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Marcus Brutus Bio

85 BC born in Rome

58 BC assistant to Cato, governor of Cyprus

53 BC quaestorship in Cilicia

49 BC follows Pompey to Greece, during the civil war against Caesar48 BC pardoned by Caesar

46 BC governor of Gaul

45 BC praetor

44 BC murders Caesar with other senators; goes to Athens

42 BC

October 3 - First Battle of Philippi defeated Octavianus, but Antonius defeated

Cassius, who committed suicide

October 23 - Second Battle of Philippi his army was decisively defeated; Brutus

escaped, but committed suicide soon after

Brutus BiographyMarcus Junius Brutus Caepio (85 BC-42 BC), or simply Brutus, was a Roman politicianof the late Roman Republic. He was one of Julius Caesar's assassins.

BackgroundBrutus was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus, a relatively unimportant politician, andServilia Caepionis, half-sister of Cato the younger and mistress of Julius Caesar. Somesources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father. Brutus uncle ServiliusCaepio adopted him when he was a young man and Brutus added his cognomen to hisown name. His political career started when he became an assistant of Cato, during

Cato's governorship of Cyprus. During this time, he enriched himself by loaning moneyto desperate persons at high rates of interest. From his first appearance in the senate,Brutus aligned with the Optimates (the conservative faction) against the FirstTriumvirate of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Pompey, and Julius Caesar. He had everythingto hate in Pompey, who had his father murdered in 77 BC, during the prosecutions bySulla.

When civil war broke in 49 BC between Pompey and Caesar, Brutus followed his oldenemy and present leader of the Optimates, Pompey. After the disaster of the Battle ofPharsalus, Brutus wrote Caesar with apologies and Caesar immediately forgave him.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 the next year (45 BC), Caesarnominated him to be a praetor.

Caesar's assassination and its aftermathA conservative by nature, Brutus never concealed his convictions. He married PorciaCatones who was his first cousin and a daughter of Cato, and wrote a text praising hisdeceased father-in-law's qualities. Caesar was very fond of him and respected hisopinions. However, Brutus, like many other senators, was not satisfied with the state of

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the Republic. Caesar had been made dictator for life and was approving legislation toconcentrate power in his own hands. Together with his friend and brother-in-lawCassius and other men, Brutus started to conspire against Caesar. On the Ides ofMarch (March 15; see Roman calendar) of 44 BC, a group of senators including Brutusmurdered Caesar on the steps of Pompey's Theater. In Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar,"

the dictator directed his famous last words at him: Tu quoque, Brute, fili mi ("You, too,Brutus, my son?") or Et tu, Brute ("You, too, Brutus?"). However, Suetonius tells us thatCaesar said, in Greek, "kai\ su\, te/knon?" ("Even you, my child?") (De Vita CaesarumLiber I Divus Iulius, LXXXII).

The conspirators received a temporary amnesty from Marcus Antonius who was nowthe head of state. However, the city itself was against them, because most of thepopulation loved Caesar dearly. Antonius decided to make use of the circumstancesand, on March 20 spoke angrily against the assassins during Caesar's funeral eulogy.Since Rome no longer saw them as saviours of the Republic and they were facingtreason charges, Brutus and his fellow conspirators fled to the East.

In Athens, Brutus dedicated himself to the study of philosophy and, no less importantly,to the raising of funds and levying of soldiers to form legions. Antonius and Caesar'sadopted son Octavianus were certain to come after him and Cassius searching forrevenge. The armies of Antonius and Octavianus appeared in the summer of 42 BC. OnOctober 3, the First Battle of Philippi did not produce a decisive result. Brutus' mendefeated Octavianus, but Antonius defeated Cassius. Cassius then committed suicidewithout knowing of his ally's victory. Both armies regrouped and fought the SecondBattle of Philippi on October 23. According to Plutarch and Suetonius, Brutus wasafflicted by dreams of Caesar and other omens foretelling his defeat and his spirits werevery low. This time Octavianus and Antonius were the uncontested winners. Brutusmanaged to escape but did not travel very far. His friends urged him to escape oncemore, but he replied with one of his most famous quotes: Escape, yes, but this time withthe hands, not with the feet. After saying this, he committed suicide.

Later Evaluations of BrutusDante considered Brutus to be the epitome of shameful betrayal, and in his Infernosection of the Divine Comedy (Inferno, XXXIV, 64-67), portrayed Brutus being chewed,but never consumed, by Satan, along with Judas Iscariot and Cassius at the very lowestlevel of Hell.Caesar's famous last words directed to Brutus You too, my son..., led to suggestionsthat Brutus was Caesar's illegitimate son. Indeed, his mother Servilia Caepionis was themost famous of Caesar's mistresses. However, she was also older than he was. At thetime of Brutus' birth, Caesar was only 15 years old.http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Brutus.html

http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Brutus.htmlhttp://www.biographybase.com/biography/Brutus.htmlhttp://www.biographybase.com/biography/Brutus.html

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