We don’t know when Lucius Junius Brutus was born. But we do know when he died. He did so heroically in battle, defending the republic he helped bring into being.

Brutus was related to the ruling Tarquin family. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was his uncle. Because his uncle was a tyrant and had put several of the high nobility to death, Brutus pretended to be mentally slow and thus not a threat to the king.

In his youth Brutus accompanied Tarquin’s sons to see the Oracle of Delphi. Hearing the prophecy that the next ruler of Rome would be the first of the delegation to kiss his mother, Brutus took “mother” to mean the earth. He pretended to trip, a ruse that allowed him to kiss the ground without raising suspicions.