[Roman Imperatorial Issues] BRUTUS. Late Summer-Autumn 42 BC. AR Denarius (3.45 g, 12h). Mint moving with Brutus in northern Greece. L. Plaetorius Cestianus, magistrate. BRVT above, IMP before, L. PLAET. CEST behind, bare head of Brutus right, wearing short beard / EID • MAR, pileus (cap of liberty) between two daggers. Crawford 508/3; Cahn 22d; CRI 216; Sydenham 1301; Kestner -; BMCRR East 68-70; RSC 15.

Marcus Junius Brutus was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus and Julius Caesar's former mistress, Servilia. By 59 BC he acquired the alternative name Quintus Caepio Brutus through adoption by his uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio. Brought up by Porcius Cato, he was educated in philosophy and oratory and long retained a fierce hatred of his natural father’s murderer, Pompey. He began his political career in 58 BC by accompanying Cato to Cyprus. As triumvir monetalis in about 54 BC he issued coins illustrating his strong republican views with Libertas and portraits of his ancestors L. Junius Brutus (who overthrew Tarquinius Superbus, the last Etruscan king of Rome) and Servilius Ahala (the later fifth century BC tyrannicide) (Crawford 433/1 and 2, respectively). In 53 BC Brutus served in Cilicia as quaestor to Appius Claudius Pulcher, whose successor, Cicero, found that ‘the honourable Brutus’ was extracting 48 per cent interest on a loan to the city of Salamis in Cyprus, contrary to the lex Gabinia.

Brutus, the principled student, stoic, and Platonist who wrote a number of philosophical treatises and poems, seems an unlikely tyrannicide, quite dissimilar to the vehement Cassius. Despite his hatred of Pompey, he followed him in the Civil War of 49 BC against Caesar, but after the former’s defeat at Pharsalus he sought and was granted Caesar’s pardon. He proceeded to enjoy Caesar’s favor and was appointed governor of Gaul in 46 BC, praetor in 44 BC and consul designate for 41 BC. Perha