The Ides of March: Caesar’s Assassination Explained
The Ides of March — March 15, 44 BCE — is one of the most famous dates in Western history. On that day, the Roman dictator Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators in the Theatre of Pompey, at the foot of the statue of his rival Pompey the Great. The assassination was the culmination of a long conspiracy, led by the senators Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, who believed that Caesar’s growing power was destroying the Roman Republic. The killing did not restore the Republic, as the conspirators had hoped. It triggered another fourteen years of civil war, the death of most of the conspirators, and the eventual rise of Caesar’s adopted son Octavian as the first Roman emperor, Augustus. The Ides of March became one of the most famous dates in Western literature, the subject of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Dante’s Inferno, and countless other works.
This page is a complete guide to the Ides of March and the assassination of Caesar. It explains the background, the assassination itself, and the legacy. It links back to the Julius Caesar cluster, the Roman Republic cluster, and the Roman Empire cluster.
The Roman Calendar
The Ides of March was a regular day in the Roman calendar. The Roman calendar was based on the lunar cycle, with each month divided into three fixed points: the Kalends (the first day of the month), the Nones (the fifth or seventh day), and the Ides (the 13th or 15th day). The Ides of March, May, July, and October fell on the 15th; the Ides of all other months fell on the 13th. The Ides were originally associated with the full moon, and the high priest (the Pontifex Maximus) performed a ritual sacrifice on the day of the Ides.
The phrase “Beware the Ides of March” is, of course, the famous warning given to Caesar by the soothsayer in Shakespeare’s play. The line, in turn, is based on a passage in Suetonius’ Life of Caesar, in which the seer Spurinna warns Caesar to “beware the danger that will come to you on the Ides of March.”
The Conspiracy
The conspiracy to kill Caesar was the work of about 60 senators, most of them conservative aristocrats who believed that Caesar was destroying the Republic. The leaders were:
- Marcus Junius Brutus, the son of Caesar’s mistress Servilia, and a man whose family had a long tradition of defending the Roman Republic. Brutus was rumored to be the illegitimate son of Caesar himself.
- Gaius Cassius Longinus, an experienced soldier and politician, who had been a partisan of Pompey but had been pardoned by Caesar.
- Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar’s most trusted generals, who had been rewarded with a place in the will of Caesar and the governorship of Gaul.
- Trebonius, another of Caesar’s generals, who had been entrusted with the governorship of Asia.
The conspirators were motivated by a mixture of motives. Some were sincere defenders of the Republic, who believed that Caesar was becoming a tyrant. Some were personal enemies of Caesar, who had been passed over for political or military advancement. Some were simply ambitious men who hoped to benefit from the restoration of the Republic. The conspirators were also motivated by a particular hatred of Caesar’s clemency, which they saw as more dangerous than his cruelty, because it made his dictatorship more popular.
The Last Days of Caesar
In the weeks before the Ides of March, Caesar received a series of warnings about the plot. His wife Calpurnia dreamed that he was murdered in her arms, and the soothsayer Spurinna warned him to “beware the Ides of March.” The night before the Ides, the conspirators met at the house of Cassius and made the final arrangements.
On the morning of the Ides, Caesar was preparing to attend a meeting of the Senate at the Theatre of Pompey, where the Senate was to vote on whether to award him the title of king of the provinces outside Italy. Calpurnia begged him to stay home. Caesar was persuaded, but Decimus Brutus came to his house and persuaded him to attend the meeting anyway. The conspirators gathered in the portico of the Theatre of Pompey and waited.
The Assassination
Caesar arrived at the Theatre of Pompey around midday. The Senate was meeting in the Curia of Pompey, a large hall that was part of the theatre complex. Caesar entered the hall and sat down. The conspirators gathered around him, ostensibly to present a petition. The first to strike was a senator named Tillius Cimber, who presented a petition asking for the recall of his brother from exile. Caesar refused, and Cimber grabbed Caesar’s toga. At that moment, the other conspirators drew their daggers and attacked.
According to Plutarch, Caesar fought back vigorously, wounding several of the conspirators with his stylus. He was struck 23 times. According to Suetonius, Caesar’s last words were to Brutus, who struck him in the groin: “Et tu, Brute?” — “You too, Brutus?” — though the phrase is not found in any ancient source and is probably a later invention. The Roman historian Suetonius also reports that Caesar said, in Greek, “Kai su, teknon?” — “You too, my child?” — but this too is uncertain.
Caesar fell at the foot of Pompey’s statue, and the blood of the dying dictator soaked the steps of the Senate. The conspirators fled, declaring the Republic restored. The Senate, however, was not impressed, and the public was horrified. The Roman mob, in particular, was outraged at the murder of their beloved dictator, and they burned the bodies of some of the conspirators in the Forum.
The Aftermath
The conspirators had hoped that the assassination would restore the Roman Republic. Instead, it triggered another round of civil war. The will of Caesar, which named Octavian (his great-nephew and adopted son) as his heir, was read to the public, and Octavian was quick to take advantage of the public outrage. He allied with Caesar’s loyal lieutenant Mark Antony and defeated the conspirators at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BCE. He then quarrelled with Antony, and defeated him (and his ally Cleopatra) at the naval Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. In 27 BCE, the Senate awarded him the title of Augustus, and the Roman Republic finally came to an end.
Most of the conspirators died violently. Brutus and Cassius committed suicide after their defeat at Philippi. Decimus Brutus was murdered by a Gallic chieftain. Trebonius was captured and executed by Mark Antony. The other conspirators were hunted down, killed, or forced to commit suicide.
The Legacy of the Ides of March
The Ides of March has been the subject of some of the most famous works of Western literature. Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is the most famous treatment, with the famous lines “Beware the Ides of March” and “Et tu, Brute?” Dante placed Brutus and Cassius in the lowest circle of Hell, chewed eternally by Satan, for their betrayal of the lawful ruler. Plutarch’s Life of Caesar is the most famous ancient treatment, and it became the source for Shakespeare’s play. The Ides of March has been the subject of paintings, poems, plays, films, and television series for two thousand years.
The Ides of March is also a useful reminder of the fragility of political life. The conspiracy that killed Caesar was a failure on its own terms, and it did not save the Republic. The death of the dictator was the prelude to the establishment of the Empire. The famous words “Et tu, Brute?” — even if not actually spoken by Caesar — have become the symbol of political betrayal throughout the Western world.