It will be a while yet before I can see how Brutus is portrayed in this series, but he really is a tough one to figure out. He does seem to be full of contradictions and we have great difficulty seeing the man from the sources available to us. I think Bibulus’ lost biography of his stepfather ranks second or third on my list of lot Roman works I would love to see found. (First is Sulla’s autobiography; the missing portions of Tacitus’ Annals vie with Bibulus, shifting depending on what I happen to be more interested in at the time.)

I think Brutus comes across so differently depending on who interprets him because we know so little about him, and what we do know is so vague and – to be honest – rather dull. As Cornellia said of him once, it’s like he isn’t really there. You can do almost anything you like with him.

I would also like to see his intellectual streak shown. In many ways he seems to have been something of an ivory tower idealist, which led to some of his major mistakes right after the assassination. In their effort to bring him over to their side, the conspirators did their level best to convince him that the majority of the Romans wanted rid of Caesar. He seems to have thought that getting rid of the dictator would be enough; the people would rise up cheering and the Republic would be saved. When that didn’t happen, he seems to have been at something of a loss as to what to do next.

They should also show some of his human side (or at least what little we know of it). His marriage to Porcia seems to have been a true love match and they were very much equals. Indeed, she is almost the only interesting thing in Plutarch’s life of Brutus. It would also be nice to see Caesar driving a wedge between Brutus and Cassius by playing them off against each other as they sought the same praetorship.

And then there’s that incident on the day of the assassination where Brutus suddenly ceases to be human or real at all and we see the intellectual idealist again. It was starting to look as though Caesar wasn’t coming and the conspirators were getting nervous. Suddenly, word came that Porcia was dead. Rather than rushing to the side of his beloved, Brutus decides to stay put and see the business through, even though it looked like that day wasn’t going to be the one. Huh? It just isn’t normal.