Mark Antony’s guards react violently. In the chaos, the Senate and the public believe the attack was a planned assassination attempt on Antony himself.

While the fall of the Republic was a complex process driven by Julius Caesar's ambition and Senate opposition, the show depicts Pullo as the "butterfly effect" that makes war inevitable:

Claiming his life is in danger and his sacred rights as a Tribune have been violated, Antony flees Rome to join Caesar. Caesar uses this "attack" on a legal representative of the people as his primary excuse to cross the Rubicon , effectively starting the civil war. Historical Reality vs. Fiction

In reality, the real Titus Pullo was a centurion mentioned in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico for his bravery in Gaul, but he had no recorded role in the events leading to the crossing of the Rubicon.

In the HBO series Rome , the claim that "brought down the Republic" refers to a specific chain of events in Season 1, Episode 2, where a petty personal grudge inadvertently sparks a civil war. The Fictional Catalyst: The Forum Melee

After returning to Rome, Pullo kills a man in a gambling den who was cheating him.