Bust of Brutus by Michelangelo
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His father was Marcus Brutus Sr., his mother was Servilia, reputedly one of Rome's most beautiful women. But here's the interesting part - it was widely rumored that Brutus' real father was Julius Caesar. It was well known that Caesar and Servilia had had a teenage affair, but Caesar would have been fifteen at the time of Marcus junior's birth. Servilia, Marcus' mother, was in fact thirteen when he was born.
Caesar treated Marcus Brutus like a son, but when the Civil War broke out between Caesar and Pompey, Brutus sided with Pompey and the Roman republic.
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Caesar loved him like a son...
Brutus wasn't much of a soldier. In fact he had no military experience. The day before the climactic battle of Pharsalus, Brutus spent the day in his tent writing a condensed Latin version of a work by the Greek writer Polybius. More scholar than soldier.
On August 9th., 49 B.C., the day of the battle, Caesar gave orders that if his soldiers should come across Brutus on the battlefield, they must allow him to surrender and then bring him to Caesar. If Brutus refused to surrender they must allow him to escape unharmed.
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And forgave him...
After the defeat of the Republican forces, Brutus made his escape, traveling without stop through the night of August 9 -10 to the coastal town of Larisa. From there he wrote a letter to Caesar and sent a messenger to find Caesar and deliver the letter.
Caesar arrived in Larisa and accepted the surrender of the town, but he was more interested in finding Brutus. They were reunited, apparently at the city gates. Caesar forgave Brutus for siding with his enemies and welcomed him to his side. Together the pair then rode a short distance from Caesar's staff and bodyguard. They dismounted and then walked through the countryside deep in conversation.
It all points to the deep affection that Caesar held for Brutus.
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And pardoned Cassius...
At this meeting Brutus solicited a pardon for his brother-in-law, Gaius Cassius Longinus, who was at this time commanding a senatorial fleet somewhere in the Aegean Sea. Caesar agreed to the pardon. This is the Cassius of whom Shakespeare's Caesar says:
"Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look, He thinks too much; ..."
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Who later conspired to kill Caesar.
Cassius was the instigator of the plot to assassinate Caesar.
In Dante's Inferno, Cassius is one of three people deemed sinful enough to be in the very center of Hell and for all eternity to be chewed in one of the three mouths of Satan, as a punishment for killing Julius Caesar. The other two are Brutus, his fellow conspirator, and Judas Iscariot. (Canto XXXIV)
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