![]() ![]() However, Caesar had been appointed Dictator Perpetuo – Dictator for Life – a title which, for the more traditional republican leading men of Rome, was unacceptable and unconstitutional. Contrary to the modern connotations of this word, the role of Dictator was different, with the dictatorial powers being more temporary, to be used in times of emergency. Yes, it is true, Caesar’s title was that of Dictator. ![]() It was upon the statue of Pompey that he fell down dead, supposedly covering his head with his purple toga to prevent the world from seeing the demise of the “dictator”. Incidentally, that meeting of the senate was held in the Theatre of Pompey, Caesar’s past colleague, ally and later enemy – the civil wars of several years earlier (initiated after Caesar’s infamous crossing of the Rubicon River in 49 BC) saw these two illustrious generals pitted against one another, with Caesar ultimately emerging victorious. Speculation on his parentage aside, his inclusion in the plot on Caesar’s life demonstrates the proximity of the assassins to Caesar – there was clearly discontent in Rome.Ĭoins minted by Marcus Brutus, refer to the violence of the “Ides of March”, with the inscription EID MAR being flanked by daggers – the weapons surreptitiously hidden beneath the togas of the murderers as they sat in attendance at a meeting of the senate on that day. These words were addressed to Decimus Junius Brutus, a close friend of Caesar (so close in fact that he was supposedly named as a second heir in Caesar’s will) and, it has been suggested in some quarters, his illegitimate son. “Et tu, Brute?” (“Even you, Brutus?”, elsewhere suggested by Suetonius as, “You too, my son?”), Caesar’s famous last words according to William Shakespeare’s play about our murdered protagonist. Ruthless and violent, twenty-three stab wounds were inflicted upon his body, the blows delivered by some of his most trusted and closest friends. ![]() Two thousand and sixty-six years ago, in 44 BC, on the 15th day of March, the life of Julius Caesar, immortalised in literature and popular culture from his own time to ours, was brought to an end. ![]()
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