The Lictors Returning to Brutus the Bodies of his Sons. Study, late 18th-early 19th century. The Roman leader Lucius Junius Brutus (6th century BCE), founder of the Roman Republic, contemplates the fate of his sons. They had conspired to overthrow the republic and restore the monarchy, and Brutus himself was compelled to order their deaths. In doing so, Brutus became the heroic defender of the republic, at the cost of his own family.