This historically interesting type was struck by the famed tyrannicide Marcus Junius Brutus before he sided with Pompey in the civil war. Following the defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus he was pardoned by Caesar but never the less played a leading part in the assassination of the dictator on the Ides of March in 44 BC. Crushed by the joint forces of Octavian and Marc Antony, Brutus comitted suicide in 42 BC, and with him lay buried the Roman Republic.