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Marcus Junius Brutus and Marcus Antonius crossed paths with each other in more ways than just being on two different factions after Caesar’s assassination and we should pay more attention to this dynamic that is often overlooked in favor of more common parallels.
A thread:
A thread:
Brutus and Antony are two of the most obscure yet polarizing figures in ancient roman history. no one has been twisted and erased as much as they did thanks to augustan propaganda. Yet what we have left of them is often approached as two parallel lines that never truly converged.
Nothing could be more wrong. They belong to the same generation, grew up during the same tumultuous years. If a line can be traced from the Republic to the Empire they would be right in the middle. In different, but parallel ways, they represent the last vestiges of the Republic.
This comes up quite a lot in Plutarch’s Lives, especially on the matter of how they were both struggling to adapt to the new ways the machine that was Rome started to move (first Brutus with Caesar, then Antony with Octavian.)
It comes up in Shakespeare too, of course, but for that one would need a separate thread. It is safe to say, however, that their deaths mirror each other both in manners and in how they are referenced to (in Brutus’ case by Lucilius and in Antony’s case by Cleopatra).
Historically speaking what we know about them for sure is that they were both in Greece around the same time receiving education. And also that they shared a lover, an actress named Volumnia Cytheris (go check her out if you don’t know her, she’s super cool).
Quite a lot is left unknown about their correspondence. All we know is that most letters got destroyed and that the content of them, along with Antony’s Contio in favor of the Liberatores was enough to raise worry in Cicero, who mentions this in his letters “Ad Familiares”.
And also in his second Philippic (2. 12. 30) where he laments that Antony not only holds Brutus in greater regard than him but also grants him several excuses from the law (like being away for more than 10 days from the city).
Is it enough to make us suspect of the desire of Antony to strike an alliance with the Liberatores? Maybe not. But surely draws a stable enough bridge between the two men.
A bridge that is greatly referenced in the aforementioned Plutarch.
A bridge that is greatly referenced in the aforementioned Plutarch.
In both Life of Antony (13) and Life of Brutus (18) Plutarch tells us how it was Brutus who stopped the other conspirators from killing Antony alongside Caesar. And how the man considered Antony a worthy ally and hoped for a change of heart in him.
Interesting is also the role of Gaius Antonius. He was prisoner of Brutus but by many accounts and in Brutus’ own letters to Cicero and Atticus we know that they’d started a friendship. When the man was put to death Antony never truly blamed Brutus for it (Life of Antony, 22).
Antony actually had a very high opinion of Brutus despite his opposing political view. It is remarked many times how Antony saw Brutus as the only noble Roman in the Liberatores and how his motives were true and understandable (Life of Brutus, 29)
This appears clear in the way Antony deals with Lucilius (Brutus’ most trusted general) and the possible news of a capture of Brutus. Despite the death of his brother and the Civil War he is in fact positively relieved to know that Brutus is alive.
And even more that Lucilius was disguised as him because he didn’t knew what to do if Brutus had to fall in his hands (implying that he didn’t want to kill him).
In Life of Brutus (50) and Life of Antony (69) is it noted how Lucilius and Antony became friends and how, despite Lucilius’ loyalty to Brutus until death, he later pledged his loyalty to Antony and stayed with him in Egypt until the very end.
This type of admiration carries in the way Antony deals with Brutus’ body after death. There is no celebration, only mourning for a great man. The expensive cloak Antony wraps Brutus’ body with is testament to that, as both noted in Life of Antony (22) and in Life of Brutus (53).
As this thread explained, there are far more point of connections between Brutus and Antony that one might think. A lot of missing pieces of what looks like a dynamic with a great deal of respect and admiration. A dynamic that deserves to be explored and studied more.
