Caesar becoming dictator for life would have been the death of the Republic and the birth of the Empire. The people would have lost their power to elect senators and Caesar would have gained all the power in the Empire. The Roman people wanted Caesar to become king and dictator for life, but the senators did not do it. They wanted power to stay in the hands of the people and out of the hands of one person. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the Roman public is saddened and outraged by the death of their beloved leader and turns against the Senate, after Antony, Caesar's friend and advisor, convinces them to do so (Shakespeare 136 ). As a result, there was a civil war between the second triumvirate, Antony, Octavian and Lepidus, and the Senate. The second triumvirate wins and creates the Roman Empire (Julius Background). Ironically, the Senate's intentions to keep the Republic intact by killing Caesar only brought chaos and a crippling civil war to Rome. They killed Caesar to preserve the Roman Republic but only destroyed