Cicero was taken by surprise when Gaius Julius Caesar , the effective dictator of the Roman Republic , was assassinated on the fifteenth day of March , 44 BC , ( known as the Ides of March ) by a group of Roman senators who called themselves Liberatores . Cicero was not included in the conspiracy , even though the conspirators were sure of his sympathy . When Marcus Junius Brutus , one of the killers , lifted his bloodstained dagger after the assassination , he called out Cicero 's name , beseeching him to " restore the Republic ! " . A letter Cicero wrote in February 43 BC to Trebonius , one of the conspirators , began , " How I wish that you had invited me to that most glorious banquet on the Ides of March ! " Cicero became a popular leader during the period of instability after the assassination . He had no respect for Mark Antony , who was scheming to take revenge upon Caesar 's murderers . In fact , Cicero privately expressed his regret that the murderers of Caesar had not included Antony in their plot , and he bent his efforts to the discrediting of the latter
assassinated
Assassination of Julius Caesar
Philippicae