18. The Most Famous Assassin in the Ancient World’s Most Famous Assassination
Marcus Junius Brutus (85 – 42 BC) is perhaps best known as the addressee of Julius Caesar’s final words and lines, “Et tu, Brute?” from Shakespeare’s play. Brutus was the Roman dictator’s friend, the son of his longtime mistress, and the most famous of his assassins. Remarkably, Brutus’ father had been betrayed and murdered by Caesar’s rival, Pompey the Great. That did not stop Brutus from fighting Caesar under Pompey’s command.
Brutus was raised by his maternal uncle Cato the Younger, a conservative reactionary and Caesar’s avowed enemy. Brutus had initially supported Caesar, but turned against him when he started viewing him as a would-be king. When Caesar marched into Italy in 49 BC, Brutus went against him and joined the ranks of his enemies, fighting under Pompey. However, Cesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. Brutus surrendered, and was pardoned and restored to favor. That did not stop him from continuing to resent Caesar, and he eventually joined an assassination plot to do away with him.
