Editing Marcus Junius Brutus (section)

=== Conspiracy ===
By autumn 45, public opinion of Caesar was starting to sour: Plutarch, Appian, and Dio all reported graffiti glorifying Brutus' ancestor Lucius Junius Brutus, panning Caesar's kingly ambitions, and derogatory comments made to Marcus Junius Brutus in Rome's open-air courts that he was failing to live up to his ancestors.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=86}} Dio reports this public support came from the people of Rome; Plutarch however has the graffiti created by elites to shame Brutus into action.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=87}} Regardless of the specific impetus, modern historians believe that at least some portion of popular opinion had turned against Caesar by early 44.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=87}}

Caesar deposed two [[plebeian tribunes]] in late January 44 for removing a crown from one of his statues; this attack on the tribunes undermined one of his main arguments – defending the rights of the tribunes – for going to civil war in 49.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=81}} In February 44, Caesar thrice rejected a crown from [[Marcus Antonius]] to cheering crowds,{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=81}} but later accepted the title ''dictator perpetuo'', which in Latin translated either to dictator for life or as dictator for an undetermined term.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=82}}

Cicero also wrote letters asking Brutus to reconsider his association with Caesar.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=87–88}} Cassius Dio claims that Brutus' wife Porcia spurred Brutus' conspiracy, but evidence is unclear as to the extent of her influence.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=89–90}} [[Gaius Cassius Longinus]], also one of the praetors for that year and a former legate of Caesar's,{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=82}} also was involved in the formation of the conspiracy. Plutarch has Brutus approach Cassius at his wife's urging, while Appian and Dio have Cassius approaching Brutus (and in Dio, Cassius does so after opposing further honours for Caesar publicly).{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=91}}

The extent of Caesar's control over the political system also stymied the ambitions of many aristocrats of Brutus' generation: Caesar's dictatorship precluded many of the avenues for success which Romans recognised. The reduction of the senate to a rubber stamp ended political discussion in Caesar's senate; there was no longer any room for anyone to shape policy except by convincing Caesar; political success became a grant of Caesar's rather than something won competitively from the people.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=93}} The Platonian philosophical tradition, of which Brutus was an active writer and thinker, also emphasised a duty to restore justice and to overthrow tyrants.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=95–99}}

Regardless of how the conspiracy was initially formed, Brutus and Cassius, along with Brutus' cousin and close ally of Caesar's, [[Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus|Decimus Junius Brutus]], started to recruit to the conspiracy in late February 44.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=97–98}} They recruited men including [[Gaius Trebonius]], [[Publius Servilius Casca]], [[Servius Sulpicius Galba (praetor 54 BC)|Servius Sulpicius Galba]], and others.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=98}} There was a discussion late in the conspiracy as to whether Antony should be killed, which Brutus forcefully rejected: Plutarch says Brutus thought Antony could be turned to the tyrannicides; Appian says Brutus thought of the optics of purging the Caesarian elite rather than only removing a tyrant.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=99}}

Various plans were proposed – an ambush on the ''[[via sacra]]'', an attack at the elections, or killing at a gladiator match – eventually, however, the conspiracy settled on a senate meeting on the Ides of March.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|pp=99–100}} The specific date carried symbolic importance, as consuls until the mid-2nd century BC had assumed their offices on that day (instead of early January).{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=100}} The reasons for choosing the Ides are unclear: [[Nicolaus of Damascus]] (writing in the Augustan period) assumed that a senate meeting would isolate Caesar from support; Appian reports on the possibility of other senators coming to the assassins' aid. Both possibilities "are unlikely" due to Caesar's expansion of the senate and the low number of conspirators relative to the whole senate body.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=100}} More likely is Dio's suggestion that a senate meeting would give the conspirators a tactical advantage as, by smuggling weapons, only the conspirators would be armed.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=100}}