Results for Marcus Junius Brutus
On this page:
 
Biography:

Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus (ca. 85-42 B.C.) was a Roman statesman and one of the conspirators who assassinated Julius Caesar. Brutus's contemporaries admired him for his political integrity and intellectual and literary attainments.

The father of Brutus took part in the unsuccessful attempt of M. Aemilius Lepidus to overthrow the government of L. Cornelius Sulla and was killed by Pompey in 78 B.C. Brutus's mother, Servilia, was the niece of the reformer M. Livius Drusus and half sister of M. Porcius Cato the Younger. She became notorious as the mistress of Julius Caesar. After the death of his father, Brutus was adopted by his uncle and took the name Quintus Caepio Brutus. But Cato exercised the dominant influence over him in his youth. Under Cato's direction Brutus began his philosophical studies in Rome and continued them in Athens.

Brutus may have been the Q. Caepio who had been engaged to Julia, daughter of Julius Caesar, until Caesar broke the engagement a few days before the marriage in 59 B.C. in order to give her to Pompey. That same year the informer P. Vettius named Brutus as a member of a plot to murder Pompey. But Vettius's story lacked credibility and was ridiculed in the Senate. In 58 Brutus accompanied Cato to Cyprus, where he earned the confidence of prominent Cypriots. On his return to Rome he abused that confidence by lending money to the Cypriot Senate at the extortionate rate of 48 percent and by using force to exact its payment. Elected quaestor for 53 B.C., Brutus refused to join Caesar's staff in Gaul but went to Cilicia with his father-in-law, Appius Claudius Pulcher.

In Rome after 52 Brutus joined in attacks on Pompey, but as the civil war approached, he chose the senatorial side, accepting appointment as legate to P. Sestius in Cilicia in 49. Cato persuaded Brutus to bury his differences with Pompey and fight with him in Greece.

After the Battle of Pharsalus Brutus requested and readily received pardon from Caesar. He later met Caesar at Tarsus in Cilicia and accompanied him on his triumphal campaign in Asia. Back in Rome Caesar continued to show Brutus favor, appointing him governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 46 and choosing him over Cassius for the important post of city praetor for 44.

The Conspiracy

Brutus's reasons for joining the conspiracy against Caesar were complex: the persuasiveness of its chief organizer, Cassius; the martyrdom of Cato, whose daughter Brutus had married in 45 B.C.; consciousness of his descent from L. Junius Brutus, who slew the last king of Rome; and Stoic dogma, which declared the murder of a tyrant not only just but obligatory. At the time no one accused him of acting out of personal antagonism. It was Brutus's personality and idealism which gave the conspiracy its force and direction, and Brutus insisted that action be taken against Caesar alone. The death of the dictator, he naively believed, would automatically restore liberty and the republic.

After the death of Caesar the conspirators soon found themselves outmaneuvered by Antony. Although the Senate voted them amnesty on March 17, 44, and Brutus was allowed to address the people, he and Cassius left Rome in April in the face of mounting hostility. Eventually Brutus was assigned the province of Cyprus, and Cassius, Cyrene. At the end of August both men went to the East.

Building a Base of Power

Establishing himself at Athens, Brutus conscripted troops, requisitioned money on its way to Rome from Asia, seized arms, accepted illegally the governorship of Macedonia, took over the province of Illyricum, and defeated Antony's brother Gaius, sent out to check him. In February 43 the Senate recognized Brutus's position in Macedonia, Illyricum, and Greece. After the defeat of Antony at Mutina the Senate voted Brutus and Cassius command over the entire East.

But fortune soon changed for the worse. When Octavian seized the consulship in August 43, one of his first acts was to revoke the amnesty given to the assassins of Caesar. When Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to avenge Caesar, Brutus left Greece to join forces with Cassius in Asia and prepare for war. From Asia the two men returned to Europe and met the forces of Antony and Octavian at Philippi in October 42. In the first engagement Brutus overran the camp of Octavian, but Cassius in a fit of despair after being defeated by Antony committed suicide. Brutus rallied his legions, but he too was defeated in a second battle and took his own life.

Brutus's Philosophy and Character

Brutus was eclectic in his philosophical beliefs, following the teachings of the Academy and the Stoics. He wrote treatises on virtue, on duties, and on patience which were much admired. He was also a powerful orator and pamphleteer. He composed partisan tracts against Pompey and in praise of Cato and Appius Claudius. In the 50s Cicero and Q. Hortensius, the leading orators of the day, cultivated Brutus. Cicero thought so highly of his talents and learning that he dedicated two treatises on oratory, the Brutus and Orator, to him. There survives a small part of the extensive correspondence between Brutus and Cicero, dating from the period after the death of Caesar.

Shakespeare's portrayal of Brutus as the "noblest Roman of them all" is highly idealized. Steadfast and determined in large matters, he was petty and cruel in small. For all his admiration of Brutus, Cicero found him obstinate, aloof, and arrogant. The narrow moral and patriotic idealism in which he cloaked the murder of Caesar ensured the futility of the deed. Brutus, in fact, acted in defense of his own class and a system which was already dying. He was the last of the republicans, and when he fell, the republic fell with him.

Further Reading

The chief ancient sources for Brutus are Cicero, Plutarch, and Appian. Max Radin, Marcus Brutus (1939), is a popular biography marred by occasional factual errors. S. A. Cook, F. E. Adcock, and M. P. Charlesworth, eds., Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 10 (1934), gives a balanced and penetrating assessment of Brutus as a politician and statesman. For a less charitable view see Sir Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution (1939), which stresses Brutus's personal and political motives in murdering Caesar.

Additional Sources

Clarke, M. L. (Martin Lowther), The noblest Roman: Marcus Brutus and his reputation, Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1981.

 
 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Brutus, marble bust; in the Capitoline Museum, Rome
(click to enlarge)
Marcus Brutus, marble bust; in the Capitoline Museum, Rome (credit: Alinari-Art Resource, New York)
(born 85 — died 42 BC, near Philippi, Macedonia) Roman politician, leader of the conspirators who assassinated Julius Caesar in 44 BC. He joined Pompey's army against Caesar in the civil war (49) but was pardoned by Caesar after Pompey's death. He joined the plot to murder Caesar out of his desire to restore the Roman republic. After Caesar's death, he and Gaius Cassius formed an army in Macedonia; Brutus defeated the Caesarians under Octavian (Augustus) in the first engagement of the Battle of Philippi, but Mark Antony and Octavian crushed his army in a second encounter. Realizing the republican cause was lost, Brutus committed suicide.

For more information on Marcus Junius Brutus, visit Britannica.com.

 
History Dictionary: Brutus

An ancient Roman politician who helped assassinate his friend Julius Caesar.

  • Brutus is a leading character in the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare.
  • Caesar is said to have addressed Brutus with the words Et tu, Brute? (“Even you, Brutus?”) as Brutus stabbed him. This sentence has become a proverbial response to betrayal.

    •  
    Word Tutor: Brutus
    pronunciation

    IN BRIEF: n. - Statesman of ancient Rome who (with Cassius) led a conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar (85-42 BC).

     
    Wikipedia: Marcus Junius Brutus
    Ancient marble bust of Marcus Brutus
    Enlarge
    Ancient marble bust of Marcus Brutus

    Marcus Junius Brutus (85 –42 BC), or Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, was a Roman senator of the late Roman Republic. He is best known in modern times for taking a leading role in the assassination conspiracy against Julius Caesar.[1]

    Early life

    Brutus was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was a legate to Pompey the Great; his mother was the half-sister of Cato the Younger, and later became Julius Caesar's mistress. Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father,[2] but this is unlikely since Caesar was 15 at the time of Brutus' birth and the affair with his mother started some 10 years later. Brutus' uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, adopted him when he was a young man and Brutus was known as Q. Servilius Caepio Brutus for an unknown period of time.

    Brutus held his uncle in high regard[3] and his political career started when he became an assistant to Cato, during his governorship of Cyprus.[4] During this time, he enriched himself by lending money at high rates of interest. He returned to Rome a rich man, where he married Claudia Pulchra.[5] From his first appearance in the Senate, Brutus aligned with the Optimates (the conservative faction) against the First Triumvirate of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar.

    Senate career

    When the Roman Civil War broke out in 49 BC between Pompey and Caesar, Brutus followed his old enemy and present leader of the Optimates, Pompey. When the Battle of Pharsalus began, Caesar ordered his officers to take him prisoner if he gave himself up voluntarily, and if he persisted in fighting against capture, to let him alone and do him no violence.[6] After the disaster of the battle of Pharsalus, Brutus wrote to Caesar with apologies and Caesar immediately forgave him. In his letter Brutus declared he was a strong supporter of democracy and continually pushes it throughout the letter. Caesar accepted him into his inner circle and made him governor of Gaul when he left for Africa in pursuit of Cato and Metellus Scipio. In 45 BC, Caesar nominated him to be a praetor. Also, in June 45 BC, Brutus divorced his wife and re-married his first cousin, Porcia Catonis, Cato's daughter.[7][8].

    Conspiracy to kill Caesar

    Enlarge

    Around this time, many senators began to fear Caesar's growing power following his appointment as dictator for life.[9] Brutus was pressured into joining the conspiracy against Caesar by the other senators[10] and he also discovered messages written on the busts of his ancestors.[11] Brutus, influenced by his loyalty to Cato and Porcia, finally decided to move against Caesar in 44 BC.[12] His wife was the only woman privy to the plot.[13][14]

    The conspirators planned to carry out their plot on the Ides of March that same year. On that day, Caesar was delayed going to the Senate because his wife, Calpurnia Pisonis, tried to convince him not to go[15] The conspirators feared the plot had been found out.[16] Brutus persisted, however, waiting for Caesar at the Senate, and allegedly still chose to remain even when a messenger brought him news that would otherwise have caused him to leave.[17] When Caesar finally did come to the Senate, they attacked him. Publius Servilius Casca was allegedly the first to attack Caesar with a blow to the shoulder, which Caesar blocked.[18] However, upon seeing Brutus was with the conspirators, he covered his face with his toga and resigned himself to his fate.[19] The conspirators attacked in such numbers that they even wounded one another. Brutus is said to have been wounded in the hand.[20][21]

    After the assassination

    After the assassination, Brutus was approached with a compromise; if Caesar was declared a tyrant, then all of Caesars' appointments to the Senate were null and void. This meant that Brutus would no longer be a Senator and elections would have to be held. Conversely, if he agreed to recognize and honor Caesar's will, he and the other assassins would be granted amnesty and retain their positions. Brutus accepted the offer, and Caesar was not declared a tyrant. Part of the offer was that Brutus had to leave Rome, which he did. After leaving Rome, Brutus lived in Crete from 44 to 42 BC.

    In 43 BC, after Octavian received his consulship from the Roman Senate, one of his first actions was to have the people that had assassinated Julius Caesar declared murderers and enemies of the state.[22] Marcus Tullius Cicero, angry at Octavian, wrote a letter to Brutus explaining that the forces of Octavian and Mark Antony were divided. Antony had laid siege to the province of Gaul, where he wanted a governorship. In response to this siege, Octavian rallied his troops and fought a series of battles in which Antony was defeated.[23] Upon hearing that neither Antony nor Octavian had an army big enough to defend Rome, Brutus rallied his troops, which totaled about 17 legions. When Octavian heard that Brutus was on his way to Rome, he made peace with Antony.[24] Their armies, which together totaled about 19 legions, marched to meet Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The following battles are known as the Battle of Philippi. The First Battle of Philippi was fought on October 3, 42 BC, in which Brutus defeated Octavian's forces, although Cassius was defeated by Antony's forces. The Second Battle of Philippi was fought on October 23, 42 BC and ended in Brutus' defeat.

    After the defeat, he fled into the nearby hills with only about four legions. Knowing his army had been defeated and that he would be captured, Brutus committed suicide. His last words were allegedly "Yes, we must escape, but this time with our hands, not our feet".[25] As a show of respect, Antony covered Brutus' body with a purple garment. Brutus was cremated, and his ashes were sent to his mother, Servilia Caepionis.[26] His wife Porcia also committed suicide upon hearing of her husband's death.[27][28][29][30] This is counter to the popular notion provided in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which says Porcia committed suicide prior to Brutus' death.

    Chronology

    • 85 BC – Brutus was born in Rome
    • 58 BC – He was made assistant to Cato, governor of Cyprus
    • 53 BC – He was given the quaestorship in Cilicia
    • 49 BC – Brutus followed Pompey to Greece during the civil war against Caesar
    • 48 BC – Brutus was pardoned by Caesar
    • 46 BC – He was made governor of Gaul
    • 45 BC – He was made Praetor
    • 44 BC – Murdered Caesar with other Senators; went to Athens and then to Crete
    • 42 BC – Brutus tries for Rome

    Brutus in popular culture

    Influence

    • The phrase Sic semper tyrannis! ("Thus always to tyrants!") is attributed to Brutus at Caesar's assassination. The phrase is also the official motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
    • John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln, was inspired by Brutus. Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, was named for Brutus, and Booth (as Mark Antony) and his brother (as Brutus) had performed in a production of Julius Caesar in New York just six months before the assassination. On the night of the assassination, Booth is alleged to have shouted "Sic semper tyrannis" while leaping to the stage of Ford's Theater. Lamenting the negative reaction to his deed, Booth wrote in his journal on April 21, 1865, while on the run, "[W]ith every man's hand against me, I am here in despair. And why; For doing what Brutus was honored for ... And yet I for striking down a greater tyrant than they ever knew am looked upon as a common cutthroat."
    • The well-known phrase "Et tu, Brute?" (commonly translated as "And you, Brutus?") was said to be Caesar's last utterance, although the sources describing Caesar's death dissent about what his last words were (if he said any at all).

    Fiction

    • Dante Alighieri considered Brutus to be the epitome of betrayal, and in his Inferno section of the Divine Comedy (Inf., XXXIV, 64-67), portrayed Brutus being chewed, but never consumed, by Satan, along with Judas Iscariot and Gaius Cassius Longinus at the very lowest level of Hell.
    • Shakespeare has Mark Antony describe Brutus as "the noblest Roman of them all" in the final scene of Julius Caesar.
    • In the Masters of Rome novels of Colleen McCullough, Brutus is portrayed as a timid intellectual who hates Caesar for personal reasons. Cassius and Trebonius use him as a figurehead because of his family connections. He appears in Fortune's Favourites, Caesar's Women, Caesar and The October Horse.
    • A highly fictionalized Brutus is one of the prominent characters in the Emperor series by Conn Iggulden.
    • Ides of March is an epistolatory novel by Thornton Wilder dealing with characters and events leading to, and culminating in, the assassination of Julius Caesar.
    • In a parody of the Shakespeare play featured in Simpsons Comics, Brutus is portrayed by Waylon Smithers (as Caesar is portrayed by Mr. Burns). At one point, the conspirator (played by Homer Simpson) mistakenly addresses him as Bluto, in reference to the naming confusion of Popeye's nemesis.
    • Asterix comics sometimes portray a bored Brutus sitting next to Julius Caesar. Caesar's words to him are often unintentionally prophetic, but apply only to comically mundane, everyday situations. Examples include "I don't like your habits with that knife" in response to Brutus playing with a dagger, and "et tu, brute" ("you too, Brutus", Shakespeare's version of Caesar's last words) as an instruction when Brutus doesn't applaud with a crowd. The character appears in the live action adaptations Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (played by Didier Cauchy) and Asterix at the Olympic Games (portrayed by Belgian actor Benoît Poelvoorde).
    • Brutus is a very frequent supporting character in Xena: Warrior Princess. Early on, played by Grant Triplow, he is the loyal right hand of Caesar. Then, played by David Franklin, he becomes a more complicated character, torn between his sense of honor and justice and his loyalty to Caesar. He is convinced by Xena and mostly by Gabrielle, whom he somewhat endeared to, of Caesar's treachery. That was the prime conjurate in killing him. Later, during a plot to conquer Egypt against Mark Antony and Augustus, he kills Cleopatra by sending her an asp, and was killed in turn by Gabrielle in a gory duel.

    Drama

    Family tree

    • (1)=1st husband/wife
    • (2)=2nd husband/wife
    • x=assassin of Caesar
    Salonia (2)
     
    		 Cato the Elder
     
    		 Licinia (1)
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus
     
     
     
    		 Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus
     
    		 Marcus Livius Drusus
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Marcus Porcius Cato (2)
     
    		 Livia Drusa
     
    		 Quintus Servilius Caepio the Younger(1)
     
    		 Marcus Livius Drusus
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Atilia (1)
     
    		 Cato the Younger
     
     
     
     
     
     
    		 Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, adoptive son
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    		 Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder (1)
     
    		 Servilia Caepionis
     
    		 Decimus Junius Silanus (2)
     
     
    		 Servilia the younger
     
    		 Quintus Servilius Caepio
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    		 Porcia Catonis
     
    		 Marcus Junius Brutus x
     
    		 Junia Prima
     
     
     
    		 Junia Tertia
     
    		 Gaius Cassius Longinus x
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Marcus Porcius Cato (II)
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    		 Junia Secunda
     
    		 Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    		 Descendent of Pompey the Great and Lucius Cornelius Sulla
     
    		 Lepidus the Younger
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    		 Manius Aemilius Lepidus
     
     
    		 Aemilia Lepida II

    Notes

    1. ^ Europius, Abridgement of Roman History [1]
    2. ^ Plutarch, Life of Brutus, 5.2.
    3. ^ Plutarch, Life of Brutus, 2.1.
    4. ^ Plutarch, Life of Brutus, 3.1.
    5. ^ Cicero. ad Fam. iii. 4.
    6. ^ Plutarch, Life of Brutus, 5.1.
    7. ^ Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 13.3.
    8. ^ Cicero. Brutus. 77, 94
    9. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History, 44.8.4.
    10. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History, 44.12.2.
    11. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History, 44.12.3.
    12. ^ Cassius Dio, 44.13.1.
    13. ^ Cassius Dio, 44.13.
    14. ^ Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 14.4
    15. ^ Plutarch. Marcus Brutus. 15.1.
    16. ^ Cassius Dio. Roman History. 44.18.1.
    17. ^ Plutarch. Marcus Brutus. 15.5.
    18. ^ Plutarch. Marcus Brutus. 17.5.
    19. ^ Plutarch. Marcus Brutus. 17.6.
    20. ^ Plutarch. Marcus Brutus. 17.7.
    21. ^ Nicolaus. Life of Augustus. 24.
    22. ^ Greek Texts
    23. ^ Background on Philippi
    24. ^ http://www.greektexts.com/library/Plutarch/Marcus_Brutus/eng/629.html
    25. ^ Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. 52.3.
    26. ^ Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, 53.4.
    27. ^ Valerius Maximus, De factis mem. iv.6.5.
    28. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History. 47.49.3.
    29. ^ Appian, The Civil Wars, Book 5.136.
    30. ^ Valerius Maximus, De factis mem. iv.6.5.

    External links

    Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
    The Works of Plutarch
    The Works Parallel Lives · The Moralia · Pseudo-Plutarch
    The Lives
    The Translators John Dryden · Thomas North · Jacques Amyot · Philemon Holland · Arthur Hugh Clough
    1 Comparison extant · 2 Four unpaired Lives

    This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

     
     

    Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "Marcus Junius Brutus" at WikiAnswers.

     

    Copyrights:

    Biography. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    History Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more