♪ Narrator: Back in Rome, senators who want a seat at Caesar's table contrive ways to ingratiate themselves.

Wallace-Hadrill: Caesar's ability to choose the magistrates changes the nature of political life, and now you've got to earn his favor.

So, the Senate dream up honor after honor after honor-- give him a special wreath in gold leaf to put around his head.

But the more you honor Caesar, the more invidious you make his position.

Narrator: While resentment towards Caesar festers, he grows increasingly impatient with petty Roman politics.

And when a delegation approaches him with more honors, he doesn't do what's expected of him.

Wallace-Hadrill: A whole body of senators go into Caesar's Forum, and there he is enthroned, looking as grand as could be.

And there's the Senate saying, "Caesar, we would like to honor you."

And Caesar doesn't stand up.

♪ Tempest: In Rome, equals stand to greet each other.

It's as if he's saying in plain view that the entire Senate is beneath him.

Holland: The problem that both Caesar and the Senate face is that Caesar's preponderance has made the traditional function of the Senate, the role of the helmsman guiding the ship of state, essentially irrelevant.

Caesar is too impatient, too unsubtle not to let his fellow senators know that he knows this.

♪ Evans: For Cicero, if Caesar is willing to disregard the basic rules of the Senate in terms of how people treat each other, then what does that mean for any other rules that the Senate may have?

This is a shocking moment, and Cicero gives up his hope in Caesar.