This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
He only, in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world 'This was a man!'
Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

I shall be sorry to have incurred his displeasure but far sorrier to find that he is not the man I took him for...He is apt in his letters to me to take a brusque, arrogant, ungracious tone even when asking a favor." Cicero to Atticus [upon hearing Brutus was involved in loan-sharking in his province], Letters, 115 (VI, 1).

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar has so influenced the Western mind in its conception of the relative characters of Caesar and his chief assassin, Brutus, that it is almost impossible to disentangle the biographical truth about either man from Shakespeare's soaring language. For dramatic purposes, Shakespeare's Caesar is portrayed as arrogantly ruthless, pompous, and eminently unlovable; his Brutus is, in complete contrast, sensitive, thoughtful, nobly torn between love for Caesar and duty to his country. Surely, the truth was not so dramatically satisfying or simple.

For more than two thousand years the world has looked for the real Brutus within the great inconsistency of his life; that the patriot, philosopher, and lover of civil order brutally murdered his friend and patron, Caesar, in the name of the Republic, then took his own life when the forces of Octavian overwhelmed him. Descriptions of Brutus range from a the highest nobility in his own time to the oafish, cowardly opportunist recently portrayed in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. The Roman historians whose works have survived, however, generally agree that the noble patriot was real enough, although many disapproved of the brutal violence of his deed. As Plutarch writes,

A more inarguable political criticism of Brutus is that, to him and the other conspirators, the murder of Caesar was apparently the be-all and end-all of their efforts. None appear to have given mature thought to the long-term effects of his death and the dangers of the power vacuum their actions would cause. The kindest word that comes to mind on this point is "naive." As even Cicero noted, the lack of planning following the assassination was disastrous: it effectively destroyed any potential to restore the Republic, as Caesar had foreseen, and led directly to a two-part civil war of, first, Antony and Octavius against the assassins, then the two men against each other. Finally, Octavius stood in sole control of the Roman world. It is arguable that no blow more surely destroyed the Roman Republic than Brutus' dagger striking at Caesar, surely one of history's haunting ironies. Further ironies and mysteries surround Brutus, however. He was the son of Caesar's longtime mistress, Servilia, and was, in fact, later rumored to be Caesar's natural son. On his father's side, he was allegedly a descendant of the Junius Brutus who helped destroy the last Tarquin kings, another reverberating legend driving his assassination of Caesar. Finally, Brutus was particularly close to his mother's half-brother, Cato the Younger (Caesar's most adamant political foe); he would later marry Cato's daughter, Porcia. There are even confused indications in some sources (of dubious authenticity) that Brutus was adopted into the Caepio family and, thus, is the young Caepio originally affianced to Julia, Caesar's daughter before Caesar broke off her engagement and married his daughter to Pompey. If so, yet another ironic layer is added to Brutus' motivation in killing Caesar.

Plutarch tells us that Brutus was strongly drawn to and familiar with Greek philosophy, especially that of the followers of Plato, and that he was well-trained as an orator, favoring the Laconic style of brief, pointed comment. As a young man, Brutus accompanied his uncle to Cypress; Plutarch describes his dislike of handling a task Cato asked of him,"...because he considered on principle that a task which demanded such minute attention to business was a mean occupation and distinctly unworthy of a young man such as himself, who was devoted to the things of the mind." Apparently, Brutus was able to overcome his scruples and behave with the ruthless efficiency admired in Romans in leadership positions abroad. His character was described as earnest and reflective, and he was known for acting upon any issue only after thoughtful reflection and a deliberate moral choice, which made him highly respected by his contemporaries.

However, there were apparently less attractive traits to this marble man. Historians cite an evergreen tale, derived from Cicero, that Brutus was so parsimonious that he insisted on a 48% return of interest on loans he issued to the town of Salamis in Cypress; this was all the more shocking because senators like Brutus were debarred from money lending. Brutus' people later resorted to force to collect the debt and deaths occurred. Cicero, discovering Brutus' acts when he became governor of Cilicia, was frankly appalled and wrote to Atticus at wearisome length; he also remonstrated with Brutus at his ruthless pillaging of the Salamian populace. Relations between them began to cool.

THE CIVIL WAR

When the Civil War broke out between Pompey and Caesar in January, 49 BC, it was expected by many that Brutus would join Caesar's side, if for no other reason that he had every reason to hate Pompey. Pompey had murdered Brutus' own father under spectacularly unpleasant circumstances; in 77, Brutus' father had supported Marius and Pompey, fighting for Sulla, had treacherously executed him after accepting his surrender. Prior to the Civil War, Brutus had refused even to speak to Pompey. Plutarch writes, "But Brutus believed that he ought to put the public good before his private loyalties and as he was convinced that Pompey had the better reasons for going to war, he attached himself to his party." Brutus sailed to Cilicia as legate to the governor of the province and later traveled to join Pompey's army in Macedonia; in the weeks up to the great Battle of Pharsalus in August, 48 BC (in which Pompey's army was destroyed), Brutus is said to have occupied his time in camp by reading philosophy and in writing out a summary of Polybius.

It is extremely difficult to pierce the historical veil to determine the true relationship between Brutus and Caesar. Caesar is said to have commented, on hearing Brutus make a political speech, that "I do not know what this young man wants, but everything that he wants, he wants very badly." It is clear from several sources Caesar was extremely worried about Brutus' safety during and after the great battle: he issued orders to his commanders that Brutus must on no account be killed in the fighting and that they must spare his life. Plutarch claims this was due to Caesar's affection for Brutus' mother, Servilia, because (as Suetonius writes) "...in Caesar's youth he had an affair with Servilia, who was madly in love with him, and as Brutus had been born at about the time when her passion was at its height, he had always cherished a suspicion that Brutus was his own son." Servilia's passion was Caesar was "notorious." This is surely incorrect; Caesar was only a teenager at Brutus' birth, as well as married elsewhere.

Brutus escaped the debacle of Pompey's defeat and, traveling to Larissa, wrote Caesar, who invited Brutus to join his inner circle and pardoned him on the spot. Plutarch gives Brutus credit for pointing Caesar toward capturing Pompey in Egypt, although Pompey was murdered before Caesar could catch up to him. Brutus busied himself in obtaining Caesar's pardon for his friends and allies. When Caesar set out for the African campaign against the remaining Pompeians, he chose Brutus as governor of Cisalpine Gaul, where he prevented plundering in the province and continually told the citizens that they owed the peace to Caesar alone. Caesar was delighted to see peace in northern Italy and treated Brutus as a close personal friend and ally upon his return. When Brutus and his brother-in-law, Cassius, were both in contention for the praetorship in Rome, Caesar chose Brutus, thus incurring Cassius' resentment. Brutus became so close to Caesar while dictator that he could have been the most influential adviser Caesar had; yet, his friends and associates continually harped upon the fact that he must not allow himself to be charmed or won over by Caesar and must refuse all his favors, "...since these were designed not to reward his virtue, but to emasculate his proud spirit and weaken his strength of purpose."

THE IDES OF MARCH AND AFTER, 44-42 BC

Whatever arguments the jealous Cassius used to persuade Brutus to join the conspiracy against Caesar, his position was unenviable. Known to be Caesar's friend, distinguished by his affection, and certainly having known Caesar (through his mother) almost all his life, Brutus apparently found it stressful to agree to his murder. In the anxious weeks between commitment and completion, he began to suffer in private, to the point that his wife Porcia, Cato's daughter, knew something was wrong. Eventually, by showing her own courage and ability to keep a secret, she persuaded him to tell her his plans to kill Caesar. By all accounts, once determined, he could not be dissuaded; during the anxious wait for Caesar at Pompey's portico, word was brought to Brutus that Porcia had collapsed under the strain and was perhaps dead. Still, he did not leave his vigil. The conspirators were paranoid that their large conspiracy (eventually over 40 men) had been discovered: Brutus is alleged to have calmly stated he would commit suicide if the plot failed. While several sources agree Brutus struck one of the last, significant blows against Caesar - the blow which occasioned Caesar's dying words of "You, too, my son?" - none attempt to explain his own emotions at that ultimate moment.

His thoughts can, however, be guessed at once it became clear that Antony had won the hearts and minds of the crowd and that, although honored by the Senate, he and Cassius were in great danger from the Roman people: he had lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the Roman mob. In any event, it became obvious that a strategic retreat from Rome to the East was required, plus the gathering of legions to face the inevitable armies of Antony and Octavian. Brutus moved pragmatically to Greece and began ruthlessly raising an army (and the money to pay it). He also studied philosophy in Athens.

THE BATTLE OF PHILIPPI, 42 BC

It was on the way to meet Antony and Octavian in Greece that a supernatural touch is added by Plutarch. Brutus began having visions of a presence which predicted dire results ahead. When the inevitable battle finally occurred near the town of Philippi, Cassius killed himself at a desperate moment of retreat, believing the battle lost. Brutus rallied the army and hostilities broke off for the night. As the two armies rested, Brutus remonstrated with his officers who had disobeyed his orders, noting that, if they were fought well in the coming battle, he would "...hand over two cities, Thessalonica and Lacedaemon, for them to plunder." Although Roman armies were regularly paid by being given whole cities to sack and plunder, Plutarch called this the one act of Brutus' life for which no defense can be made. Still, he extenuates it, claiming that Brutus was forced to it by his subordinates and by the needs of his confused and disheartened army - soldiers were deserting to Antony's side throughout the battle.

More dire portents occurred that night, and Brutus allegedly saw his "evil spirit" again. The next day, the two armies clashed again. Defeat came to Brutus late in the day. When he saw his forces routed and fleeing in confusion, Brutus fled to an unoccupied portion of the battlefield. There, late that night, he committed suicide, rather than living to be a trophy in Antony's inevitable Roman triumph. When urged to save himself, he was supposed to have replied "Yes, we must escape, but this time with our hands, not our feet." He was also said to have rejoiced at the end that, in his life, none of his friends had ever betrayed him.

Suetonius' comment on the assassins was curt and to the point:

To the eulogizing chorus of most historians who found Brutus a model of a man willing to die for his country's liberty, some have inserted less hallowed impressions, particularly in the 20th century. In his own time, Brutus received the highest esteem of both his contemporaries and Roman writers to come, who absolved him of Caesar's murder by the nobility of his aims in achieving it. Cicero, Plutarch, Tacitus, and others sing his praises. Michelangelo used him as the model of the patriot Republican for his own Renaissance Florence, increasingly cross-eyed trying to prevent the Medici from achieving one-man rule. Yet the respected H.H. Scullard can also write

"If Brutus' rigidly doctrinaire outlook and slight air of superiority did not endear him to all his contemporaries, and if his notorious attempt to exact interest at 48 per cent from the unfortunate Salaminians of Cyprus does not easily square with his theoretical pursuit of virtue, at least his single-minded devotion to an ideal and the earnestness with which he followed it, afford some justification for the claim that he was 'the noblest Roman of them all.'"

In the more traditional view, Syme wrote, "To his contemporaries, Marcus Brutus, firm in spirit, upright and loyal, in manner grave and aloof, seemed to embody that ideal of character, admired by those who did not care to imitate. His was not a simple personality - but passionate, intense, and repressed... Above all, to Brutus as to Cato, who stood by the ancient ideals, it seemed that Caesar, avid for splendor, glory and power, ready to use his birth and station to subvert his own class, was an ominous type, the monarchic aristocrat, recalling the kings of Rome and fatal to any Republic" (p. 58)

While struggling to fund their armies in the east after Caesar's murder, Brutus struck coins which, with simplicity, show twin daggers flanking the cap of liberty and the title "Ides of March." With the hand that killed Caesar, literally and figuratively, Brutus also took his own life. Yet his immortality is forever bound to - Caesar's.

Sources:

The bust of Brutus heading this article is traditionally said to be his, but this cannot be confirmed. The source of the first bust is unknown. The 19th century bust of Brutus is by St. Gaudens (based on the original). The final bust is by Michelangelo and is in the Bargello Museum in Florence. The coin shown above was struck by Brutus in the Civil War following Caesar's assassination to justify his need to raise (and pay) an army in the east. This is the only known contemporary image of Brutus.