Brutus

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Marcus Junius Brutus was a Roman politician most famous for the assssination of Julius Caesar. He was the son of the Roman matron Servilla, and the nephew of the Roman statesman Cato the Younger. He was an early opponent of Caesar and a backer of the Roman general Pompey, but after Pompey's defeat at the battle of Pharsalus, Caesar pardoned him an showed him favor.

When a number of plotters came to believe that Caesar was acting like a tyrant and decided to kill him, They set out to win Brutus over to their side. Brutus was especially vulnerable to their appeals because he was descended from the founder of the Roman Republic, who founded the Republic by assassinating a tyrannical king. Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, 44 BC. It ws reported that when he saw that Brutus was one of his assassins, Caesar cried out "Et tu, Brute?" ("You too, Brutus?") out of his surprise that Brutus, who he had treated so well, betrayed him.

In 42 BC, the forces of Octavian and Marc Antony defeated Brutus's army at the battle of Phillipi. Brutus was killed during the battle.

In Dante's Inferno, Brutus is placed in the 9th circle of hell, which is the circle of hell reserved for traitors, for his assassination of Caesar.