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What would you do if you thought
your country was on the path to tyranny?
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If you saw one man gaining too much power,
would you try to stop him?
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Even if that man was one
of your closest friends and allies?
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These were the questions haunting Roman
Senator Marcus Junius Brutus in 44 BCE,
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the year Julius Ceasar
would be assassinated.
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Opposing unchecked power
wasn't just a political matter for Brutus.
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It was a personal one.
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He claimed dissent
from Lucius Junius Brutus,
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who had helped overthrow the tyrannical
king known as Tarquin the Proud.
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Instead of seizing power himself,
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the elder Brutus led
the people in a rousing oath
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to never again allow a king to rule.
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Rome became a republic
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based on the principle that no one man
should hold too much power.
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Now, four and a half centuries later,
this principle was threatened.
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Julius Ceasar's rise
to the powerful position of Consul
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had been dramatic.
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Years of military triumphs
had made him the wealthiest man in Rome.
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And after defeating his rival
Pompey the Great in a bitter civil war,
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his power was at its peak.
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His victories and initiatives,
such as distrbutting lands to the poor,
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had made him popular with the public,
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and many Senators vied for his favor
by showering him with honors.
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Statues were built,
temples were dedicated,
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and a whole month was renamed,
still called July today.
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More importantly, the title of Dictator,
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meant to grant temporary
emergency powers in wartime,
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had been bestowed upon Caesar
several times in succession.
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And in 44 BCE,
he was made Dictator Perpetuo,
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Dictator for a potentially unlimited term.
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All of this was too much for the Senators
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who feared a return to the monarchy
their ancestors had faught to abolish,
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as well as those whose
own power and ambition
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were impeded by Ceasar's rule.
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A group of conspirators
calling themselves the liberators
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began to secretly discuss
plans for assassination.
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Leading them were
the Senator Gaius Cassius Longinus,
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and his friend and brother-in-law, Brutus.
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Joining the conspiracy was not
an easy choice for Brutus.
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Even though Brutus had sided with Pompey
in the ill-fated civil war,
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Caesar had personally intervened
to save his life,
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not only pardoning him,
but even accepting him as a close advisor,
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and elevating him to important posts.
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Brutus was hesitant to conspire against
the man who had treated him like a son,
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but in the end,
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Cassius's insistence and Brutus's own fear
of Caesar's ambitions won out.
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The moment they had been
waiting for came on March 15.
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At a Senate meeting
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held shortly before Caesar was to depart
on his next military campaign,
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as many as 60 conspirators surrounded him,
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unsheathing daggers from their togas
and stabbing at him from all sides.
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As the story goes,
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Caesar struggled fiercely
until he saw Brutus.
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Despite the famous line, "Et tu, Brute?"
written by Shakespeare,
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we don't know Caesar's actual dying words.
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Some ancient sources
claim he said nothing,
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while others record the phrase,
"And you, child?",
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fueling speculation that Brutus may have
actually been Caesar's illegitimate son.
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But all agree that when
Caesar saw Brutus among his attackers,
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he covered his face and gave up the fight,
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falling to the ground
after being stabbed 23 times.
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Unfortunately for Brutus,
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he and the other conspirators
had underestimated Caesar's popularity
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among the Roman public,
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many of whom saw
him as an effective leader,
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and the Senate as a corrupt aristocracy.
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Within moments of Caesar's assassination,
Rome was in a state of panic.
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Most of the other Senators had fled,
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while the assassins baricaded themselves
on the Capitoline Hill.
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Mark Antony,
Caesar's friend and co-Consul,
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was swift to seize the upper hand,
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delivering a passionate speech
at Caesar's funeral days later
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that whipped the crowd into a frenzy
of grief and anger.
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As a result, the liberators
were forced out of Rome.
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The ensuing power vacuum
led to a series of civil wars,
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during which Brutus,
facing certain defeat, took his own life.
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Ironically, the ultimate result
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would be the opposite of what
the conspirators had hoped to accomplish:
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the end of the Republic,
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and the concentration of power
under the office of Emperor.
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Opinions over the assassination of Caesar
were divided from the start,
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and have remained so.
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As for Brutus himself,
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few historical figures have inspired
such a conflicting legacy.
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In Dante's Inferno, he was placed
in the very center of Hell,
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and eternally chewed by Satan himself
for his crime of betrayal.
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But Swift's "Gulliver's Travels"
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described him as one of the most virtuous
and benevolent people to have lived.
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The interpretation of Brutus as either
a selfless fighter against dictatorship,
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or an opportunistic trader
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has shifted with the tides
of history and politics.
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But even today, over 2000 years laters,
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questions about the price of liberty,
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the conflict between personal loyalties
and universal ideals,
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and unintended consequences
remain more relevant than ever.
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was modified on 3/1/2015. At 00:37, "He claimed dissent from Lucius Junius Brutus," was changed to "He claimed descent from Lucius Junius Brutus."