Chapters
When Julius Caesar was murdered, a real earthquake swept through the Roman Republic. Representatives of successive factions threw themselves at each other’s throats, engaging thousands of soldiers in their activities. There were civil wars that shaped the fate of the Roman state. It was then that the second triumvirate was created, the power-sharing agreement between Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus.
Bloody ides
The prelude to the events that I will describe in this work was undoubtedly memorable the ides of March 44 BCE. Literary historian Zygmunt Kubiak in his Histories of the Greeks and Romans points out that the ides in the Roman calendar marked the thirteenth day of most months, while the fifteenth day in March, May, July and October.
Julius Caesar had the support of the people, but his politics made many enemies for himself. The party once clustered around Pompey believed, more than ever, that the victor of Pharsalus posed a serious threat to the Roman Republic. Not for the state as such, but for its republican system. The constitutionalists had formed a conspiracy with the mission of removing the danger embodied by Caesar. It was headed by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The execution, according to the plan of the conspirators, was to take place on the days of March I, that is, as Kubiak writes, four days before Julius’ planned raid on Parthia. This war was to wash away from the Roman state the disgrace that fell upon it after the fatal defeat of Crassus at Carrhae (Carrara). According to Plutarch of Cheronea, Caesar’s wife, Calpurni, had nightmares on the night before the ida of the night. It was her husband who played the main role in them. The woman dreamed that Artemidorus, a teacher of Greek philosophy, who remained close to the Brutus party, handed Caesar the scroll and asked the dictator to read it personally. Julius used to hand over all his writings to his service. He wanted to read this scroll, but there was still something discouraging him from doing so. The chief entered the Senate with a scroll in his hand, without finally reading it.
Describing the unfortunate event, Zygmunt Kubiak refers to Lives of Famous Men Plutarch of Chaeronea and Roman History Appian of Alexandria. The day of the March IDs has finally come. Gaius Julius Caesar, together with Marcus Antony, a faithful friend and consul at the same time, headed for the senate. On the way, Gaius Trebonius, one of the members of the conspiracy, stopped Antony with some matter to him, probably urgent. Caesar, on the other hand, continued quietly. As he entered the building, the senators rose from their seats. The dictator sat down in the consul’s chair and waited for work to begin. Several people stood behind him. An expression of unconditional support? Probably not this time. Other conspirators approached him from the front. One of them, Tilius Cimber, wanted to ask Caesar for mercy for his exiled brother. Julius put off the case first, and then Cymbra’s petition was definitely rejected. Nervous Tilius jerked the Consul’s toga down sharply. This positioned in such a way that it constrained the leader’s movements. It was a signal for the conspirators to attack. They pounced on him like poisonous snakes. They drew daggers hidden under their togas and fell on the dictator. Behind Pompey’s slayer, Publius Servilius Casca swung and struck Caesar. He wanted to hit the neck, but the blade of his dagger sank into the consul’s chest. Terrified Julius yanked his toga from the hands of Tilius Cymbr and started the fight with Kaska. He got up from his chair and struggled with his attacker. But then he felt a powerful stab – the senator standing next to him stabbed him in the side. Caesar’s toga blushed with the passing blood. The conspirators slashed and stabbed, Julius saw only flashing blades, he heard the whistle of the air cut by the conspirator’s knives from all sides, he felt the skin being cut and pierced over and over again. Blood spurted left and right. The chief tried to defend himself, he struggled like a wild animal hunted by hunters, like an old wolf with Manhunt Kaczmarski. Then, however, Marcus Junius Brutus approached Caesar and struck him in the hip with a dagger. Julius, seeing that his friend had hurt him, looked at him with eyes full of pain, terror and surprise and whispered: Et tu Brute contra me? And you, Brutus, against me? The consul could not believe that even Brutus, whom he had forgiven for fighting against himself at Pharsalus, whom he considered his friend, had stabbed him. He already knew he had lost. He stopped defending himself. The conspirators finished their work. The great leader fell to the ground in front of the statue of Pompey. Rivers of blood spilling from his twenty-three wounds flowed slowly across the floor. His robes soaked the hue of the greatest Julius family. Senators-conspirators also had it on their hands. Mission accomplished, mission accomplished. He, the great Gaius Julius Caesar, the slayer of Vercingetorix, was now butchered under the statue of Pompey. Stripped of dignity, stripped of its majesty. The flame of life was extinguished in his eyes forever. Caesar gave up the ghost.
Marcus Antony survived for this, although the conspirators were arguing about his life. Cassius Longinus staunchly insisted on the murder of the second consul so that he would not threaten them in the future. But Brutus was against it. He argued his opinion that the killing