81. So-called Capitoline Brutus, Roman,
Republican style, 4th-3rd century B.C.E., the bust is
a modern adding. Bronze, height: 69 cm.
Musei Capitolini, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome.
According to legendary early history Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic at the end of the sixth century B.C.E. His story is told by various historians, particularly, Titus Livius. Known for his sense of justice, his sense of honor and his generosity, he is one of the main characters in “The Life of Publicola”, one of the forty-six biographies in the Parallel Lives of Famous Statesmen (Bíoi parálleloi) by Plutarch.
These different sources reflect the immoral and criminal administration of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome and his sons Titus, Sextus Tarquinius and Arruns.
Tarquinius declared war on the small town of Ardea. While the soldiers lay siege to the city, Sextus, the youngest son of the King, asks Lucretia, the wife of fellow nobleman Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, to be taken into her home as her guest. Aroused by Lucretia’s famed beauty and purity, Sextus takes advantage of her hospitality and rapes her the same night. After he departs, Lucretia sends word to her father and her husband who, accompanied by Brutus, rush to her. Lucretia brings the crime to light and makes the men swear to take vengeance upon the rapist before stabbing herself to death.
Organizing an armed uprising with the Roman people to drive the besieging Tarquins away, Brutus and the opponents of the king oust the tyrannical ruler. As a result of their leadership, Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus became the first elected consuls. However, the resentment of the Roman population against all Collatine forces eventually caused the last consul to go into exile. Publius Valerius Publicola was then elected in Collatinus’ stead.
In spite of this dramatic show of democracy, not everyone in Rome was convinced of these Republican ideas and before long the sons of the old-established aristocratic families hatched a conspiracy. Among the leaders were two of the sons of Brutus, Titus and Tibberius, who, because of found letters sent to the Tarquins as evidence, were immediately exiled.
As consul, Brutus saw himself forced to judge them and condemned his sons to death, and without batting an eyelid, participated in their torture and execution. At the same time Tarquinius Superbus and his Etruscan allies were still attempting to find support in Rome to invade the Roman territory. still, the consuls were expecting them and during the battle Arruns and Brutus both die in a duel.
The Roman patrician of the gender of Iunii Bruti remained, for a long time, a very influential statesmen. Another well-known member of this family, was none other than the adopted son of Julius Caesar, Marcus Junius Brutus, who was most notably involved in Caesar’s assassination on the fifth of March 44 BCE. Consequently, both, the founder and destroyer of the Roman Republic, belonged to the same family.