Servilia (mother of Brutus)
She gained fame as the mistress of Julius Caesar,[5] whom her son Brutus and son-in-law Gaius Cassius Longinus would assassinate in 44 BC.
As a result, Servilia, her younger siblings, and her half-siblings were all brought up in the house of their maternal uncle, Marcus Livius Drusus.
[12] At the age of 13 or 14, she married Marcus Junius Brutus in the early 80s, who later was tribune of the plebs (83 BC) and founder of a colony at Capua.
[12] Although the elder Brutus survived Sulla's proscriptions, he was treacherously killed by Pompey after surrendering at Mutina in 77 BC.
[12][page needed] It is speculated that either soon after she married Silanus, or after the births of her daughters, Servilia's notorious affair with Caesar began.
[22] The relationship broadly is first recorded in extant sources in 63, when Servilia apparently was caught sneaking a love note to Caesar in the senate by her brother Cato.
[21][page needed] During his consulship in 59, Caesar supposedly presented Servilia with an outrageously expensive pearl worth some six million sesterces.
[24] At an estate auction where Caesar received several properties at a low rate to give to Servilia, Cicero remarked, "It's a better bargain than you think, for there is a third (tertia) off.
[7][26][27] Perhaps out of a desire to avoid offending Servilia, Caesar gave orders that Brutus should not be harmed if encountered after the Pompeian defeat at Pharsalus.
It is unlikely she knew anything of the conspiracy, having been on good terms with Caesar until his death; regardless, she worked to protect her relatives from the ensuing political storm.
Cicero's letters detail other meetings of the senate that Servilia had called to discuss what actions should be taken which would protect her son and sons-in-law.
[13][page needed] Due to life-threatening unrest in the city, her son Brutus was able to get a special dispensation to leave the capital for more than 10 days, and he withdrew to one of his estates in Lanuvium, 20 miles south-east of Rome.
[12][page needed] Despite her connections with the conspirators, Servilia escaped the purges of the second triumvirate unscathed due to the protection of her long-time friend Titus Pomponius Atticus.
[12][page needed] Her youngest daughter, Junia Tertia, out-lived Augustus and was noticed by Tacitus to have had a splendid funeral which kept the memory of Brutus and Cassius alive.
[43] A fictionalised version of Servilia was among the principal characters in the 2005 HBO television series Rome, played by Lindsay Duncan.
[44] The Servilia of HBO's Rome was depicted as instigating actor in the plot against Caesar's life; there is no historical evidence thereof.
[32] A similarly fictionalised Servilia makes an appearance in the 2005 six-part mini series Empire, played by Trudie Styler.
