1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:10,960 What would you do if you thought your country was on the path to tyranny? 2 00:00:11,619 --> 00:00:15,480 If you saw one man gaining too much power, would you try to stop him? 3 00:00:16,059 --> 00:00:19,539 Even if that man was one of your closest friends and allies? 4 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:26,699 These were the questions haunting Roman Senator Marcus Junius Brutus in 44 BCE, 5 00:00:27,359 --> 00:00:30,000 the year Julius Caesar would be assassinated. 6 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:37,479 Opposing unchecked power wasn't just a political matter for Brutus. It was a personal one. He 7 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:42,859 claimed dissent from Lucius Junius Brutus, who had helped overthrow the tyrannical king 8 00:00:42,859 --> 00:00:49,759 known as Tarquin the Proud. Instead of seizing power himself, the elder Brutus led the people 9 00:00:49,759 --> 00:00:56,659 in a rousing oath to never again allow a king to rule. Rome became a republic based on the 10 00:00:56,659 --> 00:01:02,039 principle that no one man should hold too much power. Now, four and a half centuries later, 11 00:01:02,420 --> 00:01:08,900 this principle was threatened. Julius Caesar's rise to the powerful position of consul had been 12 00:01:08,900 --> 00:01:15,480 dramatic. Years of military triumphs had made him the wealthiest man in Rome, and after defeating 13 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:22,439 his rival Pompey the Great in a bitter civil war, his power was at its peak. His victories and 14 00:01:22,439 --> 00:01:26,900 initiatives, such as distributing lands to the poor, had made him popular with the public, 15 00:01:27,379 --> 00:01:34,140 and many senators vied for his favor by showering him with honors. Statues were built, temples were 16 00:01:34,140 --> 00:01:41,760 dedicated, and a whole month was renamed, still called July today. More importantly, the title of 17 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:47,739 dictator, meant to grant temporary emergency powers in wartime, had been bestowed upon Caesar 18 00:01:47,739 --> 00:01:49,819 several times in succession, 19 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:51,760 and in 44 BCE, 20 00:01:52,299 --> 00:01:54,219 he was made dictator perpetuo, 21 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,599 dictator for a potentially unlimited term. 22 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:00,560 All of this was too much 23 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,780 for the senators who feared a return to the monarchy 24 00:02:03,780 --> 00:02:06,200 their ancestors had fought to abolish, 25 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,099 as well as those whose own power and ambition 26 00:02:09,099 --> 00:02:11,300 were impeded by Caesar's rule. 27 00:02:12,180 --> 00:02:15,740 A group of conspirators calling themselves the Liberators 28 00:02:15,740 --> 00:02:19,060 began to secretly discuss plans for assassination. 29 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,219 Leading them were the senator Gaius Cassius Longinus 30 00:02:23,219 --> 00:02:26,060 and his friend and brother-in-law, Brutus. 31 00:02:27,199 --> 00:02:30,199 Joining the conspiracy was not an easy choice for Brutus. 32 00:02:30,719 --> 00:02:32,699 Even though Brutus had sided with Pompey 33 00:02:32,699 --> 00:02:34,219 in the ill-fated civil war, 34 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:38,120 Caesar had personally intervened to save his life, 35 00:02:38,599 --> 00:02:39,759 not only pardoning him, 36 00:02:40,099 --> 00:02:42,479 but even accepting him as a close advisor 37 00:02:42,479 --> 00:02:44,939 and elevating him to important posts. 38 00:02:45,740 --> 00:02:49,939 Brutus was hesitant to conspire against the man who had treated him like a son. 39 00:02:49,939 --> 00:02:57,060 But in the end, Cassius' insistence and Brutus' own fear of Caesar's ambitions won out. 40 00:02:58,060 --> 00:03:00,939 The moment they had been waiting for came on March 15th. 41 00:03:01,780 --> 00:03:06,639 At a Senate meeting held shortly before Caesar was to depart on his next military campaign, 42 00:03:07,159 --> 00:03:15,039 as many as 60 conspirators surrounded him, unsheathing daggers from their togas and stabbing at him from all sides. 43 00:03:15,740 --> 00:03:20,719 As the story goes, Caesar struggled fiercely until he saw Brutus. 44 00:03:21,719 --> 00:03:22,919 Despite the famous line, 45 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:24,879 et tu, Brute, written by Shakespeare, 46 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,819 we don't know Caesar's actual dying words. 47 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,560 Some ancient sources claim he said nothing, 48 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,560 while others record the phrase, 49 00:03:32,939 --> 00:03:33,719 and you, child, 50 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,759 fueling speculation that Brutus may have actually been Caesar's illegitimate son. 51 00:03:39,379 --> 00:03:42,979 But all agree that when Caesar saw Brutus among his attackers, 52 00:03:42,979 --> 00:03:46,060 he covered his face and gave up the fight, 53 00:03:46,740 --> 00:03:50,400 falling to the ground after being stabbed 23 times. 54 00:03:51,699 --> 00:03:53,000 Unfortunately for Brutus, 55 00:03:53,219 --> 00:03:54,659 he and the other conspirators 56 00:03:54,659 --> 00:03:57,060 had underestimated Caesar's popularity 57 00:03:57,060 --> 00:03:58,300 among the Roman public, 58 00:03:58,740 --> 00:04:00,900 many of whom saw him as an effective leader 59 00:04:00,900 --> 00:04:03,780 and the Senate as a corrupt aristocracy. 60 00:04:04,580 --> 00:04:06,280 Within moments of Caesar's assassination, 61 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:08,539 Rome was in a state of panic. 62 00:04:09,159 --> 00:04:10,759 Most of the other senators had fled, 63 00:04:10,759 --> 00:04:14,319 while the assassins barricaded themselves on the Capitoline Hill. 64 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:17,800 Marc Antony, Caesar's friend and co-consul, 65 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:20,139 was swift to seize the upper hand, 66 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,959 delivering a passionate speech at Caesar's funeral days later 67 00:04:23,959 --> 00:04:27,500 that whipped the crowd into a frenzy of grief and anger. 68 00:04:28,139 --> 00:04:31,019 As a result, the liberators were forced out of Rome. 69 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,199 The ensuing power vacuum led to a series of civil wars, 70 00:04:35,579 --> 00:04:39,579 during which Brutus, facing certain defeat, took his own life. 71 00:04:40,759 --> 00:04:45,279 ironically the ultimate result would be the opposite of what the conspirators had hoped to 72 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:50,439 accomplish the end of the republic and the concentration of power under the office of 73 00:04:50,439 --> 00:04:56,800 emperor opinions over the assassination of caesar were divided from the start and have remained so 74 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:02,600 as for brutus himself few historical figures have inspired such a conflicting legacy 75 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:09,519 in dante's inferno he was placed in the very center of hell and eternally chewed by satan 76 00:05:09,519 --> 00:05:15,680 himself for his crime of betrayal. But Swift's Gulliver's Travels described him as one of the 77 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:21,459 most virtuous and benevolent people to have lived. The interpretation of Brutus as either a selfless 78 00:05:21,459 --> 00:05:27,540 fighter against dictatorship or an opportunistic traitor has shifted with the tides of history and 79 00:05:27,540 --> 00:05:34,279 politics. But even today, over 2,000 years later, questions about the price of liberty, the conflict 80 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:37,819 between personal loyalties and universal ideals 81 00:05:37,819 --> 00:05:42,220 and unintended consequences remain more relevant than ever.