Editing Marcus Junius Brutus (section)

== Legacy ==
{{quotebox|quote={{ubl
|This was the noblest Roman of them all:
|All the conspirators save only he
|Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
|He only, in a general honest thought
|And common good to all, made one of them.
|His life was gentle, and the elements
|So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
|And say to all the world "This was a man!"}}
|source=[[Shakespeare]], ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', 5.5.69–76.
}}

Brutus' historical character has undergone numerous revisions and remains divisive. Dominant views of Brutus vary by time and geography.

=== Ancient views ===

In the ancient world, Brutus' legacy was a topic of substantial debate. Starting from his own times and shortly after his death, he was already viewed as having killed Caesar for virtuous reasons rather than envy or hatred. For example, [[Plutarch]], in his "Life of Brutus" from ''[[Parallel Lives]]'', mentions that Brutus' enemies respected him, recounting that Antony once said that "Brutus was the only man to have slain Caesar because he was driven by the splendour and nobility of the deed, while the rest conspired against the man because they hated and envied him".{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=211}}

Even when he was still alive, Brutus' literary output, especially the pamphlets of 52&nbsp;BC against [[Pompey]]'s dictatorship (''De dictatura Pompei'') and in support of Milo (''Pro T. Annio Milone'') coloured him as philosophically consistent, and motivated only by principle.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=213}} Cicero, in his ''[[De Officiis]]'', expressed that the act of the conspirators, including Brutus, was a moral duty.{{sfn|Clarke|1981|p=79}} The main charge against him in the ancient world was that of ingratitude, viewing Brutus as ungrateful in taking Caesar's goodwill and support and then killing him.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=216–217}} An even more negative historiographical tradition viewed Brutus and his compatriots as criminal murderers.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=175}} Still, during the [[Augustus#Sole ruler of Rome|Augustan age]], historians were said to have written about Brutus and the other conspirators respectfully. Even [[Augustus]] himself was alleged to tolerate positive views of Brutus.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=5}}{{sfn|Clarke|1981|p=80}} However, the [[Forum of Augustus]], which included statues of various republican heroes, omitted men such as Cato the Younger, Cicero, Brutus, and Cassius.{{sfn|Gowing|2005|p=145}}

The divisive views of Brutus in the early Principate had little changed by the reign of [[Tiberius]]; in fact, the atmosphere became more intolerant. The historian Cremutius Cordus was charged with treason for having written a history too friendly to Brutus and Cassius.{{sfn|Gowing|2005|p=26}} Around the same time, [[Valerius Maximus]], writing with the support of the imperial regime, believed Brutus' memory suffered from "irreversible curses".{{sfn|Gowing|2005|p=55}} During this time, "admiration of Brutus and Cassius was more sinisterly interpreted as a cry of protest against the imperial system".{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=5}} The [[Stoicism|stoic]], [[Seneca the Younger]], argued that since Caesar was a good king, Brutus' fear was unfounded, and that he did not think through the consequences of Caesar's death.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=219}}

But by the time that Plutarch was actually writing his ''Life of Brutus'', "the oral and written tradition had been worked over to create a streamlined, and largely positive, narrative of Brutus' motives".{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=84}} Some high imperial writers also admired his rhetorical skills, especially [[Pliny the Younger]] and [[Tacitus]], with the latter writing, "in my opinion, Brutus alone among them laid bare the convictions of his heart frankly and ingeniously, with neither ill-will nor spite".{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=213}}

=== Medieval and Renaissance views ===
In the 12th century, English writer [[John of Salisbury]], who owned a copy of ''De Officis'', emulated Cicero’s beliefs by defending tyrannicide as a moral obligation. [[Thomas Aquinas]] also initially agreed with Cicero’s defense of Brutus. However, he later changed his beliefs, expressing that while tyrants should be overthrown under certain circumstances, mild tyrants ought to be tolerated out of possible unintended consequences.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=215}}{{sfn|Clarke|1981|p=86–87}}

[[Dante Alighieri]]'s ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'' notably placed Brutus in the lowest circle of [[Hell]] for his betrayal of Caesar, where he (along with Cassius and [[Judas Iscariot]]) is personally tortured by [[Satan]]. Dante's views gave a further theological bent as well: by killing Caesar, Brutus "was resisting God's 'historical design'": the development of the [[Roman Empire]] with its fusion with [[Christianity]] and the Christianised monarchies of his day.<ref>{{harvnb|Tempest|2017|p=218}}, citing {{Cite book |last=Piccolomini |first=Manfredi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FF26oJVET2cC |title=The Brutus revival: parricide and tyrannicide during the Renaissance |date=1991 |publisher=Southern Illinois University Press |location=Carbondale and Edwardsville |isbn=978-0-8093-1649-6 |pages=2–5 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parker |first=Deborah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0ZdAAAAMAAJ |title=Commentary and ideology: Dante in the Renaissance |date=1993 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-1281-9 |pages=65, 82–83 |quote=Both writers emphasize that Caesar symbolizes the universal monarch and Brutus and Cassius represent the assassins of the true universal emperor. }}</ref>

Renaissance writers, however, tended to view him more positively, as Brutus' assassination of Caesar symbolised ancient republican ideology.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=230}} Various men in the renaissance and early modern periods were called or adopted the name Brutus: In 1537, the "Florentine Brutus", [[Lorenzino de' Medici]], killed his cousin Duke [[Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence|Alessandro]] allegedly to free Florence; the French pamphlet ''[[Vindiciae contra tyrannos]]'' (Defences against tyrants) was published in 1579 under the pseudonym Stephanus Junius Brutus; the "British Brutus" [[Algernon Sidney]] was executed in 1683 for allegedly plotting against [[Charles II of England|Charles II]].{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=230}} Brutus was also present in the arts during the early modern period, particularly in [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', which depicted him "more of a troubled soul than a public symbol... [and] often sympathetic".{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=231}}

=== Modern views ===

Views of Brutus as a symbol of republicanism have remained through the modern period. For example, the [[Anti-Federalist Papers]] in 1787 were written under the pseudonym "Brutus". Similar anti-federalist letters and pamphlets were written by other Roman republican names such as Cato and Poplicola.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Dry |editor-first=Murray |editor2-last=Storing |editor2-first=Herbert J |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/698669562 |title=The anti-Federalist: an abridgement |date=1985 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-77562-3 |location=Chicago |oclc=698669562}}</ref>

[[Conyers Middleton]] and [[Edward Gibbon]], writing in the late 18th century, had negative views. Middleton believed Brutus' vacillations in correspondence with Cicero betrayed his claims to philosophical consistency. Gibbon conceived of Brutus' actions in terms of their results: the destruction of the republic, civil war, death, and future tyranny.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=10}} More teleological views of Brutus' actions are viewed sceptically by historians today: [[Ronald Syme]], for example, pointed out "to judge Brutus because he failed is simply to judge from the results".{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=219}}

The influential ''History of Rome'' by [[Theodor Mommsen]] in the late 19th century "cast a damning verdict on Brutus" by ending with Caesar's reforms in 46&nbsp;BC, along with advancing a view that Caesar "had some sort of solution to the problem of how to deal with Rome's growing empire" (of which there is no surviving description).{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=220}} Similarly, views of Brutus are also bound up with assessment of the republic: those who believe the republic was not worth saving or in an inevitable decline, views perhaps coloured by hindsight, view him more negatively.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=220}}

There remains little consensus on Brutus' actions as a whole.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=231}}