Editing Marcus Junius Brutus (section)

=== Settlement ===
The initial plan from Brutus and Cassius seems to have been to establish a period of calm and then to work towards a general reconciliation.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=113}} While the Caesarians had troops near the capital at hand, the ''liberatores'' were soon to assume control of vast provincial holdings in the east which would provide them, within the year, with large armies and resources.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=112–113}} Seeing that the military situation was initially problematic, the ''liberatores'' decided then to ratify Caesar's decrees so that they could hold on to their magistracies and provincial assignments to protect themselves and rebuild the republican front.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=113}}

Cicero acted as an honest broker and hammered out a compromise solution: general amnesty for the assassins, ratification of Caesar's acts and appointments for the next two years, and guarantees to Caesar's veterans that they would receive their promised land grants. Caesar also was to receive a public funeral.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=114}} If the settlement had held, there would have been a general resumption of the republic: Decimus would go to Gaul that year and be confirmed as consul in 42, where he would then hold elections for 41.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=114}} The people celebrated the reconciliation but some of the hard-core Caesarians were convinced that civil war would follow.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=114–115}}

Caesar's funeral occurred on 20 March, with a rousing speech by Antony mourning the dictator and energising opposition against the tyrannicides. Various ancient sources report that the crowd set the senate house on fire and started a witch-hunt for the tyrannicides, but these may have been spurious embellishments added by Livy, according to T P Wiseman.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=119}} Contrary to what is reported by Plutarch, the assassins stayed in Rome for a few weeks after the funeral until April 44, indicating some support among the population for the tyrannicides.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=119–120}} A person calling himself Marius, claiming he was a descendant of [[Gaius Marius]], started a plan to ambush Brutus and Cassius. Brutus, as urban praetor in charge of the city's courts, was able to get a special dispensation to leave the capital for more than 10 days, and he withdrew to one of his estates in Lanuvium, 20 miles south-east of Rome.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=116–117}} This fake Marius, for his threats to the tyrannicides (and to Antony's political base), was executed by being thrown from the [[Tarpeian Rock]] in mid- or late April.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=124}} Dolabella, the other consul, acting on his own initiative, took down an altar and column dedicated to Caesar.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=124}}

By early May, Brutus was considering exile. Octavian's arrival, along with the fake Marius, caused Antony to lose some of the support of his veterans, he responded by touring Campania – officially to settle Caesar's veterans – but actually to buttress military support.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=126–127}} Dolabella at this time was on the side of the ''liberatores'' and also was the only consul at Rome; Antony's brother Lucius Antonius helped Octavian to announce publicly that he was to fulfil the conditions of Caesar's will,{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=127}} handing an enormous amount of wealth to the citizenry. Brutus also wrote a number of speeches disseminated to the public defending his actions, emphasising how Caesar had invaded Rome, killed prominent citizens, and suppressed the popular sovereignty of the people.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=129}}

By mid-May, Antony started on designs against Decimus Brutus' governorship in Cisalpine Gaul. He bypassed the senate and took the matter to the popular assemblies in June and enacted the reassignment of the Gallic province by law. At the same time, he proposed reassigning Brutus and Cassius from their provinces to instead purchase grain in Asia and Sicily.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=132}} There was a meeting at Brutus' house attended by Cicero, Brutus and Cassius (and wives), and Brutus' mother, in which Cassius announced his intention to go to Syria while Brutus wanted to return to Rome, but ended up going to Greece.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=133}} His initial plan to go to Rome, however, was to put on games in early July commemorating his ancestor Lucius Junius Brutus and promoting his cause; he instead delegated the games to a friend.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=134–135}} Octavian also held games commemorating Caesar late in the month; around this time also, the ''liberatores'' started to prepare in earnest for civil war.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=137}}