Brutus from julius caesar biography encyclopedia

He was a politician, military commander, orator, and Roman writer. As an optimist, he was a supporter of the republic and an opponent of the dictatorships of Pompey and Caesar. He was friends with the orator Cicero. In the European tradition, the name Brutus has become a symbol of a traitor and murderer fighting for a just cause.

He was dubbed Tyrankiller. Velleius Paterculus states that Brutus died at the age of 37, that is, he was born at Both dates have their supporters among researchers. He was carefully educated rhetorically and philosophically. He studied in Athens with the academic philosopher Aristos, brother of Antiochus of Ascalon. Some ancient authors report rumours that Brutus was the son of Gaius Julius Caesar.

Brutus highly respected his Uncle Cato. His career began as an assistant to Cato. There he got richmainly thanks to lending at interest. Some authors accused him of tax extortion and usury. Brutus was also active in Cilicia a year before Cicero became the proconsulate of the region. When he returned to Romehe was already a rich man; he also married Claudia Pulchra.

Brutus was probably a senate in 57 BCE, but he continued to do profitable business in the eastern provinces of the empire. With his first speech, he proved his support for the optimists, thus opposing the triumvirs. He fought in the battles of Dyrrachium and Pharsalus. Before the battle of PharsalusCaesar admonished his officers to take Brutus prisoner if he voluntarily surrendered; but if he defends himself, please leave him alone and not hurt him.

He asked him for forgiveness, which he immediately received. For Caesar, the acquisition of Brutus, a representative of powerful Roman families and son-in-law of Cato, was politically advantageous. Therefore, Brutus, although he did not hide his republican convictions, found favour in the eyes of the dictator. Neither the defence against the dictator of the king of GalatiaDeiotarus, nor the open admiration for Marcus Marcellus, consul of 51 BCE, who after the battle of Pharsalus, in protest decided not to return to his homeland and live as an exile on Lesbos, did not hurt Brutus.

This admiration was expressed by Brutus not only by demonstratively visiting the exile but by devoting to him the letter On Virtue. Servilia and her Family. Oxford University Press. ISBN See also Valerius Maximus Memorable deeds and sayings : one thousand tales from ancient Rome. Translated by Walker, Henry J. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.

OCLC Oxford Classical Dictionary. Retrieved 21 May II A, 2. Stuttgart: Butcher. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. ISSN X. JSTOR Chronology is against Caesar's paternity. ISSN Caesar is excluded by plain fact. Quintus Pompeius Rufus was a supporter of Pompey. See, however, Broughtonp. B Civ. Dio, The Brutus revival: parricide and tyrannicide during the Renaissance.

Commentary and ideology: Dante in the Renaissance. Duke University Press. Both writers emphasize that Caesar symbolizes the brutus from julius caesar biography encyclopedia monarch and Brutus and Cassius represent the assassins of the true universal emperor. The anti-Federalist: an abridgement. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Sources [ edit ].

Balbo, Andrea In Steel, Catherine; van der Blom, Henriette eds. Broughton, Thomas Robert Shannon The Magistrates of the Roman Republic. New York: American Philological Association. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Clarke, Martin Lowther Cornell University Press. Crawford, Michael Hewson Roman Republican Coinage. Cambridge University Press.

Gowing, Alain M Plutarch [2nd century AD]. Parallel Lives. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Perrin, Bernadotte. Harvard University Press. Tempest, Kathryn Brutus: The Noble Conspirator. London: Yale University Press. Further reading [ edit ]. Badian, Ernst In Hornblower, Simon; et al. The Oxford Classical Dictionary 4th ed. Syme, Ronald The Roman Revolution.

Volk, Katharina Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Wistrand, Erik The Policy of Brutus the Tyrannicide. Goteborg: Kungl.

Brutus from julius caesar biography encyclopedia

External links [ edit ]. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marcus Junius Brutus. Wikiquote has quotations related to Marcus Junius Brutus. Works of Plutarch. Julius Caesar. Planned invasion of the Parthian Empire. Alea iacta est Veni, vidi, vici Ut est rerum omnium magister usus Last words. Cossutia disputed Cornelia Pompeia Calpurnia.

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. 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. 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 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 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.

Junius Brutus, who slew the last king of Rome; and Stoic dogma, which declared the brutus from julius caesar biography encyclopedia 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. 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.

But fortune soon changed for the worse. Then, Mark Antony delivered a short funeral oration textin which he inflamed their emotions. That night, Brutus and the other murderers had to escape from the city that they had wished to liberate. Brutus went to Cretethe small eastern province that he had been assigned to. A former praetor became almost automatically governor.

This was the end of his career, or so it seemed. During the autumn of 44, however, Mark Antony lost control of Rome: it turned out that Caesar had left three quarters of his estate to his great-nephew Octavian and had adopted him as a son, which meant that he could use the magical name of Julius Caesar. At first, nobody seemed to notice the boy, except for Caesar's veterans.

Even though Octavian couldn't pay them, the soldiers were enthusiastic and loved him. At the beginning of 43, Mark Antony and Octavian were involved in a new civil war, which culminated in the battle of Mutina April This conflict offered a new chance to Brutus and Cassius, who were able to raise a large army in the east, which they wanted to use to liberate Italy from Octavian, who had defeated Mark Antony, and to restore the Senate.

Towns that did not side with Brutus immediately, were sacked e. Meanwhile, the Senate was forced to come to terms with the young Caesar: he was consul in In control of the city, Octavian declared Mark Antony's compromise to be illegal and outlawed the murderers of his father. Then, unexpectedly, he signed a peace with Mark Antony: Octavian had learned that it was impossible to defeat Antony, who still controlled Hispania and Gaul and was an excellent general.

But together they could destroy the republic, if only they managed to defeat Caesar's murderers. This deal is known as the Second Triumvirate ; the third triumvir was Lepidus. In two large battles near Philippion the northern shore of the Aegean Sea in Macedonia, Brutus and Cassius were defeated. Brutus committed suicide.