Was the assasination of Caesar justified?

[Draconis]

My investigation of a paraphrase of a Cicero quote made me consider the assassination of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare makes the conspirators, Brutus, Cassius and the rest out to be the villains of the piece, but was this really so? Was Caesar playing coy until the Senate begged him to take the crown? Was he a budding tyrant and were the conspirators patriots defending the Republic? How do people feel about the question?