Of a total of six NotesPage=>010 1 Along with Claudii, Aemilii and Manlii they formed an aristocracy within the patriciate itself, being the so-called gentes maiores. […] In the last resort his rank, prestige and honour, summed up in the Latin word dignitas, were all at stake: to Caesar, as he claimed, ‘his dignitas had ever been dearer than life itself. ’2 Sooner than surrender it, Caesar appealed to arms. […] In vain reckless ambition had ruined the Roman State and baffled itself in the end. 4 Of the melancholy that descended upon Caesar there stands the best of testimony ’my life has been long enough, whether reckoned in years or in renown. ’ The words were remembered. […] In itself, the process is natural enough; and it is confirmed not a little by subsequent and unimpeachable history. […] And now Heaven itself took a hand.