BRUTUS, The name of a distinguished plebeian family at Rome. The first who bore it was Lucius Junius Brutus, one of the first two consuls, 509 b.c. According to the legends, his mother was the sister of Tarquinius “Superbus,” the last of the Roman kings, and at his father’s death, his elder brother had been put to death by the reigning family in order to get possession of his wealth. Junius, the younger, owed his safety to his reputed dulness of intellect (whence his surname of Brutus), which character, however, he had assumed with a view both to his present security and future revenge. The opportunity came when Lucretia, wife of Collatinus, was outraged by Sextus Tarquinius; and he took a leading part, together with her husband and father, in expelling the family of the Tarquinii from Rome. He and Collatinus were therefore elected consuls,—or rather praetors, which was the original title. In a conspiracy formed afterwards for the restoration of the banished dynasty, the two sons of Brutus were found to be deeply implicated, and were executed by sentence of their father, and in his sight. The Etruscans of the cities of Veii and Tarquinii making an attempt to restore Tarquinius to the throne, a battle took place between them and the Romans, in which Junius Brutus engaged Aruns, son of the deposed king, in single combat on horseback, and both fell by each other’s hands. The Roman matrons are said to have mourned a year for him, as “the avenger of woman’s honour,” and a statue was erected to him on the Capitol.
Many members of the family rose to eminence in the Republic, and are found, as plebeians, ranged on the popular side. The most distinguished of these was Decius Junius Brutus, consul, 325 b.c....
In later times came Marcus Junius Brutus, a jurist of high authority, considered as one of the founders of Roman civil law, to whom Cicero dedicates his treatise called Orator. His son, of the same name, made a great reputation at the Roman bar, chiefly by undertaking prosecutions, and from the vehemence and bitterness of his speeches became known as “the Accuser.”
Decius Junius Brutus first served under Julius Caesar in Gaul, and afterwards commanded his fleet, and was held by him in great honour and esteem. Nevertheless, whether from patriotism or from lower motives, he joined in the conspiracy against his patron, and, like his relative Marcus Junius Brutus, was one of his assassins. He afterwards resisted the attempt of Antony to obtain absolute power; and after heading the republican armies against him for some time with success, was deserted by his soldiers in Gaul, betrayed by one of the native chiefs, and put to death by order of Antony, 43 B.c.
Best known of all is Marcus Junius Brutus, son of a father of the same name (treacherously put to death by order of Pompey during the civil wars), and of Servilia, sister of Cato of Utica. Young Marcus was only eight years old at his father’s death, and was educated with great care by his mother and uncles. He at first practised as an advocate. In spite of his father’s fate, he at first supported the cause of Pompey against Caesar, but was pardoned by the latter after the victory of Pharsalia, and subsequently appointed by him to the government of Cisalpine Gaul. His justice and moderation won him great honour from the provincials under his rule. Influenced probably by his friend Caius Cassius, he afterwards joined in the conspiracy against the great dictator, and was one of the foremost in his assassination. He maintained the cause of the republic by seizing and holding against Antony’s forces the province of Macedonia, where he was joined by Cassius. But at Philippi they were defeated by Antony and Octavianus Caesar, and rather than be taken prisoner, he fell on his sword, 42 b.c. He was an earnest studerit through all his active life, and is said to have been employed in his tent, on the night before the battle of Pharsalia, in making an abridgment of Pausanias. He wrote several philosophical treatises and some poetry, but nothing has survived. He combined with these tastes the incongruous occupation of a money-lender, Cicero and King Ariobarzanes being amongst his clients. His second wife was his cousin Portia, daughter of Cato.
BRUTUS, or Brute, is asserted in the fabulous history of Geoffrey of Monmouth to have been the grandson of Aeneas, and to have destroyed the race of giants in Britain, to which he gave his name, founding there the city of New Troy, afterwards London.
[739 words — estimated reading time: 5 minutes]