A later abridgment of this work survives and it focuses on the assassination. Until recently, scholars have tended to dismiss Nicolaus because he worked for Augustus and so had a motive to attack the conspirators. But recent work suggests that Nicolaus was a brilliant student of human nature who deserves more attention. A series of letters between Decimus and Cicero, all written after the assassination, also shed light on the plot, but they too have been neglected.
By contrast, Decimus backed Caesar from start to finish. During the conflict, Caesar appointed Decimus as his lieutenant to govern Gaul in his absence. Then things turned sour. Perhaps what moved Decimus was the sight of the two triumphal parades in Rome in autumn 45 BC that Caesar allowed his lieutenants in Spain to celebrate, against all custom.
Caesar did not, however, grant a similar privilege to Decimus for his victory over a fierce Gallic tribe. Decimus meanwhile had to stay behind and govern Italian Gaul. Whatever his motives, once he turned on Caesar, Decimus was indispensable. He behaved in ever-more dictatorial ways, summed up in his adoption of the unprecedented title of Dictator for Life. Caesar was not a king, but he had acquired the equivalent of royal power. To his critics, the favour he showed to Octavian raised the terrifying prospect of a dynasty.
They voted him a long stream of honours including, most egregiously, naming him a god, with plans afoot for priests and a temple. Others, however, decided that he had to be stopped, and so they decided on assassination. True, they acted in the name of the Republic and liberty and against a budding monarchy but they also saw in his growing influence a threat to their own power and privilege.
Plans to assassinate Caesar are attested as early as the summer of 45 BC but the conspiracy that struck on the Ides of March did not gel until February 44 BC. At least 60 men joined it of whom we can identify just 20 today — and some of them are little more than names.
As for Brutus, he was hardly the friend of Caesar whom Shakespeare depicts. However, Brutus supported Pompey until the latter lost to Caesar on the battlefield in 48 BC, at which point Brutus switched sides. He promptly betrayed his ex-chief by providing Caesar intelligence about the likely whereabouts of Pompey, who had escaped after the battle. Afterwards, Caesar rewarded Brutus with high office. In the summer of 45 BC, Brutus divorced his wife and remarried.
His killing marks the fifth straight year that an abortion-providing doctor in upstate New York and Canada became the victim of a sniper attack. Slepian and his family had Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. This Day in History. Middle East.
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As Emperor of Rome from , Marcus Aurelius kept the empire safe from the Parthians and Germans but is best known for his intellectual pursuits. The two committed suicide after their defeat by Octavian. Ancient Greek statesman Pericles, leader of Athens from — B.
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