The Ides of March: Caesar's Assassination
On March 15, 44 BCE, Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times by a group of senators who claimed to be saving the Roman Republic. Instead, they destroyed it.
The Background
- Dictator perpetuo (dictator in perpetuity)
- Controlled the military
- Appointed officials at will
- Appeared on coins (like a god or king)
- Some called him "Rex" (king)—the ultimate Roman taboo
The Conspirators
About 60 senators joined the plot:
- Possibly Caesar's illegitimate son
- Respected for integrity
- Gave the conspiracy legitimacy
- Military man
- Personal grudge against Caesar
- Organized the conspiracy
- Many were pardoned Pompeians
- Believed they were saving the Republic
- Saw themselves as heirs of Brutus who expelled kings (509 BCE)
The Warnings
- Soothsayer: "Beware the Ides of March"
- Wife Calpurnia's nightmares
- Omens and prophecies
- Arriving at the Senate, Caesar joked to the soothsayer, "The Ides of March have come." Reply: "Yes, but they have not gone."
The Assassination
- Conspirators surrounded Caesar
- Tillius Cimber grabbed his toga
- Casca struck first
- Others joined the stabbing frenzy
- 23 wounds (only one fatal)
- "Et tu, Brute?" (perhaps legendary)
- Caesar fell at the base of Pompey's statue
The Aftermath
- Mark Antony's funeral oration turned public against the assassins
- "Friends, Romans, countrymen..."
- Caesar's will named Octavian as heir
- Civil wars resumed
- Brutus and Cassius died at Philippi (42 BCE)
- Octavian became Augustus, first emperor
Why It Failed
- No plan for after the killing
- Didn't kill Mark Antony
- Underestimated popular support for Caesar
- Couldn't restore a Republic that was already broken
The Republic was dead before the Ides of March—Caesar's death just hastened its formal end.