BOOKS: Dossier on Julius Caesar

THE IDES OF MARCH (246 pp.)—Thornton Wilder—Harper ($2.75).

Suppose that, after the death of Caesar, some industrious private investigator assembled all the relevant documents on the murder—intercepted letters from Caesar's better-known enemies, the report (to Cleopatra) of a secret operative of the Egyptian government, a discussion with Caesar's physician, confidential messages from his wife's maid, and, above all, Caesar's private papers. Suppose, further, that these documents were arranged like the evidence in a murder trial to show who was guilty and why. How would the result compare with the accounts given by...