On March 15 ( the Ides of March ) , 44 BCE , the historic Caesar was attacked by a group of senators , including Brutus , who was Caesar 's friend and protégé . Caesar initially resisted his attackers , but when he saw Brutus , he reportedly responded as he died . The historical Caesar 's last words are not known with certainty . The Roman historian Suetonius , a century and a half after the incident , claims Caesar said nothing as he died , but that others reported that Caesar 's last words were the Greek phrase " ; " , which means " You too , child ? " or " You too , young man ? " to Brutus . Plutarch also reports that Caesar said nothing , but merely pulled his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators . Caesar saying '' Et tu , Brute ? '' in Shakespeare 's play '' Julius Caesar '' ( 1599 ) was not the first time the phrase was used in a dramatic play . Edmond Malone claimed that it appeared in a work that has since been lost — Richard Eedes 's Latin play '' Caesar Interfectus '' of 1582 . The phrase had also occurred in another play by Shakespeare , '' The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke , and the death of good King Henrie the Sixth , with the Whole Contention betweene the two Houses Lancaster and Yorke '' of 1595 , which is the earliest printed version of '' Henry VI , Part 3 ''
attacked
Assassination of Julius Caesar
Et tu, Brute?