[-17-] In the consulship of Aldus Hirtius (who was now appointed consul
in spite of the fact that his father's name had been posted on the
tablets of Sulla), with his colleague Gaius Vibius, a meeting of the
senate was held and votes were taken for three successive days, including
the first of the month itself. As a result of the war which was upon them
and the portents, very numerous and extremely unfavorable, which took
place, they were so excited that they failed to pass over these _dies
nefasti_ on which they ought not to deliberate on any matter touching
their interests. Ominous had been the falling of great numbers of
thunderbolts, some of which descended on the shrine sacred to Capitoline
Jupiter, that stood in the temple of Victory. Also a great wind arose
which snapped and scattered the columns erected about the temple of
Saturn and the shrine of Fides, and likewise knocked down and shattered
the statue of Minerva the Protectress, which Cicero had set up on the
Capitol before his exile. This portended, of course, the death of Cicero
himself. Another thing that frightened the rest of the population was
a great earthquake which occurred, and the fact that a bull which was
sacrificed on account of it in the temple of Vesta leaped up after the
ceremony. In addition to these clear indications of danger a flash darted
across from the place of the rising sun to the place of its setting and a
new star was seen for several days. Then the light of the sun seemed to
be diminished and even extinguished, and at times to appear in three
circles, one of which was surmounted by a fiery crown of sheaves. This,
if anything, proved as clear a sign as possible to them. For three men
were in power,--I mean Caesar and Lepidus and Antony,--and of them Caesar
subsequently secured the victory. At the same time that these things
occurred all sorts of oracles tending to the downfall of the democracy
were recited. Crows, moreover, flew into the temple of the Dioscuri and
pecked out the names of the consuls and of Antony and of Dolabella, which
were inscribed there somewhere on a tablet. And by night dogs in large