LIVES THAT MADE A DIFFERENCE

  

On the 15^th March 44BC, 2056 years ago, Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate. The assassination of Julius Caesar was the result of a conspiracy by approximately 60 Roman Senators who called themselves Liberators. Led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, they stabbed Caesar to death in the Theatre of Pompey. Publius Servilius Casca Longus was allegedly the first to attack Caesar with a blow to the shoulder, which Caesar blocked; however, upon seeing Brutus was with the conspirators, (so it is reported)he covered his face with his toga and resigned himself to his fate. The conspirators attacked in such numbers that they even wounded one another. Brutus is said to have been wounded in the hand and in the legs.

I have often referred to this event and used Shakespeare’s play as a reference to it. A friend reminds me that Shakespeare is not history. Agreed. But, there was a conspiracy, a plot was afoot. Conspiracies are hatched in whispers in the corridors. So why not an orchard ? Surely the group would have discussed the fate of Caesars right hand man. Shakespeare’s imagined version is just as good as anyone’s, if not better. It may not be fly on the wall documentary, but as a dramatized rendition it’s not too shabby.  

The ramifications of the assassination were far-reaching - civil war and a host of Emperors that are the stuff of legend. Had the conspirators dealt with Marc Antony, would Octavian Caesar Augustus have been able to establish his authority on his own? Would there have been Tiberius, Caligula. Claudius and Nero? Without Tiberius would there have been a Pontius Pilate? Without Pilate would there have been a crucifixion?  Where would Christianity be were it not for the fact that Brutus talked Cassius et al, out of taking out Antony. Not only would we not have had Taylor and Burton, but we might not have had the Christian Church.

It was also on the 15th March 1990, that Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was elected as the first executive President of the Soviet Union. Some peoples lives and deedS really can change history.