“As he fell, Caesar cried out in Greek to Brutus, ‘You too, child’, which was either a threat (I’ll get you, boy!) or a poignant regret for the disloyalty of a young friend (You too, my child?), or even, as some suspicious contemporaries imagined, a final revelation that Brutus was, in fact, his victim’s natural son and that this was not merely assassination but patricide. The famous Latin phrase Et tu, Brute? (You too, Brutus?) is an invention of Shakespeare’s.”
Mary Beard SPQR: a history of Ancient Rome pp337-8
Chris
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Fascinating!!
It’s little gems like this that keep you on your toes as a teacher. Certainties just disappear like so much froth.
Thank you for your comment
So interesting! Julius Caesar is certainly one of my favourite plays!
Infact, just a couple of days ago, I wrote a poem as an ode to Julius Caesar. The poem potrays what might be going on inside Julius Caesar at the time he fell on the ground, dead. I would love to know what you think about it!
Here’s the link:
https://thescribblingssite.wordpress.com/2017/09/10/ruthless-crowd/
Great post!
Thank you for your comment.
Yes I did read your poem about the event. 2000 years later & he’s still discussed, ‘remembered’, and intellectually explored: what a legacy.