michael parenti talk about his book, "the assassination of julius caesar" a people's history of ancient intrigue. a lot of struggles going on. interesting personalities emerging. some giant figures like ceasar, cicero, and it was a compelling story. and then i also thought the way it was told, mostly, was, wasn't the whole story. and i wanted to give a different interpretation. i think the evidence suggested that. >> i want to go to chapter nine which is the assassination. tell that story, then we will go back and pick up on the whole dates and everything. what were the circumstances in which julius caesar was sas ssinated? >> he was at the height of his power. he had just won the civil war against pompeii. he was putting in a lot of popular reforms. a lot of the aristocrats who sided with pompeii, he forgave them and tried to bring them into his, in fact, gave them very choice appointments. but they really felt he was taking over the republic. they were unhappy with all of these reforms that he was doing. and so they got together, the best we know, it was caseus who enlisted his close