The Ancients - The Rise and Fall of Brutus

Episode Date: March 13, 2022

Marcus Junius Brutus is best known as one of the conspirators against Julius Caesar, but there's so much more to his complex story. In today's episode, we continue our mini-series, all about the events of March 15th 44BC. Tristan is joined by Dr. Steele Brand to talk through the rise and downfall of Caesar's most notorious assassin; Marcus Brutus. For more Ancients content, subscribe to our Ancients newsletter here.  If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!To download, go to Android or Apple store.Steele's previous podcast episodes:The Battle of Mutina: Cicero's Fight for the Roman Republic - https://podfollow.com/the-ancients/episode/053ead730f990b45898047470c9ec94fcaf5f3f0/viewThe Battle of Philippi: Death of the Roman Republic - https://podfollow.com/the-ancients/episode/0e0f02003858440d6407475519af2acbc2df4936/viewKilling for the Roman Republic - https://podfollow.com/the-ancients/episode/8a0032d0eede01855dc70296700444d00d983d6e/view

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the Ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabataeans, and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you. From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program,

they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not, just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and in today's podcast we're continuing our mini-series, our special mini-series of episodes this March, all about the events of the 15th of March 44 BC. In other words, the assassination of Julius Caesar.

Last week we kicked off this special mini-series by giving you an explainer of the assassination of Julius Caesar itself by yours truly, but also featuring excerpts from Dr Emma Southern and from Dr Steele Brand. And today we're going to be focusing in on the rise and fall of the most famous, or shall we say infamous, of Caesar's assassins. Marcus Brutus. The object of Caesar's Et Tu Brute in Shakespeare. The object of Caesar's Caesu Technon, you too my child, in Suetonius. Now in this podcast, as mentioned, we're going to be giving you a detailed rundown of the rise and fall of Marcus Brutus. We're going to be going from his background, from his early life, all the way through to his role in the assassination of Julius Caesar, and then on to his ultimate downfall when he was fighting against the likes of Mark Antony and Octavian, the young

Caesar. Now joining me to talk through all of this, I was delighted to get back on the podcast, one of our favourite guests of the Ancients podcast. This is Dr. Steele Brand from the King's College in New York. Steele, he's been on the podcast a number of times before to talk about topics varying from Cicero and his fight to save the Republic following Caesar's assassination, to the battles of Philippi, which we'll no doubt also mention in this podcast, to the ethos of Roman Republican soldiers over several centuries. All those podcasts we'll put a link to in the description below. Steele, he's a fantastic speaker. It's always a pleasure having him on the podcast, and I can guarantee that you're going to absolutely love this episode. So without further ado, to talk all about the rise and fall of Marcus Brutus, here's Steele.

Steele, great to have you back on the podcast. Wonderful to return, Tristan. Now, always a pleasure having you on the podcast. You've talked about Cicero in the past, we've done Cassius, and we have done a bit of the character we're going to focus in on today, Marcus Brutus. Because Steele, today he's the assassin of Caesar that we're going to focus in on today, Marcus Brutus, because still today

he's the assassin of Caesar that we most famously, shall we say, we remember the most. But there's so much to this guy's story than just the Ides of March, isn't there? There is. There's a really deep history. There's a lot of philosophical complexity in what informed him and what animated his own thinking and then caused the kinds of actions that are legendary to us now. But there's a bigger story to Brutus as a whole beyond the Ides of March. And it's important to understand that from his own origins with a really, really deep family history on both sides, maternally and paternally, all the way to the end at the Battle of Philippi.

Well, let's delve into these origins first of all, then. What do we know about Marcus Brutus' background? Well, we know a lot, actually, compared to the 300 or 400 senators on average that you would have throughout the course of the Roman Republic. We have a great deal of information. He comes from two very important families, particularly from a Republican standpoint. So he's born to Servilia and Marcus Brutus, his paternal ancestor, supposedly is one of the most important figures in the entire history of Rome. And this is Lucius Junius Brutus. This is the man most responsible for expelling the last

Roman king. So we're talking all the way back to the very beginning of the Republic. The Junii themselves, this family goes back to the sixth century. So they're there for the kings and they play a role throughout the rest of Roman history. A couple of problems with that. We're not sure if this is true. Brutus seems to be plebeian and that is our Brutus. Marcus Brutus seems to be plebeian and the older Brutus seems to be a patrician. So we're not really entirely certain about that. And there's also a story that the older Brutus had to kill several of his sons who were conspiring to bring the kings back.

Now the historian sort of filled in some blanks. Well, there was a youngest son. So there's a little bit of doubt there and that's really important because if that paternity is not true in this case, it may also not be true in another case. There may be another father. We'll probably get there later on in the podcast,

but then there's the maternal ancestor and that's his mother. This is for certain. It's a lot easier to guarantee knowledge of who the mother was. She is descended from Servilius Ahala, another famous Tyrannicide. Servilius Ahala had killed Spurius Milius,

a man who was collecting grain, distributing at cheap prices to the poor, and then supposedly stockpiling weapons. And Cerbilius Ahala slew the would-be tyrant. So this is important, two tyrannicides that are in the background for him from both sides of his family. He's also got a few really important anecdotes that happen with his own father. And it's important to address that because it's going to let us zoom in on the importance of those two elements. First of all, his father, Marcus Brutus, died ignominiously. If Brutus is born around 85, at the age of around eight, his father is embroiled in a rebellion on the part of a gentleman by the name of Lepidus.

And Pompey, whom I'm sure will come up later, Pompey the Great manages to capture Brutus and then basically murder him. Pompey's already operating on sort of dubious legitimacy and then murdering Brutus' father is going to really taint that relationship for these two men for the rest of their lives. That means that Brutus is then going to be thrown into the arms of his mother's family. There's a stepfather. He doesn't last long, but he'll be adopted by some member of the Servilli clan. And these seem to be the ones that will raise him. And is there also this other figure who seems to be quite close at this time? So it's not his father, not stepfather, not mother, but his uncle. He's got quite a prominent uncle too, doesn't he?

He does. And a lot of people want to stress the role of Cato the Younger. So this is to be distinguished from a guy who lived about a hundred years earlier, Cato the Elder, very similar, both of them in terms of temperament, diehard Republican known for incredible integrity. No one accuses them of cheating or of greed or avarice. They are hard-nosed and they really believe in constitutionalism and the proper functioning of the republic. Cato is the half-brother of his mother. And so that brings in another important Republican family, and that is the Marcus Portius Cato in that long distinguished background. But I think it's possible to overemphasize the role. One of the things that a recent biography by Catherine

Tempest, it's an excellent biography, has stressed is how Brutus is an independent operator. You can trace this when you go back and you look at the primary sources, you read the letters of Cicero, you can see this actually is the case. He is no hack or lackey of any one group. Instead, he does try to pave an independent path for himself. Fair enough. Fair enough. I mean, so what do we know about Brutus's upbringing, his education during these earlier years of his life? Well, he probably comes into contact with some of the most important people that are going to play enormous roles in the future for him. So one of them is Cassius. It's quite likely this is the famous Brutus and Cassius

pairing that you have in Shakespeare, which is of course derived from Plutarch and the histories of the time. It seems like they went to school together. We get a sense of the difference in temperament between the two because Brutus seems to have a heavy emphasis on being a scholar, on studies, whereas Cassius is famous for getting in a fistfight with a fellow classmate who just so happened to be the son of, he's a bit of a tyrant. He's a guy by the name of Sulla. And Sulla has a son and Cassius gets in a fistfight with him over the power of his own father. So that tells us a lot about Cassius. Cassius is a man of action. Brutus, on the other hand, seems to be a man of contemplation.

It doesn't mean he can't act, but he seems to really be enmeshed in the thought world. We know probably in the 60s, he is apprenticed out into the forum. He's probably going to accompany some of his relatives as he takes on the toga of realist. This is the toga of manhood. And he comes in, he sees people like Cicero giving eloquent speeches. He sees how politics works. He gets sort of a firsthand account of what the Republic's actually doing. He'll then go and study abroad, and he'll study abroad in Athens and Rome. And here is where he starts to become a legitimate scholar. He's influenced by the philosophical systems of that day, the old academy, Stoicism. He begins writing philosophy, writing poetry, collects art. And everyone says, even his enemies acknowledge, he's a great conversationalist. If you're going to have a

dinner party, you want Brutus to be there because he can talk about modern politics. He could talk about philosophy. He's engaging in conversation. He's not too harsh. And this is one of the things that everyone will appreciate about him and why he can sort of play both sides at different times in his career. The man's got the social skills, as you say, always important, no matter what time in history you're living, always important. So interesting to hear that. Well, you mentioned that he heads east there. So let's kind of keep on that because what do we know about his movements from there on, but let's say before Rome enters into civil war, because he seemed to spend some more time in the east following that. He does. And I think that's where we need to bring him. So he spent some time in the study

abroad and then he returned back home and then he's going to go back to the East again. And so I think that's a good point for us to introduce some of the major players that might have an influence on him and to insist that he actually is independent. So there's a really interesting case that happens sometime around 59, it seems. And somebody supposedly tries to assassinate Pompey the Great. Okay. So remember Pompey the Great. Pompey the Great is the guy who murdered Brutus' father. And this gentleman, it's a fellow by the name of Vettius, implicates Brutus in the plot. And so it seems like Brutus might possibly be working with sort of a rising ringleader of young men by the name of Scribonius Curios, among a bunch of young men who don't like the way the Republic is functioning. They still believe in the Republic, but maybe they need to take matters

into their own hands, as opposed to someone more like Cato, who always wants to follow the Republican procedures, or at least it seems that way overnight vetias changes his tune perhaps he's influenced perhaps by caesar we'll talk about why caesar might be important there but this affair really nothing happens but he does go back to greece after this or at least to the east because his uncle that famous cato the younger who is a die-hard opponent of caesar and all the people who seem to be angling toward autocracy. Cato is kind of sent into exile, but he's given an assignment to go to Cyprus. And when he's there, he takes his nephew. It's a good thing for a young man to learn to do.

And Brutus, he's actually going to fall ill for a little bit, but when he recovers, Cato sends him to take care of some money from a king who has just died. And Cato, being very austere, man of high integrity, but also brutally honest and harsh oftentimes to his own friends, sends a friend there by the name of Canidius. And then he says, oh, but Canidius, I don't trust you. So I'm going to send my nephew and he's going to make sure that he handles all of the affairs. And Brutus is incensed. It seems like he's incensed for two reasons. One, he kind of thinks this is a little bit beneath me, but on the other hand, you're not treating your friend well. This isn't proper. Nonetheless, he's obedient. He does what his uncle asks and everyone notices that this young man is a man of integrity. But we also notice

Cato and Brutus don't actually see eye to eye on everything. And then he makes another alliance, Brutus that is. When he returns, he marries and he marries into a very distinguished family, a very old family, the Appii Claudii. He marries a woman by the name of Claudia. And this is a different family, sometimes opposed to Cato. And it's very good for Brutus. It's advantageous because it brings him even more prestige and also a powerful alliance. And that's important because we've got an independent rising star. And I think we really get a sense of who is the real Brutus in 54 when he mints two coins. So he has a very minor position. He's basically a moneyer for the Republic. And we have two coins that tell us a lot about who Brutus says he is. He, on one side of the coin, on the obverse of the first

coin, puts an image of the goddess Libertas. So he's trumpeting here, liberty. And then on the reverse, he puts his ancient ancestor, that's the guy who ousted the last king, Lucius Brutus, accompanied by his lictors. That's the first coin. The second coin has an image of Brutus himself. And then it also has an image of Servilius Ahala. This is the other ancestor. So what's the point he's making here? He's saying, I'm from these distinguished noble families who stand up for the Republic. Oh, and by the way, they're also tyrannicides. Around the same time, Brutus has begun writing philosophy, and he's got a few tracks. And these tracks target, no surprise, Pompey the Great. And the tracks, we wish we had them. So we know he writes several philosophical works, one that's titled

On Duties. We have Cicero's On Duties. We don't have Brutus's On Duties. But we get a sense for what these two tracks are. And these two tracks are going to target Pompey's, it almost seems like one man rule. They're probably published around the year 52. We've heard about them. We know they're critical of Pompey that should not surprise us. And we also know around the same time he's been elected as quaestor, probably in 53. And he's offered by another person, Caesar, to go to Gaul. He turns it down.

This is a big deal because Caesar's a rising star. He turns down instead, and he goes with his father-in-law to Cilicia. In Cilicia, he's going to gain the ire of someone else who's important, and that is Cicero. And we have probably the most shocking event in Brutus' lifetime. And that is some strange anecdote. You can kind of put the pieces back together from Cicero's letters, from the broader story. When he goes with his father-in-law and serves as a quaestor for his father-in-law, who's a provincial governor in Cilicia, he gets involved in extortionate loans. He's loaning money to a king at the rate of 48%. Just to clarify still there, Cilicia, so that's Southeast Turkey,

isn't it? Cilicia, yeah, precisely is Southeast Turkey. And he's loaning this king loans at 48% interest. Well, the king can't pay him back. And Brutus is even using agents to use Roman troops to intimidate the people he's loaned money to. Well, Cicero arrives and says, this is terrible. You can't do this. This is not how good Roman Republicans govern. This gives us a bad name amongst all the provinces. And Cicero even goes so far as to say, this guy's an upstart youth. He's rude. He's conceited. No one says this about Brutus. But Cicero, of all people, also a dedicated Republican, says this about Brutus, but Cicero of all people, also a dedicated Republican says this about Brutus. It's probably, aside from the assassination, this incident is probably the only blemish up to this point in time, a career that looks like it's going to be promising. Probably to wrap up this period of life, it's good to note that two other things that happens. He's minted coins. He's making a name. He's got really powerful alliances with a whole host of people. But two other things happen. One, he's enrolled into the Pontifical College. And this is going to put him in proximity on a regular basis with the Pontifex Maximus, and that's Julius Caesar. The other thing that happens is his father-in-law is put on trial,

partly for some of the shenanigans that occurred in Cilicia. Officially, it's for treason and some sort of electoral fraud, but Brutus himself will help defend his father-in-law, and this will establish his fame as an orator. And something else interesting that happens is he has to work with Pompey the Great to secure the acquittal of his father. So here we've got Brutus, a rising star, lots of connections. He now has a close association with Julius Caesar, and he's just for the first time seems to have managed to work with the murderer of his father, Pompey the Great. I mean, still keeping on that link with Pompey the Great a bit longer from what you said there, a summary of that. You see, in his 20s, at that time that we've just talked about,

he's very bold, very proud of his heritage, of his family of his background and you know the audacity of those coins that he mints too when you look at other you know key figures in the end of the republic such as cicero and how brutus at this young stage he's saying no to julius caesar he's writing these hostile things towards pompey then you look at Cicero is doing at the same time and you think like Cicero would never have the boldness or the audacity to do what Brutus is doing at this time. It's quite interesting to compare the two. Oh yeah. I mean, Cicero, so Cicero during this time is at his absolute worst. He also gets exiled. And then after being exiled, he just becomes absolutely pathetic. He feels like everyone's betrayed him. He had a relationship with Caesar, a relationship with Pompey.

Both these men betrayed him. And it seems he takes a stance against Pompey and Caesar, who are sort of functioning in an alliance. It's called the First Triumvirate with Crassus. It seems he takes a stance against them at the beginning, but then he doesn't have the moxie to see it through. And so when he finally is recalled from exile, Cicero gets sent to exile in the East in the 50s, just like Cato had, but this time it's an official exile. It's not a lame assignment. When Cicero returns, he just starts becoming a lackey for Pompey and Caesar. He's writing things in defense of them. He's telling his best friend Atticus, I don't believe in the things I'm writing, but you know what? No one's going to love me. I might as well love myself and try to earn some money. And he

just looks absolutely lame. And then at the same time, his friend that he's writing to Atticus has connected him to Brutus. And so Cicero and Brutus are starting to come into contact with one another. And you can see that they kind of get off to a rocky start there, or at least they have a rocky middle period there at the late 50s. But the one who seems to have the courage during this phase is Brutus, who's rising through the ranks just like any good young aristocrat should.

And the one who has just totally fallen apart is that legendary figure of Cicero. Okay, so if we continue the story, therefore, from when we left off, how does Brutus therefore end up becoming this ally of Pompey during this war against Caesar? You know, Pompey, as you've mentioned, as we've stressed, the man who basically signed the death warrant of Brutus's father. Yeah, I think we would love to have some letters written by Brutus to fully understand

what happened here. I mean, this is the peril of ancient history. You never can get all the answers that you want. You don't have archives that you can pour over. I think we can sort of reconstruct a few events. I think the trial of Appius is important. So both of them working together to acquit Brutus' father-in-law. I also think if we can compare him, for example, to some other people that are in existence. So look at a guy like Mark Antony, famous for being sort of the right-hand man of Julius Caesar. Both Mark Antony and Brutus, both of these guys are born into distinguished Republican families. Both of them have disgraced fathers. Both of them also have paterfamilias, the head of the family that were killed during the civil wars. Antony's grandfather was killed by Amarians. We know the story of Brutus' father. Then we know that Antony, his own father has been

disgraced. They have really similar backgrounds. We also know they both have really good connections and they're both sort of distinguished themselves in the fifties. So you look at a guy like Mark Antony and you look at a guy like Brutus and you think, okay, what's going to indicate what they'll do? What are the choices that they will make? Because there are all sorts of similarities between the two, but they end up making completely different choices. And it's shocking why that happens. We know up to 52, Brutus has been adamantly opposed to Pompey. However, Caesar's in Gaul, Caesar's with Antony by this time in Gaul, they're conquering all of Gaul. And Brutus has a choice to make. And he looks at what Caesar represents, and it seems like he genuinely

believes. Remember, he's a philosopher. He writes philosophies. He's thinking ideologically. He genuinely believes that Caesar's a threat to the Republic. And I think another thing, this is to Pompey's credit. Another thing that Pompey does is there's chaos that occurs in Rome around 53, 52. There's been gang violence ever since the early fifties. But at the end of the fifties, Pompey is basically elected sole consul. Nothing like this ever happens. He restores order in the city, and then he does something very, very Republican. He lays down power. And I think when Brutus sees this, the philosopher in Brutus says, I have every reason to hate this guy, but I'm seeing a man who believes in the Republic. And so he cannot join with Caesar. He lingers in Italy for a while. Caesar crosses the Rubicon. Caesar invades Italy. Pompey has to flee. A couple of people, Brutus and Cicero and a few others, try to stay on the fence. They don't like the civil war. They think it's not going to work out well.

But it seems at some point, Brutus says, I cannot be with Caesar. So he leaves. So he goes over and he joins Pompey. Now, there are a whole host of interesting things in relation to this that make it a really shocking choice. And I think that's why it's so important to understand as a philosophical, deep-seated choice on the part of Brutus. Now, we haven't talked about this yet, but Caesar is, or at least at one point, has been the lover of Brutus' mother. That's going to have important implications. But there's no doubt Servilia, Brutus' mother, is pressuring Brutus to join with Caesar.

There's also no doubt that his sisters are as well. They're married to prominent Caesareans. And it seems Cicero's good friend Atticus is probably also pressuring Brutus. You know, you should back Caesar. He's going to be the winning horse. But that's not what he does. Instead, he goes with his father-in-law, with Cato, and with his friend Cassius. And he is going to work on the part of the man who killed his father.

Why does he do it? I think he really believes in the cause. I think there's something noble to that. I mean, it is really interesting indeed, looking at the motivations of Brutus at this time. And so let's continue the story then, Steele. I mean, what do we know about Brutus's role in the ensuing civil war between Pompey and Caesar? So it's interesting when we talk about Brutus, when he's at Pompey's camp, two people come late to the camp. There's Cicero who comes late and there's Brutus. So that would seem to make people not trust Brutus or Cicero. And that is the case with Cicero. Everyone's sort of annoyed with Cicero. It's easy to be annoyed with Cicero. Cicero comes, he's cracking jokes about how Pompey's going to lose.

Caesar's got it together. Cicero doesn't want to be there. Brutus arrives. And again, it tells you a lot about his character and his temperament. And everyone's happy to see him. It does not seem like he's given important military responsibilities. And we're told by Plutarch that he seems happy to sit in his tent and read philosophy. He's going to maintain his scholarship while they're on this campaign. There are two famous battles, the Battle of Dariacum and then the Battle of Pharsalus. We're not entirely certain if Brutus fights in either. Dariacum is a success for Pompey.

Pharsalus, however, is an absolute disaster for Pompey. I think they're outnumbered two to one, significantly inferior force on the part of Caesar defeats Pompey and tens of thousands are killed. Pompey has to flee. Brutus, at this point, he gives it up. He gives up the cause. I think he sees that the Republicans can't win. And so he flees. Then he writes a letter to Caesar. Now, Caesar had already given explicit instructions to his men. You must find Brutus and you must keep him alive. Why is he doing this? I think he sees that Brutus has value. There also could be some personal reasons for this. Don't forget, Servilia was a former mistress of Caesar. And so Brutus is welcomed back into Caesar's camp. And just as he'd gone to Pompey,

when he arrives in Caesar's camp, everyone is so happy that Brutus is there. He can change sides without it seeming to have any serious consequences. With Cicero, he's held at the tip of the bottom of Italy by Mark Antony, who's grumpy and angry with Cicero and Cicero's whining and they're not happy. And so what's interesting is during this, you've got two things happen with the Republicans. A group of them are going to go over to the side of Caesar. I think they never had much heart in it in the first place. Cassius happens to be sort of boxed in. He defeats the Navy of Caesar, but when Pompey collapses, Cassius is going to be boxed in and he's going to have to fall in the mercy of Caesar as well. And Cassius, Cicero, and Brutus are all writing to each other and they're writing about,

have we done the right thing? They all kind of think philosophically and they're wondering, have we betrayed the cause? Because the cause is still going on. And that's the other side. Cato and a few others are still fighting against Caesar and they're going to be defeated. Caesar seems to win every battle. And Cato, instead of giving into Caesar's mercy, Cato will spectacularly commit suicide in a way that will shock everyone and will inspire generations of Republicans. Whether or not someone should be inspired by suicide is a question, but Cato is going to, after Caesar has defeated all of the forces that Cato was fighting with in North Africa, he then will host a huge philosophical gathering.

They will discuss the merits of suicide. He'll praise all the people that are with him. He'll settle affairs, try to have as many people as possible escape out of the town of Utica, where he's staying. Then he'll go into his bedroom. He'll cut himself open, and then he'll rip open his chest or his innards and he'll pull out all of his bowels and he will die in this manner. And when people hear about it, instead of being revolted, which is how most of us are, people are inspired because this is a man who is a diehard Republican. And what does Brutus do shortly after? Brutus divorces Claudia,

the lost Pompeian cause, right? Because the happy cloudy, they didn't do well. Pompey is lost. Pompey ends up getting himself assassinated in Egypt. He's over. But Cato's spirit lives on, you know, like in the Star Wars, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, he's still there, right? So this is Cato.

Cato's like the Obi-Wan Kenobi. The spirit lives on to inspire people in the real world, in the present. And he's going to own Cato's cause by divorcing his first wife, and he will marry Cato's daughter, Portia. Well, there's definitely got to be a future podcast episode titled Cato, the Obi-Wan Kenobi of the Roman Republic? We'll have to see if we can make that work in the future indeed. One last thing before we go on to what happens next and Brutus by Caesar's side following you know he goes back to Caesar at that time is that we've been able to talk about Brutus in quite a lot of detail

for his early life up to this point and you know for so many of these important figures sometimes you know we don't know too much about their early lives for instance Agrippa or someone like that later on so what sources do we have which can shine so much light on these early years of Brutus? on. So what sources do we have which can shine so much light on these early years of Brutus? So we have really three sources and all of them touch on Brutus in some form or fashion. Some of them give us a lot of details about it. The first are we have the standard historians. So you've got the summaries of Livy. Those aren't that helpful, but we do have Cassius Dio and we have Appian who wrote extensively on the civil wars. A, a lot of that remains with us. We also have a few biographies.

So we have Suetonius. He has a biography of Julius Caesar, which references Brutus. And then we have a biography of Brutus by Plutarch. Now Plutarch, he's an excellent writer. I strongly recommend people just to sit down for pleasant reading, sit down and read Plutarch. He's a great way to fall asleep at night. You'll be thinking about the virtues of Greeks and Romans as you drift to sleep. You'll be a better person when you wake up in the morning. And the way that Plutarch

casts his biographies, it's troubled some, I think for good reason, but it shouldn't distract us too much, is he casts people's stories in terms of the morals they represent, the decisions they make. So I think we just have to be very aware of that when we read Plutarch, that that's his goal. But he also seeks to get at the truth. All of these sources are using older sources. So none of them are contemporary with Brutus, but they seem to be using older sources that give us a different picture of Brutus. All of them have their own objectives. Appian and Dio are going to be pretty favorable to monarchy in general, although they may be a little hostile to certain elements of Caesar and Octavian who will follow. So there are some historiographical problems there. The other great source of information is that we have Cicero,

and we have Cicero's letters. We even have letters that Brutus and Cicero and Cassius have been writing to each other. That's really helpful. Again, there are problems because Cicero writes from his own perspective. Cicero is a very good orator, and he's going to argue for his perspective. But fortunately, he's writing to Atticus. And his arguments with Atticus, say, for example, about Brutus, tell us that Atticus is telling, so let's go back to the incident with the extortionate loan. Atticus basically seems to be telling Cicero, hey, look, this was a high-risk loan.

It makes sense that the interest was so high. And so Cicero sort of has to defend himself. So when you read through the letters of Cicero, if you keep that in mind, you can get a really good picture of Brutus because he's writing about Brutus and receiving letters to and from Brutus. Well, it's so interesting to have that variation of sources, as you say, for the whole story. And if we therefore, then let's go back to the story, to the narrative of Brutus from where he left off. So he's now back with Caesar. And from what you were saying, it sounds like following Pharsalus, you know, the civil wars, following Thapsus and is it Utica? Is it Utica, that place in North Africa where Cato dies? That's correct. Yes. Yes. And following that, Brutus and Caesar, how much influence does Brutus hold at this point?

Talk us through what happens when Brutus is back alongside Caesar. Well, I think it says a lot about Caesar's estimation of Brutus, that he will give Brutus a pretty important provincial assignment as governor, and that's his Alpine Gaul. This had been important for Caesar himself and earlier in his career. And what does Brutus do? He takes up the assignment and he does a really good job. He's not his father-in-law. He manages it well. Plutarch tells us that to the benefit of everyone in the province. Caesar's happy that someone can manage this. Now, again, it's good to compare. So Antony is trying to manage Italy at this time and he bungles the whole thing. He's a fool when

it comes to administration. He has no administrative talent. He could do great things on a battlefield, but Antony is no administrator. And so Brutus works well for Caesar. And Caesar seems to trust Brutus' loyalty. And Brutus seems to hope that Caesar will win the civil war and then return the Republic to a Republican status. And I think this is very, very important. Cicero, he's under no illusions. Cicero doesn't think this is going to happen. But I think guys like Brutus and Cassius and a number of people who had even sided with Caesar are anticipating that Caesar is going to win, but like Sulla before him or Marius, Caesar is going to put the Republic back into place. So you've got a few factions.

You've got Caesareans, so those in favor of Caesar, who feel this way. Hey, we like functioning in the Republican system. Caesar won. That's great. But the Republic's going to go on. You have other Caesareans who like the idea of Caesarism. They like this notion that, okay, maybe one-man rule is better. Maybe it can end the civil wars. And maybe if we put ourselves in proximity to him, he can bestow favors on us and we can do well in that regime. That's very different to someone who wants Caesar to win, but still has ambitions to succeed in a Republican structure. And then you've got younger and sidelined Republicans. And I think this is where you should put Cassius and Brutus. So we've got people that are Caesarian, but they have Republican tendencies. And then we have Republicans who've

been grafted into Caesar's system. And so they really, at the turn of a dime, when they see that Caesar is not behaving in a Republican fashion, they could be dangerous. That's very different than people who sort of like Caesar or Caesarism. And then you have the Roman mob who vacillate and they change and they become accustomed to the kinds of favors that a one man can bestow on the people. But they've also become accustomed to libertas, to liberty, to the notion of Republican freedom. For a young aristocrat like Cassius or Brutus, libertas means I can participate in the Republic in a fair game. For the people, libertas is a legal status.

And if Caesar threatens either of those, either the ability for the aristocracy to participate or the people to have their legal status perhaps taken away or threatened, then Caesar might find himself in trouble. And it's not clear Caesar realizes that. Well, just about everyone and everything. From the real Anne Boleyn. Everyone that knew her said how engaging she was. To a superstar artist. It's hard not to pay attention to Dura. From celebrity executioners.

It's a big public spectacle. All the eyes are on you. To a teenage werewolf. There's one story of an infant who was taken by a wolf and eaten behind a hedge. And all of these wolf attacks were attributed to this young teenager. Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. Subscribe from History Hit wherever you get your podcasts. Whether you're in your running era, Pilates era, or yoga era, dive into Peloton workouts that work with you.

From meditating at your kid's game to mastering a strength program, they've got everything you need to keep knocking down your goals. No pressure to be who you're not. Just workouts and classes to strengthen who you are. So no matter your era, make it your best with Peloton. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. well let's therefore then focus on the Ides of March or maybe I should say the run-up to the Ides of March now so let's say so the Battle of Munda Caesar has now won the civil war in 45 BC that's the end of it as it were it might not be but that's the last big it, as it were. It might not be, but that's the last big pitched battle, as it were. Between then and the Ides of March of 44 BC, I mean, talk us through how Brutus therefore ends up joining the civil war. So he doesn't have complete time at the beginning to begin pushing through legislation, but he's still is able to push through some legislation. He's fixing a lot of problems. There is a really, really long year. I think it's 45.

He hasn't been around as the Pontifex Maximus. That's the longest year in history. I love to ask my students that what's the longest year in history. And they all look at me like I'm asking the stupidest question in the world, but no, Caesar has to fix the calendar because he hasn't been doing his job as Pontifex Maximus, but he has to add more days to the year because it's out of sync. It's like, if we just stopped doing leap day every four years, then that would create problems in the long run. So this is one thing he does. He fixes the calendar. He also brings peace. He works on the debt problem. He gets the Republic sort of back to functioning. But at the same time that he's doing, I think some good things, we should say Caesar's a reformer. He's doing some good things for the Republic. He's also taking on lots of titles. He has himself added to the College of Augurs, which means now he can interpret the signs from the gods. He is going to give himself all sorts of titles. And the most important title that he eventually gives himself, he's been dictator and consul several times. So consul is like one of the two annually elected authorities in the Republic. Well, he keeps getting himself elected consul and he keeps controlling the elections. It's a time of war, so maybe we could say that happens,

but he's also appointing himself dictator. Now, this position has been very problematic. It's supposed to be a temporary position for only six months in times of crisis. It was used in the early and middle Republic, but it basically has fallen out of use until another tyrant, a guy by the name of Sulla, had used it in really bad ways. Well, Caesar's going to have himself made dictator in perpetuity. Okay. So if you're a one-man rule, that's what a dictator is. It's a really unique position. And it doesn't expire in six months, but you have it forever. That seems to everyone like, okay, this is turning into a kingship. And he starts doing other things that are divisive of the Republic. For example, he appoints a lackey to be consul the last day of

the year in the afternoon before the new year where new consuls would come into office. Why does he do this? Well, first of all, the whole process is a joke, but he does this because it's good for the person. He sort of wants to bestow a favor, but that's not what the position of consul means. So Cicero is making jokes. Oh, during his consulship, no one ate breakfast. Oh, during his consulship, there were no crimes committed. Why? Because it's only lasted like 12 hours, but he's done a number of things like this. He's also attacked the sacrosanctity of this junior office. That's really, really important. The tribunes of the plebs, which is part of the reason why he said he went to start the civil war in the first place, because the

sacrosanctity of the tribunes of the plebs was violated. So when he's doing this, those factions are seeing what he's doing. And those sidelined Republicans, some of the people and some of the Caesareans who like the Republic, are very, very, very alarmed. And I think the tipping point is in February, when famously as portrayed in Shakespeare, Mark Antony puts a laurel crown onto Caesar's head, takes it off several times, he puts it on several times, and it almost seems like Caesar's gauging public opinion. Can he be a king? Now, we don't know for certain what's going on here, but all of this pushes up to 15 February when Mark Antony does

this with Julius Caesar and people are alarmed. And it's probably, this is when in February, when that conspiracy that Cassius and Brutus put together really comes to a head and they start gathering people together. And I think it's short. It has to be short. Otherwise word would have gotten out. It's probably only a month that the conspirators have to put together a plot to remove the tyrant. And you mentioned Brutus there, because in some sources, isn't it? It's like Marcus Brutus is one of the last to join the conspiracy. But do you think it's more likely that he was actually probably near the start of the conspiracy? He was one of the members. I think we can't know because we have Appian and Dio and Plutarch have different accounts.

Two of them agree and one of them don't. One of them says Brutus is the first to approach Cassius and the other one says Cassius is the first to approach Brutus. Probably the best way to look at it is that they both are thinking about the same thing. So let's look at this from Brutus' perspective. And this is really, really important because as opposed to Cassius, we have this really, really long history with Brutus. There is a statue, I think it's on the capital line, of his ancestor, the famous Tyrannicide. And it's with the statues of the Roman kings. And Caesar has put up his own statue in front of this statue of the Tyrannicide Brutus, that elder Brutus that we talked about at the beginning of the Republic. He's put up a statue and it sort of upstages the Brutus statue. And graffiti has started appearing on the statue of Brutus' ancestor. Why is he giving in to the rule of Caesar? And this graffiti is really pointed.

And Appian and Dio and Plutarch disagree. And some say it's the people who are putting this graffiti up. It's those people who believe in Libertas. They want Brutus to be the Tyrannosai that he should be. And then others say, no, no, it's the elites. Cassius tells Brutus, who do you think's writing these things? It's people who are looking for a leader. And so Brutus, I think two things are going on.

He's already styled himself. Plutarch gets it wrong if he says Brutus doesn't want to be a tyrannicide. No, no. He's already styled himself that way in the 50s. He knows what he stands for. The question is, is it necessary? And these are the philosophical discussions he's having with himself. Do I need to do this? And I think it's Caesar who forces Brutus' hand. Cassius may have wanted to do it earlier, but Caesar forces Brutus' hand. What probably happens is both men, Cassius and Brutus, amongst others, are seeing what Caesar's doing, and they're thinking we need to do something about it. So one of them approaches the other, and they both realize we need each other. Brutus needs Cassius because Cassius is a man of action. He's a man who can get things

done. Cassius needs Brutus because Brutus has a reputation for being great in society, being incredibly principled, being a philosopher. And so these two come together and they start feeling out others. And they do this through philosophical discussions. I love this. It's fantastic the way they do it. What do you think about Tyrannicide? They would ask each other, they'll pick up a passage out of Plato and they'll pose it to some of their friends. And over the course of probably not much time, a month, maximum two months, they're able to put together somewhere between 20 to 40 people who think we have got to remove Caesar from power because he wants to destroy the Republic, which means

destroying liberty, which impacts everyone negatively, and destroying our ability to participate and run the Republic ourselves. It's so interesting in those philosophical discussions, isn't it? Because I think the night before the 15th of March, 44 BC, there's another story that Caesar and Decimus Brutus the other Brutus they're having dinner they also have like another philosophical discussion over like you know what's the best kind of death so it's so interesting if these discussions were going along not just between conspirators but also between Caesar and someone he thought was a close ally too but then let's go to the 15th of March 44 BC and let's focus on Marcus Brutus. Talk me through, what do we know about

his role during the assassination? I appreciate there are various versions, so it might be difficult to sort the fact from the fiction. But what is told about Marcus Brutus on the Ides of March itself? The storytelling is rich. It's the richest in the historians and in Plutarch when we get here. All sorts of things happen immediately leading up to the assassination. And Brutus himself is impacted by his wife. So this is the daughter of Cato. And Portia, she basically wounds herself to see, can she commit suicide and to try to demonstrate that she has enough resolve to share in Brutus' schemes. The conspiracy is so tight that even she doesn't, she knows something's going on, but she doesn't know about it. This actually ends up backfiring because she kind of can't handle the information and she nearly botches the assassination of Caesar by clouding Brutus' This is a distant relative of Brutus. And we're told he's the second person in the will of Caesar. So a very important person, a very important betrayer

and a conspirator. He is going to pull Caesar away by saying, hey, we're going to give you honors, perhaps kingship. And so you really need to be at the Senate house on the Ides of March because Caesar wants to stay away. All sorts of things are happening. Meanwhile, as Decimus Brutus is pulling Caesar there, all sorts of things are happening near the theater of Pompeii. They're going to be in a side building, which is where the event is supposed to occur. All the conspirators have gathered. They're listening to business like normal. Someone said, I hope your plans go well. Casca's alarmed. He thinks someone knows about it. And Casca nearly blunders and asks what they know. But he says, yeah, your wealth, you're accumulating wealth. You're doing well. So he almost blows it.

There, Caesar arrives and he talks to a seer. And he tells the seer who'd said, hey, beware the Ides of March. And Caesar sort of jokes with the seer. He thinks, hey, maybe I'm about to be acclaimed king or have honors heaped on me. Hey, the Ides of March are here. He's sort of making fun of him. And the soothsayer responds, oh, but they have not yet gone, meaning they're not over as what you talked to me on the 16th of March. There's even a letter that is supposedly put into the hand of Caesar that reveals the plot. And it's the only thing in his hands when he goes in. So when he gets into the Senate building where they'll be meeting that day, we have

the conspirators sort of gather around him. They swarm him. We have Kimber is the one who petitions him with a matter on behalf of his brother. And as he's doing this, he's sort of getting too close. And then Casca comes up behind him and he's going to be the one who strikes the first blow. It actually doesn't work. Caesar sort of sees it coming. It's a bad blow. Caesar's a powerful, physically agile man. And none of the conspirators seem to be the same. It breaks out into a frenzy and they're all sort of stabbing each other, stabbing him. People have said there are only a handful of them had actually been fatal stabs. But at the very end

of this is it's getting crazy and they've all pulled out their daggers and they're starting to stab him. That's when we are told that Brutus approaches him. Caesar's fighting them off. He's maybe even thinking he can get out of this. And the way it's portrayed in the sources is Brutus comes up and he has a dagger that's pulled out and Caesar looks at him and maybe, maybe he says, And maybe, maybe he says, you know, and you, child, or in the Greek, it's kaisou technon. In Shakespeare, it's et tu, Brute? And you, Brutus, right? And then Brutus comes in and he stabs him in the groin. And this is when we are told, when Brutus stabs him, right after he says this, that Caesar gives up, pulls his toga over his head,

and resigns himself to his fate. But what in the world does that phrase mean? And did Caesar even say it? Well, I mean, absolutely. Well, you've asked those questions, so still take it away. Well, last words are a really, really important sort of mini genre for writers of antiquity. Cicero's got his famous last word. Cato's got his famous last words. To the greatest. Yeah. Jesus, right? The last words of Christ, the entire liturgy in the church has been developed around the last words of Christ. So it is possible that we have no clue what the last words of Caesar are. It's possible they're totally invented, but it's also possible that we do know

some of them. My personal favorite last word of Caesar, because I think it encapsulates the man, is when he says, what, this violence against Caesar? As if to say, it's not possible. I'm the man who conquered the world. I brought everything under my authority. It couldn't possibly be violent. Who would be stupid enough to try to assassinate me? I kind of like this self-promoting and overconfidence to the end, but that's not the most famous one. No, no. The most famous is, and Suetonius gives it to us, it's kaisutechnon, and you, or you too, child. Okay. What does it mean? Well, that's when we get back to Brutus' parentage, because some people say, ah, Caesar is saying Brutus is his son. Remember Brutus' mother, Servilia? Remember how they were

lovers? So maybe Caesar's actually his son. Well, there's a problem with that, to making Brutus Caesar's biological son. There are a couple of problems. One is that's got to make Caesar 15. It's not biologically impossible. It could be the case, but it doesn't seem like that Servilia and Caesar are lovers at this point. It's probably more like it occurs in the late 60s. There's a love letter supposedly that pops up in the late 60s, or maybe after the death of Servilia's second husband, which obviously is going to be way too late. So it's unlikely given Servilia and Caesar's history that Brutus is his biological son. It's a soap opera element that some people just can't possibly avoid. The other thing I think that's a reasonable approach is someone saying, oh, he's saying, no, no, you're a dear client. In the patron-client relationship of Rome,

he's almost like an adopted son. Hey, I took you in. I was merciful to you. You opposed me. I made you governor. I've trusted you. Could you do this to me, son? That's possible. I think there are two other possibilities as well that we should mention. Some say he's quoting a Greek prophecy as if to say, as you have done this to me, and so it will be done to you, child. That's sort of Caesar quoting something famous. Another one that I like is that it's a curse. If you look at their curse tablets and they talk about the Kaisu is famous for being on curse tablets. It's almost like Caesar saying, oh yeah, and you kid, or hey, I'll see you in hell. If we

were going to do it in an American wild west setting, that's exactly what he would say. This is what Caesar would say. Which one of these is true? We can't possibly know. It's possible he didn't even say any of it, but I think we can be happy enough with him cursing Brutus because I think that's what probably most people would do in this particular circumstance. Yeah, most probably. I think, shall we just wrap that bit up by just saying, et tu Brute, Shakespeare, perhaps the most famous quote that we associate with Caesar today, was 100% not said at all. We don't have a source that says that. No, it's Caesar either quoting a Greek prophecy

or dispensing a Greek curse. I think that's what we're left with, according to Suetonius. Fair enough. Yeah, listening in, Shakespeare, listening in. So, okay, Caesar's dead. It's in the Senate meeting near the theater of Pompeii. Brutus is among the killers there.

What happens next through the eyes of Brutus, as it were? Oh, I wish we knew what happens through the eyes of Brutus. Unfortunately, what happens through the eyes of Cicero? And he tells us what occurs. And some people accuse Cicero of being unfair. Some people say, no, no, he's got the measure of the matter, but here's what happens. You have a really uneasy truce that breaks out immediately. Why is there an uneasy truce? Because they've killed Caesar, but they've not killed Antony. And supposedly Brutus is the one that says we cannot kill Antony. We don't want a bloodbath. I think that's part of his noble ideals. And I think we should laud that. It may not have been strategically savvy, but we should laud that. And they try to give speeches. Supposedly, Brutus tries to give two

speeches to the people. He's a powerful orator. And when they see the mangled body, when they hear what's happened, they're panicking. There's actually a theater that lets out that same day. There's a play and people are freaked out. And the senators, they had run because remember, we only have 20 to 40 of these guys. And so pandemonium ensues. And the liberators or conspirators, depending on your political preferences at the end of the Roman Republic, they have to flee up to the capital line and they have to hide out here. And Antony himself runs away because he's the consul and he's the highest legitimate

authority. And he's kind of shocked that he wasn't killed. He doesn't know that Brutus is the reason why he's not killed. But what happens is Lepidus has got troops, a legion on Tiber Island, and he brings in, Lepidus is Caesar's master of horse, the assistant to the dictator. He brings in troops and they surround the forum

and he restores order. And Antony, Lepidus, Cassius, and Brutus, with no small amount of help from Cicero, patched together a compromise, put together a peace, and by April, we have some legislation even pushed through by Antony that seems to mean the Republic is going to have a very uneasy, but indeed, truce between the conspirators and those who appreciate the legacy of Caesar. But something throws a spanner in the works, doesn't it? It is. It's probably not the funeral. So what's the funeral though? The funeral is quite a big deal in itself. It is. It could be the funeral. So the early accounts of the funeral, and this happens on the 20th of March, say that there are orations and riots break out, but they don't seem to say that Antony stirs them up. All the funeral forces is the people make the conspirators lead the city,

but it doesn't cause a breakdown between Antony, Lepidus, and Cassius and Brutus. And that's really, really important because the mood of the mob can change. So it's dramatic, but it doesn't mean that there's a breakdown. Now that's played up in later sources. And then of course, magnificently, we can almost give Shakespeare a free pass for how good the speeches are, especially the Mark Antony speech that serves them up. But that probably never happened with Mark Antony. He has no interest in causing a riot. He's the legitimate authority that would

make him look bad. So the funeral causes a problem temporarily, but that legislation in April that Antony pushes through is compromised. We're going to ratify the decrees of Caesar, but we're going to pardon the liberators. It's a really good move. It's very reasonable. That's what the public should do. They should compromise. So what does cause the problem? Well, that is the heir of Caesar. Well, who is the heir of Caesar? Well, the ideological heir, the guy who has his papers, the man who wants to take up the mantle of Caesar is Antony, but that's not who the legal heir of Caesar is. That is a young man by the name of Octavian. And Octavian enters the scene, sort of kind of wrap things up between Antony and Octavian. Octavian enters the scene and he engages in a sort of cold war of Caesar's veterans led by

Octavian with Caesar's veterans led by Antony. And they're moving around Italy. They're causing problems. A couple of times when Octavian and Antony meet, they're bad. Octavian wants to take over the papers, the legitimacy, the titles, the last name of Caesar. Antony is sort of reluctant to give these things to Octavian and they're angry with one another. But unfortunately for everyone, they are able to patch things together, at least unfortunately for the Republic. And that means that Antony eventually is going to move over to that hardline Caesarian camp that doesn't want a Republican structure, but instead wants an autocratic structure ruling over what's left of the Republic. Now, I do appreciate that you have

been on the podcast before to talk about these events that follow Caesar's death, looking at Cassius and Brutus, Mark Antony, Octavian, talking about the battles of Philippi. I know we're kind of going over the same ground again, but in this area now, I'd love us to keep focusing in on Brutus, on the character of Brutus and what he's doing in these years in the run-up ultimately to the battles of Philippi in 42 BC. Correct me if I'm wrong, Steele.

So you've got all of this happening following Caesar's death. What ultimately happens to Brutus here in Rome? What happens to Brutus amidst all of this? So Brutus, he's had to leave the city, which is odd because he's like the urban praetor. So it's weird. They have to pass a special law.

The urban praetor is not supposed to leave the city. He's sort of forced out of the city in April, but he lingers. He plans the games that will occur at that time. So he stays for a while in the city. And it looks like everything's going to be put together, like I said, by April and leading into May. And then Octavian enters the scene and that just stirs up everything. So what happens with Brutus? Well, he is assigned a different province. Anthony starts pushing through different provincial assignments

and he starts using violence and bribery, non-Republican means to push through some of this legislation. Now, Anthony is targeting Octavian, Caesar's legal heir, but he's also targeting the liberators. Now, why is he targeting these guys he just made a compromise with? Because Brutus and Cassius represent the

people who killed Caesar. So Brutus and Cassius eventually get reassigned to different provinces and they have to leave Italy as a whole. Brutus leaves for Athens in August, Cassius leaves for Syria in September. And as the Republic falls apart in the West, we have a very different scenario that's occurring in the East. So in the East, you've got Brutus. He's had to leave. He's now got his provincial assignment downgraded, but he arrives in Athens. When Brutus arrives in Athens, he does what everyone would sort of expect of Brutus. First of all, he comes in, there's applause for Brutus. They're sort of representative of democracy. They praise him as an Aristogaton or a Harmonius, these two people who'd killed Athenian tyrants back in the

sixth century and launched the Athenian democracy that they greatly value. And then what's he do? He's the scholar. He hosts philosophy gatherings, dinner parties. He's the great conversationalist. So he's doing all these things. He's giving lectures. But at the same time that Brutus is doing that, he's getting ready. He is raising a secret army. And as he's raising an army in Greece, Cassius by September has left for Syria and he is working with another of the assassins, probably the fourth most important of the assassins after Cassius Brutus and then Decimus Brutus. We have Trebonius, and he confiscates some cavalry, and then he's going to move down to Palestine and Syria, where he's going to basically accumulate 11 legions. and Syria, where he's going to basically accumulate 11 legions. Brutus, meanwhile, is biding his time to make his move. He's still giving these gatherings and he's sort of waiting to see what happens. And news is trickling in what's happening in the West and the consolidation

of power by Antony. And so Brutus is going to make his move. He gathers a gatedle of treasure and troops. He starts going to important garrisons, gathering men and money. And then he even gets his hands through a couple of really shrewd military maneuvers. We get to see Brutus in action. It's interesting. He's no wimp. He's not a fool when it comes to military maneuvers. He may not be brilliant, but he's not a fool.

He manages to get his hands on the brother of Mark Antony. He doesn't kill him. He holds him as sort of a hostage and he gains eight legions. So we've got like 17 legions. Brutus has eight, Cassius has 11, and they're in control of the East at the same time that a war is being waged in the West. Now, Cicero, before everything falls apart in the West, Cicero is able to affirm by law what Brutus and Cassius have done in the Republican system. But all of this changes with the formation of the triumvirate and the prescriptions that follow. Now, of course, we also cover Cicero's demise in another podcast.

But Cicero and Brutus at this time, just before Cicero's demise, he and Brutus, it feels like they are now allies. Are they communicating with each other, even though they're quite this distance apart? They are. And Cicero's angry. Cicero says, why didn't you kill Antony? If I'd done it, I would have killed Antony. He's being the armchair general here for the decision of the liberators not to kill Antony. And he's criticizing them for leaving. I think maybe Cicero is right, but Cicero also may not be wrong. And there's also a kind of strategic logic that Brutus and Cassius are following. It's not the failed logic of Pompey, but it's the successful logic of Sulla, who also went to the East and gathered together an enormous army. Nonetheless, they still both

believe in each other. And Cicero at one point, he's begging Brutus and Cassius, you've got to come back. Things are bad. Cicero is trying to raise a coalition that will then legitimately take an army and end Caesarianism by destroying Mark Antony. And at the same time, he's writing to Brutus and saying, you have to come help us. And I think everything in the Republic rests on you. And those are really, really strong words by Cicero. And it's also a token to Cicero's ability to admire and find value in other people. So I think there's genuine admiration between the two, but there's also some critiques from Brutus. So we talked about why Cicero critiques Brutus, but Brutus critiques Cicero. We have some letters that may or may not be by him, but we know from enough of the letters that we know are certainly by Brutus

that Brutus is critiquing Cicero for making an alliance with Octavian. And he says, you cannot trust this boy. He's not good. You're taking a great risk. Now, Cicero acknowledges, I know it's a risk, but it's a calculated risk. As it ends up, that risk did not play out for Cicero. And perhaps Brutus was the one who was wise. So I think, what are they doing? They're friends, colleagues, there's mutual admiration who aren't really sure what to do in this messy civil war that is coming back into being after the assassination of Caesar. So Brutus has spent therefore this time in Greece, as you say, he's acquired these legions whilst Cassius is further east.

What happens next for Brutus? So what happens is in the West, Cicero is successful in forming a coalition that defeats Antony, but Antony survives and the leaders are killed. And so there's a power vacuum. And in that power vacuum, Antony, Octavian, and that old master of horse, Lepidus, gather together into what's called the second triumvirate. It's really just the first triumvirate. But anyway, this triumvirate, these three forces gather together on behalf of Caesar's legacy, and they issue proscriptions in which they're going to basically, all their enemies will be deemed enemies of the state, and they'll send bounty hunters out to kill them. And of course,

one of the people that's killed in this is Cicero. Well, when Brutus and Cassius hear about this, they realize, okay, this is going to be a fight to the finish. This is the end. Because one of the first things the Triumvirs do, of course, after they issue the prescriptions, and then one of the first things they do is they declare that everyone who had been responsible for Caesar's death needs to be executed. Octavian's already been working on this, And now the triumvirs are going to make sure that that occurs. They start hunting down all of the liberators whom they would describe as the conspirators or the assassins. And Brutus realizes, okay, this is it. Our legitimacy is gone because the Republic no longer functions in the West. So what does he do?

Naturally, he executes or murders, I think we could say, Antony's brother. So this is like the point of no return. It's probably another one of these issues that with the extortionate loan that people would critique Brutus for, but there's a certain amount of logic for it. He doesn't know what to do with them. So he just executes him. And that means that Cassius and Brutus now are going to have a war on their hands. At some point, either East is going to have to invade West or West is going to have to

invade East. And there's a real question, both among the Triumvirs and among Brutus and Cassius, should we trust each other? And it's very different with the Triumvirs. One gets the sense they never trust each other. But there's this beautiful story, and all the historians have it, that Cassius and Brutus, they were a little nervous about each other, having accumulated so many legions. There were some rumors going about, but they'll have several meetings in Smyrna and then at

Sardis, right before they cross out of Asia back into Europe. They meet together, they grasp hands, they share their war chest. They decide, we're going to do this together, and we believe in the same cause. And that's very, very different than what you have with the triumvirs. And you also have some really, really good speeches in the lead up to the battles that will come, particularly by Cassius, who's basically arguing for both Brutus and Cassius. Look, men who are fighting with us and allies who are fighting with us, we know what we're fighting for. We're fighting for the old republic. We're fighting for liberty. We're fighting against one man rule. And those

contrast strongly with everything that you hear from the triumvirs who are basically like, we need to kill the people who killed Caesar and we can give troops money and loot and perhaps some land in the future. And that is going to lead us up to this end battle, the last battle of the Republic. There are actually two battles, the Battle of Philippi. And so Brutus' role during these two battles of Philippi, how prominent a figure is he? I mean, what actions does he undertake? I think it's easy to be unfair with Brutus at this stage. Having said that, he's not the best general. He's certainly better than Octavian, but Octavian's always sick.

When Octavian and Antony cross over into the region of Macedonia, they cross over and they are going to engage Brutus and Cassius at the battlefield just outside of Philippi. There's no question Octavian is suffering from some sort of illness. Probably cowardice had a lot to do with it. He has great moral courage, but not a lot of physical courage. But Antony is the one who's running the show for them. Cassius is the man of action for Brutus and Cassius, for the liberators. Brutus' role, it's good. It's solid. He follows with Cassius. They set up two camps. Their goal is to sort of wait out the triumvirs. They've got a good route to the sea. They control the seas. They have lots of supplies. They have better standing outside Philippi. Their position is out of the marshes. And so it's a really good position. Antony, however, is the superior general. And so he sort of forces an engagement at Philippi. And in that first engagement, it occurs on the 3rd of October. As soon as Antony's able to get

the fight started, everything sort of falls apart and no one's really in command of their armies. And Cassius has to retreat. Antony's men seem to capture Cassius' camp and then Brutus' men, without their general, because Brutus isn't leading them. Why not? Because he's not a good general. He's an okay general, but he's not brilliant like Antony would be. And he's not a man of action like Cassius. And so his troops sort of lead him into defeating the army of Octavian. So the first battle of Philippi on the 3rd of October is a draw, almost. October is a draw, almost. Casualties are about the same, but Cassius in probably the end moment, if you can pin it on any one moment of the Republic, it's probably here, the climax of the end of the Republic. Cassius loses sight of Brutus, misunderstands what's happening on the battlefield,

sees that it's his birthday. Like a good epicurean, he decides that he's going to commit suicide and end his life. It's absolute folly. He totally abandons his men. He a good Epicurean, he decides that he's going to commit suicide and end his life. It's absolute folly. He totally abandons his men. He can't handle his own failure. If he'd known that Brutus had been successful, if he'd been cautious, this wouldn't have happened. But instead, he gives in to bad emotions.

And that means you've got Antony still alive. He gets back control of his legions. We're going to have a second battle, and we've got Brutus in command of all of the forces. Well, Brutus makes a strategic error right from the beginning. He abandons an important hillock that Antony and Octavian are able to gain. He also is starting to have his line to the sea cut off. And that also means that the triumvirs, Octavian and Antony now have access to supplies potentially. And so it's looking bad. And also he gives into his troops. The troops are telling him, hey, we should fight. Let's not be cowards. Let's not wait. Brutus is trying to hold them out. He doesn't want to fight. There are some mutinies. He's not really doing anything

about it. He's not being a good commander. Anthony's got a good PR campaign. Look at what Cassius did. This is what Republicans do. They kill themselves. And Brutus can't really respond to it. He isn't managing the affair well. And in the end, his men basically pressure him to arranging the forces against Antony and Octavian. And it's one soldier who comes out into the middle of the battlefield and defects from Brutus camp to Antony's that actually begins the second battle. And it's a disaster.

Brutus forces are destroyed. begins the second battle. And it's a disaster. Bruda's forces are destroyed. And he himself, at the very end of the battle, he's surrounded by all of his closest friends, the last of the Republican nobility. And he watches them all get cut down defending him. He manages to flee up to a hilltop with what's left. And there, no one wants to fight for him anymore. And he's got one of the saddest endings of everyone during this period. He walks around to the people. They only have enough for four legions. That's nothing compared to what the triumvirs have. He goes up to all of the survivors, those that remain. He says, will you help me commit suicide? And no one will do it. First, he asked him, will you help me continue the fight? They won't do it.

And then he asked him, will you help me commit suicide? And they won't do it. And then he shakes each of their hands. He goes back out up onto a mountain overlooking the plain where he'd seen all of his friends die and where he'd seen the end of the Republican cause. And he takes a sword and he falls on it. And that is the end of whom Antony described as the most noble of Romans. Antony described him as that, did he? That's right. So we've got different accounts of his death, but those words are put, and Shakespeare picks this up, those words are put in the mouths of Antony. And I think for Antony, I think we should believe that.

I think Antony, just like Caesar, understood this philosophical commitment to Brutus. And Brutus himself, he's pushed to be like Cato. He has to commit suicide in his own mind. He also has failed and he gets that. And Antony respects it. He respects what Brutus has stood up for and represented. And so he gets the body of Brutus. He gives it honors. He gives it his own robe that it should be taken care of. We have different accounts of what happens to the body. The body is supposedly put on a ship for burial back to the sea. Bad luck occurs, and so they throw the body over the sea. Antony's furious that this has happened. In another account, people take the head of Brutus. They throw it at the foot of Caesar's statue back in Rome. I think that Antony would not have allowed any of those things to happen.

I think we can believe that Antony appreciates Brutus, but I think that Antony would not have allowed any of those things to happen. And I think we can believe that Antony appreciates Brutus, but I think by the same token, Octavian's very different. Octavian is not a Republican. He didn't grow up in the Republic. He grew up amidst civil war. He grew up and he became a man when there were possibilities for him to gain autocratic rule. And so he instead is going to take on the mantle of Caesar and it's his responsibility to kill everyone and not feel bad about it. Anyone who was related to the death of his namesake, because he's taken on the name of Caesar because he's his heir and to inaugurate a new kind of rule. And that's what we know of as the Roman empire.

Still, this has been an amazing chat. I mean, we're definitely wrapping up now, but it's so interesting with Brutus' story, isn't it? As you've mentioned, he had this amazing ability to walk the tightrope in certain scenarios where he's still liked by Caesar, but he's liked by Pompey. It seems like he's very much liked by Cassius, but as you've just said there, he's also liked by Mark Antony. But it seems like that one person who he just was not liked by is that figure that you've just highlighted there, is Octavian. Of all the figures, it's Octavian who just does not like Brutus. He could probably respect certain qualities. Brutus represents everything that are opposed to Octavian's ambitions. And for Octavian,

he's the shrewdest, most calculating maneuverer of this period. He's a genius, but he seems to have no moral compunctions whatsoever. And that is the total opposite of the man whose moral compunctions ultimately caused his failure because he said, no, we cannot kill Antony. And Antony was what prompted that second round of the civil war. That's so interesting. I mean, still last question, therefore, I mean, how should we remember Marcus Brutus today if we talk about his legacy? Oh, it's complicated. I think we should invite the controversies that his story naturally brings upon us. Why does Dante put Brutus basically as Judas? Brutus and Cassius are being devoured by Satan over and over again for all

eternity, along with Judas who betrayed Christ. And yet Michelangelo sculpts this beautiful statue or bust of Brutus because he's a diehard Florentine Republic. He's a complicated person. And I think we should see that he has complications in his past, but I think we should appreciate that he was a man who's had a sense of virtue and it determined everything he did. It wasn't a perfect understanding of virtue, but it informed everything he did. And he tried as much as possible to live up to those values. He was an insider in the political system. He had all sorts of advantages that a guy like Cicero never had. But unlike so many people during this period, he has a code of service and an ethical set of ideas that there are things you do and you don't do. And he lived them with

every moment of all of his decisions. We can criticize what he did with Caesar, but he did it because of his ideals. We can laud what he did with Antony, and he did it because of his ideals. And that's a complicated man who is driven by his notion of virtue. And I think that's something that should inspire all of us. Well, Steele, it's always an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. This has been awesome. And no doubt, I'm also echoing the thoughts

of everyone listening to it. Last and certainly not least, your book, which does talk about the likes of Brutus, of Cassius, and the end of the Republic, Cicero, Philippi, Mutiner, and all of that. Your book on all of that is called? Killing for the Republic, Citizen Soldiers and the Roman Way of War. Well, Steele, it just goes to say thank you so much for taking the time to come back on the podcast today. Thank you. It was a delight. Well, there you go. There was Dr. Steele Brown

talking you through the rise and fall of Marcus Brutus. I hope you enjoyed it. It's a great story. It really is a remarkable and extraordinary story of this ancient figure. A figure who, fun fact, I'll just leave you with this fact, I believe is in Dante's lowest level of hell. It's his ninth level of hell, alongside Cassius, alongside Judas Iscariot, being eaten by one of the mouths of Satan himself.

That's just a fun fact, a fun cheery fact that I thought I'd leave you with today. Anyway, moving on from that, if you want more Ancients content in the meantime, then you know what I'm going to say. Why not subscribe to our weekly Ancients newsletter via a link in the description below. You can subscribe to our weekly newsletter where I do a bit of a blurb each week saying what's been happening in team ancients land that week what we're planning for the next few weeks on the podcast in the tv world and so on and if you'd also be willing to leave us a rating on spotify or apple podcast wherever you get your podcast from it would be

greatly appreciated i'll also leave a link to my book in the description below because, of course, if you want information about what happened following the death of Alexander the Great, then that is the place to go. Anyways, I've been rambling on for long enough now. I hope you've enjoyed this second episode in our special mini-series. We've got two more coming over the next couple of Sundays, some great topics lined up. But I will see you in the next episode.