#Lucius Junius Brutus

[illustratus]

Brutus Listening to the Ambassadors from the Tarquins

by Louis Lafitte

[blogdemocratesjr]

1. PharaØh 0001 by Max Osiris 2. Tarquin and Lucretia by Titian 3. Brutus' oath after the death of Lucretius by Henri Pinta 4. Templar by GLUFT

PHARAOH

The Egyptian Pharaohs were, down to a certain date, invariably persons who were initiated. They were initiated into the secrets of cosmology, and regarded what they had to do on earth in the light of this cosmology When one says a thing of this sort to the modern man, he finds a certain difficulty in understanding it, for the simple reason that the modern man, from his own special mode of consciousness, thinks to himself: “It is all very well, but, after all, those Pharaohs, and the Chaldean initiates, too, — or so-called initiates — did a great many things that were highly reprehensible.” Well, one might, of course, argue that modern rulers, who are not initiates, also do a great many things that are hardly in accordance with the highest moral standards, — but that, here, would be obviously away from the point. One must, however, point out that in the world that lies beyond the senses the gods are not all good ones, but that there are also gods whose action is in every way contrary to men’s interests, as commonly understood. So, one is by no means entitled to believe that anyone who is a real initiate must necessarily act from virtuous motives. And in speaking, as I am doing now, of the Pharaohs as Initiates, all that it must be understood to mean is that they acted on impulses inspired from the spiritual world. That these impulse’s might often be very bad ones will be contested by nobody who has become in our sense acquainted with all the many divine, spiritual powers that lie behind the world of sense, — powers of a supersensible nature. But the true initiate, — he who could receive into his will, not merely receive into his consciousness, but into his will, what divine spiritual powers bestowed upon him, — he was in truth the ruler, down to the middle of the 8th century before Christ.

—Rudolf Steiner, Cosmogony, Freedom, Altruism: Lecture III: Fundamental Impulses in History

Initiation is not erudition. But to be able to do something like this, to be able to make such a sacrifice, pertains to initiation. What the Pharaoh sacrificed of himself could be filled up with portions of the folk-soul. The part of himself that the Pharaoh relinquished was just what gave him power. For justified power does not arise through a man’s raising his own personality; it arises through his taking into himself something that transcends the boundaries of personality, a higher spiritual power. The Pharaoh took such a power into himself, and this was externally portrayed through the Uraeus-serpent.

—Rudolf Steiner, Egyptian Myths and Mysteries: Lecture XII

SEXTUS TARQUINIUS

After him, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus usurped the monarchy, without a directive from either the fathers or the people. He kept armed men around him for his own protection. He waged war against the Volsci, and from the spoils he erected a temple to Jupiter on the Capitol. By a trick he brought Gabii under his control. His sons went to Delphi, and when they asked which of them would be the ruler of Rome, the response was that he who first kissed his mother would be the ruler. While the sons interpreted this answer otherwise, Junius Brutus, who had come with them, pretended that he slipped, and he kissed the earth. The outcome vindicated this action of his. For when Tarquinius Superbus had incurred the hatred of all against him by his domineering conduct, finally his son Sextus forcibly overcame Lucretia’s chastity at night, and she summoned her father Tricipitinus and her husband Collatinus to her, called upon them to witness that her death should not be unavenged, and stabbed herself to death. Tarquinius was driven out, mostly by the efforts of Brutus, after twenty-five years of ruling. Then the first consuls were created: Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus.

—Livy, Rome's Mediterranean Empire: Books XLI to XLV & the Periochae

TEMPLAR KNIGHT

Now Anfortas and his Templars they suffered sore grief and pain, / And their true love in bondage held him, since he prayed them for death in vain; / And in sooth death had been his portion, save they wrought that the Grail he saw— / From the might of Its mystic virtue fresh life must he ever draw.

—Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival XVI: Lohengrin

At the outset, the Templars put themselves in a position, as if they had abjured the Cross. After all of this had been made clear to the Templar, he was shown a symbolical figure of the Divine Being in the form of a venerable man with a long beard (symbolising the Father). When men have developed themselves, and have come to receive in the Master a leader from amongst themselves, when those are there who are able to lead humanity, then, as the Word of the guiding Father, there will stand before men the Master who leads men to the comprehension of Christ.

And then it was said to the Templars: When you have understood all this, you will be ripe for joining in building the great Temple of the Earth; you must so co-operate, so arrange everything, that this great building becomes a dwelling place for our true deeper selves, for our inner Ark of the Covenant.

If we survey all this, we find images having great significance. And he in whose soul these images come alive, will become more and more fit to become a disciple of those great Masters who are preparing the building of the Temple of Mankind. For such great concepts work powerfully in our souls, so that we thereby undergo purification, so that we are led to abounding life in the spirit.

We find the same medieval tendency as manifested in the Knights Templars, in two Round Tables as well, that of King Arthur, and that of the Holy Grail. In King Arthur's Round Table can be found the ancient universality, whereas the spirituality proper to Christian knighthood had to be prepared in those who guarded the Mystery of the Holy Grail. It is remarkable how calmly and tranquilly medieval people contemplated the developing power (fruit) and outward form of Christianity.

—Rudolf Steiner, The Temple Legend

For the difference between the human personality and individuality of repeated earth lives see The Influence of Spiritual Beings Upon Man: Lecture VI by Rudolf Steiner

[historical-kitten]

Inviting Ancient Roman Politicians to a Modern Costume Party

Gaius Julius Caesar

Enjoys a good party and accepts your invitation, but when you go to pick him up you aren't sure if he's in a costume or just dresses like that. It's a very fabulous look. Or maybe he's dressed up as Elton John?

Marcus Licinius Crassus

The only way he attends is if you bribe him to go. He takes cash, Google pay, Apple Pay, Paypal, Cash App, and Venmo. It costs extra if you want him in a costume.

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus aka Pompey

He will accept your invitation, but he wants to go in one of those inflatable costumes that looks like he's riding an elephant. If you can fit that in your car and through all the doorways, he'll be decent company at the party.

Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus aka Augustus

If Agrippa is meeting you there, lead with that and you might convince him to join you. He'll want all the details on the party and who will be there, so indulge him. He doesn't particularly want to wear a costume, but might dress as Apollo if pressed.

Marcus Antonius aka Mark Antony

He will absolutely come to your party, you don't even have to twist his arm. He likely takes it over once he arrives, though, so be prepared! He is fun and charming, but will not be going home sober. He might dress as Hercules, Dionysus, or Osiris.

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

The way he disappears when you're at the party, he might as well be dressed as the Invisible Man. No really. Where'd he go?

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

He will go and stay with you, a loyal friend, unless Octavianus shows up and then he ultimately follows him. He didn't wear a costume but let someone paint a teardrop on his face. He wins "Most Original Costume" for his 'personification of human sadness' outfit. He doesn't look happy about it.

Publius Clodius Pulcher

He's always up for a party and will look a million times better in his costume than you do. Whatever you do, don't tell him about that girl's night only Halloween party unless you want him to show up dressed like one of the girls. (He'll be really fun, but might cause a divorce.)

Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius

He is gracious as a guest and wears a nautical Captain's costume. He'll party with you, but not over indulge. Just don't ask if he's a pirate, that's rude.

Marcus Junius Brutus

He only accepts the invitation if friends of his are going to the party. His costume seems to be a dark hood and cape and he disappears into the corner with Cassius soon after you arrive.

Gaius Cassius Longinus

He is quite amiable with his friends and if he's yours, he'll accept your invitation. The costume is sleek and dark and furtive, possibly a rogue or assassin? Just don't be hurt when he disappears into a corner with Brutus at some point in the night.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix

You do not want to invite him, do you? If you do, he accepts. Although he was wearing regular clothes initially, they're definitely covered in blood before you're at the party for long. That's fake blood... right?

Marcus Tullius Cicero

You have to cajole him to go, but once he is there, he is happy to be the center of attention telling jokes and stories. Wearing a costume is beneath his dignity, but judging everyone else's is not.

[seianusfanboy]

ANCIENT ROME FAMILY TREES !!

(that I've written down so far)

- THE JULIOCLAUDIANS (until Claudius, sorry Nero! - starting from Brutus' ancestors)

- MARCELLUS AND HIS FAMILY (down to Messalina!)

- THE FAMILY OF AELIUS SEJANUS (the only one whose family isn't a circle)

[garland-on-thy-brow]

Cassius and Brutus as this new mugshot meme.

Catilina and Cethegus also.

[bewaretheidiotsofmarch]

BEWARE.....them

[ Ides 2023 that deserves a repost]

Foreground: Cinna, Casca, Decimus, Brutus, Metellus, g.Casca, Titinius, Cassius

Background: Antony, Calpurnia, Caesar- at least.. it WAS Caesar. 🫡🙏🏻😔

[pedroam-bang]

"This is how history is made."

Philippi - Rome (2007)

[duxfemina]

Hey i really loved your replies to previous asks. Can you please rank the ancient romans from best to worst for enemies to lover trope:

Catiline, cicero, Julius, Pompeii, crassus , brutus, agrippa, octavian, sulla and Marius.

This is tricky because I'm not as up on some of the beef or maybe you meant these individually rather than paired with their neighbors in the list. So I'll go with individually rating how susceptible they would be to the trope

Catiline - yeah he was DTF anything so yeah I could see him developing homoerotic passions for Cicero had he survived

Cicero - no he just does the reverse. It's only lovers to enemies for MT Chickpea because he's a petty peapod

Julius Caesar - he probably fucked some Gauls let's be real. He absolutely is susceptible to the trope and would find himself involved in it several times throughout his life

Pompeius Magnus - yes, absolutely, the man was so magnanimous with the people he defeated he absolutely probably caught the feelings for one or two of them. Of course paragon of conjugal virtue that he was, he didn't sleep with anyone besides his wife when he was married so it might just be a lot of pining and eye fucking but there's probably a couple princesses of peoples he beat who he had the hots for and of course they'd reciprocate, he's the new Alexander after all

Crassus - on the one hand he has about as much romance and yearning to him as a wax tablet on the other he DID team up with his most loathed rival Pompeius so who knows maybe under that cold exterior he was secretly dreaming of running his hands through the much lauded quaff of Pompeius Magnus

Brutus - all of Pompeius' enemies eventually end up in bed with him... politically that is. If Brutus can get past Pompeius whacking his dad I feel he could get past whatever made him enemies with someone in order to make way for growing feelings for them

Agrippa - his enemies don't live long enough to become lovers usually. But if anyone was gonna be his war torn paramour I'd put bets on Sextus. There's just something a little homoerotic about their naval rivalry.

Octavian - I mean he did marry someone he had previously exiled so yes he's susceptible to the trope. If nothing else he likes using sex to exert dominance on people (hence his sleeping with the wives of his rivals) so yeah whether directly or by proxy Octavian is definitely fucking his enemies. Don't think he loves any of them (maybe not even Livia, he respected her and she filled the image he needed) but they're certainly lovers in the coarsest sense

Sulla - like Cicero this only goes one way and it's lovers to enemies. He fucks and then quite likely ends up hating.

Marius - there is no strategy to his love life so like it might happen but not as likely because he's pretty straightforward and to the point and isn't about any kind of pining or long game. The first impression is what he's going with

[republic-comic]

Credit to abraxas-calibrator OBVIOUSLY. Someone posted it on insta and I couldn't resist

[voluptuarian]

I'm getting through a reading for class, and currently on the re-titling/re-naming craze during the French Revolution and found this

Imagine your parents come up to you one day and tell you your name is Brutus now. And you know you're not even named for a halfway cool Brutus, no, your parents are naming you after somebody they admire for not giving a shit his about sons dying.

[illustratus]

The Oath of Brutus by Jacques-Antoine Beaufort

[attila-werther]

vacation queue art will have antony doing a little necrophilia/cannibalism with cassius' corspe, but now I gotta figure out if cassius' eyes should be open or closed for this

[necromycologist]

funny that theres two brutus. he just loveeeees 2 show up in historick events 👍

[garland-on-thy-brow]

Just noticed that according to Syme (Augustan Aristocracy XXIV THREE JURISTS), Cassius' brother married a cousin of Decimus Brutus. Yay.

Highlighted green two generations down the line is the marriage with Sejanus' stepsister.

[bewaretheidiotsofmarch]

The Ides of March have come.... But not gone

Ides 2022 repost because I worked ceaselessly on this

Starting from Left to Right: Marullus, Casca, Cassius, Brutus, and Flavius