Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus

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Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (born April 27,[1] ca. 85–81 BC,[2] died 43 BC) was a Roman politician and general of the 1st century BC and one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's assassination.[3][4] Decimus Brutus is not to be confused with the more famous Brutus among the conspirators, Marcus Brutus, though he often is.


Early life[edit]

Decimus Brutus was a distant cousin[clarification needed] of Julius Caesar, and on several occasions Caesar expressed how he loved Brutus like a son. Ronald Syme argued that if a Brutus was the natural son of Caesar, Decimus was more likely than Marcus (another distant cousin).[5] Decimus was named an heir in the second degree in Caesar's will.

Decimus Brutus spent his youth mainly in the company of Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Marcus Antonius.[citation needed] His mother was Sempronia, wife of Decimus Junius Brutus who was consul in 77 BC. He was adopted by Aulus Postumius Albinus, but kept his own family name, only adding his adoptive father's cognomen Albinus.

During the Wars[edit]

He served in Caesar's army during the Gallic wars and was given the command of the fleet in the war against the Veneti in 56 BC.[6] In a decisive sea battle, Decimus Brutus succeeded in destroying the Veneti's fleet. Using sickle-like hooks fitted on long poles, Decimus Brutus attacked the enemy's sails, leaving them immobilized and easy prey to Roman boarding parties. He also served against Vercingetorix in 52 BC.[7]



Ides of March and its aftermath[edit]




Activity in Gallia Cisalpina[edit]

The climate of reconciliation soon passed and slowly the conspirators were starting to feel the strain of the assassination. Thus, at the beginning of 43 BC, Decimus Brutus hurried to Gallia Cisalpina, the province assigned to him as propraetor, and started to levy his own troops. He was ordered by the Senate to surrender his province to Antony but refused. This was the act of provocation to which Antony was only too happy to respond. With his own political situation on the verge of disaster and himself declared public enemy, defeating Decimus Brutus was a way for Antony to regain his ascendancy and get control of the strategically important Italian Gaul.




Flight and death[edit]

His position deteriorating by the day, Decimus Brutus fled Italy, abandoning his legions. He attempted to reach Macedonia, where Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus had stationed themselves but was executed en route by a Gallic chief loyal to Mark Antony.


In literature[edit]



Decimus Brutus is an important character in Caesar and The October Horse by Colleen McCullough. In these novels, he and Gaius Trebonius are portrayed as the real leaders of the assassination conspiracy.

In Conn Iggulden's Emperor Series the historical figures of Decimus Brutus and Marcus Brutus are blended together into the one character named Marcus Brutus.


In Robert Harris' novel, Dictator, it is Decimus, not Marcus Junius, who is the Brutus targeted during Caesar's assassination by Caesar's alleged accusatory words, "Even you?" The phrase, more often rendered as "Et tu," is immortalized in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.[10]


  • Warfare in the Classical World by John Warry.


  6. ^ Caesar. Gallic Wars. III.11.
  7. ^ Caesar. Gallic Wars. VII.9.