History Memes

Explanation: After the assassination of Julius Caesar, of dictator and conqueror fame, many of the 'Liberatores', the assassins, thought they would be welcomed by Rome as heroes. Quite the opposite was true - the people were outraged at the killing. For to the Roman people, Caesar was not a tyrant (and, indeed, he went to great lengths to avoid that reputation despite taking up the dictatorship), but a patron and reformer in favor of the poor of Rome. For yet another reformist politician to be killed by conservatives - after a long string of similar extrajudicial murders for the past 100 years of crisis in the Late Roman Republic - was not cause for celebration, but for wrath! And, sure enough, the liberatores, despite some initial attempts at political maneuvering, were driven out of Rome, and their immense wealth failed to gain them sufficient allies to resist Caesar's allies and comrades from seeking vengeance for his death.

Unfortunately, those who avenged Caesar - primarily Mark Antony and Octavian (later known as Augustus) - were not exactly the same champions of reform that Caesar was.

Sit Tibi Terra Levis, Caesar!