Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus | |
---|---|
Born | 27 April 81 BC |
Died | September 43 BC (aged 38) |
Cause of death | Executed by a Gallic chief loyal to Caesar's Civil War Battle of Mutina |
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (27 April 81 BC – September 43 BC) was a Roman general and politician of the late republican period and one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's assassination. He had previously been an important supporter of Caesar in the Gallic Wars and in the civil war against Pompey. Decimus Brutus is often confused with his distant cousin and fellow conspirator, Marcus Junius Brutus.
Biography
Early life
Decimus was probably son of the Roman senator
On several occasions Julius Caesar expressed how he loved Decimus Brutus like a son. Syme argued that if a Brutus was the natural son of Caesar, Decimus was more likely than Marcus Brutus.[17] Decimus was named an heir in the second degree in Caesar's will and was designated to become guardian of any child Caesar would have. Roman historian Appian interpreted this as being an adoption of Decimus by Caesar.[18]
Decimus Brutus spent his youth mainly in the company of
During the Wars
He served in Caesar's army during the
When the Republican Civil War broke out, Decimus Brutus sided with his commander, Caesar, and was entrusted once again with fleet operations. Richard Billows argued that Caesar loved Decimus Brutus almost as a son.[21] In 50 BC he married Paula Valeria, the sister of Gaius Valerius Triarius, a friend of Cicero who later fought alongside Pompey at Pharsalus.[22][23][24]
The Greek city of
Ides of March and its aftermath
When Caesar returned to Rome as dictator after the final defeat of the Conservative faction in the Battle of Munda (45 BC), Marcus Brutus joined the conspiracy against Caesar, after being convinced by Cassius and Decimus.[citation needed] In 44 BC, Decimus was made
On the
The assassins received an amnesty the next day, issued by the senate at the instigation of
Activity in Gallia Cisalpina
The climate of reconciliation soon passed, and slowly the conspirators were starting to feel the strain of the assassination. Already in March 44 BC, Decimus Brutus found his (earlier) allocation of the province of
In 43 BC Decimus Brutus occupied Mutina, laying in provisions for a protracted siege. Antony obliged him, and blockaded Decimus Brutus' forces, intent on starving them out.
Nevertheless, the consuls of the year,
With the siege raised, Decimus Brutus cautiously thanked Octavian, now commander of the legions that had rescued him, from the other side of the river. Octavian coldly indicated he had come to oppose Antony, not aid Caesar's murderers. Decimus Brutus was given the command to wage war against Antony, but many of his soldiers deserted to Octavian.
Flight and death
With Cicero's support, however, Decimus Brutus crossed the Alps to join
Several letters written by Decimus Brutus during the last two years of his life are preserved among Cicero's collected correspondence.
Cultural depictions
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2020) |
Decimus' legacy is not as notable as that of the other Brutus who was among the conspirators,
In
In Allan Massie's 1993 book entitled Caesar, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus narrates his story and reason for joining in Caesar's assassination while being held captive by the Gallic chief.
In
In
In Ben Kane's books The Forgotten Legion, The Silver Eagle, and Road To Rome, Decimus Brutus is shown as a fairly major character to the plot and the rest of the book as Fabiola's lover.[34]
In
In S.J.A Turney's series of novels titled Marius Mules, Decimus Brutus is heavily featured as a brilliant naval commander and one of Caesar's most loyal officers.
Notes
- ^ Ronald Syme suggested Postumia instead of Sempronia as the identity of Decimus's mother, since Decimus was related to the family of the Postumii Albini by adoption, and therefore probably by blood as well.[3] This hypothesis has found little favor in scholarship.[4][5]
- ^ The adoptive father is generally identified as Aulus Postumius Albinus, a moneyer who minted coins for the dictator Sulla in 81 BC.[12][13][14][15] Cadoux suggests his name after adoption would have been Aulus Postumius Albinus Brutus.[16]
Citations
- ^ a b c Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 466.
- ^ Cadoux, pp. 98–103; Liubimova, pp. 826–828, 846–847.
- ^ Syme, "No Son for Caesar?", pp. 429, 430.
- ^ Cadoux, p. 103.
- ^ Liubimova, p. 846.
- ^ Bondurant, pp. 7, 94; Münzer, col. 370.
- ^ Münzer, col. 370; Syme 1960, p. 327.
- ^ Bondurant, p. 20.
- ^ Liubimova, pp. 839–840, 844, 846, 847.
- ^ Cadoux, p. 101; Syme 1960, p. 327.
- ^ Shackleton Bailey 1976, p. 118.
- ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 389, 466.
- ^ Wiseman 1968, p. 301
- ^ Cadoux, p. 101.
- ^ Liubimova, pp. 829, 830.
- ^ Cadoux, pp. 101–102.
- ^ Syme, "Bastards in the Roman Aristocracy," pp. 323–327. Thomas Africa thought Syme had recanted this view; see "The Mask of an Assassin: A Psychohistorical Study of M. Junius Brutus," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 8 (1978), p. 615, note 28, referring to Syme's book Sallust (Berkeley, 1964), p. 134. This would appear to be a misreading, given Syme's fuller argument twenty years later in "No Son for Caesar?" Historia 29 (1980) 422–437, pp. 426–430 regarding the greater likelihood that Decimus would be the Brutus who was Caesar's son.
- ^ Syme, Ronald; "No Son for Caesar?" p. 7
- ^ Caesar (1961). Gallic Wars. Boston, Houghton Mifflin. III.11.
- ^ Caesar (1961). Gallic Wars. Boston, Houghton Mifflin. VII.9.
- ^ Richard A. Billows, "Julius Caesar: The Colossus of Rome," pp. 249 (Google Books Online Preview).
- ^ Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, viii. 7.
- ^ Broughton, vol. II, pp. 271, 284.
- ^ Shackleton-Bailey, Cicero's Letters to Atticus, vol. III, p. 236.
- ^ Caesar, The Civil War, book II, sections 8 and 9.
- ^ D R Shackleton Bailey trans., Cicero’s Letters to his Friends (Atlanta 1988) pp. 488–489
- ^ D R Shackleton Bailey trans., Cicero’s Letters to his Friends (Atlanta 1988) p. 512
- ^ D R Shackleton Bailey trans., Cicero’s Letters to his Friends (Atlanta 1988) p. 528
- ^ D R Shackleton Bailey trans., Cicero’s Letters to his Friends (Atlanta 1988) p. 812
- ^ Bondurant, p. 13.
- ISBN 9780815329343.
- ^ 1837. The Works of Joseph Addison: The Tatler. The Guardian. The Freeholder. The Whig-examiner. The lover. Dialogues upon the usefulness of ancient medals. Remarks on several parts of Italy, etc. The present state of the war. The late trial and conviction of Count Tariff. The evidences of the Christian religion. Essay on Virgil's Georgics. Poems on several occasions. Translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Notes on some of the foregoing stories in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Poemata. Rosamond. Cato. The drummer – 479
- ISBN 9780719044823.
- ^ "The Forgotten Legion (The Legion Chronicles)", Ben Kane, Published by Preface 2008, Version 1.0.
- ^ Harris, Robert, Dictator, Alfred A. Knopf, NYC, NY, 2015; chapter XIII.
References
Ancient sources
Modern sources
- Bondurant, Bernard C. (1907). Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus: A Historical Study (Thesis). University of Chicago Press.
- Broughton, T. Robert S. (1952). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume II: 99 B.C.–31 B.C. New York: American Philological Association.
- Cadoux, Theodore (1980). "Sallust and Sempronia". In Bruce Marshall (ed.). Vindex Humanitatis: Essays in Honour of John Huntly Bishop. Armidale: University of New England. pp. 93–122. ISBN 0-85834-346-0.
- Crawford, Michael (1974). Roman Republican Coinage. Cambridge University Press.
- Duval, Georges Michel (1991). "D. Junius Brutus: mari ou fils de Sempronia?". Latomus. 50 (3): 608–615. JSTOR 41536118.
- Liubimova, Olga V. (2021). "The Mother of Decimus Brutus and the Wife of Gaius Gracchus". S2CID 226324958.
- Münzer, Friedrich (1931), "Iunius 55a", Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, supplement V, columns 369–385.
- Shackleton Bailey, David Roy (1965–1970). Cicero's Letters to Atticus. Harvard University Press.
- ISBN 1-55540-666-1.
- Sumner, G.V. (1971). "The Lex Annalis under Caesar (Continued)". JSTOR 1088064.
- JSTOR 985248.
- JSTOR 4435732.
- S2CID 170749628.