In 44 B.C. the Roman Republic was at its height of its power. Gaul, Greece, Spain, and even Egypt were under Rome's control. The Senate gave the title of "dictator for life" to the man who had won Rome its victories, Gaius Julius Caesar. But immediately, a plot to assassinate Caesar was hatched. A "dictator for life" was a threat to the senate, and to the ideals of the republic which had started 450 years earlier when the Romans had gotten rid of another dictator, the cruel King Tarquin. The Roman senators did not want to return to the time of dictators or kings. Besides, Julius Caesar had made many enemies in Rome.
There were more than sixty conspirators [people who planned the crime together]. Many had been Caesar's close friends. Their reasons for joining the plot were many. Some were personal. They felt Caesar had disrespected them or their families. Others were ideological [beliefs, ideas of what is right and wrong]. The idea of a dictator for life was against every democratic idea of the Republic. And everyone knew that under Caesar's dictatorship, their opportunities for financial [money, wealth] gain and political power would vanish. The power of the Senate would be lost.
The assassination of Julius Caesar was on March 15, the Ides of March.
The conspirators decided to strike on March 15 (the Ides of March) when the Senate was to meet Caesar in a hall next to the theater of Pompey.
On the night before his death, a friend had asked, "What sort of death was the best?" To which Caesar replied: "That which is unexpected."
The following morning Caesar's wife, Calpurnia implored [begged] her husband to cancel the meeting of the Senate, because in a dream she had seen him streaming with blood. He decided to cancel the senate meeting.
Early on the Ides of March the conspirators assembled in the hall next to the senate to await Caesar. When he did not come, they grew anxious, and sent Brutus to fetch him. Brutus, "his devoted friend," urged him to come and succeeded in persuading him to change his mind.
Caesar entered the hall, and a senator distracted him in conversation. Then Caesar seated himself on his gilded [covered with gold leaf] chair. A senator named Cimber came forward and petitioned [asked] Caesar to bring back his brother, who had been banished [sent out of the city as a punishment for a crime]. When Caesar rejected his request, the senator seized hold of his purple robe. It was the signal for the attack.
Casca, who was close to Caesar, aimed a blow with his dagger at his throat, but missed it. Cimber then seized Caesar's hand, but Caesar sprang from his chair and threw Casca to the ground. The other assassins then closed in on him. Cassius wounded him in the face, and when Brutus struck him in the thigh, Caesar cried out: "You too, my child?" He then fell dead. Altogether he received twenty-three wounds.
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