Decimus Junius Brutus (consul 77 BC)

Detsim Yuniy belonged to the plebeian clan Yuniyev , the first reliable news about which dates back to the end of the 4th century BC. er Later, in the I century BC. e., the Brutus plebeians have already claimed the origin of the patrician Lucius Junius Brutus , the legendary founder of the Roman Republic, who had a supposedly Trojan origin ^[1] . Decimus was the only son of Decimus Junius Brutus Kallaik , consul, 138 BC. e., and Claudia, and the grandson of Mark Junius Brutus , consul 178 BC. er his uncle Mark , who had risen in his career only to pretury (in 140 BC), became the ancestor of another branch of Yuniyev, to which the murderer Guy Julius Caesar belonged ^[2] .

According to one version, the sister of Decimus Jr. was the wife of Guy Claudius Marcellus , praetor of 80 BC. er ^[3] In this case, Brutus's nephew was another Guy Claudius Marcellus , husband of Sister Augustus .

Decimus Junius was born in about 120 BC. er The first thing that can be said with confidence about the political activities of Brutus is that in 100 BC er He took part in the decisive clash of the Senate "party" with supporters of the tribune of the people of Lucius Appuleuit Saturnin ^[4] Marc Tullius Cicero , listing the aristocrats who came to the Sankey temple to take weapons from the public depository, calls Dectima Junius ^[5] . In subsequent years, Brutus, according to Cicero, "diligently acted in private processes" ^[6] . Between 94 and 90 years BC. er he occupied the post of praetor ^[7] , and in the 80s, when there was a civil war between the Marians and Lucius Cornelius Sulla , he took the side of the latter ^[4] .

The pinnacle of the career of Decimus Junius was the consulate of 77 BC. e., a colleague for which was the patrician Mamerk Emily Lepidus Livian ^[8] . At this time, Quinta Sertoria, a very dangerous insurrection, engulfed Spain . Brutus rejected the proposal to lead the army, which was planned to be sent beyond the Pyrenees ^[9] , and the influential Senator Lucius Marcius Filipp proposed to make Pompey the commander, who had not occupied a single state post by that time. “When someone asked Philip in the Senate with surprise, did he really consider it necessary to clothe Pompey with consular powers, or, as they say in Rome, to send him a post instead of a consul, Philip answered:“ No, instead of both consuls ”, wanting to understand by this, that both the then consuls are utterly worthless ” ^[10] .

After the consulate, Brutus is hardly mentioned in the sources. It is known that in 63 BC. er he was still alive. His wife Sempronia was a participant in the conspiracy of Catiline, and in the absence of her husband (the latter was not in Rome at that time), she set up her house to meet the conspirators with ambassadors from the Gallic allobrog tribe ^[11] . Presumably Decius Junius died soon after that, and it is known that his mother survived ^[4] .

In Decim Junius was a son, who had passed on adoption in the patrician genus Postumiyev and who bore the name Decim Junius Brut Albin after that. He was praetor in 45 BC. e., one of the closest friends and murderers of Guy Julius Caesar. The mother of Decimus Junior could be Posthume - the sister of his wife Servius Sulpice Ruf ^[12] . By 63 BC. er Brutus was married to Sempronia; it follows from the text of Sallust ^[13] that at least two children were born in this marriage ^[4] .

Sources

1. Plutarch . Comparative biographies. - M .: Ladomir, 1994. - T. 3.
2. Guy Sallust Crisp . On the conspiracy of Catiline // Caesar. Sallust. - M .: Ladomir, 2001. - P. 445-487. - ISBN 5-86218-361-2 .
3. Guy Sallust Crisp . History (Neopr.) . The date of appeal is January 19, 2017.
4. Mark Tullius Cicero . Brutus // Three treatises on oratory. - M .: Ladomir, 1994. - p. 253-328. - ISBN 5-86218-097-8 .
5. Mark Tullius Cicero. Speech - M .: Science, 1993. - T. 2. - ISBN 5-02-011168-6 .
6. Mark Tullius Cicero . Speech (Neopr.) . The appeal date is March 5, 2018.

Literature

1. Broughton R. Magistrates of the Roman Republic. - New York, 1952. - Vol. Ii. - 558 p.
2. Münzer F. Iunius 1 // Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft . - 1918. - Bd. X, 1. - Kol. 960-962.
3. Münzer F. Iunius 46 // Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft . - 1918. - Bd. X, 1. - Kol. 968.
4. Münzer F. Römische Adelsparteien und Adelsfamilien. - Stuttgart, 1920. - p. 437.
5. Sumner G. Orators in Cicero's Brutus: prosopography and chronology. - Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1973. - 197 p. - ISBN 9780802052810 .
6. Wiseman T. Legendary Genealogies in Late-Republican Rome // G & R. - 1974. - № 2 . - p . 153-164 .

• Decius Junius Brutus (consul 77 BC) (eng.) . - in Smith 's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
• Decimus Junius Brutus (consul 77 BC) (Rus.) . - Biography on the site ancientrome.ru .