History UsefulNotes / MarcusJuniusBrutus

Officially he was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia. His mother Servilia was half-sister to Cato the Younger, whose daughter Portia, Brutus Younger would eventually marry. Servilia was also the mistress of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, and Roman historians such as Plutarch speculated that Brutus might have been Caesar's biological child (but historians insist that since Caesar would have to have been fifteen when Brutus was born, and it's unlikely that his relationship with Servilia began then).

After assassinating Caesar, Brutus and Cassius emerged as leaders of a faction, self-styled "liberatores" who claimed to have restored the Roman Republic and delivered it from a tyrant who grasped for monarchy. Politically this was a huge can of worms, since Caesar as dictator perpetuo, a title granted to him by the Senate, had given many of his assassins governorships, titles, and other freebies that the Assassins still wanted to keep hold of after killing him. Caesar was also immensely popular among the people, and "The Liberatores" underestimated the extent to which their version of their actions would be seen differently by other Romans. In the immediate aftermath, the Assassins left the Roman Forum and marched to Capitoline Hill barricading themselves from the angry mob, and eventually they abandoned Rome itself for the provinces. In time, after a brief period of peace during which Caesar's grandnephew and adopted son Octavianus (the future Augustus Caesar), avoiding Sulla's proscriptions, tried to bridge factions, a second CivilWar broke out between the Second Triumvirate and the Liberators. Said war ended at the Battle of Philipi, where upon realizing the battle was lost, Brutus committed suicide, by running into a sword. Mark Antony, the commander of the enemy's forces wrapped Brutus' body in his own purple mantle and gave him a honorable burial.

* A regular character in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' often as a RunningGag, as Caesar's adoptive son who keeps sharpening his knife and making ObviouslyEvil gestures in response to Caesar's "You too, my son". He becomes an actual [[BigBad villain]] to the Gauls in ''Recap/AsterixAndSon''.

* Creator/BenoitPoelvoorde played him in the 2008 film adaptation of ''Recap/AsterixAtTheOlympicGames''.

Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger (85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) is without a question the most famous of all assassins in recorded history. He was a senator of UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic of the most illustrious stock, with his name being one of the oldest patrician families, tracing itself back to the very founding of the Republic, to Lucius Brutus himself.

* [[RaceLift French-Iranian]] actor Kheiron played Brutus in the 2020 French comedy ''Brutus vs Caesar''.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_brutus_massimo.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Et tu?]]

* Played by Creator/JamesMason in 1953's ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1953}}''.
* Played by Creator/JasonRobards in 1970's ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1970}}''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTwelveTasksOfAsterix'', he plays with a knife during Caesar's councils and Caesar orders him to stop before he hurts someone. He does stop... only after hurting himself.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_brutus_massimo.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Et tu?]]

* A regular character in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' often as a RunningGag, as Caesar's adoptive son who keeps sharpening his knife and making ObviouslyEvil gestures in response to Ceasar's "You too, my son". He becomes an actual BigBad in ''Recap/AsterixAndSon''.

* Portrayed by Kenneth Haigh in Mankiewicz's ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}''.

* Played by Creator/JamesMason in 1953's ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1953}}'' has .

* Creator/JosephLMankiewicz's adaptation of Shakespeare's play has Creator/JamesMason as Brutus.

** On the other hand given he called himself and his band "liberatores" and gloated about his crime on coins, and that one of his FamousLastWords attributed by Plutarch is on the order of both "IRegretNothing" and a DyingCurse on Mark Antony, he probably was not too chuffed about his actions.

* ''Film/MeanGirls'' has a famous scene in the class discussing Shakespeare's play:
--> '''Gretchen''': "Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant, while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet? What's so great about Caesar? Hm? Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody, huh? Because that's not what Rome is about. We should totally just stab Caesar!"

* Colleen [=McCullough=]'s ''Literature/MastersOfRome'' has a very mocking and critical portrayal of Brutus, as a clueless puppet prevented from truly acting and getting what he wants.

Historians and artists are will likely never stop debating Caesar and his assassination. Whether Caesar was truly trying to be a king, or if he was, whether assassinating him in the manner they did was truly the best or only way to effectively stop him. At the time of his assassination, Caesar was en route for an invasion to the Parthian Empire to avenge Crassus' death and defeat at the Battle of Carrhae, and the urgency of the assassination was driven in fears of another Caesarian conquest and triumph which would make his reputation and clout unshakable. The manner in which the event took place (extremely clumsy, with senators tripping over each other as they assassinated Caesar), and the poor planning and initiative on display after the event, shows that the conspirators were likely not clear on how to proceed from said situation.

Brutus' father was a Marian, a tribune of the plebs, and a populare, who opposed the dictator Sulla Felix and his associates UsefulNotes/PompeyTheGreat and UsefulNotes/MarcusLiciniusCrassus. His father actually held his own against Pompey before surrendering honorably, only for Pompey to then order his execution in private. The child of a disgraced rebel, Brutus was then adopted by Quintus Servilius Caepio (and for a time was known as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus because why not) and he eventually found a patron in Cato the Younger. In his early years, he made a fortune as a money lender in the Roman colony of Cyprus, and later in Cilicia where Creator/{{Cicero}} was a governor. In his letters, Cicero remarked that Brutus was renowned for making a huge profit as a loan shark, charging exorbitant interests to poor customers and then dispatching goons to collect. As a senator, Brutus was an optimate (where his father was a populare) and aligned with the conservative faction of the Senate. He supported his patron Cato the Younger, the principled statesman, against the First Triumvirate, despite being personally friendly with Caesar.

* A regular character in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' often as a RunningGag, as Caesar's adoptive son who keeps sharpening his knife and making ObviouslyEvil gestures in response to Ceasar's "You too, my son". He becomes an actual BigBad in ''ComicBook/AsterixAndSon''.

* ''Series/{{Rome}}'' where he is played by Tobias Menzies in a well-regarded performance.

** He shows up in the backstory of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' where his letters and armour is a collectible quest item.

* A regular character in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' often as a RunningGag, as an associate of Caesar who keeps sharpening his knife and making ObviouslyEvil gestures. He becomes an actual BigBad in ''ComicBook/AsterixAndSon''.

After assassinating Caesar, Brutus and Cassius emerged as leaders of a faction, self-styled "liberatores" who claimed to have restored the Roman Republic and delivered it from a tyrant who grasped for monarchy. Politically this was a huge can of worms, since Caesar as dictator perpetuo, a title granted to him by the Senate, had given many of his assassins governorships, titles, and other freebies that the Assassins still wanted to keep hold of after killing him. Caesar was also immensely popular among the people, and "The Liberatores" underestimated the extent to which their version of their actions would be seen differently by other Romans. In the immediate aftermath, the Assassins left the Roman Forum and marched to Capitoline Hill barricading themselves from the angry mob, and eventually they abandoned Rome itself for the provinces. In time, after a brief period of peace, during which Caesar, avoiding Sulla's proscriptions, tried to bridge factions, a second CivilWar broke out between the Second Triumvirate and the Liberators. Said war ended at the Battle of Philipi, where upon realizing the battle was lost, Brutus committed suicide, by running into a sword. Mark Antony, the commander of the enemy's forces wrapped Brutus' body in his own purple mantle and gave him a honorable burial.

Historians and artists are will likely never stop debating Caesar and his assassination. Whether Caesar was truly trying to be a king, or if he was, whether assassinating him in the manner they did was truly the best or only way to effectively stop him. At the time of his assassination, Caesar was en route for an invasion to the Parthian Empire to avenge Crassus' death and defeat at the Battle of Carrhae, and the urgency of the Assassination was driven in fears of another Caesarian conquest and triumph which would make his reputation and clout unshakable. The manner in which the event took place (extremely clumsy, with senators tripping over each other as they assassinated Caesar), and the poor planning and initiative on display after the event, shows that the conspirators were likely not clear on how to proceed from said situation.

Not much is known about Brutus in the period before the outbreak of the CivilWar between Pompey and Caesar. When war broke out, Cato turned Pompey to defend the Republic against Caesar who was branded an "enemy of the state". As such Brutus found himself fighting in the army of the same man who killed his father. At the Battle of Pharsalia, Caesar gave explicit orders to spare Brutus, and upon defeat famously pardoned Brutus, making him governor of Gaul and later making him urban praetor during his dictatorship. Cato the Elder meanwhile committed suicide in exile, and Pompey died in Egypt. In Caesar's five year dictatorship, he spent only a few months in Rome, during which time Brutus divorced his first wife, Claudia Pulchra and married Cato's daughter Portia, which was scandalous in its time, because they chose to MarryForLove. No one is sure if Brutus actually masterminded Caesar's assassination or was eventually coerced into it but in either case, on the fateful day of the Ides of March, Brutus numbered himself among the Assassins who fatally stabbed Caesar in the Theatre of Pompey, which was used as a Senate House. Plutarch records that when Caesar saw Brutus among his assassinations he blurted out "Kai su, teknon?" in Greek ("You too, my son").

* In Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' he is placed at the very center of Hell, doomed to being eaten eternally by Satan for his betrayal of Caesar. Dante, a radical Guelph who was angered at the treachery of the Pope, and his fellow White Guelps against him, was probably projecting his own sentiments about being stabbed in the back on to Brutus.

Brutus' father was a Marian, and a populare, who opposed the dictator Sulla Felix and his associates UsefulNotes/PompeyTheGreat and UsefulNotes/MarcusLiciniusCrassus. His father actually held his own against Pompey before surrendering honorably, only for Pompey to then order his execution in private. The child of a disgraced rebel, Brutus was then adopted by Quintus Servilius Caepio (and for a time was known as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus because why not) and he eventually found a patron in Cato the Younger. In his early years, he made a fortune as a money lender in the Roman colony of Cyprus, and later in Cilicia where Creator/{{Cicero}} was a governor. In his letters, Cicero remarked that Brutus was renowned for making a huge profit as a loan shark, charging exorbitant interests to poor customers and then dispatching goons to collect. As a senator, Brutus was an optimate (where his father was a populare) and aligned with the conservative faction of the Senate. He supported his patron Cato the Younger, the principled statesman, against the First Triumvirate, despite being personally friendly with Caesar.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade:
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Works sympathetic to Caesar will give Brutus one. Dante branded him a famous traitor, and he's shown as a slimy conniving creep in ''Asterix''.
* IconOfRebellion: He was claimed as this during UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment, by the likes of Creator/{{Voltaire}}, the American, and the French Revolutionaries. Creator/JonathanSwift in ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' had his ghost meet Lemuel Gulliver in the island of Glubbdubdrib, going into HeroWorshipper mode.

Not much is known about Brutus in the period before the outbreak of the CivilWar between Pompey and Caesar. When war broke out, Cato turned Pompey to defend the Republic against Caesar who was branded an "enemy of the state". As such Brutus found himself fighting in the army of the same man who killed his father. At the Battle of Pharsalia, Caesar gave explicit orders to spare Brutus, and upon defeat famously pardoned Brutus, making him governor of Gaul and later making him urban praetor during his dictatorship. Cato the Elder meanwhile committed suicide in exile, and Pompey died in Egypt. In Caesar's five year dictatorship, he spent only a few months in Rome, during which time Brutus divorced his first wife, Claudia Pulchra and married Cato's daughter Portia, which was scandalous in its time, because they chose to MarryForLove. No one is sure if Brutus actually masterminded Caesar's assassination or was eventually coerced into it.