In William Shakespeare ’s " Julius Caesar , " the most captivating quality is n’t the power - thirsty Caesar , but his believe friend and murderer , Brutus . Caesar ’s famous almost - last parole in the bid , speak with incredulity as Brutus plunges the final dagger into the romish authoritarian , are " ' Et tu , Brute?(You too , Brutus ? ) Then decrease , Caesar ! "
Marcus Junius Brutus ( circa 85 B.C.E. to 42 B.C.E. ) was a real person — a romish statesman who was shoot down between his loyalty to Caesar , a longtime protector , and his commitment to the Roman Republic . at last , Brutus saw Caesar ’s totalitarianism as the large terror and , with his atomic number 27 - conspirator Gaius Cassius Longinus , instigated a Senate game to vote out him .
Brutus paid a fearful price for his " stately " betrayal of Caesar . Brutus quick lose the struggle for public opinion — the conspirators want to be know as " liberators " for release Rome , but they were label " assassins " — and then lost the military battle to Caesar ’s allies Mark Antony and Octavian .
From then , the name Brutus was synonymous with betrayal and treason . Dante reserved theninth and deepest point of hellfor Brutus , Cassius and Judas Iscariot , the three ultimate traitors who are everlastingly consumed by the three mouths of Satan .
But who was the real Brutus , and what drove a respected politician and virginal Lord to condescend to such a low-down human action ? For answers , we reached out to Kathryn Tempest , author of " Brutus : The Noble Conspirator " and areader of Roman history , Latin language and literature at the University of Roehampton London .
Defending the Republic Was in Brutus' Blood
Brutus wasborn into a noble familythat weigh among its ancestor some of the earliest defenders of the Roman Republic , a representative signifier of government see from 509 B.C.E. that flux monarchy and republic .
Tempest says that Brutus ultimately descended from Lucius Junius Brutus , who , as one of Rome ’s first consul , made senator rely an curse word never to allow a king to rule over Rome . And on his mother ’s side of the family , Brutus was come to to Servilius Ahala , a fifth - century papistical Italian sandwich who vote out an shoot for tyrant with a obelisk .
" Brutus had a lot going for him when he entered politics , " tell Tempest . " On top of the aristocratic connection , he had inherit an ideological cache that he used to gravid effect when it came to cultivating his own political identity . "
Very lilliputian of Brutus ' own writing survives , but contemporaries cite to his treatises " On Virtue , " " On obligation " and " On Suffering , " high philosophic values that Brutus seemed to have be . In Shakespeare ’s playing period , even Mark Antony admit that Brutus was " the noblest Roman of them all . " And Plutarch , the R.C. biographer , wrotethat " Brutus was the only human race to have polish off Caesar because he was drive by the splendour and grandeur of the deed , while the eternal sleep cabal against the man because they hat and envied him . "
Siding Against Caesar
Tempest says that it ’s well - established by ancient source that Julius Caesar had a long - running affair with Brutus ' female parent , Servilia . The papistic historian Suetoniuswrotethat Servilia was Caesar ’s favorite ( among many ) mistresses and that he once gifted her a massive pearl worth " six millions of sesterces . "
Some ancient sources wondered if Brutus was actually a product of that infamous affair , but Tempest says the mathematics does n’t lend up . Brutus was too old by the clock time Servilia and Caesar fuck off together , but it does appear that Caesar take a " fatherly " pastime in Brutus ' life history and look out for him .
In 49 B.C.E. , Caesar refuse to turn over over his muscular armies to the Senate , elicit the Roman Civil War . His adversary was Pompey the Great , who sources say was responsible for the destruction of Brutus ' father years before . It would certainly make common sense that Brutus would side with Caesar , his mother ’s concubine and protector , over Pompey , whom Brutus refuse to even verbalise with , according to Plutarch .
at long last , Brutus made the unmanageable choice to back Pompey , who accede to the authority of the Senate and dispense with his own powerful army , over Caesar who was selfishly fighting to protect his own self-regard .
" It ’s grueling to get behind that as a motif for war , " says Tempest .
Brutus fought valorously for Pompey in the decisive Battle of Pharsalus , but as soon as it was clean-cut that Caesar was going to make headway , Brutus was " the first to desert , " says Tempest . Instead of punish Brutus for his perfidy , Caesar receive him with open arms . Part of it might have been fatherly philia , but it was also savvy politics .
" Caesar want someone with the reputation of Brutus on his side , because it gave him a form of genuineness , " says Tempest . " Caesar could say that his side was standing up for the Republic . "
The Plot and Caesar’s Real Last Words
Brutus was back on Caesar ’s side , but not for prospicient . Caesar made his kingly ambitions clear , publically refuse the crown from Mark Antony , but accepting the title of " dictator for life " and prevail from a lucky throne .
Something had to be done to preserve the democracy from Caesar ’s one-man rule , and Brutus was the one to do it . Together with Cassius , Brutus begin enroll allies in a plot to depose Caesar .
" How did they identify suited conspirators ? " ask Tempest . " It ’s not something you’re able to just drop into conversation — ' Hey , do you want to kill Caesar ? ' "
rather , it was the tradition of the time to ask rhetorical inquiry to spark philosophic debate . What do you do when a leader has too much power ? Is it correct to disturb a state of peacefulness , especially if it leads to another civil warfare ? That ’s potential how Brutus and Cassius hashed out their 20 or so co - conspirators in the Senate .
What about Mark Antony , Caesar ’s right - hand man ; should they pop him , too ?
" Brutus said , absolutely not , " says Tempest . " If we bolt down Antony , we ca n’t absolve it on the grounds of murder a tyrant . Others argued that Mark Antony was too dangerous to keep alive , and that certainly came back to bite Brutus later . "
On the Ides of March in 44 B.C.E. , Caesar was fatally stabbed 23 times in the Senate . The historian Suetoniuswrote two versionsof Caesar ’s death . In the first , the dictator accept his slaying in silence , burying his head in his toga and give way into its sheepcote . In the 2nd version , Caesar was more defiant and had strong words for Brutus , the almost - boy who delivered the concluding dagger .
In Greek , Caesar enjoin , " Kai su , teknon , " which translates literally as " You too , nestling . " In Shakespeare ’s famous play , the line is write in Latin as " Et tu , Brute?“This literally means " And you , Brutus ? " and is often claim as a vulnerable question : " Even you , Brutus ? " or " You , too , my child ? " But Tempest learn it as a curse along the lines of " Back atcha , kid , " or " What goes around comes around . " No question mark here ; rather , an exclamation .
" Teknon mean ' kid , ' and it ’s not a biological connexion , but derogatory , " state Tempest . " Even though Suetonius favour the first version of Caesar ’s death — the one where he pass in secretiveness — the melodic theme that Caesar really went down imprecate Brutus is a Caesar I can believe in . "
A Bad End for Brutus
Brutus and Cassius hoped to be greeted as liberators , but they made some dopey decisions in the wake of Caesar ’s lurid assassination . First , tell Tempest , they permit Cicero strike an pardon pile with Mark Antony that in effect made the tyrannicides attend like criminals begging pardon . secondly , they allowed Mark Antony to bury Caesar in a public ceremony in which he " whip the crowd into an absolute frenzy against the liberator . "
" Effectively , within a month , all of the conspirator had to entrust Rome because it was too dangerous for them , " say Tempest . " Soon enough , they had all left Italy , too . "
Once overseas , Brutus and Cassius recruit large regular army and went to war against not only Mark Antony , but also Caesar ’s adopted boy , Octavian . In two critical battles at Philippi in October of 42 B.C.E. , both Brutus and Cassius suffered gutting licking . Cassius assume his own life rather than surrender to the humiliation of Mark Antony and Octavian , and Brutus in the end determine to do the same .
Brutus wanted his death , like his sprightliness , to be stately , and to cement his reputation as a sufferer to the cause of liberty and the republic . But his knocker would paint his suicide as the ultimate routine of failure and say that Brutus pall for a vain and meaningless cause .
