|
Julius Caesar Death
Julius Caesar Death
The power of Julius Caesar Death
was at its highest. He had enraged noble Patricians with his
relationship with Cleopatra and was considering divorcing
his wife Calpurnia to marry her. But his keeping the
dictatorship was the real grievance,
and the remains of the old party in
the Senate could not bear that the
patrician freedom of Rome should be
lost. Every now and then his
flatterers offered him a royal crown and hailed him as king,
though he always refused it and this title still stirred up
bitter hatred. He was preparing an army intending to march
into the far East, where no one but Alexander had gone
before. His plans were known and if he came back victorious
no one would be able to stand against him. The noble
Patricians of Ancient Rome decided to take the most drastic
of actions - they planned to murder Julius Caesar and
assassinate him in the Senate.
Julius Caesar Death
- The Conspirators
The plotters resolved to strike before he set out. Caius
Cassius, a tall, lean man, who had been made praetor, was
the chief conspirator, and with him was Marcus Junius
Brutus, a descendant of the man who overthrew the Tarquins,
and husband to Porcia, Cato's daughter. Another conspirator
was Brutus named Decimus, who had been a friend of Caesar,
and newly appointed to the government of Cisalpine Gaul.
These and twelve more agreed to murder Caesar on the 15th of
March, called in the Roman calendar the
Ides of March,
when he went to the senate-house.
Julius Caesar Death - The
Warnings of his
Death
There were rumors about the plot and warnings were given to
him about that special day. His wife dreamt so terrible a
dream that he almost gave in to her pleas for him to stay at
home. However, Decimus Brutus came in and laughed him out of
it. As he was carried to the senate-house in a litter, a man
gave him a writing and begged him to read it instantly; but
he kept it rolled in his hand without looking. As he went up
the steps he said to the augur Spurius, "The Ides of March
are come." "Yes, Caesar," was the answer; "but they are not
passed."
The Muder and Julius Caesar Death
A few steps further on, one of the conspirators met
him with a petition, and the others joined in it, clinging
to his robe and his neck, till another caught his toga and
pulled it over his arms, and then the first blow was struck
with a dagger. Caesar struggled at first as all fifteen
tried to strike at him, but, when he saw the hand uplifted
of his treacherous friend Decimus, he exclaimed, "Et tu
Brute" meaning "You, too, Brutus", drew his toga over his
head, and fell dead at the foot of the statue of Pompeius.
Julius Caesar Death
The content of this Julius Caesar Death
category in the Emperors of Ancient Rome section provides free educational
details, facts and information for reference and research
for schools, colleges and homework. Refer to the
Colosseum Sitemap for a comprehensive search on interesting
different categories containing the history, facts and
information about the lives and people of Ancient Rome.
|
