Tyrannicide, Law, and Sacrifice in Julius Caesar

Abstract:This essay introduces Plutarch's Life of Publicola as a crucially important yet previously neglected intertext. The first of two passages relevant to Shakespeare's drama involves Publicola's legislation granting immunity to anyone carrying out tyrannicide if specified conditions are met; the second concerns an abortive conspiracy against the Republic's founding consuls. In conjunction with Graeco-Roman and early modern views of tyranny and antityranny, these passages act as an imaginative matrix and new interpretative framework for Julius Caesar's engagement with tyrannicide, the constitutional implications of one-person rule, the conspirators' hands immersed in the slain Caesar's blood, and the Republic's transition to Imperial rule.