Brutus gets the Judas treatment in the history books. We don't really understand what went on. But Brutus was left to struggle with his own pseudo-Catonion values. In the process, he ended up going down in history -- even with our republican founding fathers -- as the impotent killer of Caesar. Even as the tyrant dies, he is immortalized with his famous last words.
Brutus always pissed me off because he struck at the wrong time. Caesar was planning to leave Rome on an extended war, which would have changed the face of the world and would have removed Caesar's supporters for years. And that includes Antony (in the civil war, Caesar could afford to leave Antony behind to run things in Rome). A full-on campaign in the east would have required Antony. If they had let Caesar go off on his mission, they could have easily re-established republican rule. Caesar, even if alive, would have lost face. Fail in the eastern campaign, or lose Rome.
As a result of the assassination, the killers were unable to pull themselves together. They chose not to kill Antony on the same day, which was a huge mistake. Antony was Caesar's brutal dog, barely tied down. Without Caesar, he went nuts. The dark horse was Octavian...but not really. The Julii had all of Caesar's money, and were burning for vengeance. So while Octavian was a surprise, it's no surprise that someone from the Julii would come out swinging. And all the pampered senators had no idea how to deal with that shitstorm. They weren't fighters, they were politicians. Yet they started a war and then failed to unite out of fear, shame, or god knows what.
Where Cato is about making the noble choice between republic and empire, Brutus is the lesson about the face of a republic with hubris.
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