Today's post is a digression into Roman history and etymology, two of my long-time interests.
In Act III, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Mark Antony famously pronounces not once but four times that Brutus is an "honorable man". Brutus, of course, is Marcus Junius Brutus (aka Quintus Caepio Brutus) a key figure in the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, 44 BCE.
Long before M.J. Brutus, there was another Roman Brutus from whom M.J. claimed descent - Lucius Junius Brutus. This earlier Brutus also played a pivotal role in Roman history. According to the historian Titus Livius (aka Livy), this earlier Brutus feigned stupidity because he feared his uncle who was then King of Rome: "ergo ex industria factus ad imitationem stultitiae" (therefore, he assiduously made himself to be the image of stupidity). History of Rome, Book 1, § 56[8]. Ultimately, L.J. Brutus deposed the King and became one of the two first consuls of the newly created Roman Republic.
While Brutus is quite obviously a Roman cognomen, it is also an adjective meaning stupid. It is derived from the Greek word βαρύς which means heavy (the Latin adjective brutus can also mean ponderous). This negative connotation is retained in the English adjective "brute".
With this background, it is possible to understand Mark Antony's pun in the same scene: "O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts". I find it interesting that two major changes in Roman government (monarchy to republic and republic to imperial rule) were precipitated by two men called "stupid".
