                                      75 AD
                                 MARCUS BRUTUS
                                  85?-42 B.C.
                                  by Plutarch
                           translated by John Dryden

  MARCUS Brutus was descended from that Junius Brutus to whom the
ancient Romans erected a statue of brass in the capitol among the
images of their kings with a drawn sword in his hand, in remembrance
of his courage and resolution in expelling the Tarquins and destroying
the monarchy. But that ancient Brutus was of a severe and inflexible
nature, like steel of too hard a temper, and having never had his
character softened by study and thought, he let himself be so far
transported with his rage and hatred against tyrants that, for
conspiring with them, he proceeded to the execution even of his own
sons. But this Brutus, whose life we now write, having to the goodness
of his disposition added the improvements of learning and the study of
philosophy, and having stirred up his natural parts, of themselves
grave and gentle, by applying himself to business and public
affairs, seems to have been of a temper exactly framed for virtue;
insomuch that they who were most his enemies upon account of his
conspiracy against Caesar, if in that whole affair there was any
honourable or generous part, referred it wholly to Brutus, and laid
whatever was barbarous and cruel to the charge of Cassius, Brutus's
connection and familiar friend, but not his equal in honesty and
pureness of purpose. His mother, Servilia, was of the family of
Servilius Ahala, who when Spurius Maelius worked the people into a
rebellion and designed to make himself king, taking a dagger under his
arm, went forth into the market-place, and upon pretence of having
some private business with him, came up close to him, and, as he
bent his head to hear what he had to say, struck him with his dagger
and slew him. And thus much, as concerns his descent by the mother's
side, is confessed by all; but as for his father's family, they who
for Caesar's murder bore any hatred or ill-will to Brutus say that
he came not from that Brutus who expelled the Tarquins, there being
none of his race left after the execution of his two sons; but that
his ancestor was a plebeian, son of one Brutus, a steward, and only
rose in the latest times to office or dignity in the commonwealth. But
Posidonius the philosopher writes that it is true indeed what the
history relates, that two of the sons of Brutus who were of men's
estate were put to death, but that a third, yet an infant, was left
alive, from whom the family was propagated down to Marcus Brutus;
and further, that there were several famous persons of this house in
his time whose looks very much resembled the statue of Junius
Brutus. But of this subject enough.
  Cato the philosopher was brother to Servilia, the mother of
Brutus, and he it was whom of all the Romans his nephew most admired
and studied to imitate, and he afterwards married his daughter Porcia.
Of all the sects of the Greek philosophers, though there was none of
which he had not been a hearer, and in which he had not made some
proficiency, yet he chiefly esteemed the Platonists; and not much
approving of the modern and middle Academy, as it is called, he
applied himself to the study of the ancient. He was all his lifetime a
great admirer of Antiochus of the city of Ascalon, and took his
brother Aristus into his own house for his friend and companion, a man
for his learning inferior indeed to many of the philosophers, but
for the evenness of his temper and steadiness of his conduct equal
to the best. As for Empylus, of whom he himself and his friends
often make mention in their epistles, as one that lived with Brutus,
he was a rhetorician, and has left behind him a short but well-written
history of the death of Caesar, entitled Brutus.
  In Latin, he had by exercise attained a sufficient skill to be
able to make public addresses and to plead a cause; but in Greek, he
must be noted for affecting the sententious and short Laconic way of
speaking in sundry passages of his epistles; as when, in the beginning
of the war, he wrote thus to the Pergamenians: "I hear you have
given Dolabella money; if willingly, you must own you have injured me;
if unwillingly, show it by giving willingly to me." And another time
to the Samians: "Your counsels are remiss and your performances
slow; what think ye will be the end?" And of the Patareans thus:
"The Xanthians, suspecting my kindness, have made their country the
grave of their despair; the Patareans, trusting themselves to me,
enjoy in all points their former liberty; it is in your power to
choose the judgment of the Patareans on the pretence of the
Xanthians." And this is the style for which some of his letters are to
be noted.
  When he was but a very young man, he accompanied his uncle Cato to
Cyprus, when he was sent there against Ptolemy. But when Ptolemy
killed himself, Cato, being by some necessary business detained in the
isle of Rhodes, had already sent one of his friends, named Canidius,
to take into his care and keeping the treasure of the king; but
presently, not feeling sure of his honesty, he wrote to Brutus to sail
immediately for Cyprus out of Pamphylia, where he then was staying
to refresh himself, being but just recovered of a fit of sickness.
He obeyed his orders, but with a great deal of unwillingness, as
well out of respect to Canidius, who was thrown out of this employment
by Cato with so much disgrace, as also because he esteemed such a
commission mean and unsuitable to him, who was in the prime of his
youth, and given to books and study. Nevertheless, applying himself to
the business, he behaved himself so well in it that he was highly
commended by Cato, and having turned all the goods of Ptolemy into
ready money, he sailed with the greatest part of it in his own ship to
Rome.
  But upon the general separation into two factions, when, Pompey
and Caesar taking up arms against one another, the whole empire was
turned into confusion, it was commonly believed that he would take
Caesar's side; for his father in past time had been put to death by
Pompey. But he, thinking it his duty to prefer the interest of the
public to his own private feelings, and judging Pompey's to be the
better cause, took part with him; though formerly he used not so
much as to salute or take any notice of Pompey, if he happened to meet
him, esteeming it a pollution to have the least conversation with
the murderer of his father. But now, looking upon him as the general
of his country, he placed himself under his command, and set sail
for Cilicia in quality of lieutenant to Sestius, who had the
government of that province. But finding no opportunity there of doing
any great service, and hearing that Pompey and Caesar were now near
one another and preparing for the battle upon which all depended, he
came of his own accord to Macedonia to partake in the danger. At his
coming it is said that Pompey was so surprised and so pleased that,
rising from his chair in the sight of all who were about him, he
saluted and embraced him, as one of the chiefest of his party. All the
time that he was in the camp, excepting that which he spent in
Pompey's company, he employed in reading and in study, which he did
not neglect even the day before the great battle. It was the middle of
summer, and the heat was very great, the camp having been pitched near
some marshy ground, and the people that carried Brutus's tent were a
long while before they came. Yet though upon these accounts he was
extremely harassed and out of order, having scarcely by the middle
of the day anointed himself and eaten a sparing meal, whilst most
others were either laid to sleep or taken up with the thoughts and
apprehensions of what would be the issue of the fight, he spent his
time until the evening in writing an epitome of Polybius.
  It is said that Caesar had so great a regard for him that he ordered
his commanders by no means to kill Brutus in the battle, but to
spare him, if possible, and bring him safe to him, if he would
willingly surrender himself; but if he made any resistance, to
suffer him to escape rather than do him any violence. And this he is
believed to have done out of a tenderness to Servilia, the mother of
Brutus; for Caesar had, it seems, in his youth been very intimate with
her, and she passionately in love with him; and, considering that
Brutus was born about that time in which their loves were at the
highest, Caesar had a belief that he was his own child. The story is
told that, when the great question of the conspiracy of Catiline,
which had like to have been the destruction of the commonwealth, was
debated in the senate, Cato and Caesar were both standing up,
contending together on the decision to be come to; at which time a
little note was delivered to Caesar from without, which he took and
read silently to himself. Upon this, Cato cried out aloud, and accused
Caesar of holding correspondence with and receiving letters from the
enemies of the commonwealth; and when many other senators exclaimed
against it, Caesar delivered the note as he had received it to Cato,
who reading it found it to be a love-letter from his own sister
Servilia, and threw it back again to Caesar with the words, "Keep
it, you drunkard," and returned to the subject of the debate. So
public and notorious was Servilia's love to Caesar.
  After the great overthrow at Pharsalia, Pompey himself having made
his escape to the sea, and Caesar's army storming the camp, Brutus
stole privately out by one of the gates leading to marshy ground
full of water and covered with reeds, and, travelling through the
night, got safe to Larissa. From Larissa he wrote to Caesar who
expressed a great deal of joy to hear that he was safe, and, bidding
him come, not only forgave him freely, but honoured and esteemed him
among his chiefest friends. Now when nobody could give any certain
account which way Pompey had fled, Caesar took a little journey
along with Brutus, and tried what was his opinion herein, and after
some discussion which passed between them, believing that Brutus's
conjecture was the right one, laying aside all other thoughts, he
set out directly to pursue him towards Egypt. But Pompey, having
reached Egypt, as Brutus guessed his design was to do, there met his
fate.
  Brutus in the meantime gained Caesar's forgiveness for his friend
Cassius; and pleading also in defence of the king of the Lybians,
though he was overwhelmed with the greatness of the crimes alleged
against him, yet by his entreaties and deprecations to Caesar in his
behalf, he preserved to him a great part of his kingdom. It is
reported that Caesar, when he first heard Brutus speak in public, said
to his friends, "I know not what this young man intends, but, whatever
he intends, he intends vehemently." For his natural firmness of
mind, not easily yielding, or complying in favour of every one that
entreated his kindness, once set into action upon motives of right
reason and deliberate moral choice, whatever direction it thus took,
it was pretty sure to take effectively, and to work in such a way as
not to fail in its object. No flattery could ever prevail with him
to listen to unjust petitions: and he held that to be overcome by
the importunities of shameless and fawning entreaties, though some
compliment it with the name of modesty and bashfulness, was the
worst disgrace a great man could suffer. And he used to say that he
always felt as if they who could deny nothing could not have behaved
well in the flower of their youth.
  Caesar, being about to make his expedition into Africa against
Cato and Scipio, committed to Brutus the government of Cisalpine Gaul,
to the great happiness and advantage of that province. For while
people in other provinces were in distress with the violence and
avarice of their governors, and suffered as much oppression as if they
had been slaves and captives of war, Brutus, by his easy government,
actually made them amends for their calamities under former rulers,
directing moreover all their gratitude for his good deeds to Caesar
himself; insomuch that it was a most welcome and pleasant spectacle to
Caesar, when in his return he passed through Italy, to see the
cities that were under Brutus's command, and Brutus himself increasing
his honour and joining agreeably in his progress.
  Now several praetorships being vacant, it was all men's opinion that
that of the chiefest dignity, which is called the praetorship of the
city, would be conferred either upon Brutus or Cassius; and some say
that, there having been some little difference upon former accounts
between them, this competition set them much more at variance,
though they were connected in their families, Cassius having married
Junia, the sister of Brutus. Others say that the contention was raised
between them by Caesar's doing, who had privately given each of them
such hopes of his favour as led them on, and provoked them at last
into this open competition and trial of their interest. Brutus had
only the reputation of his honour and virtue to oppose to the many and
gallant actions performed by Cassius against the Parthians. But
Caesar, having heard each side, and deliberating about the matter
among his friends, said, "Cassius has the stronger plea, but we must
let Brutus be first praetor." So another praetorship was given to
Cassius; the gaining of which could not so much oblige him, as he
was incensed for the loss of the other. And in all other things Brutus
was partaker of Caesar's power as much as he desired: for he might, if
he had pleased, have been the chief of all his friends, and had
authority and command beyond them all, but Cassius and the company
he met with him drew him off from Caesar. Indeed, he was not yet
wholly reconciled to Cassius, since that competition which was between
them: but yet he gave ear to Cassius's friends, who were perpetually
advising him not to be so blind as to suffer himself to be softened
and won over by Caesar, but to shun the kindness and favours of a
tyrant, which they intimated that Caesar showed him, not to express
any honour to his merit or virtue, but to unbend his strength, and
undermine his vigour of purpose.
  Neither was Caesar wholly without suspicion of him, nor wanted
informers that accused Brutus to him; but he feared, indeed, the
high spirit and the great character and the friends that he had, but
thought himself secure in his moral disposition. When it was told
him that Antony and Dolabella designed some disturbance, "It is
not," said he, "the fat and the long-haired men that I fear, but the
pale and the lean," meaning Brutus and Cassius. And when some maligned
Brutus to him, and advised him to beware of him, taking hold of his
flesh with his hand, "What," he said, "do you think that Brutus will
not wait out the time of this little body?" as if he thought none so
fit to succeed him in his power as Brutus. And indeed it seems to be
without doubt that Brutus might have been the first man in the
commonwealth, if he had had patience but a little time to be second to
Caesar, and would have suffered his power to decline after it was come
to its highest pitch, and the fame of his great actions to die away by
degrees. But Cassius, a man of a fierce disposition, and one that
out of private malice, rather than love of the public, hated Caesar,
not the tyrant, continually fired and stirred him up. Brutus felt
the rule an oppression, but Cassius hated the ruler; and, among
other reasons on which he grounded his quarrel against Caesar, the
loss of his lions which he had procured when he was aedile-elect was
one; for Caesar, finding these in Megara, when that city was taken
by Calenus, seized them to himself. These beasts, they say, were a
great calamity to the Megarians; for, when their city was just
taken, they broke open the lions' dens, and pulled off their chains
and let them loose that they might run upon the enemy that was
entering the city; but the lions turned upon them themselves, and tore
to pieces a great many unarmed persons running about, so that it was a
miserable spectacle even to their enemies to behold.
  And this, some say, was the chief provocation that stirred up
Cassius to conspire against Caesar; but they are much in the wrong.
For Cassius had from his youth a natural hatred and rancour against
the whole race of tyrants, which he showed when he was but a boy,
and went to the same school with Faustus, the son of Sylla; for, on
his boasting himself amongst the boys, and extolling the sovereign
power of his father, Cassius rose up and struck him two or three boxes
on the ear; which when the guardians and relations of Faustus designed
to inquire into and to prosecute, Pompey forbade them, and, sending
for both the boys together, examined the matter himself. And Cassius
is then reported to have said thus, "Come, then, Faustus, dare to
speak here those words that provoked me, that I may strike you again
as I did before." Such was the disposition of Cassius.
  But Brutus was roused up and pushed on to the undertaking by many
persuasions of his familiar friends, and letters and invitations
from unknown citizens. For under the statue of his ancestor Brutus,
that overthrew the kingly government, they wrote the words, "O that we
had a Brutus now!" and, "O that Brutus were alive!" And Brutus's own
tribunal, on which he sat as praetor, was filled each morning with
writings such as these: "You are asleep, Brutus," and, "You are not
a true Brutus." Now the flatterers of Caesar were the occasion of
all this, who, among other invidious honours which they strove to
fasten upon Caesar, crowned his statues by night with diadems, wishing
to incite the people to salute him king instead of dictator. But quite
the contrary came to pass, as I have more particularly related in
the life of Caesar.
  When Cassius went about soliciting friends to engage in this
design against Caesar, all whom he tried readily consented, if
Brutus would be head of it; for their opinion was that the
enterprise wanted not hands or resolution, but the reputation and
authority of a man such as he was, to give as it were the first
religious sanction, and by his presence, if by nothing else, to
justify the undertaking; that without him they should go about this
action with less heart, and should lie under greater suspicions when
they had done it; for if their cause had been just and honourable,
people would be sure that Brutus would not have refused it. Cassius,
having considered these things with himself, went to Brutus and made
him the first visit after their falling out; and after the compliments
of reconciliation had passed, and former kindnesses were renewed
between them, he asked him if he designed to be present on the calends
of March, for it was discoursed, he said, that Caesar's friends
intended then to move that he might be made king. When Brutus
answered, that he would not be there, "But what," says Cassius, "if
they should send for us?" "It will be my business, then," replied
Brutus, "not to hold my peace, but to stand up boldly, and die for the
liberty of my country." To which Cassius with some emotion answered,
"But what Roman will suffer you to die? What, do you not know
yourself, Brutus? Or do you think that those writings that you find
upon your praetor's seat were put there by weavers and shopkeepers,
and not by the first and most powerful men of Rome? From other
praetors, indeed, they expect largesses and shows and gladiators,
but from you they claim, as an hereditary debt, the exurpation of
tyranny; they are all ready to suffer anything on your account, if you
will but show yourself such as they think you are and expect you
should be." Which said, he fell upon Brutus, and embraced him; and
after this, they parted each to try their several friends.
  Among the friends of Pompey there was one Caius Ligarius, whom
Caesar had pardoned, though accused for having been in arms against
him. This man, not feeling so thankful for having been forgiven as
he felt oppressed by that power which made him need a pardon, hated
Caesar, and was one of Brutus's most intimate friends. Him Brutus
visited, and finding him sick, "O Ligarius," says he, "what a time you
have found out to be sick in!" At which words Ligarius, raising
himself and leaning on his elbow, took Brutus by the hand, and said,
"But, O Brutus, if you are on any design worthy of yourself, I am
well."
  From this time they tried the inclinations of all their
acquaintances that they durst trust, and communicated the secret to
them, and took into the design not only their familiar friends, but as
many as they believed bold and brave and despisers of death. For which
reason they concealed the plot from Cicero, though he was very much
trusted and as well beloved by them all, lest, to his own disposition,
which was naturally timorous, adding now the weariness and caution
of old age, by his weighing, as he would do, every particular, that he
might not make one step without the greatest security, he should blunt
the edge of their forwardness and resolution in a business which
required all the despatch imaginable. As indeed there were also two
others that were companions of Brutus, Statilius the Epicurean, and
Favonius the admirer of Cato, whom he left out for this reason: as
he was conversing one day with them, trying them at a distance, and
proposing some such question to be disputed of as among
philosophers, to see what opinion they were of, Favonius declared
his judgment to be that a civil war was worse than the most illegal
monarchy; and Statilius held, that to bring himself into troubles
and danger upon the account of evil or foolish men did not become a
man that had any wisdom or discretion. But Labeo, who was present,
contradicted them both and Brutus, as if it had been an intricate
dispute, and difficult to be decided, held his peace for that time,
but afterwards discovered the whole design to Labeo, who readily
undertook it. The next thing that was thought convenient was to gain
the other Brutus surnamed Albinus, a man of himself of no great
bravery or courage, but considerable for the number of gladiators that
he was maintaining for a public show, and the great confidence that
Caesar put in him. When Cassius and Labeo spoke with him concerning
the matter, he gave them no answer; but, seeking an interview with
Brutus himself alone, and finding that he was their captain, he
readily consented to partake in the action. And among the others,
also, the most and best were gained by the name of Brutus. And, though
they neither gave nor took any oath of secrecy, nor used any other
sacred rite to assure their fidelity to each other, yet all kept their
design so close, were so wary, and held it so silently among
themselves that, though by prophecies and apparitions and signs in the
sacrifices the gods gave warning of it, yet could it not be believed.
  Now Brutus, feeling that the noblest spirits of Rome for virtue
birth, or courage were depending upon him, and surveying with
himself all the circumstances of the dangers they were to encounter,
strove indeed, as much as possible, when abroad, to keep his
uneasiness of mind to himself, and to compose his thoughts; but at
home, and especially at night, he was not the same man, but
sometimes against his will his working care would make him start out
of his sleep, and other times he was taken up with further
reflection and consideration of his difficulties, so that his wife
that lay with him could not choose but take notice that he was full of
unusual trouble, and had in agitation some dangerous and perplexing
question. Porcia, as was said before, was the daughter of Cato, and
Brutus, her cousin-german, had married her very young, though not a
maid, but after the death of her former husband, by whom she had one
son that was named Bibulus; and there is a little book, called Memoirs
of Brutus, written by him, yet extant. This Porcia, being addicted
to philosophy, a great lover of her husband, and full of an
understanding courage, resolved not to inquire into Brutus's secrets
before she had made this trial of herself. She turned all her
attendants out of her chamber, and taking a little knife, such as they
use to cut nails with, she gave herself a deep gash in the thigh; upon
which followed a great flow of blood, and soon after, violent pains
and a shivering fever, occasioned by the wound. Now when Brutus was
extremely anxious and afflicted for her, she, in the height of all her
pain, spoke thus to him: "I, Brutus, being the daughter of Cato, was
given to you in marriage, not like a concubine, to partake only in the
common intercourse of bed and board, but to bear a part in all your
good and all your evil fortunes; and for your part, as regards your
care for me, I find no reason to complain; but from me, what
evidence of my love, what satisfaction can you receive, if I may not
share with you in bearing your hidden griefs, nor to be admitted to
any of your counsels that require secrecy and trust? I know very
well that women seem to be of too weak a nature to be trusted with
secrets; but certainly, Brutus, a virtuous birth and education, and
the company of the good and honourable, are of some force to the
forming our manners; and I can boast that I am the daughter of Cato,
and the wife of Brutus, in which two titles though before I put less
confidence, yet now I have tried myself, and find that I can bid
defiance to pain." Which words having spoken, she showed him her
wound, and related to him the trial that she had made of her
constancy; at which he being astonished, lifted up his hands to
heaven, and begged the assistance of the gods in his enterprise,
that he might show himself a husband worthy of such a wife as
Porcia. So then he comforted his wife.
  But a meeting of the senate being appointed, at which it was
believed that Caesar would be present, they agreed to make use of that
opportunity; for then they might appear all together without
suspicion; and, besides, they hoped that all the noblest and leading
men of the commonwealth, being then assembled as soon as the great
deed was done, would immediately stand forward and assert the common
liberty. The very place too where the senate was to meet seemed to
be by divine appointment favourable to their purpose. It was a
portico, one of those joining the theatre, with a large recess, in
which there stood a statue of Pompey, erected to him by the
commonwealth, when he adorned that part of the city with the
porticos and the theatre. To this place it was that the senate was
summoned for the middle of March (the Ides of March is the Roman
name for the day); as if some more than human power were leading the
man thither, there to meet his punishment for the death of Pompey.
  As soon as it was day, Brutus, taking with him a dagger, which
none but his wife knew of, went out. The rest met together at
Cassius's house, and brought forth his son that was that day to put on
the manly gown, as it is called, into the forum; and from thence,
going all to Pompey's porch, stayed there, expecting Caesar to come
without delay to the senate. Here it was chiefly that any one who
had known what they had purposed, would have admired the unconcerned
temper and the steady resolution of these men in their most
dangerous undertaking; for many of them, being praetors, and called
upon by their office to judge and determine causes, did not only
hear calmly all that made application to them and pleaded against each
other before them, as if they were free from all other thoughts, but
decided causes with as much accuracy and judgment as they had heard
them with attention and patience. And when one person refused to stand
to the award of Brutus, and with great clamour and many attestations
appealed to Caesar, Brutus, looking round about him upon those that
were present, said, "Caesar does not hinder me, nor will he hinder me,
from doing according to the laws."
  Yet there were many unusual accidents that disturbed them and by
mere chance were thrown in their way. The first and chiefest was the
long stay of Caesar, though the day was spent, and he being detained
at home by his wife, and forbidden by the soothsayers to go forth,
upon some defect that appeared in his sacrifice. Another was this:
There came a man up to Casca, one of the company, and, taking him by
the hand, "You concealed," said he, "the secret from us, but Brutus
has told me all." At which words when Casca was surprised, the other
said laughing, "How came you to be so rich of a sudden, that you
should stand to be chosen aedile?" So near was Casca to let out the
secret, upon the mere ambiguity of the other's expression. Then
Popilius Laenas, a senator, having saluted Brutus and Cassius more
earnestly than usual, whispered them softly in the ear, and said,
"My wishes are with you, that you may accomplish what you design,
and I advise you to make no delay, for the thing is now no secret."
This said, he departed, and left them in great suspicion that the
design had taken wind. In the meanwhile, there came one in haste
from Brutus's house and brought him news that his wife was dying.
For Porcia, being extremely disturbed with expectation of the event,
and not able to bear the greatness of her anxiety, could scarce keep
herself within doors; and at every little noise or voice she heard,
starting up suddenly, like those possessed with the bacchic frenzy,
she asked every one that came in from the forum what Brutus was doing,
and sent one messenger after another to inquire. At last, after long
expectation and waiting, the strength of her constitution could hold
out no longer; her mind was overcome with her doubts and fears, and
she lost the control of herself, and began to faint away. She had
not time to betake herself to her chamber, but, sitting as she was
amongst her women, a sudden swoon and a great stupor seized her, and
her colour changed, and her speech was quite lost. At this sight her
women made a loud cry, and many of the neighbours running to
Brutus's door to know what was the matter, the report was soon
spread abroad that Porcia was dead; though with her women's help she
recovered in a little while, and came to herself again. When Brutus
received this news, he was extremely troubled, not without reason, yet
was not so carried away by his private grief as to quit his public
purpose.
  For now news was brought that Caesar was coming, carried in a
litter. For, being discouraged by the ill-omens that attended his
sacrifice, he had determined to undertake no affairs of any great
importance that day, but to defer them till another time, excusing
himself that he was sick. As soon as he came out of his litter,
Popilius Laenas, he who but a little before had wished Brutus good
success in his undertaking, coming up to him, conversed a great
while with him, Caesar standing still all the while, and seeming to be
very attentive. The conspirators (to give them this name), not being
able to hear what he said, but guessing by what themselves were
conscious of that this conference was the discovery of their
treason, were again disheartened, and, looking upon one another,
agreed from each other's countenances that they should not stay to
be taken, but should all kill themselves. And now when Cassius and
some others were laying hands upon their daggers under their robes,
and were drawing them out, Brutus, viewing narrowly the looks and
gesture of Laenas, and finding that he was earnestly petitioning and
not accusing, said nothing, because there were many strangers to the
conspiracy mingled amongst them: but by a cheerful countenance
encouraged Cassius. And after a little while, Laenas, having kissed
Caesar's hand, went away, showing plainly that all his discourse was
about some particular business relating to himself.
  Now when the senate was gone in before to the chamber where they
were to sit, the rest of the company placed themselves close about
Caesar's chair, as if they had some suit to make to him, and
Cassius, turning his face to Pompey's statue, is said to have
invoked it, as if it had been sensible of his prayers. Trebonius, in
the meanwhile, engaged Antony's attention at the door, and kept him in
talk outside. When Caesar entered, the whole senate rose up to him. As
soon as he was sat down, the men all crowded round about him, and
set Tillius Cimber, one of their own number, to intercede in behalf of
his brother that was banished; they all joined their prayers with his,
and took Caesar by the hand, and kissed his head and his breast. But
he putting aside at first their supplications, and afterwards, when he
saw they would not desist, violently rising up, Tillius with both
hands caught hold of his robe and pulled it off from his shoulders,
and Casca, that stood behind him, drawing his dagger, gave him the
first, but a slight wound, about the shoulder. Caesar snatching hold
of the handle of the dagger, and crying out aloud in Latin, "Villain
Casca, what do you?" he, calling in Greek to his brother, bade him
come and help. And by this time, finding himself struck by a great
many hands, and looking around about him to see if he could force
his way out, when he saw Brutus with his dagger drawn against him,
he let go Casca's hand, that he had hold of and covering his head with
his robe, gave up his body to their blows. And they so eagerly pressed
towards the body, and so many daggers were hacking together, that they
cut one another; Brutus, particularly, received a wound in his hand,
and all of them were besmeared with the blood.
  Caesar being thus slain, Brutus, stepping forth into the midst,
intended to have made a speech, and called back and encouraged the
senators to stay; but they all affrighted ran away in great
disorder, and there was a great confusion and press at the door,
though none pursued or followed. For they had come to an express
resolution to kill nobody beside Caesar, but to call and invite all
the rest to liberty. It was indeed the opinion of all the others, when
they consulted about the execution of their design, that it was
necessary to cut off Antony with Caesar, looking upon him as an
insolent man, an affecter of monarchy, and one that, by his familiar
intercourse, had gained a powerful interest with the soldiers. And
this they urged the rather, because at that time to the natural
loftiness and ambition of his temper there was added the dignity of
being counsel and colleague to Caesar. But Brutus opposed this consul,
insisting first upon the injustice of it, and afterwards giving them
hopes that a change might be worked in Antony. For he did not
despair but that so highly gifted and honourable a man, and such a
lover of glory as Antony, stirred up with emulation of their great
attempt, might, if Caesar were once removed, lay hold of the
occasion to be joint restorer with them of the liberty of his country.
Thus did Brutus save Antony's life. But he, in the general
consternation, put himself into a plebeian habit, and fled. But Brutus
and his party marched up to the capitol, in their way showing their
hands all bloody, and their naked swords, and proclaiming liberty to
the people. At first all places were filled with cries and shouts; and
the wild running to and fro, occasioned by the sudden surprise and
passion that every one was in, increased the tumult in the city. But
no other bloodshed following, and no plundering of the goods in the
streets, the senators and many of the people took courage and went
up to the men in the capitol; and a multitude being gathered together,
Brutus made an oration to them, very popular, and proper for the state
that affairs were then in. Therefore, when they applauded his
speech, and cried out to him to come down, they all took confidence
and descended into the forum; the rest promiscuously mingled with
one another, but many of the most eminent persons, attending Brutus,
conducted him in the midst of them with great honour from the capitol,
and placed him in the rostra. At the sight of Brutus, the crowd,
though consisting of a confused mixture and all disposed to make a
tumult, were struck with reverence, and expected what he would say
with order and with silence, and, when he began to speak, heard him
with quiet and attention. But that all were not pleased with this
action they plainly showed when, Cinna beginning to speak and accuse
Caesar, they broke out into a sudden rage, and railed at him in such
language that the whole party thought fit again to withdraw to the
capitol. And there Brutus, expecting to be besieged, dismissed the
most eminent of those that had accompanied them thither, not
thinking it just that they who were not partakers of the fact should
share in the danger.
  But the next day, the senate being assembled in the temple of the
Earth, and Antony and Plancus and Cicero having made orations
recommending concord in general and an act of oblivion, it was decreed
that the men should not only be put out of all fear or danger, but
that the consuls should see what honours and dignities were proper
to be conferred upon them. After which done, the senate broke up; and,
Antony having sent his son as an hostage to the capitol, Brutus and
his company came down, and mutual salutes and invitations passed
amongst them, the whole of them being gathered together. Antony
invited and entertained Cassius, Lepidus did the same to Brutus, and
the rest were invited and entertained by others, as each of them had
acquaintance or friends. And as soon as it was day, the senate met
again, and voted thanks to Antony for having stifled the beginning
of a civil war; afterwards Brutus and his associates that were present
received encomiums, and had provinces assigned and distributed among
them. Crete was allotted to Brutus, Africa to Cassius, Asia to
Trebonius, Bithynia to Cimber, and to the other Brutus Gaul about
the Po.
  After these things, they began to consider of Caesar's will, and the
ordering of his funeral. Antony desired that the will might be read,
and that the body should not have a private or dishonourable
interment, lest that should further exasperate the people. This
Cassius violently opposed, but Brutus yielded to it, and gave leave;
in which he seems to have a second time committed a fault. For as
before in sparing the life of Antony he could not be without some
blame from his party, as thereby setting up against the conspiracy a
dangerous and difficult enemy, so now, in suffering him to have the
ordering of the funeral, he fell into a total and irrevocable error.
For first, it appearing by the will that Caesar had bequeathed to
the Roman people seventy-five drachmas a man, and given to the
public his gardens beyond Tiber (where now the temple of Fortune
stands), the whole city was fired with a wonderful affection for
him, and a passionate sense of the loss of him. And when the body
was brought forth into the forum, Antony, as the custom was, making
a funeral oration in the praise of Caesar, and finding the multitude
moved with his speech, passing into the pathetic tone, unfolded the
bloody garment of Caesar, showed them in how many places it was
pierced, and the number of his wounds. Now there was nothing to be
seen but confusion, some cried out to kill the murderers, others (as
was formerly done when Clodius led the people) tore away the benches
and tables out of the shops round about, and, heaping them altogether,
built a great funeral pile, and having put the body of Caesar upon it,
set it on fire, the spot where this was done being moreover surrounded
with a great many temples and other consecrated places, so that they
seemed to burn the body in a kind of sacred solemnity. As soon as
the fire flamed out, the multitude, flocking in some from one part and
some from another, snatched the brands that were half burnt out of the
pile, and ran about the city to fire the houses of the murderers of
Caesar. But they, having beforehand well fortified themselves,
repelled this danger.
  There was, however, a kind of poet, one Cinna, not at all
concerned in the guilt of the conspiracy, but on the contrary one of
Caesar's friends. This man dreamed that he was invited to supper by
Caesar, and that he declined to go, but that Caesar entreated and
pressed him to it very earnestly; and at last, taking him by the hand,
led him into a very deep and dark place, whither he was forced against
his will to follow in great consternation and amazement. After this
vision, he had a fever the most part of the night; nevertheless in the
morning, hearing that the body of Caesar was to be carried forth to be
interred, he was ashamed not to be present at the solemnity, and
came abroad and joined the people, when they were already infuriated
by the speech of Antony. And perceiving him, and taking him not for
that Cinna who indeed he was, but for him that a little before in a
speech to the people had reproached and inveighed against Caesar, they
fell upon him and tore him to pieces.
  This action chiefly, and the alteration that Antony had wrought,
so alarmed Brutus and his party that for their safety they retired
from the city. The first stay they made was at Antium, with a design
to return again as soon as the fury of the people had spent itself and
was abated, which they expected would soon and easily come to pass
in an unsettled multitude, apt to be carried away with any sudden
and impetuous passion, especially since they had the senate favourable
to them; which, though it took no notice of those that had torn
Cinna to pieces, yet made a strict search and apprehended in order
to punishment those that had assaulted the houses of the friends of
Brutus and Cassius. By this time, also, the people began to be
dissatisfied with Antony, who they perceived was setting up a kind
of monarchy for himself; they longed for the return of Brutus, whose
presence they expected and hoped for at the games and spectacles which
he, as praetor, was to exhibit to the public. But he having
intelligence that many of the old soldiers that had borne arms under
Caesar, by whom they had had lands and cities given them, lay in
wait for him, and by small parties at a time had stolen into the city,
would not venture to come himself; however, in his absence there
were most magnificent and costly shows exhibited to the people; for,
having brought up a great number of all sorts of wild beasts, he
gave order that not any of them should be returned or saved, but
that all should be spent freely at the public spectacles. He himself
made a journey to Naples to procure considerable number of players,
and hearing of one Canutius that was very much praised for his
acting upon the stage, he wrote to his friends to use all their
entreaties to bring him to Rome (for, being a Grecian, he could not be
compelled); he wrote also to Cicero, begging him by no means to omit
being present at the shows.
  This was the posture of affairs when another sudden alteration was
made upon the young Caesar's coming to Rome. He was son to the niece
of Caesar, who adopted him, and left him his heir by his will. At
the time when Caesar was killed, he was following his studies at
Apollonia, where he was expecting also to meet Caesar on his way to
the expedition which he had determined on against the Parthians;
but, hearing of his death, he immediately came to Rome, and to
ingratiate himself with the people, taking upon himself the name of
Caesar, and punctually distributing among the citizens the money
that was left them by the will, he soon got the better of Antony;
and by money and largesses, which he liberally dispersed amongst the
soldiers, he gathered together and brought over to his party a great
number of those that had served under Caesar. Cicero himself, out of
the hatred which he bore to Antony, sided with young Caesar; which
Brutus took so ill that he treated with him very sharply in his
letters, telling him that he perceived Cicero could well enough endure
a tyrant, but was afraid that he who hated him should be the man; that
in writing and speaking so well of Caesar, he showed that his aim
was to have an easy slavery. "But our forefathers," said Brutus,
"could not brook even gentle masters." Further he added, that for
his own part he had not as yet fully resolved whether he should make
war or peace; but that as to one point he was fixed and settled, which
was, never to be a slave; that he wondered Cicero should fear the
dangers of a civil war, and not be much more afraid of a dishonourable
and infamous peace; that the very reward that was to be given him
for subverting Antony's tyranny was the privilege of establishing
Caesar as tyrant in his place. This is the tone of Brutus's first
letters to Cicero.
  The city being now divided into two factions, some betaking
themselves to Caesar and others to Antony, the soldiers selling
themselves, as it were, by public outcry, and going over to him that
would give them most, Brutus began to despair of any good event of
such proceedings, and, resolving to leave Italy, passed by land
through Lucania and came to Elea by the seaside. From hence it was
thought convenient that Porcia should return to Rome. She was overcome
with grief to part from Brutus, but strove as much as was possible
to conceal it; but, in spite of all her constancy, a picture which she
found there accidentally betrayed it. It was a Greek subject, Hector
parting from Andromache when he went to engage the Greeks, giving
his young son Astyanax into her arms, and she fixing her eyes upon
him. When she looked at this piece, the resemblance it bore to her own
condition made her burst into tears, and several times a day she
went to see the picture, and wept before it. Upon this occasion,
when Acilius, one of Brutus's friends, repeated out of Homer the
verses, where Andromache speaks to Hector:-

                  "But Hector, you
          To me are father and are mother too,
          My brother, and my loving husband true."

Brutus, smiling, replied, "But I must not answer Porcia, as Hector did
Andromache:-

         "Mind you your loom, and to your maids give law."

"For though the natural weakness of her body hinders her from doing
what only the strength of men can perform, yet she has a mind as
valiant and as active for the good of her country as the best of
us." This narrative is in the memoirs of Brutus written by Bibulus,
Porcia's son.
  Brutus took ship from hence, and sailed to Athens, where he was
received by the people with great demonstrations of kindness,
expressed in their acclamation and the honours that were decreed
him. He lived there with a private friend, and was a constant
auditor of Theomnestus, the Academic, and Cratippus, the
Peripatetic, with whom he so engaged in philosophical pursuits that he
seemed to have laid aside all thoughts of public business, and to be
wholly at leisure for study. But all this while, being unsuspected, he
was secretly making preparations for war; in order to which he sent
Herostratus into Macedonia to secure the commanders there to his side,
and he himself won over and kept at his disposal all the young
Romans that were then students at Athens. Of this number was
Cicero's son whom he everywhere highly extols, and says that whether
sleeping or waking he could not choose but admire a young man of so
great a spirit and such a hater of tyranny.
  At length he began to act openly, and to appear in public
business, and, being informed that there were several Roman ships full
of treasure that in their course from Asia were to come that way,
and that they were commanded by one of his friends, he went to meet
him about Carystus. Finding him there, and having persuaded him to
deliver lip the ships, he made a more than usually splendid
entertainment, for it happened also to be his birthday. Now when
they came to drink, and were filling their cups with hopes for victory
to Brutus and liberty to Rome, Brutus, to animate them the more,
called for a larger bowl, and holding it in his hand, on a sudden,
upon no occasion or forethought, pronounced aloud this verse:-

         "But fate my death and Leto's son have wrought."

And some writers add that in the last battle which he fought at
Philippi, the word that he gave to his soldiers was Apollo, and from
thence conclude that this sudden unaccountable exclamation of his
was a presage of the overthrow that he suffered there.
  Antistius, the commander of these ships, at his parting, gave him
fifty thousand myriads of the money that he was conveying to Italy;
and all the soldiers yet remaining of Pompey's army, who after their
general's defeat wandered about Thessaly, readily and joyfully flocked
together to join him. Besides this, he took from Cinna five hundred
horse that he was carrying to Dolabella into Asia. After that, he
sailed to Demetrias, and there seized a great quantity of arms that
had been provided by the command of the deceased Caesar for the
Parthian war, and were now to be sent to Antony. Then Macedonia was
put into his hands and delivered up by Hortensius the praetor, and all
the kings and potentates round about came and offered their
services. So when news was brought that Caius, the brother of
Antony, having passed over from Italy, was marching on directly to
join the forces that Vatinius commanded in Dyrrhachium and
Apollonia, Brutus resolved to anticipate him, and to seize them first,
and in all haste moved forwards with those that he had about him.
His march was very difficult, through rugged places and in a great
snow, but so swift that he left those that were to bring his
provisions for the morning meal a great way behind. And now, being
very near to Dyrrhachium, with fatigue and cold he fell into the
distemper called Bulimia. This is a disease that seizes both men and
cattle after much labour, and especially in a great snow; whether it
is caused by the natural heat when the body is seized with cold, being
forced all inwards, and consuming at once all the nourishment laid in,
or whether the sharp and subtle vapour which comes from the snow as it
dissolves cuts the body, as it were, and destroys the heat which
issues through the pores; for the sweatings seem to arise from the
heat meeting with the cold, and being quenched by it on the surface of
the body. But this I have in another place discussed more at large.
  Brutus growing very faint, and there being none in the whole army
that had anything for him to eat, his servants were forced to have
recourse to the enemy, and, going as far as to the gates of the
city, begged bread of the sentinels that were upon duty. As soon as
they heard of the condition of Brutus, they came themselves, and
brought both meat and drink along with them; in return for which
Brutus, when he took the city, showed the greatest kindness, not to
them only, but to all the inhabitants, for their sakes. Caius
Antonius, in the meantime, coming to Apollonia, summoned all the
soldiers that were near that city to join him there; but finding
that they nevertheless went all to Brutus, and suspecting that even
those of Apollonia were inclined to the same party, he quitted that
city, and came to Buthrotum, having first lost three cohorts of his
men, that in their march thither were cut to pieces by Brutus. After
this, attempting to make himself master of some strong places about
Byllis which the enemy had first seized, he was overcome in a set
battle by young Cicero, to whom Brutus gave the command, and whose
conduct he made use of often and with much success. Caius himself
was surprised in a marshy place, at a distance from his support; and
Brutus having him in his power would not suffer his soldiers to
attack, but maneuvering about the enemy with his horse, gave command
that none of them should be killed, for that in a little time they
would all be of his side; which accordingly came to pass, for they
surrendered both themselves and their general. So that Brutus had by
this time a very great and considerable army. He showed all marks of
honour and esteem to Caius for a long time, and left him the use of
the ensigns of his office, though, as some report, he had several
letters from Rome, and particularly from Cicero, advising him to put
him to death. But at last, perceiving that he began to corrupt his
officers, and was trying to raise a mutiny amongst the soldiers, he
put him aboard a ship and kept him close prisoner. In the meantime,
the soldiers that had been corrupted by Caius retired to Apollonia,
and sent word to Brutus, desiring him to come to them thither. He
answered that this was not the custom of the Romans, but that it
became those who had offended to come themselves to their general
and beg forgiveness of their offences; which they did, and accordingly
received their pardon.
  As he was preparing to pass into Asia, tidings reached him of the
alteration that had happened at Rome; where the young Caesar, assisted
by the senate, in opposition to Antony, and having driven his
competitor out of Italy, had begun himself to be very formidable,
suing for the consulship contrary to law, and maintaining large bodies
of troops of which the commonwealth had no manner of need. And then,
perceiving that the senate, dissatisfied with the proceedings, began
to cast their eyes abroad upon Brutus, and decreed and confirmed the
government of several provinces to him, he had taken the alarm.
Therefore despatching messengers to Antony, he desired that there
might be a reconciliation, and a friendship between them. Then,
drawing all his forces about the city, he made himself to be chosen
consul, though he was but a boy, being scarce twenty years old, as
he himself writes in his memoirs. At the first entry upon the
consulship he immediately ordered a judicial process to be issued
out against Brutus and his accomplices for having murdered a principal
man of the city, holding the highest magistracies of Rome, without
being heard or condemned; and appointed Lucius Cornificus to accuse
Brutus, and Marcus Agrippa to accuse Cassius. None appearing to the
accusation, the judges were forced to pass sentence and condemn them
both. It is reported that when the crier from the tribunal, as the
custom was, with a loud voice cried Brutus to appear, the people
groaned audibly, and the noble citizens hung down their heads for
grief. Publicus Silicius was seen to burst out into tears, which was
the cause that not long after he was put down in the list of those
that were proscribed. After this, the three men, Caesar, Antony, and
Lepidus, being perfectly reconciled, shared the provinces among
themselves, and made up the catalogue of proscription, wherein were
set those that were designed for slaughter, amounting to two hundred
men, in which number Cicero was slain.
  The news being brought to Brutus in Macedonia, he was under a
compulsion, and sent orders to Hortensius that he should kill Caius
Antonius in revenge of the death of Cicero his friend, and Brutus
his kinsman, who also was proscribed and slain. Upon this account it
was that Antony, having afterwards taken Hortensius in the battle of
Philippi, slew him upon his brother's tomb. But Brutus expresses
himself as more ashamed for the cause of Cicero's death than grieved
for the misfortune of it, and says he cannot help accusing his friends
at Rome, that they were slaves more through their own doing than
that of those who now were their tyrants; they could be present and
see and yet suffer those things which even to hear related ought to
them to have been insufferable.
  Having made his army, that was already very considerable, pass
into Asia, he ordered a fleet to be prepared in Bithynia and about
Cyzicus. But going himself through the country by land, he made it his
business to settle and confirm all the cities, and gave audience to
the princes of the parts through which he passed. And he sent orders
into Syria to Cassius to come to him, and leave his intended journey
into Egypt; letting him understand that it was not to gain an empire
for themselves, but to free their country, that they went thus
wandering about and had got an army together whose business it was
to destroy the tyrants; that therefore, if they remembered and
resolved to persevere in their first purpose, they ought not to be too
far from Italy, but make what haste they could thither, and
endeavour to relieve their fellow-citizens from oppression.
  Cassius obeyed his summons, and returned, and Brutus went to meet
him; and at Smyrna they met, which was the first time they had seen
one another since they parted at the Piraeus in Athens, one for Syria,
and the other for Macedonia. They were both extremely joyful and had
great confidence of their success at the sight of the forces that each
of them had got together, since they who had fled from Italy, like the
most despicable exiles, without money, without arms, without a ship or
a soldier or a city to rely on, in a little time after had met
together so well furnished with shipping and money, and an army both
of horse and foot, that they were in a condition to contend for the
empire of Rome.
  Cassius was desirous to show no less respect and honour to Brutus
than Brutus did to him; but Brutus was still beforehand with him,
coming for the most part to him, both because he was the elder man,
and of a weaker constitution than himself. Men generally reckoned
Cassius a very expert soldier, but of a harsh and angry nature, and
one that desired to command rather by fear than love, though, on the
other side, among his familiar acquaintance he would easily give way
to jesting and play the buffoon. But Brutus, for his virtue, was
esteemed by the people, beloved by his friends, admired by the best
men, and hated not by his enemies themselves. For he was a man of a
singularly gentle nature, of a great spirit, insensible of the
passions of anger or pleasure or covetousness; steady and inflexible
to maintain his purpose for what he thought right and honest. And that
which gained him the greatest affection and reputation was the
entire faith in his intentions. For it had not ever been supposed that
Pompey the Great himself, if he had overcome Caesar, would have
submitted his power to the laws, instead of taking the management of
the state upon himself, soothing the people with the specious name
of consul or dictator, or some other milder title than king. And
they were well persuaded that Cassius, being a man governed by anger
and passion, and carried often, for his interest's sake, beyond the
bounds of justice, endured all these hardships of war and travel and
danger most assuredly to obtain dominion to himself, and not liberty
to the people. And as for the former disturbers of the peace of
Rome, whether a Cinna, a Marius, or a Carbo, it is manifest that they,
having set their country as a stake for him that should win, did
almost own in express terms that they fought for empire. But even
the enemies of Brutus did not, they tell us, lay this accusation to
his charge; nay, many heard Antony himself say that Brutus was the
only man that conspired against Caesar out of a sense of the glory and
the apparent justice of the action, but that all the rest rose up
against the man himself, from private envy and malice of their own.
And it is plain by what he writes himself, that Brutus did not so much
rely upon his forces, as upon his own virtue. For thus he speaks in
a letter to Atticus, shortly before he was to engage with the enemy:
that his affairs were in the best state of fortune that he could wish;
for that either he should overcome, and restore liberty to the
people of Rome, or die, and be himself out of the reach of slavery;
that other things being certain and beyond all hazard, one thing was
yet in doubt, whether they should live or die free men. He adds
further, that Mark Antony had received a just punishment for his
folly, who, when he might have been numbered with Brutus and Cassius
and Cato, would join himself to Octavius; that though they should
not now be both overcome, they soon would fight between themselves.
And in this he seems to have been no ill-prophet.
  Now when they were at Smyrna, Brutus desired of Cassius that he
might have part of the great treasure that he had heaped up, because
all his own was expended in furnishing out such a fleet of ships as
was sufficient to keep the whole interior sea in their power. But
Cassius's friends dissuaded him from this; "for," said they, "it is
not just that the money which you with so much parsimony keep, and
with so much envy have got, should be given to him to be disposed of
in making himself popular, and gaining the favour of the soldiers."
Notwithstanding this, Cassius gave him a third part of all that he
had; and then they parted each to their several commands. Cassius,
having taken Rhodes, behaved himself there with no clemency; though at
his first entry, when some had called him lord and king, he answered
that he was neither king nor lord, but the destroyer and punisher of a
king and lord. Brutus, on the other part, sent to the Lycians to
demand from them a supply of money and men, but Laucrates, their
popular leader, persuaded the cities to resist, and they occupied
several little mountains and hills with a design to hinder Brutus's
passage. Brutus at first sent out a party of horse which, surprising
them as they were eating, killed six hundred of them, and afterward,
having taken all their small towns and villages round about, he set
all his prisoners free without ransom, hoping to win the whole
nation by good-will. But they continued obstinate, taking in anger
what they had suffered, and despising his goodness and humanity;
until, having forced the most warlike of them into the city of
Xanthus, he besieged them there. They endeavoured to make their escape
by swimming and diving through the river that flows by the town, but
were taken by nets let down for that purpose in the channel, which had
little bells at the top, which gave present notice of any that were
taken in them. After that, they made a sally in the night, and seizing
several of the battering engines, set them on fire; but being
perceived by the Romans, were beaten back to their walls, and there
being a strong wind, it carried the flames to the battlements of the
city with such fierceness that several of the adjoining houses took
fire. Brutus, fearing lest the whole city should be destroyed,
commanded his own soldiers to assist and quench the fire.
  But the Lycians were on a sudden possessed with a strange and
incredible desperation; such a frenzy as cannot be better expressed
than by calling it a violent appetite to die, for both women and
children, the bondmen and the free, those of all ages and of all
conditions strove to force away the soldiers that came in to their
assistance from the walls; and themselves gathering together reeds and
wood, and whatever combustible matter they found, spread the fire over
the whole city, feeding it with whatever fuel they could, and by all
possible means exciting its fury, so that the flame, having
dispersed itself and encircled the whole city, blazed out in so
terrible a manner that Brutus, extremely afflicted at their
calamity, got on horseback and rode round the walls, earnestly
desirous to preserve the city, and stretching forth his hands to the
Xanthians, begged of them that they would spare themselves and save
the town. Yet none regarded his entreaties, but, by all manner of
ways, strove to destroy themselves; not only men and women, but even
boys and little children, with a hideous outcry, leaped some into
the fire, others from the walls, others fell upon their parents'
swords, baring their throats and desiring to be struck. After the
destruction of the city, there was found a woman who had hanged
herself with her young child hanging from her neck, and the torch in
her hand with which she had fired her own house.
  It was so tragical a sight that Brutus could not endure to see it,
but wept at the very relation of it and proclaimed a reward to any
soldier that could save a Xanthian. And it is said that an hundred and
fifty only were found, to have their lives saved against their
wills. Thus the Xanthians after a long space of years, the fated
period of their destruction having, as it were, run its course,
repeated by their desperate deed the former calamity of their
forefathers, who after the very same manner in the Persian war had
fired their city and destroyed themselves.
  Brutus, after this, finding the Patareans resolved to make
resistance and hold out their city against him, was very unwilling
to besiege it, and was in great perplexity lest the same frenzy
might seize them too. But having in his power some of their women, who
were his prisoners, he dismissed them all without any ransom; who,
returning and giving an account to their husbands and fathers, who
were of the greatest rank, what an excellent man Brutus was, how
temperate and how just, persuaded them to yield themselves and put
their city into his hands. From this time all the cities round about
came into his power, submitting themselves to him, and found him
good and merciful even beyond their hopes. For though Cassius at the
same time had compelled the Rhodians to bring in all the silver and
gold that each of them privately was possessed of, by which he
raised a sum of eight thousand talents, and besides this had condemned
the public to pay the sum of five hundred talents more, Brutus, not
having taken above a hundred and fifty talents from the Lycians, and
having done them no other manner of injury, parted from thence with
his army to go into Ionia.
  Through the whole course of this expedition, Brutus did many
memorable acts of justice in dispensing rewards and punishments to
such as had deserved either; but one in particular I will relate,
because he himself, and all the noblest Romans, were gratified with it
above all the rest. When Pompey the Great, being overthrown from his
great power by Caesar, had fled to Egypt, and landed near Pelusium,
the protectors of the young king consulted among themselves what was
fit to be done on that occasion, nor could they all agree in the
same opinion, some being for receiving him, others for driving him
from Egypt. But Theodotus, a Chian by birth, and then attending upon
the king as a paid teacher of rhetoric, and for want of better men
admitted into the council, undertook to prove to them that both
parties were in the wrong, those that counselled to receive Pompey,
and those that advised to send him away; that in their present case
one thing only was truly expedient, to seize him and to kill him;
and ended his argument with the proverb, that "dead men don't bite."
The council agreed to his opinion, and Pompey the Great (an example of
incredible and unforeseen events) was slain, as the sophister
himself had the impudence to boast, through the rhetoric and
cleverness of Theodotus. Not long after, when Caesar came to Egypt,
some of the murderers received their just reward and suffered the evil
death they deserved. But Theodotus, though he had borrowed on from
fortune a little further time for a poor, despicable, and wandering
life, yet did not lie hid from Brutus as he passed through Asia; but
being seized by him and executed, had his death made more memorable
than was his life.
  About this time, Brutus sent to Cassius to come to him at the city
of Sardis, and, when he was on his journey, went forth with his
friends to meet him; and the whole army in array saluted each of
them with the name of Imperator. Now (as it usually happens in
business of great concern, and where many friends and many
commanders are engaged), several jealousies of each other and
matters of private accusation having passed between Brutus and
Cassius, they resolved, before they entered upon any other business,
immediately to withdraw into some apartment; where, the door being
shut and they two alone, they began first to expostulate, then to
dispute hotly, and accuse each other; and finally were so
transported into passion as to fall to hard words, and at last burst
out into tears. Their friends who stood without were amazed, hearing
them loud and angry, and feared lest some mischief might follow, but
yet durst not interrupt them, being commanded not to enter the room.
However, Marcus Favonius, who had been an ardent admirer of Cato, and,
not so much by his learning or wisdom as by his wild, vehement manner,
maintained the character of a philosopher, was rushing in upon them,
but was hindered by the attendants. But it was a hard matter to stop
Favonius, wherever his wildness hurried him; for he was fierce in
all his behaviour, and ready to do anything to get his will. And
though he was a senator, yet, thinking that one of the least of his
excellences, he valued himself more upon a sort of cynical liberty
of speaking what he pleased, which sometimes, indeed, did away with
the rudeness and unseasonableness of his addresses with those that
would interpret it in jest. This Favonius, breaking by force through
those that kept the doors, entered into the chamber, and with a set
voice declaimed the verses that Homer makes Nestor use-

         "Be ruled, for I am older than ye both."

At this Cassius laughed; but Brutus thrust him out, calling him
impudent dog and counterfeit Cynic; but yet for the present they let
it put an end to their dispute, and parted. Cassius made a supper that
night, and Brutus invited the guests; and when they were set down,
Favonius, having bathed, came in among them. Brutus called out aloud
and told him he was not invited, and bade him go to the upper couch;
but he violently thrust himself in, and lay down on the middle one;
and the entertainment passed in sportive talk, not wanting either
wit or philosophy.
  The next day after, upon the accusation of the Sardians, Brutus
publicly disgraced and condemned Lucius Pella, one that had been
censor of Rome, and employed in offices of trust by himself, for
having embezzled the public money. This action did not a little vex
Cassius; for but a few days before, two of his own friends being
accused of the same crime, he only admonished them in private, but
in public absolved them, and continued them in his service; and upon
this occasion he accused Brutus of too much rigour and severity of
justice in a time which required them to use more policy and favour.
But Brutus bade him remember the Ides of March, the day when they
killed Caesar, who himself neither plundered nor pillaged mankind, but
was only the support and strength of those that did; and bade him
consider that if there was any colour for justice to be neglected,
it had been better to suffer the injustice of Caesar's friends than to
give impunity to their own; "for then," said he, "we would have been
accused of cowardice only; whereas now we are liable to the accusation
of injustice, after all our pain and dangers which we endure." By
which we may perceive what was Brutus's purpose, and the rule of his
actions.
  About the time that they were going to pass out of Asia into Europe,
it is said that a wonderful sign was seen by Brutus. He was
naturally given to much watching, and by practice and moderation in
his diet had reduced his allowance of sleep to a very small amount
of time. He never slept in the daytime, and in the night then only
when all his business was finished, and when, every one else being
gone to rest, he had nobody to discourse with him. But at this time,
the war being begun, having the whole state of it to consider, and
being solicitous of the event, after his first sleep, which he let
himself take after his supper, he spent all the rest of the night in
settling his most urgent affairs; which if he could despatch early and
so make a saving of any leisure, he employed himself in reading
until the third watch, at which time the centurions and tribunes
were used to come to him for orders. Thus one night before he passed
out of Asia, he was very late all alone in his tent, with a dim
light burning by him, all the rest of the camp being bushed and
silent; and reasoning about something with himself and very
thoughtful, he fancied some one came in, and, looking up towards the
door, he saw a terrible and strange appearance of an unnatural and
frightful body standing by him without speaking. Brutus boldly asked
it, "What are you, of men or gods, and upon what business come to me?"
The figure answered "I am your evil genius, Brutus; you shall see me
at Philippi." To which Brutus, not at all disturbed, replied, "Then
I shall see you."
  As soon as the apparition vanished, he called his servants to him,
who all told him that they had neither heard any voice nor seen any
vision. So then he continued watching till the morning, when he went
to Cassius, and told him of what he had seen. He, who followed the
principles of Epicurus's philosophy, and often used to dispute with
Brutus concerning matters of this nature, spoke to him thus upon
this occasion: "It is the opinion of our sect, Brutus, that not all
that we feel or see is real and true; but that the sense is a most
slippery and deceitful thing, and the mind yet more quick and subtle
to put the sense in motion and affect it with every kind of change
upon no real occasion of fact; just as an impression is made upon wax;
and the soul of man, which has in itself both what imprints, and
what is imprinted on, may most easily, by its own operations,
produce and assume every variety of shape and figure. This is
evident from the sudden changes of our dreams; in which the
imaginative principle, once started by any trifling matter, goes
through a whole series of most diverse emotions and appearances. It is
its nature to be ever in motion, and its motion is fantasy or
conception. But besides all this, in your case, the body, being
tired and distressed with continual toil, naturally works upon the
mind and keeps it in an excited and unusual condition. But that
there should be any such thing as supernatural beings, or, if there
were, that they should have human shape or voice or power that can
reach to us, there is no reason for believing; though I confess I
could wish that there were such beings, that we might not rely upon
our arms only, and our horses and our navy, all which are so
numerous and powerful, but might be confident of the assistance of
gods also, in this our most sacred and honourable attempt." With
such discourses as these Cassius soothed the mind of Brutus. But
just as the troops were going on board, two eagles flew and lighted on
the first two ensigns, and crossed over the water with them, and never
ceased following the soldiers and being fed by them till they came
to Philippi, and there, but one day before the fight, they both flew
away.
  Brutus had already reduced most of the places and people of these
parts; but they now marched on as far as to the coast opposite Thasos,
and, if there were any city or man of power that yet stood out,
brought them all to subjection. At this point Norbanus was encamped,
in a place called the Straits, near Symbolum. Him they surrounded in
such sort that they forced him to dislodge and quit the place; and
Norbanus narrowly escaped losing his whole army, Caesar by reason of
sickness being too far behind; only Antony came to his relief with
such wonderful swiftness that Brutus and those with him did not
believe when they heard he was come. Caesar came up ten days after,
and encamped over against Brutus, and Antony over against Cassius.
  The space between the two armies is called by the Romans the Campi
Philippi. Never had two such large Roman armies come together to
engage each other. That of Brutus was somewhat less in number than
that of Caesar, but in the splendidness of the men's arms and richness
of their equipage it wonderfully exceeded; for most of their arms were
of gold and silver, which Brutus had lavishly bestowed among them. For
though in other things he had accustomed his commanders to use all
frugality and self-control, yet he thought that the riches which
soldiers carried about them in their hands and on their bodies would
add something of spirit to those that were desirous of glory, and
would make those that were covetous and lovers of gain fight the
more valiantly to preserve the arms which were their estate.
  Caesar made a view and lustration of his army within his trenches,
and distributed only a little corn and but five drachmas to each
soldier for the sacrifice they were to make. But Brutus, either
pitying this poverty, or disdaining this meanness of spirit in Caesar,
first, as the custom was, made a general muster and lustration of
the army in the open field, and then distributed a great number of
beasts for sacrifice to every regiment, and fifty drachmas to every
soldier; so that in the love of his soldiers and their readiness to
fight for him Brutus had much the advantage. But at the time of
lustration it is reported that an unlucky omen happened to Cassius;
for his lictor, presenting him with a garland that he was to wear at
sacrifice, gave it him the wrong way up. Further, it is said that some
time before, at a certain solemn procession, a golden image of
Victory, which was carried before Cassius, fell down by a slip of
him that carried it. Besides this there appeared many birds of prey
daily about the camp, and swarms of bees were seen in a place within
the trenches, which place the soothsayers ordered shut out from the
camp, to remove the superstition which insensibly began to infect even
Cassius himself and shake him in his Epicurean philosophy, and had
wholly seized and subdued the soldiers; from whence it was that
Cassius was reluctant to put all to the hazard of a present battle,
but advised rather to draw out the war until further time, considering
that they were stronger in money and provisions, but in numbers of men
and arms inferior. But Brutus, on the contrary, was still, as
formerly, desirous to come with all speed to the decision of a battle;
that so he might either restore his country to her liberty, or else
deliver from their misery all those numbers of people whom they
harassed with the expenses and the service and exactions of the war.
And finding also his light-horse in several skirmishes still to have
had the better, he was the more encouraged and resolved; and some of
the soldiers having deserted and gone to the enemy, and others
beginning to accuse and suspect one another, many of Cassius's friends
in the council changed their opinions to that of Brutus. But there was
one of Brutus's party, named Attellius, who opposed his resolution,
advising rather that they should tarry over the winter. And when
Brutus asked him in how much better a condition he hoped to be a
year after, his answer was, "If I gain nothing else, yet I shall
live so much the longer." Cassius was much displeased at this
answer; and among the rest, Attellius was had in much disesteem for
it. And so it was presently resolved to give battle the next day.
  Brutus that night at supper showed himself very cheerful and full of
hope, and reasoned on subjects of philosophy with his friends, and
afterwards went to his rest. But Messala says that Cassius supped
privately with a few of his nearest acquaintance, and appeared
thoughtful and silent, contrary to his temper and custom; that after
supper he took him earnestly by the hand, and speaking to him, as
his manner was when he wished to show affection, in Greek, said, "Bear
witness for me, Messala, that I am brought into the same necessity
as Pompey the Great was before me, of hazarding the liberty of my
country upon one battle; yet ought we to be of courage, relying on our
good fortune, which it were unfair to mistrust, though we take evil
counsels." These, Messala says, were the last words that Cassius spoke
before he bade him farewell; and that he was invited to sup with him
the next night, being his birthday.
  As soon as it was morning, the signal of battle, the scarlet coat,
was set out in Brutus's and Cassius's camps, and they themselves met
in the middle space between their two armies. There Cassius spoke thus
to Brutus: "Be it as we hope, O Brutus, that this day we may overcome,
and all the rest of our time may live a happy life together; but since
the greatest of human concerns are the most uncertain, and since it
may be difficult for us ever to see one another again, if the battle
should go against us, tell me, what is your resolution concerning
flight and death?" Brutus answered, "When I was young, Cassius, and
unskillful in affairs, I was led, I know not how, into uttering a bold
sentence in philosophy, and blamed Cato for killing himself, as
thinking it an irreligious act, and not a valiant one among men, to
try to evade the divine course of things, and not fearlessly to
receive and undergo the evil that shall happen, but run away from
it. But now in my own fortunes I am of another mind; for if Providence
shall not dispose what we now undertake according to our wishes, I
resolve to put no further hopes or warlike preparations to the
proof, but will die contented with my fortune. For I already have
given up my life to my country on the Ides of March; and have lived
since then a second life for her sake, with liberty and honour."
Cassius at these words smiled, and, embracing Brutus, said, "With
these resolutions let us go on upon the enemy; for either we ourselves
shall conquer, or have no cause to fear those that do." After this
they discoursed among their friends about the ordering of the
battle; and Brutus desired of Cassius that he might command the
right wing, though it was thought that this was more fit for
Cassius, in regard both of his age and his experience. Yet even in
this Cassius complied with Brutus, and placed Messala with the
valiantest of all his legions in the same wing, so Brutus
immediately drew out his horse, excellently well equipped, and was not
long in bringing up his foot after them.
  Antony's soldiers were casting trenches from the marsh by which they
were encamped across the plain, to cut off Cassius's communications
with the sea. Caesar was to be at hand with his troops to support
them, but he was not able to be present himself, by reason of his
sickness; and his soldiers, not much expecting that the enemy would
come to a set battle, but only make some excursions with their darts
and light arms to disturb the men at work in the trenches, and not
taking notice of the troops drawn up against them ready to give
battle, were amazed when they heard the confused and great outcry that
came from the trenches. In the meanwhile Brutus had sent his
tickets, in which was the word of battle, to the officers; and himself
riding about to all the troops, encouraged the soldiers; but there
were but few of them that understood the word before they engaged; the
most of them, not staying to have it delivered to them, with one
impulse and cry ran upon the enemy. This disorder caused an unevenness
in the line, and the legions got severed and divided one from another;
that of Messala first, and afterwards the other adjoining, went beyond
the left wing of Caesar and having just touched the extremity, without
slaughtering any great number, passing around that wing, fell directly
into Caesar's camp. Caesar himself, as his own memoirs tell us, had
but just before been conveyed away, Marcus Artorius, one of his
friends, having had a dream bidding Caesar be carried out of the camp.
And it was believed that he was slain; for the soldiers had pierced
his litter, which was left empty, in many places with their darts
and pikes. There was a great slaughter in the camp that was taken; and
two thousand Lacedaemonians that were newly come to the assistance
of Caesar were all cut off together.
  The rest of the army, that had not gone round, but had engaged the
front, easily overthrew them, finding them in great disorder, and slew
upon the place three legions; and being carried on with the stream
of victory, pursuing those that fled, fell into the camp with them,
Brutus himself being there. But they that were conquered took the
advantage in their extremity of what the conquerors did not
consider. For they fell upon that part of the main body which had been
left exposed and separated, where the right wing had broke off from
them and hurried away in the pursuit; yet they could not break into
the midst of their battle, but were received with strong resistance
and obstinacy. Yet they put to flight the left wing, where Cassius
commanded, being in great disorder, and ignorant of what had passed on
the other wing; and pursuing them to their camp, they pillaged and
destroyed it, neither of their generals being present; for Antony,
they say, to avoid the fury of the first onset, had retired into the
marsh that was hard by; and Caesar was nowhere to be found after his
being conveyed out of the tents; though some of the soldiers showed
Brutus their swords bloody, and declared that they had killed him,
describing his person and his age. By this time also the centre of
Brutus's battle had driven back their opponents with great
slaughter; and Brutus was everywhere plainly conqueror, as on the
other side Cassius was conquered. And this one mistake was the ruin of
their affairs, that Brutus did not come to the relief of Cassius,
thinking, that he, as well as himself, was conqueror; and that Cassius
did not expect the relief of Brutus, thinking that he too was
overcome. For as a proof that the victory was on Brutus's side,
Messala urges his taking three eagles and many ensigns of the enemy
without losing any of his own. But now, returning from the pursuit
after having plundered Caesar's camp, Brutus wondered that he could
not see Cassius's tent standing high, as it was wont, and appearing
above the rest, nor other things appearing as they had been; for
they had been immediately pulled down and pillaged by the enemy upon
their first falling into the camp. But some that had a quicker and
longer sight than the rest acquainted Brutus that they saw a great
deal of shining armour and silver targets moving to and fro in
Cassius's camp, and that they thought, by their number and the fashion
of their armour, they could not be those that they left to guard the
camp; but yet that there did not appear so great a number of dead
bodies thereabouts as it was probable there would have been after
the actual defeat of so many legions. This first made Brutus suspect
Cassius's misfortune, and, leaving a guard in the enemy's camp, he
called back those that were in the pursuit, and rallied them
together to lead them to the relief of Cassius, whose fortune had been
as follows.
  First, he had been angry at the onset that Brutus's soldiers made,
without the word of battle or command to charge. Then, after they
had overcome, he was as much displeased to see them rush on to the
plunder and spoil, and neglect to surround and encompass the rest of
the enemy. Besides this, letting himself act by delay and expectation,
rather than command, boldly and with a clear purpose, he got hemmed in
by the right wing of the enemy, and, his horse making with all haste
their escape and flying towards the sea, the foot also began to give
way, which he perceiving laboured as much as ever he could to hinder
their flight and bring them back; and, snatching an ensign out of
the hand of one that fled, he stuck it at his feet, though he could
hardly keep even his own personal guard together. So that at last he
was forced to fly with a few about him to a little hill that
overlooked the plain. But he himself, being weak-sighted, discovered
nothing, only the destruction of his camp, and that with difficulty.
But they that were with him saw a great body of horse moving towards
him, the same whom Brutus had sent. Cassius believed these were
enemies, and in pursuit of him; however, he sent away Titinius, one of
those that were with him, to learn what they were. As soon as Brutus's
horse saw him coming, and knew him to be a friend and a faithful
servant of Cassius, those of them that were his more familiar
acquaintance, shouting out for joy and alighting from their horses,
shook hands and embraced him, and the rest rode round about him
singing and shouting, through their excess of gladness at the sight of
him. But this was the occasion of the greatest mischief that could be.
For Cassius really thought that Titinius had been taken by the
enemy, and cried out, "Through too much fondness of life, I have lived
to endure the sight of my friend taken by the enemy before my face."
After which words he retired into an empty tent, taking along with him
only Pindarus, one of his freemen, whom he had reserved for such an
occasion ever since the disasters in the expedition against the
Parthians, when Crassus was slain. From the Parthians he came away
in safety; but now, pulling up his mantle over his head, he made his
neck bare, and held it forth to Pindarus, commanding him to strike.
The head was certainly found lying severed from the body. But no man
ever saw Pindarus after, from which some suspected that he had
killed his master without his command. Soon after they perceived who
the horsemen were, and saw Titinius, crowned with garlands, making
what haste he could towards Cassius. But as soon as he understood by
the cries and lamentations of his afflicted friends the unfortunate
error and death of his general, he drew his sword, and having very
much accused and upbraided his own long stay, that had caused it, he
slew himself.
  Brutus, as soon as he was assured of the defeat of Cassius, made
haste to him; but heard nothing of his death till he came near his
camp. Then having lamented over his body, calling him "the last of the
Romans," it being impossible that the city should ever produce another
man of so great a spirit, he sent away the body to be buried at
Thasos, lest celebrating his funeral within the camp might breed
some disorder. He then gathered the soldiers together and comforted
them; and, seeing them destitute of all things necessary, he
promised to every man two thousand drachmas in recompense of what he
had lost. They at these words took courage, and were astonished at the
magnificence of the gift; and waited upon him at his parting with
shouts and praises, magnifying him for the only general of all the
four who was not overcome in the battle. And indeed the action
itself testified that it was not without reason he believed he
should conquer; for with a few legions he overthrew all that
resisted him; and if all his soldiers had fought, and the most of them
had not passed beyond the enemy in pursuit of the plunder, it is
very likely that he had utterly defeated every part of them.
  There fell of his side eight thousand men, reckoning the servants of
the army, whom Brutus calls Briges; and on the other side, Messala
says his opinion is that there were slain about twice that number. For
which reason they were more out of heart than Brutus, until a
servant of Cassius, named Demetrius, came in the evening to Antony,
and brought to him the garment which he had taken from the dead
body, and his sword at the sight of which they were so encouraged,
that, as soon as it was morning, they drew out their whole force
into the field, and stood in battle array. But Brutus found both his
camps wavering and in disorder; for his own, being filled with
prisoners, required a guard more strict than ordinary over them; and
that of Cassius was uneasy at the change of general, besides some envy
and rancour, which those that were conquered bore to that part of
the army which had been conquerors. Wherefore he thought it convenient
to put his army in array, but to abstain from fighting. All the slaves
that were taken prisoners, of whom there was a great number that
were mixed up, not without suspicion, among the soldiers, he commanded
to be slain; but of the freemen and citizens, some he dismissed,
saying that among the enemy they were rather prisoners than with
him, for with them they were captives and slaves, but with him freemen
and citizens of Rome. But he was forced to hide and help them to
escape privately, perceiving that his friends and officers were bent
upon revenge against them. Among the captives there was one Volumnius,
a player, and Sacculio, a buffoon; of these Brutus took no manner of
notice, but his friends brought them before him and accused them
that even then in that condition they did not refrain from their jests
and scurrilous language. Brutus, having his mind taken up with other
affairs, said nothing to their accusation; but the judgment of Messala
Corvinus was, that they should be whipped publicly upon a stage, and
so sent naked to the captains of the enemy, to show them what sort
of fellow-drinkers and companions they took with them on their
campaigns. At this some that were present laughed; and Publius
Casca, he that gave the first wound to Caesar, said, "We do ill to
jest and make merry at the funeral of Cassius. But you, O Brutus,"
he added, "will show what esteem you have for the memory of that
general, according as you punish or preserve alive those who will
scoff and speak shamefully of him." To this Brutus, in great
discomposure, replied, "Why then, Casca, do you ask me about it, and
not do yourselves what you think fitting?" This answer of Brutus was
taken for his consent to the death of these wretched men; so they were
carried away and slain.
  After this he gave the soldiers the reward that he had promised
them; and having slightly reproved them for having fallen upon the
enemy in disorder without the word of battle or command, he promised
them, that if they behaved themselves bravely in the next
engagement, he would give them up two cities to spoil and plunder,
Thessalonica and Lacedaemon. This is the one indefensible thing of all
that is found fault with in the life of Brutus; though true it may
be that Antony and Caesar were much more cruel in the rewards that
they gave their soldiers after victory; for they drove out, one
might almost say, all the old inhabitants of Italy, to put their
soldiers in possession of other men's lands and cities. But indeed
their only design and end in undertaking the war was to obtain
dominion and empire, whereas Brutus, for the reputation of his virtue,
could not be permitted either to overcome or save himself but with
justice and honour, especially after the death of Cassius, who was
generally accused of having been his adviser to some things that he
had done with less clemency. But now, as in a ship, when the rubber is
broken by a storm, the mariners fit and nail on some other piece of
wood instead of it, striving against the danger not well, but as
well as in that necessity they can, so Brutus, being at the head of so
great an army, in a time of such uncertainty, having no commander
equal to his need, was forced to make use of those that he had, and to
do and to say many things according to their advice; which was, in
effect, whatever might conduce to the bringing of Cassius's soldiers
into better order. For they were very headstrong and intractable, bold
and insolent in the camp for want of their general, but in the field
cowardly and fearful, remembering that they had been beaten.
  Neither were the affairs of Caesar and Antony in any better posture;
for they were straitened for provision, and, the camp being in a low
ground, they expected to pass a very hard winter. For being driven
close upon the marshes, and a great quantity of rain, as is usual in
autumn, having fallen after the battle, their tents were all filled
with mire and water, which through the coldness of the weather
immediately froze. And while they were in this condition, there was
news brought to them of their loss at sea. For Brutus's fleet fell
upon their ships, which were bringing a great supply of soldiers out
of Italy, and so entirely defeated them, that but very few of the
men escaped being slain, and they too were forced by famine to feed
upon the sails and tackle of the ship. As soon as they heard this,
they made what haste they could to come to the decision of a battle,
before Brutus should have notice of his good success. For it had so
happened that the fight both by sea and land was on the same day,
but by some misfortune, rather than the fault of his commanders,
Brutus knew not of his victory twenty days after. For had he been
informed of this, he would not have been brought to a second battle,
since he had sufficient provisions for his army for a long time, and
was very advantageously posted, his camp being well sheltered from the
cold weather, and almost inaccessible to the enemy, and his being
absolute master of the sea, and having at land overcome on that side
wherein he himself was engaged, would have made him full of hope and
confidence. But it seems the state of Rome not enduring any longer
to be governed by many, but necessarily requiring a monarchy, the
divine power, that it might remove out of the way the only man that
was able to resist him that could control the empire, cut off his good
fortune from coming to the ears of Brutus; though it came but a very
little too late, for the very evening before the fight Clodius, a
deserter from the enemy, came and announced that Caesar had received
advice of the loss of his fleet, and for that reason was in such haste
to come to a battle, But his story met with no credit, nor was he so
much as seen by Brutus, being simply set down as one that had no
good information, or invented lies to bring himself into favour.
  The same night, they say, the vision appeared again to Brutus, in
the same shape that it did before, but vanished without speaking.
But Publius Volumnius, a philosopher, and one that had from the
beginning borne arms with Brutus, makes no mention of this apparition,
but says that the first eagle was covered with a swarm of bees, and
that there was one of the captains whose arm of itself sweated oil
of roses, and, though they often dried and wiped it, yet it would
not cease; and that immediately before the battle, two eagles
falling upon each other fought in the space between the two armies,
that the whole field kept incredible silence and all were intent
upon the spectacle, until at last that which was on Brutus's side
yielded and fled. But the story of the Ethiopian is very famous,
who, meeting the standard-bearer at the opening the gate of the
camp, was cut to pieces by the soldiers, that took it for an ill-omen.
  Brutus, having brought his army into the field and set them in array
against the enemy, paused a long while before he would fight; for as
he was reviewing the troops, suspicions were excited and
informations laid against some of them. Besides, he saw his horse
not very eager to begin the action, and waiting to see what the foot
would do. Then suddenly Camulatus, a very good soldier, and one whom
for his valour he highly esteemed, riding hard by Brutus himself, went
over to the enemy, the sight of which grieved Brutus exceedingly. So
that partly out of anger, and partly out of fear of some greater
treason and desertion, he immediately drew on his forces upon the
enemy, the sun now declining, about three of the clock in the
afternoon. Brutus on his side had the better, and pressed hard on
the left wing, which gave way and retreated; and the horse too fell in
together with the foot, when they saw the enemy in disorder. But the
other wing, when the officers extended the line to avoid its being
encompassed, the numbers being inferior, got drawn out too thin in the
centre, and was so weak here that they could not withstand the charge,
but at the first onset fled. After defeating these, the enemy at
once took Brutus in the rear, who all the while did all that was
possible for an expert general and valiant soldier, doing everything
in the peril, by counsel and by hand, that might recover the
victory. But that which had been his superiority in the first fight
was to his prejudice in the second. For in the first, that part of the
enemy which was beaten was killed on the spot; but of Cassius's
soldiers that fled, few had been slain, and those that escaped,
daunted with their defeat, infected the other and larger part of the
army with their want of spirit and their disorder. Here Marcus, the
son of Cato, was slain, fighting and behaving himself with great
bravery in the midst of the youth of the highest rank and greatest
valour. He would neither fly nor give the least ground, but still
fighting and declaring who he was and naming his father's name, he
fell upon a heap of dead bodies of the enemy. And of the rest, the
bravest were slain in defending Brutus.
  There was in the field one Lucilius, an excellent man and a friend
of Brutus, who, seeing some barbarian horse taking no notice of any
other in the pursuit, but galloping at full speed after Brutus,
resolved to stop them, though with the hazard of his life; and,
letting himself fall a little behind, he told them that he was Brutus.
They believed him the rather, because he prayed to be carried to
Antony, as if he feared Caesar, but durst trust him. They, overjoyed
with their prey, and thinking themselves wonderfully fortunate,
carried him along with them in the night, having first sent messengers
to Antony of their coming. He was much pleased, and came to meet them;
and all the rest that heard that Brutus was taken and brought alive
flocked together to see him, some pitying his fortune, others accusing
him of a meanness unbecoming his former glory, that out of too much
love of life he would be a prey to barbarians. When they came near
together, Antony stood still, considering with himself in what
manner he should receive Brutus; but Lucilius, being brought up to
him, with great confidence said: "Be assured, Antony, that no enemy
either has taken or ever shall take Marcus Brutus alive (forbid it,
heaven, that fortune should ever so much prevail above virtue!), but
he shall be found, alive or dead, as becomes himself. As for me, I
am come hither by a cheat that I put upon your soldiers, and am ready,
upon this occasion, to suffer any severities you will inflict." All
were amazed to hear Lucilius speak these words. But Antony, turning
himself to those that brought him, said: "I perceive, my
fellow-soldiers, that you are concerned, and take it ill that you have
been thus deceived, and think yourselves abused and injured by it; but
know that you have met with a booty better than that you sought. For
you were in search of an enemy, but you have brought me here a friend.
For indeed I am uncertain how I should have used Brutus, if you had
brought him alive; but of this I am sure, that it is better to have
such men as Lucilius our friends than our enemies." Having said
this, he embraced Lucilius, and for the present commended him to the
care of one of his friends, and ever after found him a steady and a
faithful friend.
  Brutus had now passed a little brook, running among trees and
under steep rocks, and, it being night, would go no further, but sat
down in a hollow place with a great rock projecting before it, with
a few of his officers and friends about him. At first, looking up to
heaven, that was then full of stars, he repeated two verses, one of
which, Volumnius writes, was this:-

         "Punish, great Jove, the author of these ills."

  The other he says he has forgot. Soon after, naming severally all
his friends that had been slain before his face in the battle, he
groaned heavily, especially at the mentioning of Flavius and Labeo,
the latter his lieutenant, and the other chief officer of his
engineers. In the meantime, one of his companions, that was very
thirsty and saw Brutus in the same condition, took his helmet and
ran to the brook for water, when a noise being heard from the other
side of the river, Volumnius, taking Dardanus, Brutus's armour-bearer,
with him, went out to see what it was. They returned in a short space,
and inquired about the water. Brutus, smiling with much meaning,
said to Volumnius. "It is all drunk; but you shall have some more
fetched." But he that had brought the first water, being sent again,
was in great danger of being taken by the enemy, and having received a
wound, with much difficulty escaped.
  Now Brutus guessing that not many of his men were slain in the
fight, Statyllius undertook to dash through the enemy (for there was
no other way), and to see what was become of their camp; and promised,
if he found all things there safe, to hold up a torch for a signal,
and then return. The torch was held up, Statyllius got safe to the
camp; but when after a long time he did not return, Brutus said, "If
Statyllius be alive, he will come back." But it happened that in his
return he fell into the enemy's hands, and was slain.
  The night now being far spent, Brutus, as he was sitting, leaned his
head towards his servant, Clitus, and spoke to him; he answered him
not, but fell a weeping. After that he drew aside his armour-bearer,
Dardanus, and had some discourse with him in private. At last,
speaking to Volumnius in Greek, he reminded him of their common
studies and former discipline and begged that he would take hold of
his sword with him, and help him to thrust it through him. Volumnius
put away his request, and several others did the like; and some one
saying, that there was no staying there, but they needs must fly,
Brutus, rising up, said, "Yes, indeed, we must fly, but not with our
feet, but with our hands." Then giving each of them his right hand,
with a countenance full of pleasure, he said, that he found an
infinite satisfaction in this, that none of his friends had been false
to him; that as for fortune, he was angry with that only for his
country's sake; as for himself, he thought himself much more happy
than they who had overcome, not only as he had been a little time ago,
but even now in his present condition; since he was leaving behind him
such a reputation of his virtue as none of the conquerors with all
their arms and riches should ever be able to acquire, no more than
they could hinder posterity from believing and saying, that being
unjust and wicked men, they had destroyed the just and the good, and
usurped a power to which they had no right. After this, having
exhorted and entreated all about him to provide for their own
safety, he withdrew from them with two or three only of his peculiar
friends; Strato was one of these, with whom he had contracted an
acquaintance when they studied rhetoric together. Him he placed next
to himself, and, taking hold of the hilt of his sword and directing it
with both his hands, fell upon it, and killed himself. But others say,
that not he himself, but Strato, at the earnest entreaty of Brutus,
turning aside his head, held the sword, upon which he violently
throwing himself, it pierced his breast, and he immediately died. This
same Strato, Messala, a friend of Brutus, being after reconciled to
Caesar, brought to him once at his leisure, and with tears in his eyes
said, "This, O Caesar, is the man that did the last friendly office to
my beloved Brutus." Upon which Caesar received him kindly; and had
good use of him in his labours and his battles at Actium, being one of
the Greeks that proved their bravery in his service. It is reported of
Messala himself, that, when Caesar once gave him this commendation,
that though he was his fiercest enemy at Philippi in the cause of
Brutus, yet he had shown himself his most entire friend in the fight
of Actium, he answered, "You have always found me, Caesar, on the best
and justest side."
  Brutus's dead body was found by Antony, who commanded the richest
purple mantle that he had to be thrown over it, and afterwards the
mantle being stolen, he found the thief, and had him put to death.
He sent the ashes of Brutus to his mother Servilia. As for Porcia
his wife, Nicolaus the philosopher and Valerius Maximus write, that,
being desirous to die, but being hindered by her friends, who
continually watched her, she snatched some burning charcoal out of the
fire, and, shutting it close in her mouth, stifled herself, and
died. Though there is a letter current from Brutus to his friends,
in which he laments the death of Porcia, and accuses them for
neglecting her so that she desired to die rather than languish with
her disease. So that it seems Nicolaus was mistaken in the time; for
this epistle (if it indeed is authentic and truly Brutus's) gives us
to understand the malady and love of Porcia, and the way in which
her death occurred.


                               THE END
