Et tu, Brute?

"Et tu, Brute?" ("You too, Brutus?", or "And you, Brutus?" or "Even you, Brutus?") is a Latin phrase often used poetically to represent the last words of Julius Caesar. The quotation is widely used in Western culture as an epitome of betrayal.

Context

On March 15 (the Ides of March), 44 BC, Julius Caesar was attacked by a group of senators, including Marcus Junius Brutus, a senator and Caesar's close friend. Caesar initially resisted his attackers, but when he saw Brutus, he supposedly spoke those words and resigned himself to his fate.

Caesar's last words are not known with certainty, and are a contested subject among scholars and historians alike. The version best known in the English-speaking world is the Latin phrase "Et tu, Brute?" ("And you, Brutus?" or "You too, Brutus?" or "Even you, Brutus?"); this derives from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", where it actually forms the first half of a macaronic line: "Et tu, Brute?" Then fall, Caesar." Shakespeare's version evidently follows in the tradition of the Roman historian Suetonius, who reports that Caesar's last words were the Greek phrase "καὶ σὺ τέκνον;" [Suetonius, "The Lives of Twelve Caesars", Life of Julius Caesar [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Julius*.html#82.2 82.2] ] (transliterated as "Kai su, teknon?": "You too, my child?" in English). [Suetonius, "The Lives of Twelve Caesars", Life of Julius Caesar, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/suetonius-julius.html translation by JC Rolfe] ] Plutarch, on the other hand, reports that Caesar said nothing, pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators. [Plutarch, "The Parallel Lives", Life of Caesar [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html#66.9 66.9] ]

In some other languages, the best-known version of Caesar's last words is a more literal Latin translation of the Greek phrase reported by Suetonius: "tu quoque, fili mi?" ("You also, my son?"). This version is reported, for example, in Lhomond's "De Viris Illustribus", [Lhomond "De Viris Illustribus", ] an 18th century summary of Roman history, which was long used as a standard text by Latin students.

Interpretation

While the words are very emotionally moving as an expression of shock and betrayal towards Brutus, it has recently been argued that the phrase was instead uttered as a threat. cite journal | last = Arnaud | first = P. | title = "Toi aussi, mon fils, tu mangeras ta part de notre pouvoir" –Brutus le Tyran? | year = 1998 | journal = Latomus | volume = 57 | pages = 61–71 ] [cite journal | last = Woodman | first = A.J. | title = Tiberius and the Taste of Power: The Year 33 in Tacitus | journal = Classical Quarterly | volume = 56 | issue = 1 | pages = 175–189 | year = 2006 | doi = 10.1017/S0009838806000140 ] Caesar is thought to have adapted the words of a Greek sentence which to the Romans had long since become proverbial. The complete phrase is said to have been "You too my son, will have a taste of power," of which Caesar only needed to invoke the opening words to foreshadow Brutus' own violent death, in response to his assassination.

Notes