Did Caesar really say Et tu, Brute?

Question

Is this true or just a romantic myth?

Answer 1

Yes, he did.  It means And you, Brutus?  It means "Are you in on this murder too?"  He thought Brutus was his friend and probably was his illegitimate son.

Answer 2

I heard once that he actually said Kai su teknon (and you, my child) in greek.  they spoke greek to each other and brutus was like Caesar's protoge or apprentice.  I don't think they (and I could be wrong) were sure that he actually said anything at all, as it is from a shakespeare play.  but he would have probably been surprised at brutus for doing what he did since he treated him like a son.

Edit:  good question by the way.  this is one of the things we first learn in latin:-)

Answer 3

According to Shakespeare's play, he did.  Beyond that, I am not sure.

I seems logical as Caesar loved him like a son and trusted him beyond all others.

Answer 4

Wiki

Caesar's last words are not known with certainty, and are a contested subject among scholars and historians alike.

The version best known in the English-speaking world is the Latin phrase Et tu, Brute? ("And you, Brutus?" or "You too, Brutus?" or "Even you, Brutus?"); this derives from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, where it actually forms the first half of a macaronic line: "Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar." Shakespeare's version evidently follows in the tradition of the Roman historian Suetonius, who reports that Caesar's last words were the Greek phrase "καὶ σὺ τέκνον;" (transliterated as "Kai su, teknon?": "You too, my child?" in English).

Plutarch, on the other hand, reports that Caesar said nothing, pulling his toga over his head when he saw Brutus among the conspirators.

In some other languages, the best-known version of Caesar's last words is a more literal Latin translation of the Greek phrase reported by Suetonius: tu quoque, fili mi? ("You also, my son?"). This version is reported, for example, in Lhomond's De Viris Illustribus an 18th century summary of Roman history, which was long used as a standard text by Latin students.

Also see the website "Last Words of Real people"