The Last Assassin: The Hunt for the Killers of Julius Caesar

289 Pages·2020·6.584 MB·English

by  Peter Stothard

THE
LAST ASSASSIN
Also by Peter Stothard
Th irty Days
On the Spartacus Road
Alexandria
Th e Senecans
T H E
L A S T A S S A S S I N
THE HUNT FOR THE KILLERS
OF JULIUS CAESAR
PETER STOTHARD
3
3
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© Peter Stothard 2021
First published in the United Kingdom by
Orion Publishing Group Ltd., London 2020
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CIP data is on fi le at the Library of Congress
ISBN 978–0–19–752335–3 (hbk.)
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Printed by Sheridan Books, United States of America
To Ruth

CONTENTS
Prologue. Th e monster on the path 1
1. THROUGH CAESAR’S COUNTRY 15
2. PARMENSIS AND THE FIRST ASSASSINS 24
3. CICERO’S STAGE, PORCIA’S PEOPLE 37
4. ASSASSINATION DAY 49
5. A LIST OF MANY NAMES 64
6. ENTRY OF A YOUNG HUNTER 75
7. TREBONIUS UNDER TORTURE 88
8. DECIMUS BESIEGED 96
9. PARMENSIS AT SEA 110
10. BASILUS MEETS HIS SLAVES 115
11. CASSIUS AND BRUTUS 134
12. THE CIMBER BROTHERS 144
13. HUNTED TENT BY TENT 159
14. SEXTUS, HONORARY ASSASSIN 165
15. ABUSE AT PERUSIA 174
16. PARMENSIS ALONE 187
17. KILL EVERY KILLER 195
18. SEXTUS BETRAYED 202
19. A MAN WITH A WHITE FACE 214
20. PARMENSIS’S LAST STAND 222
21. A BATTLE THAT NEVER WAS 230
22. TURULLIUS, CUTTER OF TREES 239
23. THE LAST ASSASSIN 241
Sources 247
Bibliography 260
Acknowledgements 262
List of Illustrations 263
Index 264
MAIN CHARACTERS
ASSASSINS
CASSIUS PARMENSIS (c75–30 BC): Poet, playwright, naval
commander, longest surviving assassin of Julius Caesar. Epicurean.
Executed in retirement in Athens.
GAIUS CASSIUS LONGINUS (c86–42): Philosopher, politician,
general, joint leader of the assassins. Husband of Marcus Brutus’s
sister. Epicurean. Committed suicide aft er fi rst defeat at Philippi.
MARCUS BRUTUS (85–42): Orator, politician, idealist, gener-
al, joint leader of the assassins. Son of Caesar’s mistress, Servilia.
Committed suicide aft er second defeat at Philippi.
DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS (c83–43): General, military innova-
tor, closest friend to Caesar among the assassins. Killed on orders of
Mark Antony while in fl ight to join Brutus and Cassius.
GAIUS TREBONIUS (c92–43): General for Caesar, editor and
anthologist of Cicero. Tortured by Dolabella. First of the assassins
to be killed.
PUBLIUS SERVILIUS CASCA (c84–42): Senator, People’s
Tribune. Striker of the fi rst blow in Caesar’s assassination.
TILLIUS CIMBER (c80–42): Impetuous naval commander.
Embittered by failed petition to Caesar on behalf of his exiled
brother.
PONTIUS AQUILA (c80–43): Independent-minded banker, sol-
dier, aide to Decimus Brutus. Angered by the confi scation of his