It was agreed that Caesar must be slain; but the time, the place, and the manner in which the deed should be performed were all yet undecided.

Various plans were proposed in the consultations which the conspirators held; but there was one thing peculiar to them all, which was, that they did not any of them contemplate or provide for any thing like secrecy in the commission of the deed.

It was to be performed in the most open and public manner.
With a stern and undaunted boldness, which has always been considered by mankind as truly sublime, they determined that, in respect to the actual execution itself of the solemn judgment which they had pronounced, there should be nothing private or concealed.

They thought over the various public situations in which they might find Caesar, and where they might strike him down, only to select the one which would be most public of all.

They kept, of course, their preliminary counsels private, to prevent the adoption of measures for counteracting them; but they were to perform the deed in such a manner as that, so soon as it was performed, they should stand out to view, exposed fully to the gaze of all mankind as the authors, of it.