Being Marcus

Abstract

As a re-writing of the past, Being Marcus is an alternative ‘his-story’ of an important personage in History. In the conspiracy against and assassination of Caesar, Brutus has been seen, through the ages, to have been ‘the leading spirit of the coup’ (Lewis 1983, 58). Beware the Ides of March is a soothsayer's warning in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Caesar, attended by a train of friends and supporters, ignores the warning and leaves for games and races that mark the celebration of the feast of Lupercal (Perry and Vickers 2000, 8). Until then, the Ides of March holds no special significance or association in history, where Ides generally marked the 15th day of a month. Being Marcus is a work of speculative fiction that refers to this day on the Roman calendar (Idus Martias), a fateful one for Caesar. The story toys with alternate history and takes us to the life of Brutus (Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus) following the assassination of Caesar. Same Brutus upon whom Caesar had entrusted ‘important commands in the Gallic and civil wars, he held the governorship of Transalpine Gaul for three years, returning to Rome in 45 B.C. Caesar then designated him to be governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 44–43, and consul with Plancus in 42. The reason why such a favourite of Caesar – even named secondary heir in Caesar's will – joined the conspiracy remains unclear.’ (Lewis 1983, Introduction, xviii). Beware the Ides of March … Centuries later, Marcus recollects the Empire, the reign of a legend. Brutus is now immortal, is living in the shadow of his once hero Caesar.