The duty of a friend

     In his palatial residence in Rome, Marcus Brutus paced up and down in his room. He had been recently approached by Cassius with a proposition, the proposition was to take part in a conspiracy to assassinate his best friend Julius Caesar. Cassius had argued that Caesar wanted to be the dictator of Rome and therefore bore the greatest threat to the survival of the Roman Republic and all the good things done by Caesar for the people of Rome was actually undertaken to gain influence in Roman society rather than for the welfare of the people. Cassius had made his arguments very well, he and the co-conspirators had explained to Brutus that it was in the interest of preserving the Roman Republic to assassinate Caesar. They had also shown how Caesar over the years because of his lust for power had created alliances and then betrayed them as well as used bribery to manipulate officials to do his bidding. The greatest example of this was Pompey. Caesar, in order to bypass senatorial control and to gain the first consulship of the Republic, had created the triumvirate with himself, Crassus and Pompey and later had fought a bloody civil war with him. They had also shown in great detail how Caesar after expelling Pompey out of Rome had through deceit, bribery and manipulation strengthened his control over the Senate in order to run the Republic like a pseudo-dictatorship.

    Now Brutus was in a dilemma, he both admired his friendship with Caesar as well as the values and the principles of the Roman Republic, he was also a staunch patricianist and had had many arguments with Caesar over his support of the Plebians. He thought, "So what do I do? Who should I owe my allegiance to? My friend Caesar or the values and teachings of the Republic?" He knew that if Caesar came to power, himself along with Mark Antony would surely prosper, indeed it might be advantageous to him that the Republic falls and Caesar assumes the role of the dictator of Rome. However, he also knew that to trust Caesar completely was a great folly as Caesar was a man who valued himself and his power over all others. In fact, Brutus was the best man to ascertain that for he had seen Caesar's initial friendship and later enmity with Pompei from close quarters. He had seen how Caesar had crossed the Rubicon eight years ago with his armies from Gaul in order to march into Rome and seize control of the city from Pompei. He had also seen that although Caesar was a patrician, he had cultivated support from the plebians in order to secure their support in his quest to be the dictator of Rome. He was thinking, " Can I allow Caesar to destroy Rome for his own good? Can I allow him to turn Rome over to the mob so that they call him their God? Can I allow him to destroy the years of struggle that has gone into creating the checks and balances that have been the fulcrum of the Roman Republican system?"

    But Brutus was also thinking, " I owe my power and position to Caesar, he was responsible for my rise in Roman society and I know that I can rise to unprecedented heights if he assumes power. I can if I can garner enough support even overthrow him and become dictator myself." Brutus knew that it would be his choice which would decide the fate of Rome as he weighed his prospects. Should he do his duty as a friend or should he do his duty to Rome? Should he defend the Republic from its enemies like his forefathers had done or should he compromise with the values and ideals of his forefathers in order to gain power? Should he protect the patrician class, the symbol of all the finery in Rome or should he turn Rome, the city that had created him and nurtured him over to the mob? He knew that this was no easy choice and he also knew that his choice would decide the future of Rome. His choice could be the difference between order and bloody civil war.

    Then finally Brutus made up his mind. He knew that although the values of the Republic were dear to him but so was the necessity of order in Rome and he knew that although the conspirators were united in killing Caesar, they could definitely fight amongst themselves for power after the deed was done. The result of this would be a bloody civil war that Brutus knew should be avoided for the welfare of Rome. Therefore he set out to inform Caesar about the conspiracy thus protecting Rome as well as doing his duty towards his friend.