THE ISSUE OF CICERO'S INVOLVEMENT IN CAESAR'S ASSASSINATION

Abstract

The assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar has been examined by numerous scholars in their scholarly works. They discussed it when narrating the lives of the dictator and his contemporaries, as well as when depicting the historical landscape of the end of Republican Rome. While the events before and after the assassination are well-documented, not all researchers mentioned Cicero's role in the conspiracy. The notion of Cicero as the «leader of the conspiracy» gained popularity in literature (W. Lacey…). The intrigue in this matter was introduced by the orator himself when he publicized Antonius's accusation against him, claiming that Brutus had shown him a bloodied dagger and exclaimed «Cicero».

Caesar and Cicero were prominent figures of the «last generation» of Republican Rome. Their relationship fluctuated according to circumstances, marked by periods of compromise and confrontation. During the civil war, both Caesar and his opponent Pompey attached great importance to Cicero's position. Caesar attempted to win him over, but Cicero ultimately allied himself with Pompey. Toward the war's end, he reconciled with Caesar, but disillusioned by the state of affairs in the country, he abandoned political activity and devoted himself to writing philosophical treatises. Morally dejected, he was compelled to flatter the victor, for which the defeated condemned him. Consequently, the conspirators excluded him from their circle. Most conspirators were «old Pompeians» who remembered his defection during the civil war. They failed to grasp the underlying meaning of the orator's flattery toward Caesar and thus distrusted him.

 In Roman elite circles, Cicero was regarded as such an influential figure that any participation in a «leadership role» would certainly have been documented in ancient sources or in the orator's epistles. The conspiracy was led by Brutus, although Cassius played a leading role in it. Regarding Antonius's accusation that Cicero incited the conspirators, we can observe that Antonius, as a contender for the dictator's legacy, harbored both ancestral and personal enmity toward the orator. Through this accusation, Antonius sought to destroy the orator  as a political opponent. Cicero explicitly responded to the accusation in his «Philippics»: «Had I been among them, I would have eliminated not just one king in the state, but royal power altogether». As for his prior knowledge of the impending assassination, this fundamentally changed nothing. Based on his principle of «concord among classes», the act of assassination did not fit into Cicero's credo, which is why the orator distanced himself from the events and did not appear at the Senate meeting.

Key words: Caesar; Cicero; Brutus; Ancient Rome; Assassination in the Senate.