History is a bit of a hobby for me now. But even still, when I hear of Brutus, I don’t immediately think of the Roman emperor, but instead, get a healthy image of Popeye’s adversary breathing down his spinach-eating neck.
But the Roman Brutus died on this day, back in 42 BC. He committed suicide, in fact. The story began quite some time before then, though.
I’ve never studied the Roman Empire, but learned it was founded when Augustus Caesar proclaimed himself the first emperor of Rome in 31 BC. Now that takes some chutzpah. The empire would continue until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE. So, it had a pretty good run.
I mentioned I never studied this place in history, and I am reminded of the very good reason I did not. The names make me crazy, not to mention all the backstabbing and infighting. I’ve never seen an episode of the Housewives of Beverly Hills, but I imagine the plots are very similar.
But let’s try, for the sake of trying.
So Brutus’ full name was Marcus Junius Brutus. You see, right there? The confusion? In his name, he has Marcus, like Mark Anthony. Junius, like Julius Caesar. And finally Brutus, his only saving grace, like the villain in Popeye.
Anyway, the story goes like this. Marcus Junius Brutus was a leading conspirator in the assassination of Julius Caesar.
But let’s just pull in the reins right there for a moment. Here we are in 42 BC. The Roman Empire didn’t become an empire until 31 BC with Augustus Caesar as Emperor. I know we’ve already established this, but I’m rehashing the facts.
So who is Julius Caesar? How does he relate to Augustus? And Why does Brutus want to assassinate him?
I looked up those first two questions, and I have copied the answer directly from The History Channel. Read it if you dare.
“Augustus, known as Caesar Augustus or Octavian, was the Roman emperor Julius Caesar’s great-nephew whom he adopted as his son and heir. Born Gaius Octavius on September 23, 63 BCE, the future Augustus was distantly related to Caesar. Augustus was the son of Atia, the daughter of Julius Caesar’s sister Julia the Younger (101–51 BCE), and her husband Marcus Atius, the son of Octavius, a relatively average praetor from the Roman colony of Velitrae. “
It is no wonder they all were committing suicide back then. Actually, there were a lot of forced suicides, normally by hemlock, or sometimes by falling on their own swords. As a sidebar, I wondered how many times this had happened. Again, from the History Channel.
“The most well-known forced suicide is that of the philosopher Socrates, who drank hemlock after his trial for allegedly corrupting the youth of Athens. The Stoic philosopher Seneca also killed himself in response to an order by his pupil, the Roman Emperor Nero, who himself was forced to commit suicide at a later date. Other famous forced suicides include those of Brutus, Mark Antony, Emperor Otho, and the Roman General Corbulo.”
So. Here is my promise to you. I’m not going to write about Roman History, ever, ever, ever again.
They say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
I say, don’t.
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When you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. When you have the law on your side, argue the law. When you have neither, holler.
— Al Gore
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Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
— Aldous Huxley
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We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson
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The rise and fall of Rome, right before your eyes.
