Marcus Junius Brutus Roman senator known as Caesar's assassin. Country: Italy

1. Biography of Marcus Junius Brutus
2. Career and Involvement in the Assassination
3. The Assassination and Aftermath

Biography of Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus, a Roman senator known as the assassin of Caesar, is often mistaken as the descendant of Lucius Junius Brutus, who expelled the last Roman king, Tarquin the Proud. In reality, the first consul Brutus was a patrician, while the assassin of Caesar belonged to a plebeian family, presumably descended from one of the freedmen, similar to how the plebeian Claudian family descended from the freedman Claudii-patricians. Brutus was adopted by his mother's brother, Quintus Servilius Caepio, and thus took his name. He was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus and his step-sister Servilia, who was the half-sister of Cato Uticensis.

Career and Involvement in the Assassination

Brutus was falsely accused of plotting against Pompey in 59 BCE, but Caesar, who by then had become his mother's lover, ensured the charges were dropped. Initially, Brutus was an opponent of Pompey, who had killed his father in Gaul, but later joined him when Pompey defended the cause of the optimates (the aristocratic faction) in the civil war. However, after Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BCE, Brutus switched sides and was warmly received by Caesar, who appointed him as the governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 46 BCE. In 44 BCE, Brutus became a praetor and was on track to govern Macedonia and even become consul. Yet, despite these favors, Brutus led a conspiracy against Caesar. He received anonymous messages reminding him of his descent from Brutus, the liberator of Rome from monarchy, and urging him to break ties with Caesar. Eventually, Gaius Cassius Longinus recruited him to the cause, and many prominent Romans followed Brutus's example.

The Assassination and Aftermath

However, when Caesar was killed on March 15, 44 BCE, Brutus and the conspirators failed to win the support of the people. Antony, whom Brutus had also spared from death alongside Caesar, managed to incite the crowd's fury and thirst for vengeance against Caesar's assassins by reading Caesar's will, which promised significant sums to the people. Brutus then traveled to Athens and seized Macedonia. Hortensius, who had been governing Macedonia until then, joined him. With control over Greece and Macedonia, Brutus led a strong army and defeated Gaius Antonius, the triumvir's brother, in 43 BCE, taking him captive. He then moved into Asia and joined forces with the victorious Cassius, together receiving supreme authority over all provinces in the East from the Senate. However, soon the triumvirs, Mark Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus, gained the upper hand in Rome. All the conspirators were condemned, and an army was raised against Brutus and Cassius. The two moved back to Europe, crossing the Dardanelles and amassing their forces, consisting of 17 legions and 17,000 cavalry, on the plains of Philippi in Macedonia, where Antony and Octavian confronted them in the autumn of 42 BCE. In the first battle led by Octavian, Brutus gained the upper hand over his forces, but Cassius was defeated by Antony and took his own life. Approximately 20 days later, Brutus was forced by the demands of his troops to engage in a second battle, in which he suffered a complete defeat. With only a few friends left, seeing that his cause was irreversibly lost, he fell upon his own sword.

Although only fragments of Brutus's speeches have survived, his correspondence with Cicero is completely preserved and consists of two volumes. However, the authenticity of individual letters has been disputed by scholars such as Tenzel (Cambridge, 1741; London, 1744), Cuspinian (Berlin, 1845), and Meyer (Stuttgart, 1881). Defenders of their authenticity include Middleton (London, 1743), Hermann (Göttingen, 1844-45), Cobet (in "Mnemosyne," 1879), and Gaston Boissier ("Cicéron et ses amis," Paris, 1865; 7th edition, 1884).