the Caesarians had troops near the capital at hand, the liberatores were soon to assume control of vast provincial holdings in the east which would provide them within the year of large armies and resources. Seeing that the military situation was initially problematic, the liberatores decided then to ratify Caesar's decrees so that they could hold on to their magistracies and provincial assignments to protect themselves and rebuild the republican front. Cicero acted as an honest broker and hammered out a compromise solution: general amnesty for the assassins, ratification of Caesar's acts and appointments for the next two years, and guarantees to Caesar's veterans that they would receive their promised land grants. Caesar also was to receive a public funeral. If the settlement had held, there would have been a general resumption of the republic: Decimus would go to Gaul that year and be confirmed as consul in 42, where he would then hold elections for 41. The people celebrated the reconciliation but some of the hard-core Caesarians were convinced that civil war would follow. Caesar's funeral occurred on 20 March, with a rousing speech by Antony mourning the dictator and energising opposition against the tyrannicides. Various ancient sources report that the crowd set the senate house on fire and started a witch-hunt for the tyrannicides, but these may have been spurious embellishments added by Livy, according to T.P. Wiseman. Contrary to what is reported by Plutarch, the assassins stayed in Rome for a few weeks after the funeral until April 44, indicating some support among the population for the tyrannicides. A person calling himself Marius, claiming he was a descendant of Gaius Marius), started a plan to ambush Brutus and Cassius. Brutus, as urban praetor in charge of the city's courts, was able to get a special dispensation to leave the capital for more than 10 days, and he withdrew to one of his estates in Lanuvium, 20 miles south-east of Rome. This fake Marius, for his threats to the tyrannicides (and to Antony's political base), was executed by being thrown from the Tarpeian Rock in mid- or late April. Dolabella, the other consul, acting on this own initiative, took down an altar and column dedicated to Caesar. By early May, Brutus was considering exile. Octavian's arrival, along with the fake Marius, caused Antony to lose some of the support of his veterans, he responded by touring Campania –