Brutus and Cassius thought they were living under a tyrant, and for good reason, but not all Roman citizens and senators considered Caesar a tyrant. Not all of them were troubled by the fact that after first having himself elected dictator for a year (47 BCE), and then for ten years (46 BCE), Caesar had finally made himself dictator for life (45 BCE)—akin to making oneself a president for life, something that exists neither in reality nor previously in the political imagination. If any Romans were troubled, Caesar's supporters could point to the needs of the state, his vaunted clemency towards his enemies (in such contrast to the dictator Sulla), and his grand plans for Rome, such as his public works and proposed campaign against the Parthians. Such Romans traded their political integrity for private gain; they traded freedom for Caesar's beneficence. Never mind that Caesar, who once used the freedom of the tribunes to launch a civil war, was now suppressing the free speech and political action of the tribunes who dared to challenge him on political matters. Forget that Caesar had a statue of himself erected among the kings of Rome on the Capitoline or took extraordinary titles and offices. Why oppose such troubling behavior when Caesar promised you an office for next year? When one can receive a public office by the fiat of the dictator without the bother of having to campaign for the votes of one's fellow citizens, why resist the breakdown of political freedom and the rule of law?

Yet many still believed in the traditions of the Republic and recognized that Caesar had in effect put an end to the Republic. What does one do when one recognizes that one is living under a tyrant? Such was the question Roman citizens, like Brutus and Cassius, faced. Greco-Roman political theory seemed to provide an answer—tyrannicide, or short of that expulsion of the tyrant and his family. Democratic Athens had been established when Harmodius and Aristogeiton killed the tyrant Hipparchus, or so the popular version of the story went. They were subsequently hailed as tyrant slayers and champions of freedom. Athens sang their praises and erected statues in their honor, as did Rome where sculptures of the Athenian tyrannicides stood on the Capitol.