The Classical Tradition of the Tyrannicide/Parricide of Marcus Junius Brutus and its Reflection in a Text by Jorge Luis Borges

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to delve into the reception of a prominent trope in ancient Roman history: the tyrannicide/parricide of Julius Caesar at the hands of Marcus Junius Brutus and the other conspirators during the Ides of March in 44 BCE. To this end, the study analyzes Jorge Luis Borges’s short story “La trama”, included in the work El hacedor (1960). To achieve this objective, several elements will be succinctly reviewed to understand how this event, which altered the course of Roman history, was received in modernity. This approach reveals a twofold and paradoxical reading of Brutus, who is regarded by some as the ultimate traitor and by others as the quintessential hero. This historical backdrop provides a framework to examine Borges’s brief text and to illuminate the literary references and resonances contained therein.