Fellow Senators, do you not see the ruins all around us? The Roman Republic lies obliterated, and instead of picking up the pieces, some of you seek to punish the very liberators who freed us from the tyrannical man who brought this devastation upon us.
Aulus Hirtius, you say he was a man—a great man. I will not waste your time listing the obvious reasons as to why this assertion is completely erroneous, but will instead ask you this question. Is any man, even one who is, what did you say, a “hero, a triumphant general, and a beloved statesman,” more important than the Republic itself? Should we have watched the work of centuries crumble to the ground, just so we might honor the noble Julius Caesar? If any of you were true patriots, you would answer with a resounding, “No.” You who remain silent are cowards, slaves to bribes and evil ambitions—you care not for your great country.
But let me identify one man who is a true patriot of Rome. Marcus Junius Brutus showed us all on the Ides of March how a Roman should act. He could not stand by any longer, as Caesar humiliated the noble Republic. You say he is a traitor to turn on a man that had been so beneficent to him, but I assure you the treachery lies with you.
It is the mark of an honorable man to sacrifice personal ambitions in favor of what one believes in. I do not doubt that Brutus could have attained the highest of public offices and the most glorious of spoils if he had allowed Caesar to continue his reign of tyranny. As we all know, Caesar already had made him governor of Gaul and nominated him as praetor, and these were just the beginnings of the honors he would bestow on the man whom he viewed as a son. However, Brutus, a better man than most, turned away from the promise of riches and triumph, and followed his conscience.
I have already addressed Caesar’s associations with the villain Catiline. He supported Catiline’s quest for consulship early on, only to fall into the shadows when Catiline became a controversial figure. Cicero was hailed throughout Rome for derailing Catiline’s heinous plot, and glorified for following your advice that the conspirators be executed. So why should we not also hail Brutus for rescuing us from a far worse enemy, who actually succeeded in carrying off his wicked plot to destroy the Republic?
Have we strayed so far from the dignified path of our ancestors, that we actually ponder putting this man on trial? Do you not remember his venerated ancestor and namesake, the Marcus Junius Brutus of old? This man took it upon himself to cleanse the Roman Republic of the Tarquinian kings, driving out Tarquinius Superbus and rectifying the state. The Brutus in front of you followed in his steps and saved us from a new king—a man who censored the tribunes Gaius Epidius Marcellus and Lucius Caesetius Flavius for ordering a laurel wreath, reserved for Jupiter, to be removed from his statue. But while the ancient Brutus is praised in children’s bedtime stories, the latter is condemned. This hypocrisy, in the Senate house no less, must end! Brutus should receive the glory he deserves and should be hailed, along with his accomplices, as the brave tyrannicide of Rome!
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