A serious difficulty now arose as to the disposition of the prisoners.

Lentulus was at that time Praetor, and the persons of public officers were sacred.

The Sempronian Law of Gracchus forbade the executing of any Roman citizen without giving him a right of appeal to the Assembly.

Too many were implicated in the conspiracy for this to be safe.
In the debate in the Senate, the principal speakers were Caesar, Cato, and Cicero.
Cato and Cicero advocated immediate death; Caesar, imprisonment for life.

The motives of the men are so characteristic that they form a complete key to their several public careers.