They thought that they could be classical heroes like the Brutus who overthrew the kings, forgetting that Brutus overthrew the kings with the help and consent of (almost) every single other senator, having made his case in public in the Forum. That Brutus had not made his plans in whispers in quiet rooms, in secret and fear with a tiny number of equally scared friends. Tiberius Gracchus had been beaten to death by the majority of the Senate working together, and his brother was forced to suicide by even more. Times had changed in the century since senators had been able to kill with their own
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