Julius Caesar was warned not once, but three times, that March 15, the Ides of March, held a deadly fate. Cautioned beforehand by the soothsayer Spurrina, who spoke the famous words "Beware the Ides of March," Caesar was also begged to protect himself by his wife Calpurnia, who had nightmares of his death in the early hours of the fateful day. Originally Caesar took heed, and sent word that the day's planned convening of the Senate would be cancelled, but one of the 60 murderous conspirators awaiting him went to him and convinced him to attend, suggesting that he would be named King of all conquered Roman territory. On his way to meet the Senate, he again met Spurrina who reminded him of her warning but he was unmoved.

At the Senate meeting in the Theatre of Pompey, Caesar took his place on his gilded chair and began to hear the various petitions of the attendees. Among the many Senators who were loyal to Caesar were the assassins who were intent on saving the Republic from his ambition. The 60 gathered around him, and on a pre-ordained signal, they drew hidden daggers and violently slew him, leaving him with 23 stab wounds. The frenzy of the killers' attack was such that some, including Brutus, were wounded by their own cohorts. In an attempt to avoid chaos in the wake of the murder, the Senate granted the conspirators amnesty, but Marc Antony, still loyal to Caesar and his memory, delivered the famous eulogy that set the people of Rome against Brutus, Cassius and the other killers, whose homes were burned, sending them into exile.