Marcus Brutus Twine

Marcus Brutus By J.S. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

You decide to set aside your differences with Pompey to try and take down Caesar and his ambition for power. Pompey agrees to have you serve under him, and your army meets Caesar's at the battle of Pharsalus in 48 BCE. Unfortunately, you and Pompey are defeated and you are captured by Caesar at the conclusion of the fighting. However, Caesar decides to pardon you and even offers you the position of governor of Cisalpine Gaul, probably due to your mother, Servilia, being close to him. You serve as governor of Gaul from 47 to 45 BCE, and in 44 BCE, Caesar decides to appoint you to the position of city praetor, a high-ranking position, and announces that in 41 BCE you shall be consul. Very soon after, however, Caesar decides to name himself dictator for life, effectively making the Republic obsolete. Many senators are dismayed by this, and one day you overhear some of them planning an assassination on Caesar in order to restore the Republic to its former glory. However, Caesar has some strong political allies, the most powerful of which being a man named Mark Antony, who would not hesitate to retaliate severely if Caesar were to be killed. You can choose to join the assassination plot and risk it failing, tell Caesar about the plot and hope he doesn't destroy the Republic, or join the plot but try to kill Mark Antony as well, which comes with even more risk than just killing Caesar. [[Assassinate Caesar]] [[Join Caesar and tell him about the plot ]] [[Assassinate Caesar and Mark Antony]]

You decide to serve under Caesar in his invasion of Italy and fight against Pompey. Your armies meet at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BCE. Caesar's army is superior, and the battle ends with you victorious and Pompey captured. With Pompey out of the way, there was nothing stopping Caesar from becoming the sole leader of Rome and naming himself dictator for life, which he did. However, for your loyalty to him, Caesar takes you under his wing and makes you a co-ruler, albeit a less important one than him. However, many senators are unhappy with this new development, for they do not like that the Roman Republic seems to be falling before their eyes, meaning their power is soon to be gone. One day, you hear of some senators planning an assassination attempt on Caesar. They plan to do it on the Ides of March, 44 BCE, which is only in a few weeks. Do you continue your loyalty to Caesar and inform him of the plot, join the plot yourself to save the Republic, or do nothing and hope you can seize power when everything plays out? [[Join the plot and don't tell Caesar about it]] [[Don't tell Caesar about the plot but don't join]] [[Tell Caesar about the plot]]

You choose to join your fellow senators in their plot to assassinate Caesar, for you believe that he is bringing about the fall of the Roman Republic and much of the Roman people are against him. Therefore, you decide to carry out the plan during the Senate meeting on the Ides of March, 44 BCE. When the day comes, Caesar falls ill and is reluctant to attend the meeting, but one of your fellow conspirators manages to convince him to come anyway. At the meeting, you and the other senators take Caesar by surprise and stab him 23 times, prompting him to turn to you, shocked and dying, and shout, "You, too, my child!" Contrary to your belief, the Roman public is outraged, for they supported Caesar's policies and reforms, but Mark Antony offers you a position as grain supervisor elsewhere in Roman territory. However, you do not accept, and you flee to Greece with a man named Gaius Cassius Longinus. You can now choose to amass an army and try to take down Mark Antony and Octavian, Caesar's adopted, in a battle for the control of Rome, or you can decide to retire peacefully to Athens, where you can live out your life studying philosophy with some of the most famous thinkers in the world. [[Go fight Mark Antony and Octavian]] [[Retire to Athens and study philosophy there]]

You choose to join Cassius in taking on Mark Antony and Octavian in a battle for the control of Rome. You spend the year 43 BCE trying to amass an army, and by 42, you are ready to fight. You take your position near the city of Philippi and meet your enemies in what is to go down in history as one of the most important battles in Roman history, the Battle of Philippi. As the fighting goes on, you find yourself having some success against Octavian, but you see that Cassius is struggling against Mark Antony. You send some troops his way to help him, but he mistakenly believes that they belong to Mark Antony and commits suicide. Soon after, you too are defeated in battle and stab yourself just like you stabbed Caesar only a couple years ago. In the years after your death, the Roman Republic officially falls, and Octavian becomes known as Augustus Caesar, the first of many emperors of the new Roman Empire. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

You have decided to abandon your previous life and move to Athens, where you live out your life as a Stoic philosopher alongside some of the greatest minds in Greece, if not the world. Your life is peaceful and quiet, in stark contrast to everything you've done up to this point. Meanwhile, with the Republic in shambles, Octavian seizes his opportunity and becomes Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of the brand new Roman Empire. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

You choose to join the assassination plot in hopes of restoring the old Roman Republic. However, soon after, you and the other senators involved in the plot are unexpectedly grabbed by soldiers and taken to be executed. Just before you die, Caesar explains to you that someone else had learned of the plot after you joined and told him about everyone who was involved. As you are about to be executed, you think that at least you have the comfort of knowing that you died trying to save the Republic. Caesar goes on to declare himself emperor and become the most well-known leader of the new Roman Empire, which lasts for many more centuries. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

You have decided to simply do nothing and let the assassination attempt play out in hopes of seizing power after it all plays out. On the Ides of March, 44 BCE, the assassination of Caesar occurs, just like you expected. However, what you did not realize was that the senators had included you in their assassination plot as well. As Caesar lies dying on the ground, you are on the ground with mortal wounds as well. Somehow your attempt at betraying Caesar for power ended up with both of you dying in the same room together. However, Mark Antony and Octavian, two of Caesar's most powerful allies, drive the assassins out of Rome, and they are unable to do anything to fight back. Those senators are never seen in Rome again, and Octavian becomes known as Augustus Caesar as he becomes the first of many leaders of the new Roman Empire. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

You decide to keep your allegiance to Caesar and tell him about the senators planning to kill him. Upon hearing this news, Caesar's first reaction was to want to have everyone involved executed. However, he began to think that if he did execute several senators, the public would be outraged, and he might not be able to keep his power for long. Therefore, Caesar decides that he will announce to everyone that he is giving up his power and making you the new leader. However, he will still be ruling from the shadows by telling you what to do. That way he can keep his power without being assassinated or having the public riot. Thus, early in 44 BCE, Caesar announces that he is stepping down. However, you now have an opportunity to actually gain the power that the public thinks you have. Do you quietly exile Caesar and continue ruling on your own, or do you follow through with Caesar's plan and let him rule? [[Listen to Caesar]] [[Exile Caesar]]

You decide to stay loyal to Caesar and follow through with his plan. However, because you are ruling exactly like Caesar used to rule, the senators are not satisfied, and not long after Caesar's resignation, you are assassinated by the same group of senators that were going to kill Caesar. Meanwhile, Caesar was ready for this, and had an army ready to regain power with. He took on the senators in battle and defeated their inferior army. Now with an extremely good reason for executing the senators, Caesar does just that, and he goes on to rule Rome as dictator for the rest of his life. After his death, the Roman Republic is never restored, for even though Caesar never considered himself an emperor, all of his successors did, and the Roman Empire was born. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

You decide to join the assassination plot and betray Caesar, but you suggest to your fellow conspirators that you should assassinate Mark Antony, Caesar's powerful ally, as well, to avoid him retaliating against Caesar's death. The date for the assassination is set at March 15, 44 BCE, and you plan to do it at the Senate meeting that day. At the start of the meeting, half of the assassins rush at Caesar and the other half get Mark Antony. Both are swiftly dead on the ground, utterly bewildered. You and Cassius escape to Aventine Hill, where you try to calm the Roman people, who have already begun to riot. However, Octavian, Caesar's adopted grandson, forces you to leave Rome, and you flee to the East. You can now move to Athens and peacefully live out the rest of your days studying philosophy there, or you can decide to gather an army and take on Octavian, who's strength lies in politics and not as much in military might. [[Fight Octavian]] [[Retire to Athens and study philosophy there]]

You have decided to fight Octavian to restore the Roman Republic to its former glory. You and Cassius spend the entirety of 43 BCE amassing an army, and in 42 BCE your armies meet Octavian's at the Battle of Philippi in 42.. However, Octavian spends most of the battle sick, and you are easily able to overpower his army. He is killed in battle, and you and Cassius regain control of Rome. The Roman public is not too happy with this sequence of events, but you and Cassius are able to consolidate your power and become consuls anyway. However, many of Rome's problems, including widespread debt and unemployment, persist, and after your death from disease in 40 BCE, Rome falls into turmoil, and a struggle for power begins that ends with the fall of the Republic and the start of a new Roman Empire. Despite all of your efforts to save the Republic, its death was inevitable. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

You are Marcus Junius Brutus, an ancient Roman politician born around 85 BCE. Your father, also called Marcus Junius Brutus, was murdered by Pompey the Great when you were just 8 years old. Thus, your uncle, Cato the Younger, raised you and turned you into a Stoic. You were born into a tumultuous time in Roman history, for the gap between the rich and the poor was quickly widening, government positions were more and more limited to the very wealthy, debt was widespread, and civil war was breaking out. If something was not done to alleviate these problems, the Roman Republic, which had existed for hundreds of years, was at risk of collapsing entirely. Throughout the 50s BCE, you opposed Pompey's growing influence, but he was allied with two of the most powerful men in Rome: Julius Caesar and Marcus Licinius Crassus. However, in 53 BCE, Crassus was killed in battle, and Pompey became the only [[consul]] in the Roman government. However, Caesar had begun to pass Pompey in military success and overall power and influence, so in 49 BCE, Pompey and his senatorial allies took Caesar on in battle when he crossed the Rubicon river and invaded Italy. You now have an opportunity to choose sides. You can choose to continue opposing your enemy Pompey and side with Caesar, or you can decide to set aside your differences with Pompey to take down Caesar's growing power. If you join Pompey, you have the opportunity to control Caesar's rapid rise to fame, which seems to be further threatening the stability of the Republic, but you also run the risk of losing and being captured or killed. In addition, even if you do win, there is no guarantee that Pompey won't backstab you like he did Caesar. If you side with Caesar, however, there is also a risk of being captured or killed, but he may give you a high-ranking government position if you win. In addition, Pompey may not want to fight alongside you because of your fierce opposition to him in the past. What do you choose to do? [[Join Pompey]] [[Join Caesar]]

Bibliography Badian, E. "Marcus Junius Brutus." Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified September 21, 2021. Accessed February 9, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Junius-Brutus. "Brutus, Marcus." In Ancient Greece and Rome: An Encyclopedia for Students, edited by Carroll Moulton, 105. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX2897200075/GVRL?u=cinc13591&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=0f85b87e. Cartwright, Mark. "The Battle of Philippi 42 BCE." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified November 25, 2014. Accessed February 9, 2023. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/773/the-battle-of-philippi-42-bce/. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Roman Republic." Encyclopedia Britannica. Last modified December 4, 2022. Accessed April 24, 2023. https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Republic. Fife, Steven. "Caesar as Dictator: His Impact on the City of Rome." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified January 18, 2012. Accessed February 21, 2023. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/112/caesar-as-dictator-his-impact-on-the-city-of-rome/. Wasson, Donald L. "The Assassination of Julius Caesar." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified May 15, 2015. Accessed February 9, 2023. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/803/the-assassination-of-julius-caesar/. [[Intro]]

The Roman Republic was composed of the Senate, the assemblies, and two consuls. Consuls served primarily as generals, and the position was created to replace the king. [[Intro]]

You decide to inform Caesar of the senators plotting his assassination. Upon hearing this news, Caesar has all of the people involved in the plot executed, which causes some outrage among other senators, but it dies down fairly quickly. Caesar regains his trust in you, and you become his second in command. However, you must watch the Republic that you originally wanted to protect crumble beneath your own feet as Caesar evenutally assumes the title of Emperor of Rome. He rules Rome well for many years until his death from natural causes, at which point you take over the emperor position. However, Caesar had been much more popular among the people than you now are, and you are assassinated by your political enemies just 3 years into your rule. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

You decide to betray Caesar and have him quietly exiled while you continue to rule Rome on your own. Caesar is enraged, and he immediately tries to assemble an army to take you down and regain control of Rome. Because he is popular among the commonpeople of Rome, many Romans join his army as he marches towards Rome. You must act quickly, and you ally with the senators that were part of the assassination plot to raise a very large army. Your armies meet slightly north of Rome in what is to be one of the biggest battles in Roman history. Both sides suffer many casualties, but in the end your forces prevail and Caesar is killed in battle. You and your new allies restore the Republic and you become consul. Although some of the Roman people are initially very dissatisfied with this outcome, you and your fellow consul and senators are able to make reforms that become popular with the people, and the Republic lives for many years after your death. [[Intro]] [[Bibliography]]

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Marcus Brutus
By J.S.

Intro

Bibliography