The Ides of March, 44 B.C

[PzLdr]

Caius Iulius Caesar is assassinated in the theater of Pompey, acting seat of the Roman Senate on this date in 44 B.C. Caesar, Dictator for Life of the Roman Republic, had earned the enmity and distrust of a faction of the Senators, who were alarmed by the breadth, speed and consequences to Senatorial power, for Caesar's political reforms; and by the indifference Caesar showed to the Senators in implementing them.

Caesar's death then led to a brief period of equilibrium between the assassins, who called themselves the Liberators, and Caesar's supporters, led by Marc Antony, and Caesar's nephew, and adopted son, Caius Octavian Caesar.

The advantage soon shifted to Antony and Octavian, beginning as early as Caesar's funeral. the Liberators were forced to flee, and within a short time, and for the second time in less than a decade, civil war erupted. When it was over, the assassins were dead, and Octavian and Antony divided the lands of the Roman Republic between them. Eventually they too went to war. When that conflict ended, Antony was dead [a suicide], and so was the Roman Republic. Octavian, became an emperor in all but name, and the name Caesar became Roman shorthand for Emperor; the title being used by successors with no family connection to the Juliae. The title was also exported to foreign lands: Germany [Kaiser], and Russia [Tsar].

[DCPatriot]

Thanks for sharing this bit of history with us, PzLdr!

In life, the 'good guys' don't always win in the end.

[flowers]

Thanks for posting

[musiclady]

BEWARE!!!    ^-^

[Machiavelli]

6 myths about the Ides of March and killing Caesar

Phil Edwards
Vox
March 15, 2015

This is what most of us know about the death of Julius Caesar, half-remembered from movies and plays:

• Some soothsayer said, "Beware the Ides of March."
• A few idealistic Romans decided to win back Rome for the people.
• Caesar got stabbed by Brutus with a big sword, said "Et tu, Brute?" and died nobly.

All of that is wrong.

More

Soothsayer. Caesar!

Caesar. Ha! who calls?

Casca. Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!

Caesar. Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.

Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.

Caesar. What man is that?

Brutus. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

Caesar. Set him before me; let me see his face.

Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.

Caesar. What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.     

Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March.

Caesar. He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

[Machiavelli]

Caius Iulius Caesar is assassinated in the theater of Pompey, acting seat of the Roman Senate on this date in 44 B.C. Caesar, Dictator for Life of the Roman Republic, had earned the enmity and distrust of a faction of the Senators, who were alarmed by the breadth, speed and consequences to Senatorial power, for Caesar's political reforms; and by the indifference Caesar showed to the Senators in implementing them.

Caesar's death then led to a brief period of equilibrium between the assassins, who called themselves the Liberators, and Caesar's supporters, led by Marc Antony, and Caesar's nephew, and adopted son, Caius Octavian Caesar.

The advantage soon shifted to Antony and Octavian, beginning as early as Caesar's funeral. the Liberators were forced to flee, and within a short time, and for the second time in less than a decade, civil war erupted. When it was over, the assassins were dead, and Octavian and Antony divided the lands of the Roman Republic between them. Eventually they too went to war. When that conflict ended, Antony was dead [a suicide], and so was the Roman Republic. Octavian, became an emperor in all but name, and the name Caesar became Roman shorthand for Emperor; the title being used by successors with no family connection to the Juliae. The title was also exported to foreign lands: Germany [Kaiser], and Russia [Tsar].

Excellent summary, PzLdr! 

[musiclady]

Machiavelli, don't tell me that Caesar didn't say, "Et tu, Brute."

I LOVE that line. 

[Machiavelli]

Machiavelli, don't tell me that Caesar didn't say, "Et tu, Brute."

I LOVE that line. 

 

Seriously, Shakespeare was no different than the movie and TV folks of today who present the so-called docudramas: his goal was to entertain, not to educate.

[PzLdr]

Seriously, Shakespeare was no different than the movie and TV folks of today who present the so-called docudramas: his goal was to entertain, not to educate.

The mini-series "ROME", on HBO [Ciarin Hinds played Julius Caesar] had an amazing [and pretty accurate] rendition of Caesar's assassination. Not only did the assassins use daggers, Hinds' Caesar tried to defend himself, as Caesar did, with a writing stylus.

As for "Et Tu Brute!" [Caesar had pardoned many of the Liberators, including Cassius and Brutus, who supported Pompey, and surrendered after Pharsalus], Caesar took Brutus under his wing [Brutus' mother had been one of Caesar's mistresses], and showed him special favor. But Brutus tried to emulate his ancestor, who had helped overthrow Rome's last king, Tarquinus Superbus, and helped kill Caesar. In the assassination scene, Hinds doesn't ssay "Et Tu Brute", as Brutus stabs him last. Hinds does it all with his eyes. Powerful.

[240B]

Ides of March is celebrated on March 15, 2015. The Ides of March is the name of the 15th day of March in the Roman calendar. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C. Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. In Canada, the day is celebrated with the drinking of Bloody Caesars.

[240B]

This soliloquy has special meaning to me, because I was required to memorize it my freshman year of college. It brings back a lot of good memories. Those were different days than the ones I live in now. It was a different time.
I still remember most of it, but can only get about halfway through it before I get stuck. This is Antony basically condemning Brutus, but doing it in a very politically correct way.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious
If it were so, it was a grievous fault
And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest
For Brutus is an honourable man
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral
He was my friend, faithful and just to me
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know
You all did love him once, not without cause
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

[Dexter]

Thanks for sharing this bit of history with us, PzLdr!

In life, the 'good guys' don't always win in the end.

Sometimes I wonder how much of history is actually completely distorted due to political agendas and the like. As we all know it is the winners that write history.

[ChrisChristie4Pres]

In following him I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so for my peculiar end.