Julius Caesar

In 44 BCE, Julius Caesar returns to Rome in triumph after defeating the sons of his rival Pompey. His growing power and popularity alarm a group of senators who fear he intends to become king and destroy the Republic. Led by the envious Cassius, they recruit the honourable Brutus—Caesar’s close friend—who agonises over whether to join the plot for the greater good of Rome.

On the Ides of March, despite omens, his wife Calpurnia’s nightmares, and a soothsayer’s warning, Caesar is stabbed to death in the Senate by the conspirators, Brutus delivering the final blow. Mark Antony, Caesar’s ally, is spared and given permission to speak at the funeral. His masterful oration turns the fickle Roman mob against the assassins, forcing Brutus and Cassius to flee.

The conspirators raise an army and face Antony and Caesar’s heir Octavius at the Battle of Philippi. Miscommunication and misfortune lead to Cassius’s suicide; Brutus, defeated and haunted by Caesar’s ghost, takes his own life. Antony praises Brutus as “the noblest Roman of them all,” while the Republic edges toward empire under the new triumvirs.