In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, who says 'Et tu, Brute?'?

In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar says “Et tu, Brute?”

The line appears in Act 3, Scene 1, during the assassination of Caesar in the Roman Senate. The conspirators attack him, and Brutus—Caesar’s friend and political ally—is among the assassins. Seeing Brutus turns the moment from a political murder into a personal betrayal.

The Latin phrase is usually translated as “You too, Brutus?” or “Even you, Brutus?” Shakespeare’s wording made the expression a lasting symbol of betrayal by a trusted friend. It was not necessarily Shakespeare’s invention: similar wording had appeared in earlier Elizabethan dramatic works.

Readers often misremember it as Caesar’s final line. In the play, he follows it with “Then fall, Caesar,” before dying. Another common mistake is treating the line as established historical fact. Ancient accounts by Plutarch and Suetonius differ, and neither securely confirms that Caesar spoke Shakespeare’s famous Latin words.