He then entered, and with him the reign of terror.

It was determined not to select individual victims, but to have all the notable men of the Optimate party put to death and to confiscate their property.

The gates were closed; for five days and five nights the slaughter continued without interruption; even afterwards the execution of individuals who had escaped or been overlooked was of daily occurrence, and for months the bloody persecution went on throughout Italy.

The consul Gnaeus Octavius was the first victim.

True to his often-expressed principle, that he would rather suffer death than make the smallest concession to men acting illegally, he refused even now to take flight, and in his consular robes awaited at the Janiculum the assassin, who was not slow to appear.