Friday, September 27, 2024

The Julius Caesar quote everyone gets wrong

Julius Caesar never said, "Et tu, Brute?"

Famous Figures

A lot of history's famous quotes are either misattributed or were never spoken in the first place. In addition to the fact that Gandhi never said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world," and no one aboard Apollo 13 ever uttered the phrase, "Houston, we have a problem," Julius Caesar didn't say, "Et tu, Brute?" ("You too, Brutus?") as he was stabbed to death by a group of Roman senators that included his supposed bestie. The line comes from Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and is followed by its protagonist's last words, "Then fall, Caesar" — as though the betrayal made him lose his will to live more than the stab wounds.

Caesar's actual last words — or whether he even had the breath to speak any — are unknown. Most ancient scholars, including Roman historians Plutarch and Cassius Dio, believe he said nothing at all, but mention that other sources claim he spoke in Greek: "καὶ σύ, τέκνον," roughly translating to "You too, my child?" In any case, March 15 — the date of Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE, better known as the Ides of March — has since become associated with doom and foreboding.

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By the Numbers

Stab wounds received by Caesar

Years Brutus lived after the assassination before taking his own life

Roman senators involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar

~60

Acts in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

Did you know?

Brutus probably never said, "Sic semper tyrannis."

There's another famous quote attributed to Brutus himself, who's believed to have shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis" — "Thus always to tyrants" — as he stabbed Caesar. There's just one problem, though, and you can likely guess what it is: There's no evidence that Brutus said this or anything else while fatally betraying his former friend and ally. The Latin saying has stood the test of time nevertheless; in fact, John Wilkes Booth actually said it after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. He did so 89 years after Virginia made the phrase its state motto and put it on the state seal.