The assassination of Julius Caesar is an event widely known, in part due to the play by William Shakespeare. Unlike in the play, Caesar did not say the famous words, “Et tu, Brute?” Historians say that it is likely he said nothing at all. He also had many more conspirators for his death than the eight that were in Shakespeare’s play. Like the character in the play, the real Julius Caesar was a political leader in the Roman Republic, which predates the Roman empire. Caesar had arrived for a Senate meeting with his peers and fellow Senate members. Unbeknownst to Caesar, there was an assassination plot underway from those he had worked with, resulting in being stabbed twenty-three times and bleeding to death in the Senate meeting (Julius Caesar’s…show more content… "The prevailing opinion among historians, ancient and modern alike, is that the senatorial assassins were intent upon restoring republican liberties by doing away with a despotic usurper," Michael Parenti, a historian who has written a book on Caesar, said in an article. In that same article, he also said, "This is the justification proffered by the assassins themselves." When looking at history, it's easy to take things as they are said to have happened literally. However, an important thing to remember is that it happened to real people with human motivations. Emotion as a motive is just as prevalent today as it was in Caesar's time. Parenti argues that one motive for his assassination is not out selflessness for their fellow countrymen, but more out of false altruism. Caesar's rule threatened the Senate's power.
Caesar was also known to Romans as a power-hungry politician who was always looking to expand his sphere of influence. After becoming dictator, one of his reforms to fix the Republic was expanding the Senate. Some of the new members of the Senate included former enemies they had defeated in the past. This proved to be an unpopular choice for members of the already existing Senate, becoming another reason for Julius Caesar’s assassination. “Caesar's inclusion of former Roman enemies in the government helped spell his downfall and assassination by Longinus and
