Lucius Junius Brutus. Brutus, Lucius Junius Excerpt characterizing Lucius Junius Brutus

The Romans considered Lucius Junius Brutus to be the founder of the Roman Republic and the main initiator of the expulsion of the Tarquins. The legend about the expulsion of the kings and the personality of Brutus, of course, cannot claim historicity, like all Roman history before the time of the decemvirs. It is simply not possible to separate such legends from the truth with complete certainty. Therefore, all that remains is to follow tradition.

Brutus's family belonged to the patrician class and was one of the noblest in Rome. It was derived from a Trojan who supposedly came to Rome with Aeneas. Brutus's father was Marcus Junius, a respectable man married to Tarquinia, one of the sisters of King Tarquinius the Proud. The despot king ordered his death soon after the murder of Servius in order to take possession of his wealth. And in order to protect himself from blood, he took the life of his eldest son, Mark, in revenge. Tarquin spared his youngest son, Lucius, because he was still a child and seemed safe, and Lucius grew up in Tarquin's house with his own sons. The fate of his relatives did not remain a secret from young Lucius and, in order to avoid the same fate, he placed all his property at the disposal of Tarquin, pretended to be half-mad and played his role so skillfully that he was mockingly nicknamed Brutus, i.e. idiot. Thus, he protected himself with contempt where it was impossible to protect himself with justice, and began to patiently wait for an opportunity to avenge himself.

For some time, bad dreams and threatening signs began to foreshadow imminent misfortune for the king. The kites destroyed the eagle's nest near the royal palace, killed the young eaglets and drove away the father and mother, who returned home; the snake carried away the king's bulls, which he had prepared for sacrifice to the gods; the plague began to destroy mothers and infants. The king began to fear for his home and decided to ask the most famous oracle - the Delphic one. And since he did not dare to entrust to an outsider the answer of God regarding his family, he sent his two sons - Titus and Aruns - to Greece. And so that they would not get bored, he sent Lucius Junius with them as a jester. Arriving in Delphi, the royal children brought precious gifts to the god Apollo, but Brutus gave him only his traveling stick. But this stick was hollowed out inside and contained another stick, a golden one - a secret symbol of his mind. Having fulfilled their father's instructions, the princes asked the oracle which of them would reign in Rome. The answer was: “The one of you, O young men, who first kisses his mother will become the chief ruler.”. Both Tarquins agreed to keep the words of the oracle secret so that their brother Sextus, who remained at home, would not get ahead of them. As for themselves, they left it to fate to decide which of the two would kiss their mother first. Clever Brutus, having understood the deeper meaning of the oracle's saying, got ahead of them so that they did not understand it - he, as if tripping, fell and kissed the earth, the common mother of all mortals.

At the time they returned to Rome, preparations were underway for war with Ardea, a Rutulian city, the wealth of which had long attracted King Tarquin. Taking this heavily fortified city, which stood on a high steep cliff, was not an easy task and required a long siege. While the Roman army was camped near Ardea, the king's sons feasted in the tent of Sextus Tarquinius, where their relative Lucius Tarquinius, called Collatinus, from the city of Collatia, in which his father Egerius was governor, was also present. The young men's conversation turned to their wives, and each praised his own as superior to all others. "In this case,- Collatinus finally exclaimed, - Let us now mount our horses, and I hope to convince you clearly that all your wives must yield to my Lucretia.” “So be it!”- the others exclaimed. And so they, flushed with wine, rushed on horseback, first to Rome, where they found the princes’ wives at a sumptuous dinner, and from there to Collatia. It was already very late, but Lucrezia was still sitting with her girls and spinning. The victory went to her.

But the beauty aroused vile plans in Sextus Tarquinia and a few days later he, accompanied by one slave, hurried to Collatia and, with the help of violence, threats and a drawn sword, forced Lucretia to yield to his criminal impulses. Lucretia, full of grief and indignation, immediately sent one ambassador to Rome to her father Spurius Lucretius, and another to her husband in Ardea, asking that they come to her as soon as possible and that each take with him a faithful friend, since a terrible misfortune happened.

Lucretius arrived with Publius Valerius, and Collatinus with Lucius Junius Brutus. They found Lucretia in the bedroom in the deepest sadness. She told them about the crime of Sextus Tarquin, announced that she would die, and demanded that they punish the criminal. They all gave her their word and tried to console her, but she did not accept consolation. "You will take care- she said, - so that the culprit of this case receives a worthy retribution; I, although I recognize myself as innocent, do not want to escape punishment; Let no woman after me, citing Lucretia, remain alive through the loss of chastity.”. With these words, she plunged a dagger hidden under her dress into her chest and fell dead.

While everyone present was still overwhelmed with grief, Brutus took the bloody dagger from Lucretia's chest and said: “By this pure and sacred blood I swear and call you, gods, as witnesses that I will pursue the arrogant villain Lucius Tarquin with his godless wife and all the children of his tribe with fire and sword and with all the means possible to me and will not tolerate them, or whoever else was king in Rome." After this, he handed the dagger to Collatinus, Lucretius and Valerius, who looked with amazement at the new Brutus. They repeated the oath dictated to them by Brutus, took Lucretia’s corpse to the city market and began to call on the people to revolt. All citizens took up arms, closed the city gates and Brutus led the youth to Rome. Here, as commander of the horsemen, he convened a popular assembly and with a fiery speech about the vile violence of Sextus Tarquin, the cruelty of the king and the misfortune of the people, he aroused in the citizens a decision to take away power from Tarquin and expel him from Rome along with his entire family. After this, Brutus armed and prepared for battle all the people capable of military service who voluntarily offered their services, and went with them to the Ardean camp in order to stir up an army against the king there too. During this disturbance, Tullia, the hated queen, fled from the city with a small retinue, accompanied by the curses of the excited crowd.

The army standing in front of Ardea greeted Brutus with delight and joined the popular decision. The king, having received news of what was happening in Rome, hurried there from the camp. He found the city gates locked and heard of his expulsion. I had to submit to fate and go as an exile to the Etruscan land with my two eldest sons. Sextus Tarquinius moved to Gabii, a city previously given to him as full property, where he was killed for his past crimes by embittered residents.

After the expulsion of the king, the leaders of the uprising set about establishing a new order in the state and establishing a new government. The place of the king was now to be occupied by two annually replaced consuls, vested with the same power and the same military and political rights that the kings enjoyed. But the annual change and division of power between two persons protected the state from the danger of despotic rule. Only the priestly rights held by the kings were transferred to a dignitary called "rex sacrificulus" or "rex sacrorum". The first consuls elected to the comitia centuriata were Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus.

Consul Brutus, as the guardian of the new freedom, showed the same energy as he had distinguished himself as its founder. Firstly, he obliged the people with an oath never to allow kings to appear in Rome in the future. Secondly, the government of Servius Tullius was restored, along with all the other laws of this king. The Senate, whose numbers had been greatly reduced under Tarquin, again began to have 300 members thanks to the admission of noble plebeians into their ranks.

The people were so concerned about preserving their young freedom that the consul Tarquin Collatinus, despite the fact that his thoughts and actions were impeccable, aroused suspicion by his very name. The Tarquins, the people said, had not learned to live the life of honest people, their name arouses suspicion, it is dangerous for freedom; as long as there is at least one Tarquin in the city, freedom cannot be guaranteed, and here even the government is in the hands of Tarquin. When Brutus noticed these suspicious doubts of the citizens, he convened a public assembly and, having read aloud the oath of the people that this latter would not tolerate any king in the city and in general any power from which the people could be in any danger, he turned to his to a comrade with a request that he voluntarily leave and thereby relieve the citizens of the anxious feeling aroused in them by the presence of the royal name of Tarquin in the city. For the consul, this proposal was so unexpected that at first he was speechless with amazement. When he wanted to object, the first dignitaries of the state surrounded him with urgent requests to make this sacrifice for the fatherland. Even his father-in-law, old Spurius Lucretius, warmly joined in these requests. But since Collatinus was slow to submit to the will of the people, Brutus deprived him of his post by decision of the people's assembly and the former people's consul went with his property to Lavinium. Following this, Brutus achieved another popular decision - so that the entire generation of Tarquins would be expelled from the Roman state. In place of Collatinus, Brutus elected Publius Valerius as his comrade, and the people confirmed this election.

King Tarquin did not want to give up so easily and began to think of ways to return to the city again. First, cunning was used. He sent envoys to Rome with instructions (without mentioning his desire to return) to demand the surrender of his property. While meetings were being held in the Senate on this matter, the ambassadors began relations with some noble citizens, with the goal of overthrowing the new order of things and returning the royal family to Rome. The main ones were the Vitellia brothers and the Aquillia brothers. The first were close relatives of Brutus, who married their sister Vitellia. The Aquillians were the nephews of the consul Collatinus. Through the efforts of these people, a significant number of noble youth, friendly with the sons of Tarquin and longing for a return to their former cheerful life, were also involved in the conspiracy. Even Brutus' sons, Titus and Tiberius, took part in the criminal plans.

Meanwhile, in the Senate it was decided to give Tarquin his property, and the envoys took advantage of the period given to them by the consuls for receiving this property to conduct further negotiations with the conspirators. On the eve of their departure, they gathered together for dinner at the Vitellius house and talked a lot about the plan they had drawn up, feeling completely safe. The envoys were also given letters from the conspirators to Tarquin. But one slave, named Vindicius, heard everything and saw the transmission of letters. He immediately notified both consuls about everything. The consuls arrested the envoys and conspirators, and since the letters found confirmed the slave's testimony, the traitors were immediately put in chains. Nevertheless, the envoys were released from the city, but the royal property was not returned. The Senate gave this property to the people for plunder, so that, having become a participant in the robbery of the royal family, they would lose all hope of ever making peace with it.

The field between the Capitol and the Tiber, which belonged to Tarquin, was dedicated to the god Mars and has since been called the Campus Marcius. This field was covered with grain ready for the harvest, but the people were afraid to take the fruits of the land dedicated to God, and the ears of corn were thrown into the river. All this mass remained in the water. Subsequently, a large amount of silt stuck to it, and from all this the sacred island of the Tiber was formed, which was later connected to the city with bridges and decorated with temples, colonnades and public gardens.

The theft of the royal property was followed by the accusation and execution of the traitors. The Senate and all the people gathered in the square. Both consuls sat in their judge's chairs. The conspirators, including the sons of Brutus, stood tied to pillars, awaiting Brutus's verdict, since he presided over the trial that day. In Brutus there lived such a truly Roman spirit, which was not found in any of his fellow citizens. The crime of his sons was obvious and they themselves did not deny their guilt. There was no choice left. "Lictors,- said Brutus, - do your duty". And the lictors grabbed the young men, tore off their clothes, tied their hands on their backs and began to beat them with rods, after which they threw them to the ground and cut off their heads with axes. Brutus sat motionless on his judge's chair and, without outward signs of grief, watched as his sons, who were the only hope of his house, bled to death. Then, covering his head and face, he left the place of execution. He sacrificed what was dearer to him than anything else in the world to freedom and the fatherland. The remaining conspirators were condemned to death by the people gathered in the square. After this, the slave who discovered the conspiracy was solemnly declared free and given all the rights of a Roman citizen.

Tarquinius, seeing that his cunning and treason had failed, decided to regain power by force of arms. He began to travel around the cities of Etruria and ask for help. The inhabitants of the cities of Tarquini and Veii gathered an army for him in the hope of avenging the many defeats they had previously suffered from the Roman people. The Roman army marched towards them under the command of both consuls. Valerius led the infantry, arranged in a quadrangle, and Brutus walked ahead at the head of the cavalry. The enemy army moved in the same way - Aruns Tarquinius formed the vanguard with the cavalry, and the Tsar of Tarquinius followed him with the infantry. As soon as Aruns saw his mortal enemy at the head of the enemy cavalry, he exclaimed in great anger: “Here he is, the man who expelled us from our fatherland! Look how arrogantly he rides on a horse, decorated with our insignia! Oh gods, protectors of kings, help me!” With these words he rushed straight to the consul. Brutus realized that they were talking about him, and, inflamed with the same hatred, rushed into battle. In a fit of anger, not one of them thought about self-preservation - everyone only wanted to hit the enemy. They collided with full force, pierced each other's shield and chest with a spear, and both fell dead from their horses. Following this, a bloody battle between cavalry and infantry began. Victory leaned first on one side, then on the other, until a storm dispersed the embittered troops. Each of them retired to their own camp, not knowing who had won. As night fell, silence reigned in both camps. But suddenly a noise arose in the Arsian forest and a loud voice announced that the Etruscans had killed one more man in the battle than the Romans, and that the Romans had thus won. It was the voice of the forest god Silvan, who had the ability to plunge the bravest army into panic. Fear took possession of the Etruscans to such an extent that they quickly left their camp and fled. The Romans pursued them with shouts of victory, took no less than five thousand prisoners, and took possession of the rich booty left in the camp.

Valery returned to Rome with a victorious army, but the Romans were not pleased with the victory, bought at the cost of the life of Brutus, the father of their freedom. Brutus's corpse was buried with great solemnity, and the consul Valerius delivered a funeral oration over him. The Roman matrons mourned him for a whole year as an avenger for the insulted honor of a woman. The memory of Brutus has always been revered by the Romans as the memory of the founder of Roman freedom, a man who, because of this freedom, did not spare the lives of his own children and fell in battle for it. Grateful descendants erected an iron statue of him with a naked sword in his hand and placed this statue in the Capitol between the images of the kings.

With the death of Lucius Junius Brutus, the patrician family of the Junii ended, since both executed sons were his only children. Caesar's assassin, Marcus Junius Brutus, was a plebeian by birth and, therefore, was not a descendant of this ancient Brutus.

Lucius Junius Brutus, who belonged to the ancient plebeian family of the Junii, was the nephew (son of the sister) of King Tarquinius the Proud. During mass repressions, Tarquinia managed to “hide his natural mind under a pleasant guise,” and thereby avoid the fate of relatives and influential members of the nobility. The nickname Brutus itself means Stupid.

There is a legend associated with the name of Brutus. An embassy was sent to Delphi from King Tarquin to interpret the unlucky sign in the king's house. The ambassadors were the king's sons Titus and Arrunt, and accompanying them was Brutus, who presented Apollo as a gift with a golden rod hidden inside a horned one - an allegorical image of his mind. After fulfilling the royal commission, the young men asked the oracle who would be the next king, to which they received the answer: “The one who first kisses his mother will receive the supreme power in Rome.” Brutus correctly interpreted the prophecy and, pretending to have stumbled, pressed his lips to the ground.

Some time after this embassy, ​​it happened that Prince Sextus Tarquinius dishonored the wife of his relative Tarquinius Collatinus, Lucretia, daughter of Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus. Lucretia told her husband, father, as well as their companions Junius Brutus and Publius Valerius about what had happened, after which, unable to bear the shame, she committed suicide. This event outraged the inhabitants of Collatium, prompting them to revolt. That same night, the excitement spread to Rome, where, prompted by the fiery speeches of Brutus, the people deposed the king, who at that time was with the army besieging the Rutulian city of Ardea. The army also defected to the rebels and King Tarquinius and his sons were expelled. The first consuls in 509 BC. e. Lucius Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus were elected.

In the same year, a pro-royal conspiracy arose in Rome with the support of the Tarquins. The conspirators included noble young men, including the sons of Brutus Titus and Tiberius. However, one of the slaves reported the conspirators to the consuls, and therefore they were captured and executed.

In the autumn, Tarquinius, with the support of the Etruscan cities of Veii and Tarquinia, gathered an army and marched on Rome. The consuls Lucius Junius and Publius Valerius spoke out against them (Collatinus had by that time been expelled from the city due to family ties with the king). In a skirmish between the advanced cavalry detachments, Junius Brutus killed Arruntas Tarquinius, but also fell himself. The infantry under the command of Valerius arrived in time, scattered the Veyan army and forced the Tarquinians to retreat.

Notes

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Died in 509 BC e.
• Roman consuls of the 6th century BC. e.
• Characters of The Divine Comedy

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According to Roman legend, the patrician who led the rebellion against Tarquin the Proud and established in 510 509 BC. e. republican system in Ancient Rome, one of the first consuls (together with Tarquinius Collatinus). * * * BRUTUS Lucius Junius BRUTUS Lucius... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Brutus, Lucius Junius- According to Roman legend, detailed by Livy, the legendary founder of the Roman Republic. He led the Romans to Etruria to overthrow the Roman king Tarquin the Proud, where he fled with his family after his son dishonored Lucretia. After … Ancient world. Dictionary-reference book.

BRUTUS\LUCIUS\JUNIUS Dictionary-reference book on Ancient Greece and Rome, on mythology

BRUTUS LUCIUS JUNIUS- According to Roman legend, detailed by Livy, the legendary founder of the Roman Republic. He led the Romans to Etruria to overthrow the Roman king Tarquin the Proud, where he fled with his family after his son dishonored Lucretia. After… … List of Ancient Greek names

According to Roman legend, the patrician who led the rebellion against Tarquin the Proud and established in 510 509 BC. e. Republican system in Rome, one of the first consuls (together with Tarquinius Collatinus) ...

- (Lucius Junius Brutus), according to ancient Roman legend, a patrician who headed in 509 BC. e. the uprising of the Romans against the Etruscan ruler Tarquinius the Proud and the founding of the republican system in Rome. He was one of the first (together with Tarquin... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Brutus Lucius Junius, according to Roman legend, a patrician who led the rebellion against Tarquin the Proud and established in 510 509 BC. e. Republican system in Rome, one of the first consuls (together with Tarquinius Collatinus) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Brutus Lucius Junius- BRUTUS Lucius Junius, according to Rome. According to legend, a patrician who led the uprising against Tarquin the Proud and established in 510509 BC. e. rep. building in Rome, one of the first consuls (together with Tarquinius Collatinus) ... Biographical Dictionary

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Lucius Junius Brutus LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS Bust of Brutus (Brutus Capitolinus) Birth name: Lucius Junius ... Wikipedia

According to Roman legend, detailed by Livy, the legendary founder of the Roman Republic. He led the Romans to Etruria to overthrow the Roman king Tarquin the Proud, where he fled with his family after his son dishonored Lucretia. After the overthrow of Tarquin in 509 BC. e. Two consuls were placed at the head of the Roman state. Lucius Junius Brutus was chosen as one of them. He is also known for his fairness. Brutus did not even spare his sons, suspecting them of treason against the Republic. This episode is the subject of one of David's classic paintings.

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