[@ChrisWillx] Caesar’s Last Mistake (& the omens he ignored) - Alex Petkas

Link: https://youtu.be/JBSuLTKAExg

Duration: 14 min

Short Summary

This episode covers Julius Caesar's assassination and the events leading to his death on the Ides of March in 44 BC, exploring historical details about his political enemies and potential conspirators. The discussion clarifies Plutarch's confusion between Marcus Brutus (Caesar's lover Servilia's son) and Decimus Brutus (Caesar's trusted Gaul lieutenant who was actually closer to him and named in his will), while recounting Caesar's final philosophical dinner conversation about "the best kind of death" at Lepidus's house the night before.

Key Quotes

1. "The best kind of death is one that comes sudden, swift, and unexpected." (00:19:01)
2. "Once they invent writing, you know, it's it's over." (00:04:00)
3. "It's the email inbox of ancient Rome." (00:04:03)
4. "That's what tyrants do." (00:01:38)

Detailed Summary

Caesar's Final Days and Historical Context

• Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC and was 54 years old when he was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC
• He was preparing a Parthian expedition to avenge Crassus, who was killed by Parthians with Roman eagles captured approximately 10 years earlier
• Cicero gave a speech referencing prior assassination plots that occurred 18 months earlier after Caesar returned from defeating opponents in Africa
• Caesar refused a bodyguard, reasoning that accepting one was what tyrants did to seize power—a pattern he explicitly rejected

The Brutus Identity Confusion

• Plutarch confused Marcus Brutus with Decimus Brutus in his biography of Caesar
• Marcus Brutus was the son of Caesar's girlfriend Servilia, making him Caesar's lover's son
• Decimus Brutus was Caesar's trusted lieutenant in Gaul, a naval commander against the Veneti, and crucial in the Battle of Marseilles during the civil war
• Decimus was actually much closer to Caesar than Marcus, serving as a Gaul lieutenant and naval commander
• Decimus Brutus was named as a second in Caesar's will and was one of the conspirators who stabbed Caesar the following day

Caesar's Final Night and Philosophical Dinner

• On the night of March 14, Caesar spent his final night before his assassination at the house of Lepidus, a trusted friend
• At dinner, Caesar proposed the philosophical theme "what is the best kind of death?" with Decimus sitting nearby
• Caesar stated the best death is one that comes sudden, swift, and unexpected
• The conversation referenced Cyrus the Great and Xenophon's "Cyropedia," a book Caesar had read
• Caesar spent his final dinner signing letters with "valete" (farewell), as was Roman custom

Roman Daily Life and Customs

• The Pythagorean cup (also called the cup of greed) was an ancient Greek drinking cup with a hidden siphon that drains completely if filled past a certain level, used by Pythagoras to teach moderation and fairness
• Cato, Caesar's political nemesis, was known as a heavy drinker who often arrived at the Senate smelling of wine during his philosophical conversations
• A typical Roman feast seated nine people on couches arranged around a central table, where everyone reclined while eating

Full Transcript

Show transcript

What does the final day of Caesar's life
look like? So, um, the leadup to this is
important because Caesar is, uh,
you know, he he knows that there are
assassination plots. There were even
assassination plots 18 months earlier
when he got back to Rome finally from
the African campaign where he defeated
Ko and friends. And Cicero mentions this
in a speech. He gives a speech in front
of Caesar. He's like, "Caesar,
um
I have heard it is it has been said that
you you tell people I have lived long
enough either for nature or for glory
because he knows about assassination
attempts and he dismisses them. He says,
"You know what? If they want to kill me,
I've had a good run."
>> How old is he at this point?
>> He is, so this is 46 when he gets back.
So he would be 54. born in 100 BC.
>> Uh, and 44 is is the eyides of March
when he dies. So that's that's how old
he ends up being. But I mean, you know,
that's pretty old for a Roman. Like he's
had a pretty good run so far. And uh but
he dismisses these these uh these um
plots
and you know, the information just keeps
coming in. Sure. And sure, people are
trying to kill you, Caesar. Can you
please up your security detail? Can you
please give yourself a bodyguard? Like
we're begging you. His friends are
begging him. And he says, "Not going to
do that." That's what tyrants do. And
sure enough, like this is the kind of
classic mo mold of how tyrants seize
powerist at Athens. I mean, you can
multiply a lot of examples. You get a
bodyguard first. You say, "Oh no,
there's threats against my life. I need
a bodyguard, citizens. I just want to be
your servant." and and and then that's
how you seize power. And Caesar knows
that that's the pattern. He's not going
to do it. And and it comes to the point
where people are continuing to bring in
names of potential
conspirators. And Caesar says, "I've had
it. Anybody bringing me more talk about
an assassination plot is going to face
consequences." He's like, "You're going
to get fired if I hear another about you
bringing me an assassination plot." He
doesn't want to. He doesn't want to hear
it. I think that's because
he didn't want to rule over
a subjugated,
you know, cowed populace. He wanted to
rule over free Romans.
>> Um, and he didn't want a police state.
He didn't want he wanted people to feel
free to say what they whatever they
wanted to say. Uh, this is clearly
demonstrated by a lot of his actions.
You know, people are criticizing him.
They're making jokes about at Caesar's
expense. you there's certain lines that
you don't cross. Um but he doesn't want
to um up his security detail. The very
last night
the 14th of March he
you know it's a normal day of business
day at at work and he's got this
incredible
crushing burden of you know cases to
hear and petitions and laws needing
passing. And he's also preparing for
this great expedition to Partha. He's
going to avenge Craas. Craas was killed
by the Parththeians. They captured Roman
eagles about 10 years earlier. So he's
he's just trying to get get through the
next three days to get out of town and
go back to I mean Caesar was good at
politics, but I think better at war. I
think he's better at war.
>> Yeah.
He's equally as good at war and it's
probably a happier place for him.
>> Even in BC times, people were still
drowning in admin is what you're saying.
>> Oh yeah. I mean like the load that he's
carrying.
Yeah. It's it's a universal problem.
Once they invent writing, you know, it's
it's over.
>> [ __ ] game over. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It's the email inbox of ancient Rome.
>> Yeah. And it's funny you should mention
email. So, um on the last night,
Caesar is having dinner. as you know, he
he has a like formal dinner every night.
There's like nine seats at a typical
Roman feast. You you circle around on
couches around a central table and
everybody kind of lies down. It's it's
weird, but that's how they did it.
>> And uh
>> horrible for the digestion.
>> It's horrible for the dig digestion, but
one advantage is everybody has to have
the same conversation cuz you're all
pointed toward the center of the circle.
>> Yeah. As opposed to an elongated table
where this group over there is speaking
like that and this group That's
interesting. I remember um was it
who was it that suggested that the size
of glasses of wine were getting too big
around the table? Was it maybe
Aristotle?
>> And he made a special kind of cup and if
you overfilled the cup, the entire thing
drained.
>> Oh yeah.
>> Basically, his problem was that he
wanted to have these really interesting
conversations at dinner and people were
just getting too drunk. This is before
coffee came around. And there's this
interesting story which
>> Newtonic
>> before I mean they should have had the
neutropic toothpicks um
you there's that big transition was in
sort of the middle ages in uh the UK
where Britain started to go from just
having ale houses to having uh coffee
shops as well. And this is a boon in uh
innovation because people aren't just
pissed all the time. They're just not
drunk as much. They're stimulated.
They're going and getting stuff done.
Anyway, I think it's Aristotle that had
this issue. And his problem was, I want
to go to dinner and have all of these
interesting conversations, but everybody
drinks their wine so fast.
>> Yeah.
>> That the the conversation degenerates
into nothingness. So, his suggestion was
to his host to make the cup smaller.
Says people will drink the same number,
but they'll not realize that they're
having less. And it's supposed to be I
think it's like an Arisatilian cup. Uh
Jared, do a chachi BT search. What was
the ancient cup that was made to ensure
people didn't overfill it? Uh maybe
Aristotle. And it's this interesting
this interesting point that okay, well,
if we reduce it down, it means that the
conversational quality will be a bit
better. But I suppose if you're sat in a
you're probably thinking of the
Pythagorean cup.
>> Pythagoras.
>> Yeah. Also called the cup of greed or
greedy cup. It's a special drinking cup
from ancient Greece designed so that if
you fill it past a certain level, it
empties completely.
>> Isn't that cool?
>> That's brilliant. Oh, cuz it's a siphon.
Yeah, that's right.
>> It's got a hidden siphon inside the
central col. If you pour wine below the
mark line, the cup works normally. If
you pour above the line, the siphon
activates and the entire cup drains out
through the bottom of the stem. For
someone who tries to take more than
their fair share, they end up with
nothing. Legend says Pythagoras used it
to teach moderation and fairness among
workers or students. And the lesson is
greed causes you to lose everything.
Isn't
>> that [ __ ] cool?
>> So Greek. Isn't
>> that sick?
>> Moderation.
>> Yeah.
>> Wise man. Pythagoras. Well, you know,
it's funny because I mean and in Plato's
symposium that that they decide to pour
the the wine. They pour water in the
wine often for moderation so that
>> you drink you drink less. But they
wanted to pour the wine really really
light that night because they they all
got smashed the night before and they
want to have like a chill conversation
that night. But Kato, Caesar's nemesis,
was actually known to be a bit of a
tippler. Like he would he would often
show up to the Senate kind of
smelling of wine.
>> Yep.
>> And but that would be because he liked
to drink for a long time having
philosophical conversations. And it was
it was this kind of conversation that
that was happening. Caesar's last night.
So
Caesar is at the house of Lepedus and he
invites a number of people to the to be
among the nine. Lepedus is um good good
trusted friend of his and one of them is
Desimus Brutus. This is not the the
Brutus that appears in Shakespeare's
play Julius Caesar, you know, and you
too Brutus, it's a different Brutus, but
actually was the Brutus that was closer
to Caesar in in point of fact
historically, funny enough. So does
Shakespeare get that confused?
>> Does he amalgamate the two on purpose?
>> Plutarch gets it confused. This is like
one of the one of the kind of flaws of
Plutarch's um biography of Caesar. He
thinks that um Marcus Brutus who is
actually not I mean close to Caesar he
is um because he's the son of Caesar's
favorite girlfriend Cervilia
>> but Desimus Brutus was a lot closer to
him because he was a a lieutenant of his
in Gaul. I mean they're distantly
related these two Brutuses but they're
not close or anything but Desimus was
like naval commander against the Veneti.
He's been brilliant in the civil war,
crucial in the battle of Marseilles. And
and in fact, Desimus Brutus was in his
will as a second. Desimus is one of the
men who who stabbed him the very next
day. M
>> he's sitting there with him at dinner
the night before
>> and they're they're they're sitting
there having their conversation
as one does as as you know a lot of
final night scenes of uh you know great
Romans and great Greeks are like these
like philosophical conversations
>> and I think that's because they had them
a lot actually it's very normal
>> and so
>> like the last supper of Jesus that's I
mean there were maybe a few additions
But he was probably speaking like that
most.
>> Yeah, you they like all here we go
again.
>> Just a Tuesday.
>> So Caesar is sitting there as the
conversation's going on. I find this
really fascinating.
He's he's he's doing his clearing his
inbox actually cuz he's a busy guy. One
has to. And his secretary is sitting
there kind of feeding him letters that
need to go out that he needs to sign.
And so he's writing sincerely on them,
you know, signing his name, right? But
the way you do that in Latin, the custom
is you write val
farewell.
So all through the night he's writing
farewell, farewell, farewell on these
letters. And that's what you would have
done typically.
>> That's what you would have done to say
goodbye. Uh but but I mean the fact that
he's like filling out letters during
dinner,
>> I mean this guy has got a
>> [ __ ] ton of work to do. Yeah. And he's
just trying to get it's brainless. He's
just kind of Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.
Yes. And go on, Casius. Yes. And um
I find that striking. But at some point
in the night, he proposes a theme for
the philosophical conversation that's
going on. Desimus is sitting right
there. what is the best kind of death?
And the conversation goes this way and
that way. Somebody brings up the example
of Cyrus the Great, the great king of
Persia who founded the Persian Empire.
Um, Zenapon says, doesn't he, that Cyrus
made all these arrangements before his
death that he wanted to be buried in
this way and this should happen and so
forth after he was um after he was gone.
And of course Caesar had read this book
Zenapon Cyropidia.
And Caesar's
turn comes to him and he says that
sounds horrible. I don't want a long
slow death. The best kind of death is
one that comes sudden, swift, and
unexpected.
You know what is Desimus thinking at
that at that moment? But that that's
well attested that that's what the
conversation was about at some point
that night.
>> Prophetic. Yeah, man. And then he goes
home late and bad dreams his, you know,
if you've heard the read the Shakespeare
play, there's all these omens. You know,
his wife has this dream that she's she
gets him up in the middle of the night
that like wind blows open the shutters
and, you know, he has to get up and shut
them and calm down Kalpernia.
And um she had this dream that she was
like holding the bloody Caesar like
looking at their house as it's like
burning and collapsing.
There's all these, you know, birds are
acting weird. So the story goes. I mean,
a lot of these omens typically happen
around great events in the ancient
sources, but you know, who knows? I mean
I mean that the the murder of a guy like
Julius Caesar really is a kind of like
if if ever a death is a rip in the
fabric of reality, you know, like that
that comes pretty close.
Um, so that was how he spent his last
night. It's a very unsettled night.
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