The Smithsonian Magazine has just published a review on an interesting book written by Peter Stothard, The Last Assassin: The Hunt for the Killers of Julius Caesar, see the link below. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...pJobID=1880505035&spReportId=MTg4MDUwNTAzNQS2 Stothard takes a close look at the smaller players in the plot to kill Caesar, and the philosophical views they shared, focusing on Cassius Parmensis. He also makes analogous comparisons to the political picture today.
Fascinating & enlightening article, especially: "...shared a philosophy with many of his fellow plotters, namely the enlightened, anti-superstition school of Epicureanism, which held that the gods, if they existed at all, were far away and not interested in human affairs, and that people should use their reason to moderate their passions, thereby avoiding pain and achieving inner peace... Epicureanism served as a mobilizing philosophy among the assassins, even as they argued over whether the true Epicurean would go so far as to assassinate Caesar, who was, after all, a Roman consul." I knew I was an "epicurean", but I thought it was because I liked matters of food!!!...who knew...
