Brutus, Marcus Junius, << BROO tuhs, MAHR kuhs JOON yuhs >> (85?-42 B.C.), was a senator and general from an ancient Roman family. In legend, his distant ancestor Lucius joined the struggle to free Rome from monarchy and establish the Roman Republic (509-27 B.C.). This heritage supposedly inspired Brutus’s leadership in a plot in 44 B.C. to assassinate the Roman dictator Julius Caesar .
When Caesar invaded Italy in 49 B.C., civil war broke out. Brutus joined Pompey , the defender of the republic, in the war. Caesar’s forces defeated Pompey’s at Pharsalus , Greece, in 48 B.C. Caesar pardoned Brutus and sent him to govern Cisalpine Gaul (now northern Italy). In 44 B.C., while serving as praetor (chief legal officer) in Rome, Brutus plotted with Gaius Cassius Longinus , his brother-in-law and fellow praetor. They enlisted about 60 other senators in their plot and stabbed Caesar to death at a Senate meeting on March 15. They considered also killing Mark Antony , but did not. At the time, Caesar and Antony were fellow consuls , the joint heads of the republic.
Any hope that Caesar’s assassination would restore the Senate’s traditional authority soon was crushed. Antony was not supportive, public opinion was hostile, and Caesar’s heir Octavian recruited followers to take vengeance. In August of 44, under such pressure in Rome, Brutus and Cassius accepted the Senate’s offer of minor governorships in eastern Roman territories. They gradually gathered men, ships, and funds.
In 43 B.C., Antony, Octavian, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus took over as Rome’s rulers. In the summer of 42 B.C., Brutus and Cassius marched west with an army. In October, they encountered the forces of Antony and Octavian at Philippi in Macedonia . Two battles were fought. In each, Brutus’s men fought with distinction, but ultimately they were defeated. Brutus then took his own life.
