A Day of Murder That Forever Changed History因刺殺而改變歷史的一天

Julius Caesar’s bloody assassination on March 15， 44 B.C.， forever marked March 15， or the Ides of March， as a day of infamy. It has fascinated scholars and writers ever since.

公元前44年3月15日，裘力斯·愷撒被血腥暗殺，這使3月15日（或稱“三月半”）被定為“恥辱日”。從那時起，這一天就一直吸引著學者和作家。

For ancient Romans living before that event， however， an ides was merely one of several common calendar terms used to mark monthly lunar events. The ides simply marked the appearance of the full moon.

然而，對于暗殺事件發生前的古羅馬人來說，“月中日”一詞只是標記每月農歷事件的幾個常用日歷術語之一，這個詞也僅僅用來標記滿月的出現。

But Romans would soon learn to beware the Ides of March. That iconic phrase came to represent a day of abrupt change， setting off a ripple of repercussions throughout Roman society and beyond.

但羅馬人很快就會懂得提防“三月半”，因為這個標志性短語后來代表了一個發生驟變的日子，它在整個羅馬社會甚至更大范圍掀起了軒然大波。

Why did Romans plot to kill Caesar？

羅馬人為何密謀殺害愷撒？

By the time of Caesar， Rome had a long-established republican government headed by two consuls with joint powers. Praetors were one step below consuls in the power chain and handled judicial matters. A body of citizens forming the Senate proposed legislation， which general people’s assemblies then approved by vote. A special temporary office， that of dictator， was established for use only during times of extreme civil unrest.

在愷撒時代，羅馬早已建立了由兩名執政官共治的共和政府。裁判官在權力鏈中比執政官低一級，負責處理司法事務。由公民代表組成的元老院提出立法建議，然后由人民大會投票通過。還有一個特殊的臨時職位，即獨裁官，僅在發生極端內亂時設立。

The Romans had no love for kings. According to legend， they expelled their last one in 509 B.C. While Caesar had made pointed and public displays of turning down offers of kingship， he showed no reluctance to accept the office of “dictator for life” in February of 44 B.C. This action may have sealed his fate in the minds of his enemies.

羅馬人對君主沒有好感。根據傳說，公元前509年他們驅逐了最后一個國王。雖然愷撒曾公開而明確地拒絕接受王位，但在公元前44年2月，他卻毫不猶豫地接受了“終身獨裁官”的職務。也許正是這一舉動在敵人心中埋下殺機。

Caesar had pushed the envelope for some time before his death. “Caesar was the first living Roman ever to appear on the coinage，” Josiah Osgood， a historian at Georgetown University told Nat Geo in 2004. Normally， the honor was reserved for deities. He notes that some historians suspect that Caesar might have been attempting to establish a cult in his honor in a move toward deification.

愷撒在死前一段時間一直在試探羅馬人的底線。來自喬治敦大學的歷史學家喬賽亞·奧斯古德2004年對《國家地理》說：“愷撒是有史以來第一個在世時就出現在硬幣上的羅馬人。”通常這種殊榮是留給神靈的。他指出，一些歷史學家懷疑愷撒可能試圖建立對自己的狂熱個人崇拜，進而達到神化的目的。

The plot’s conspirators， who termed themselves “the liberators，” had to move quickly as Caesar had plans to leave Rome for a campaign against the Parthians. Two days before his departure， he was summoned to the Senate for what would be a fateful meeting. The conspirators gathered around Caesar and stabbed him to death as the rest of the Roman Senate watched in horror.

自稱“解放者”的密謀者們必須迅速行動，因為愷撒計劃離開羅馬去攻打帕提亞。出發前兩天，愷撒被召喚去元老院，參加那次決定他命運的會議。密謀者們圍住愷撒，將他刺死，元老院的其他人驚恐地目睹了這一幕。

What did Brutus have to do with it all？

這一切和布魯圖有什么關系？

Whether or not Caesar was a true tyrant is debated still to this day. It is safe to say， however， that in the mind of Marcus Brutus， who helped mastermind the attack， the threat Caesar posed to the republican system was clear.

愷撒是否真的是暴君，至今仍存爭議。但可以肯定的是，在協助策劃這次襲擊的馬庫斯·布魯圖心中，愷撒對共和制度構成了顯而易見的威脅。

Brutus was famously portrayed in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as a tragic hero， while Caesar was written as an unequivocal tyrant. In the play， Caesar sees Brutus among the crowd of assassins and says of the betrayal with his dying breath， “Et tu， Brute？”

在威廉·莎士比亞的《裘力斯·愷撒》中，布魯圖被塑造成一個著名的悲劇英雄，而愷撒則被寫成一個不折不扣的暴君。在劇中，愷撒在行刺的人群中看到了布魯圖，在臨死前對這個背叛者說：“布魯圖，你也在內嗎？”

Brutus’s involvement in the murder is made tragic given his close affiliations with Caesar. His mother， Servilia， was one of Caesar’s lovers. And although Brutus had fought against Caesar during Rome’s recent civil war， he was spared from death and later promoted by Caesar to the office of praetor.

布魯圖與愷撒關系密切，他的參與使這起謀殺成為一場悲劇。布魯圖的母親塞維里婭是愷撒的情婦之一。而且，雖然布魯圖在不久前的羅馬內戰中與愷撒為敵，但被免于一死，后來還被愷撒提拔為裁判官。

Brutus， however， was torn in his allegiance to Caesar. Brutus’s family had a tradition of rejecting authoritarian powers. Ancestor Junius Brutus was credited with throwing out the last king of Rome， Tarquin Superbus， in 509 B.C. Ahala， an ancestor of Marcus Brutus’s mother， had killed another tyrant， Spurius Maelius. This lineage， coupled with a strong interest in the Greek idea of tyranicide， disposed Brutus to have little patience with perceived power grabbers.

然而，布魯圖對愷撒的忠誠是搖擺不定的。布魯圖的家族有拒絕專制權力的傳統：他的祖先朱尼厄斯·布魯圖曾在公元前509年推翻了羅馬最后一位國王塔爾昆·蘇培布斯；他母親的祖先阿哈拉則殺死了另一位暴君斯普里烏斯·梅利烏斯。這一血統，再加上他對希臘弒殺暴君思想的濃厚興趣，讓布魯圖對被認定的奪權者沒有多少耐心。

The final blow came when his uncle Cato， a father figure to Brutus， killed himself after losing in a battle against Caesar in 46 B.C. Brutus may have felt both shame over accepting Caesar’s clemency and obligation to do Cato honor by continuing his quest to “save” the republic from Caesar， Osgood speculated.

叔叔加圖在布魯圖心中就像父親一樣，他在公元前46年與愷撒的戰斗中失敗后自殺，這給了布魯圖最后一擊。據奧斯古德推測，布魯圖既為受到愷撒的寬恕感到屈辱，又想繼承加圖的遺志，從愷撒手中“拯救”共和國。

It is this moral dilemma that has caused debate over whether or not Brutus should be branded a villain. Plutarch’s Life of Brutus， Osgood noted， is quite sympathetic in comparison to surviving documents naming other enemies of Caesar and his successors.

正是這種道德上的兩難抉擇引發了人們對布魯圖是否應被定義為惡人的爭論。奧斯古德指出，與現存文獻對愷撒及其繼任者的其他政敵的評價相比，普盧塔爾克的《布魯圖生平》對布魯圖算是相當同情的。

Legacy of the attack

刺殺的后果

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar was based on Plutarch’s account of Brutus. The poet Dante， however， took a different stance： Brutus， in killing the man who spared him， was doomed to the lowest levels of hell.1

莎士比亞的《裘力斯·愷撒》就是根據普盧塔爾克對布魯圖的描述創作的。然而，詩人但丁卻采取了不同的立場：布魯圖殺死了寬恕他的人，這是注定要在地獄最底端受苦的。

Scholars disagree on just who was the on the side of good. But in the end， the Roman public turned against the assassins—and the legacy of power Caesar established lived on through his heir Octavian， who later became Rome’s first emperor， also known as Imperator Caesar Augustus.

究竟誰是正義的一方，學者們眾說紛紜。但羅馬民眾最終對刺客們采取了反對立場——愷撒建立的權力通過他的繼承人屋大維延續了下來，后者后來成為羅馬第一位皇帝，史稱愷撒·奧古斯都大帝。

（譯者單位：北京語言大學）

1據但丁《神曲·地獄篇》描述，地獄形如漏斗，一共九層。最底端是冰封的撒旦，嘴里咬著三個極惡之人：猶大、布魯圖和卡修斯。