Editing Marcus Junius Brutus (section)

=== Ides of March ===
The ancient sources embellish the Ides with omens ignored, soothsayers spurned, and notes to Caesar spilling the conspiracy unread, all contributing to the dramatic and tragic propagandic stories of Caesar's death.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=100}} The specific implementation of the conspiracy had Trebonius detain Antony – then serving as co-consul with Caesar – outside the senate house; Caesar was then stabbed to death almost immediately.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=101}} The specific details of the assassination vary between authors: Nicolaus of Damascus reports some eighty conspirators, Appian only listed fifteen, the number of wounds on Caesar ranges from twenty-three to thirty-five.<ref>{{harvnb|Tempest|2017|pp=3–4}}, citing at {{harvnb|Tempest|2017|p=261 n. 1}} the various ancient accounts: Nic. Dam., 58–106; Plut. ''Caes.'', 60–68; {{harvnb|Plut. ''Brut.''|loc=8–20}}; Suet. ''Iul.'', 76–85; App. ''B Civ.'', 2.106–147; Cass. Dio, 44.9–19.</ref>

Plutarch reports that Caesar yielded to the attack after seeing Brutus' participation; Dio reported that Caesar shouted in Greek [[Last words of Julius Caesar|''kai su teknon'']] ("You too, child?").{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=3}} Suetonius' account, however, also cites [[Lucius Cornelius Balbus (consul 40 BC)|Lucius Cornelius Balbus]], a friend of Caesar's, as saying that the dictator fell in silence,<ref>{{harvnb|Tempest|2017|p=101}}, citing Suet. ''Iul.'', 81–82.</ref> with the possibility that Caesar spoke ''kai su teknon'' as a postscript.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=102}} As dramatic death quotes were a staple of Roman literature, the historicity of the quote is unclear. The use of ''kai su'', however, indicates the possibility of a curse, per classicists James Russell and Jeffrey Tatum.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=103}}

Immediately after Caesar's death, senators fled the chaos. None attempted to aid Caesar or to move his body. Cicero reported that Caesar fell at the foot of the statue of Pompey.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=107}} His body was only moved after night fell, carried home to Caesar's wife [[Calpurnia (wife of Caesar)|Calpurnia]].{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=107}} The conspirators travelled to the [[Capitoline Hill]]; Caesar's deputy in the dictatorship, [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Marcus Aemilius Lepidus]], moved a legion of troops from the Tiber Island into the city and surrounded the forum.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=108}} Suetonius reports that Brutus and Cassius initially planned to seize Caesar's property and revoke his decrees, but stalled out of fear of Lepidus and Antony.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=108}}

Before Lepidus' troops arrived to the forum, Brutus spoke before the people in a ''contio''. The text of that speech is lost. Dio says the ''liberatores'' promoted their support of democracy and liberty and told the people not to expect harm; Appian says the ''liberatores'' merely congratulated each other and recommended the recall of [[Sextus Pompey]] and the tribunes Caesar had recently deposed.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=109}} The support of the people was tepid, even though other speeches followed supporting the tyrannicide. [[Publius Cornelius Dolabella (consul 44 BC)|Publius Cornelius Dolabella]], who was to become consul in a few days on the 18th, decided immediately to assume the consulship illegally, expressed his support of Brutus and Cassius before the people, and joined the ''liberatores'' on the Capitoline.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=110}}

Cicero urged the tyrannicides to call a meeting of the senate to gather its support; but instead Brutus sent a delegation to the Caesarians, asking for a negotiated settlement.  This may have been due to family connections: Lepidus was married to one of Brutus' sisters; or perhaps Brutus believed that Antony could be won over.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=110}} The Caesarians delayed for a day, moving troops and gathering weapons and supplies for a possible conflict.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=110}}

After Caesar's death, Dio reports a series of prodigies and miraculous occurrences which are "self-evidently fantastic" and likely fictitious.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=106}} Some of the supposed prodigies did in fact occur, but were actually unrelated to Caesar's death: Cicero's statue was knocked over but only in the next year, [[Mt Etna]] in Sicily did erupt but not contemporaneously, a comet was seen in the sky but only months later.{{sfn|Tempest|2017|p=106}}