Brutus

Early life

Marcus Junius Brutus was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was killed by Pompey the Great in dubious circumstances after he had taken part in the rebellion of Lepidus; his mother was the half-sister of Cato the Younger, and later became Julius Caesar's mistress. Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father. Brutus' uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, adopted him when he was a young man and Brutus was known officially as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus until his death.
Brutus held his uncle in high regard and his political career started when he became an assistant to Cato, during his governorship of Cyprus. During this time, he enriched himself by lending money at high rates of interest. He returned to Rome a rich man, where he married Claudia Pulchra. From his first appearance in the Senate, Brutus aligned with the Optimates (the conservative faction) against the First Triumvirate of Marcus Licinius Crassus, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar.

Brutus Family

Brutus is a Roman cognomen used by several politicians of the Junii family, especially in the Roman Republic. It must have lasted from about 500 b.c. to about 35 b.c.
Ancient Romans with this name:
• Marcus Junius Brutus— Caesar's most famous assassin.
• Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder, the father of the aforementioned assassin.
• Lucius Junius Brutus — traditional founder of the Republic, whose sons were:
• Tiberius Junius Brutus — rebel.
• Titus Junius Brutus — rebel.
• Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus — commander and another one of Caesar's assassins.
• Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus — commander and consul of Hispania Ulterior from 138 BC to 136 BC.
• Junius is the nomen of the gens Junia, an important and very ancient family of ancient Rome, with both Patrician and Plebeian branches. Many notable members of the family bore the cognomen Brutus.
• The first Junius known to Roman tradition was Lucius Junius Brutus, founder of the Roman Republic. Marcus Junius Brutus, Caesar's assassin, was believed by contemporary Romans to have been the descendant of the founding Brutus.
• In the early Roman Empire, several notable Junii belonged to the patrician Junii Silani branch. The Silani were in close contact with the Julio-Claudian emperors and even related to the imperial family by blood, some being direct descendants of Augustus.

Brutus Family Tree

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** PART OF THE BRUTUS FAMILY ACCOMPLISHMENTS**

Before the establishment of the Roman Republic, Rome had been ruled by kings. Brutus led the revolt that overthrew the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, aftr the rape of the noblewoman (and kinswoman of Brutus) Lucretia at the hands of Tarquin's son Sextus Tarquinius. According to Livy, Brutus had a number of grievances against the king, amongst them was the fact that Tarquin had orchestrated the murder of his brother.
Other family members were: Decimus Junius Brutus Gallaecus,138 b.c., whom was a consul, and consolidated the province of Farther Spain and stopped the encroaching Lusitanian tribes people. Marcus Junius Brutus, 77 b.c., was a partisan of Lepidus (d. 77 b.c.) in the struggle with Catulus (d. 60 b.c.); Pompey had him murdered. His wife Servilia was the half sister of Cato the Younger.

The history of Lucius Junius Brutus, and all other early historical Roman figues is that during the Gaul's attack of Rome in the fourth century BCR, most of the Roman historical documents are believed to have been destroyed, leaving history up to scholars and historians at a later date. That said, the majority of the information in this paper is based on the writings of Titus Livy (59 BCE-17 CE) and Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BCE-27 BCE). Although these two scholars are widely believed to be historically accurate, many of the finer details are still debated to this day.

Marcus Junius Brutus and Julius Caesar's assessination

When the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey broke out, Brutus followed Pompey. But when the war of Pharsalus began, Brutus took Caesar's side and wrote him an apology letter. In the letter he said that he was a strong supporrter of democracy so Caesar immediately forgave him. Caesar accepted him into his inner circle and made him governor of Gaul when he left for Africa in pursuit of Cato and Metellus Scipio. In 45 BC, Caesar nominated Brutus to serve as urban praetor for the following year. In June 45 B.C., Brutus divorced his wife and married his first cousin, Porcia Catonis, Cato's daughter. Over time, senators were fearing Caesar's growing power.The senators asked Brutus to join the conspiracy to kill Caesar. Brutus accepted the offer and joined the conspiracy against Caesar. They waited for Caesar at the senate, and when he arrived, they attacked him. After the assassination, Brutus and his conspirators are asked to leave, so they settled in Crete from 42 to 44 B.C. In 43 B.C., Octavian takes counselship and ordered the people that assassinated Julius Caesar to declare themselves as murderers and enemy of the state. Marcus Tilluis Cicera, who was Caesar's friend, got very angry and wrote a letter to Brutus explaining that Octavian and him are separated. When Brutus heard that none of them had an army, he decided to put in action his troops and attack Rome. When Octavian heard that Brutus was on his way to Rome, he got united with Marcus. After several battles, Brutus knew that he was going to lose in the end, so he hid in the mountains and committed suicide.

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