavish setting and ample settings for voices to be heard, but it did n't change the fact that I loathed the chairs. But it was of little importance, Caesar was to speak ( first of course, not as if we had anything important to say ) and we had much and more interest in what he had to say. What justification he had for naming himself dictator for life was beyond me. 
 
 That is not to say I did n't agree with him, the Senate was full of pompous men with little and less sense than a rat. The young general who the common people adored, that was a figurehead that could be rallied behind, not the lot of rich fools who could n't put their sandals on the right feet without a dozen slaves to assist in the task. Democracy was dry at the best of times, and republics could be just as dull, when you had to seek the votes of too many just to make an act. 
 
 No, maybe an absolute leader was a more efficient course, especially when the leader in question had a record such as Caesar's, but that did n't mean that every Senator was pleased with him. If they had the nerve for it, Caesar might just have to watch for being assassinated, but none of the Senate could stomach dirtying their hands. They would wrinkle their nose at the smell of it, but they would take their plate without complaint ( except later that night when they were sure no one was listening ) as they always did whenever Caesar came up with some new way to reward himself for this victory or that one. 
 
 I was snapped out of my deep thought by Caesar's arrival, *about time, * I thought, *he may be dictator for life, but his reign will be pitifully short if he wastes so much time just to arrive at Senate meetings*. I rose from my painful seat to greet him, when Tillius hurried over to the entrance jabbering out some sort of petition for an exiled brother. I rolled my eyes and strode over when other Senators began to eagerly surround Caesar, to my annoyance. *You'd think he was some famous gladiator, the way they are flocking around him*. 
 
 Casca pushed past me and I turned at him in irritation when to my shock I saw the gleam of a blade in his hand. I was about to reprimand the fool for bringing a dagger into the Senate, where such was strictly prohibited after some Senator or another had the misfortune of displeasing the others, and paid for it with his bowels. 
 
 `` Why, this is violence!'' Caesar shouted as Cimber pulled on his toga and I inhaled sharply at the insolence of it. Caesar could have cut off the offending hand for that if he so wished, and I was confusedly wondering what could have spurred Cimber to do it. And at that moment Casca rushed forward with blade in hand, and I was too shocked to stop him. 
 
 It was only when Brutus pulled a knife from his robes that the enormity of the situation dawned on me and he plunged the blade forward. 
 
 `` Oh shit,''
