The Gracchi had attempted to effect something of the same kind at Rome; but the moral condition of the people had become so low that no real love of liberty remained.
Conspiracy! oh yes.

As long as there was anything to get, of course he who had not got it would conspire against him who had.

There had been conspiracies for and against Marius, for and against Cinna, for and against Sulla.

There was a grasping for plunder, a thirst for power which meant luxury, a greed for blood which grew from the hatred which such rivalry produced.

These were the motive causes for conspiracies; not whether Romans should be free but whether a Sulla or a Cotta should be allowed to run riot in a province.
Caesar at this time had not done much in the Roman world except fall greatly into debt.