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Liberatores ("Liberators") is the Latin name that the assassins of Julius Caesar gave themselves.
The men considered the ringleaders of the conspiracy were Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus (son of Caesar's lover Servilia Caepionis).
Marcus Tullius Cicero was not a member of the conspiracy and was surprised by it, but later wrote to the conspirator Trebonius that he wished he had been "...invited to that superb banquet." He believed that the Liberatores should also have killed Mark Antony.1 The conspirators had decided, however, that the death of a single tyrant would be more symbolically effective, claiming that the intent was not a coup d'état, but tyrannicide.
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List of Liberatores
Some forty people joined in the plot, but most of their names are lost to history. In addition to Cassius and Brutus, known members of the conspiracy were:
- Servius Sulpicius Galba
- Quintus Ligarius
- Lucius Minucius Basilus
- Servilius Casca
- Gaius Servilius Casca (Servilius Casca's brother)
- Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus
- Tillius Cimber (Metellus Cimber in Shakespeare's play)
- Caius Trebonius
- Caecilius
- Bucolianus (Caecilius' brother)
- Rubrius Ruga
- Marcus Spurius
- Sextius Naso
- Minucius Basilus
- Pontius Aquila
Plans
Although ultimately Caesar was assassinated in the Theatre of Pompey, the assassins had also considered other options to kill Caesar. These included pushing him from a bridge and assassinating him during a gladiatorial fight.
Fate
The Liberatores paid a high price for their deed. Mark Antony turned public opinion against them with his funeral oration for Caesar, and within a month Brutus and Cassius had fled the city. After Caesar's heir Octavian and Antony made peace and formed the Second Triumvirate along with Lepidus in 43 BC, vengeance was swift. Any Liberatores remaining in Rome were placed on the proscription lists and killed. Those who had escaped Rome did not last much longer. Decimus Brutus was ambushed and killed by a Gallic chieftain loyal to Mark Antony in 43 BC, and Marcus Brutus and Cassius, along with most of the rest of the conspirators, died at or shortly after the Battles of Philippi in 42 BC. According to Suetonius, "Hardly any of his assassins survived him for more than three years, or died a natural death. They were all condemned, and they perished in various ways — some by shipwreck, some in battle; some took their own lives with the self-same dagger with which they had impiously slain Caesar."
See also
External links
- Account of the assassination from Nicolaus of Damascus
- Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar, includes an account of the plot
- Account of the assassination from the historian Appian. Section 114 contains a list of conspirators.
- ^ Ad Att. XIV 12
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 30 November 2008, at 18:54.
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