Did Caesar say: “And you, Brutus!”?

The last words attributed to the Roman ruler are one of the most common ancient quotes. We decided to check if Caesar really uttered this phrase before his death.

The phrase "And you, Brutus!" It is found both in everyday speech and in literature as a reproach for betrayal. It is believed that this is how Guy Julius Caesar turned to his pupil, who became one of his killers. In Russian literature there are many references to this phrase. For example, it is found in Goncharov’s novel "Oblomov"(“ And you, Brutus, against me! ”He said with a sigh, taking up books”) and Marina Tsvetaeva in “Tales about Sonya"(" "And you, Brutus?", In which I do not hear reproach, but - regret, but - condescension: it is like Brutus - lies, and Caesar over it is leaning ... "). IN "Gold calf"Ilf and Petrov beat the last minutes of Caesar's life as part of the scene in a crazy house:" The other wrapped himself in a blanket and began to shout: "And you, Brutus, sold to the Bolsheviks!" "

In 44 BC. e. In Rome, a conspiracy was formed against Guy Julia Caesar, a consul, who received unlimited power. A group of supporters of the republic, led by Guy Kassiy Longin and Mark Yunius Brut, decided to kill the dictator. At a meeting of the Senate, the conspirators attacked him and inflicted 23 strokes with daggers in a total of 23 strokes.

Caesar's biography was described in the most detailed detailed many years, or even centuries after his death. Nevertheless, this is the most reliable information: they are based on the stories of contemporaries of the Roman ruler and on the now lost works of other historians.

Living in the second half of the I - beginning of the II century n. e. Plutarch in "Comparative biographies“Caesar’s last minutes describes quite sparingly:“ Some writers say that, fighting off the conspirators, Caesar darted and shouted, but when he saw Brutus with a naked sword, threw toga on his head and set himself up under the blows. ”

The contemporary of Plutarch Gai Sveetonius Transville (about 70 BC - after 122 AD). V "The life of the twelve Caesars"Added some details:“ When he saw that naked daggers were directed on him from all sides, he threw it on his head to the toga and dismissed her folds below his knees in his left hand to fall more decent to the heels; And so he was struck by twenty three blows, only at the first, not even a scream, but a moan, although some say that he said to him Brutus, who rushed to him: “And you, my child!” In the original, Suetonius leads this phrase on Greek: "καὶ σὺ τέκνον."

Almost literally retells Suetonia Dion Cassius (155–230) V "Roman history":" Then they attacked him at once from many sides and wounded him deadly, so because of the number their Caesar could neither say nor do anything, only covered his face and died of many wounds. This is the most truthful story, although some add that Brutus, which inflicted him a blow, he said: "And you, my child?"

In other words, the main version, represented by Suetonius and behind him - Dion Cassius, is that Caesar died silently. And the additional (“some transmit”) - that he turned to Brutus, but not by name, but as his son. This is an important detail, since some historians (for example, Appian and the same Plutarch in the II century) They wrotethat Brutus was the illegitimate son of Caesar. And to this tragic episode, the motive of edification was also added. However, modern researchers They think Caesar's paternity fiction.

The phrase "And you, Brutus!" Most known for the tragedy of William Shakespeare "Julius Caesar" (1599). In the third act, this The last words Roman ruler before death: “et tu, brute! That Fall, Caesar ”(“ And you, O Bright! So fall, Caesar ”!” translation Mikhail Zenkevich). Researchers of Shakespeare's work They thinkthat the phrase itself appeared a little earlier - in the play by Caesar Interfectus (“killed Caesar”), staged in Oxford in 1582, written in Latin in Latin. Before that, no traces of the phrase in the form in which it reached our time could not be found.

Thus, ancient authors believe that Caesar either died silently, or turned to Brutus with the words "And you, my child!" The phrase “And you, Brutus!” Most likely, appeared in the Elizabethan era in England and was popularized by Shakespeare.

Photo on the cover: “Murder of Julia Caesar”, William Holmes Sullivan, 1888 / Wikimedia Commons

Most likely not true

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