interment, and Antonius demanding that the will should be read, and that
the body should be carried forth not secretly nor without due honours,
so that this, too, might not irritate the people, Cassius violently
opposed it, but Brutus gave way, wherein he was considered to have made
a second mistake. For in sparing Antonius he incurred the imputation of
strengthening against the conspirators a dangerous and irresistible
enemy; and as to the matter of the interment, in allowing it to take
place in the way in which Antonius demanded, he was considered to have
altogether made a mistake. For in the first place there being given by
the will to every Roman seventy-five drachmæ,[527] and to the people
there being left the gardens beyond the river, where the temple of
Fortuna now is, a wonderful degree of affection and regret for Cæsar
seized the citizens: in the second place, when the body had been carried
into the Forum, and Antonius according to custom had pronounced a
funeral oration in honour of Cæsar, seeing that the masses were stirred
by his speech, he changed their feeling into compassion, and taking the
blood-stained vest of Cæsar he unfolded it and showed the rents and the
number of the wounds. Upon this there was no longer any order kept; but
some called out to kill the murderers, and others, as before in the case
of Clodius[528] the demagogue, tearing up the benches and tables from
the workshops and bringing them together made a very large pile; and
placing the corpse upon it in the midst of many temples and asyla and
holy places burnt it. When the fire blazed forth, men from various
quarters, approaching and plucking out half-burnt pieces of wood, ran
about to the houses of Cæsar's assassins, intending to fire them. But
they were already well prepared and repelled the danger. Now there was
one Cinna,[529] a man given to poetry, who was under no imputation in
the matter, and had even been a friend of Cæsar. He dreamed in a dream
that he was invited by Cæsar to supper and he refused; but Cæsar urged
and forced him, and at last, laying hold of his hand, led him to a vast
and gloomy place, he following the while unwilling and alarmed. After
having this vision, it happened that he had a fever in the night.
Nevertheless, in the morning, when Cæsar's body was being carried forth
he felt ashamed not to be present, and went out to the rabble, who were
now in a ferocious mood. Being seen and supposed to be not the Cinna
that he was, but the Cinna who had lately reviled Cæsar before the
assembly, he was torn in pieces.
XXI. It was mainly through fear on account of this unlucky affair, next
after the change in Antonius, that Brutus and his partisans left the
city. They stayed in Antium[530] at first, with the design of returning
to Rome when the popular fury should have passed its height and worn
itself out. And this they expected to take place as a matter of course
among numbers which were subject to unsteady and rapid movements, and
because they had the Senate in their favour, who without taking any
notice of those that had torn Cinna to pieces, sought out and seized
those who had attacked the houses of the conspirators. The people, too,
already annoyed at Antonius being nearly established in monarchical
power, longed for Brutus, and it was expected that he would, in person,
superintend the spectacles[531] which as prætor it was his duty to
exhibit. But when Brutus heard that many of those who had served under
Cæsar and received lands and cities from him, were forming designs
against him, and were dropping into the city a few at a time, he did not
venture to go, and the people saw the spectacles, which, though Brutus
was absent, were furnished without any thrift and in a profuse style.
For he had purchased a great number of wild beasts, and he gave orders
that none should be sold or left, but that all should be killed; and he
himself went down to Neapolis and engaged most of the actors. With
respect to a certain Canutius who was much in favour on the theatre, he
wrote to his friends that they should get him on the stage by
persuasion, for it was not fit that any Greek should be forced. He also
wrote to Cicero and urged him by all means to be present at the
spectacles.
XXII. While affairs were in this state, another change was brought about
by the arrival of the young Cæsar.[532] He was the son of Cæsar's niece,
but by Cæsar's testament he was left his son and heir: and he was
staying at Apollonia when Cæsar was killed, being engaged with
philosophical studies and waiting for Cæsar, who had resolved to march
forthwith against the Parthians. As soon as he heard of Cæsar's death he
came to Rome, and by assuming Cæsar's name as a mode of beginning to get
the popular favour, and by paying among the citizens the money that was
left them, he made a strong party against Antonius, and by distributing
money he got together and assembled many of those who had served under
Cæsar. Now when Cicero took the side of Cæsar through hatred of
Antonius, Brutus[533] rebuked him strongly in his letters, saying that
Cicero did not dislike a master, but feared a master who hated him, and
that his policy was to choose a mild servitude, as he showed by writing
and saying, "How good Cæsar is!" But our fathers, he said, did not
endure even mild masters. He said that for his part at this crisis he
had neither quite resolved to fight nor to remain quiet, but he was
resolved on one thing only, not to be a slave; but he wondered at
Cicero, that he was afraid of a civil war and one attended with danger,
and was not afraid of a base and inglorious peace, and that he asked as
a reward for ejecting Antonius from the tyranny, to be allowed to make
Cæsar a tyrant.
XXIII. Now in his first letters Brutus thus expressed himself; but when
people were separating themselves, some on the side of Cæsar and some on
the side of Antonius, and the armies being venal were selling themselves
as it were by auction to the highest bidder, Brutus, altogether
despairing of affairs, resolved to leave Italy, and he went by land
through Lucania to Velia[534] to the sea. From this place Porcia,
intending to turn back to Rome, endeavoured to conceal her excessive
emotion, but a painting made her betray herself though she was a
noble-spirited woman. It was a subject from Grecian story, Hector
accompanied by Andromache,[535] who was receiving her infant son from
Hector and looking upon him. The sight of the picture, in which her own
feelings were portrayed, melted Porcia to tears, and she went to it many
times in the day and wept. Acilius, one of the friends of Brutus, having
pronounced the words of Andromache to Hector:--
"Hector, thou art to me father and mother dear,
And brother too, and husband in thy bloom:"
Brutus, smiling, said, "But it is not for me to say to Porcia as Hector
said:
"'The loom and distaff, and command the maids;'
for owing to the natural weakness of her body she is unable to perform
noble deeds equally with us, but in her mind she nobly dares as we do in
defence of our country." This is recorded by Bibulus, the son of Porcia.
XXIV. Having set out thence Brutus sailed towards Athens.[536] The
people received him gladly with expressions of good wishes and public
honours, and he lodged with a friend. As he attended the discourses of
Theomnestus the Academic, and Cratippus[537] the Peripatetic, and
associated with those philosophers, it was supposed that he was
altogether inactive and was unbending himself. But he was busied about
preparations for war, when no one suspected it; for he sent Herostratus
into Macedonia with the view of gaining over those who were with the
armies there, and he attached to himself and kept with him the young men
from Rome who were residing at Athens for the sake of their studies.
Among them was also a son of Cicero whom Brutus particularly commends,
and says, that whether he is waking or sleeping, he admires him for his
noble disposition and hatred of tyrants. Having now begun openly to
attend to affairs, and hearing that Roman vessels full of money were
sailing over from Asia, with a commander on board who was an honest man
and an acquaintance of his, he met him near Carystus;[538] and having
fallen in with him and persuaded him and obtained a surrender of the
vessels, he prepared for a magnificent entertainment, for it was the
birthday of Brutus. When they had come to drinking and were pouring out
wine with wishes for the success of Brutus and the liberty of the
Romans, Brutus, wishing to encourage them still more, asked for a larger
cup, and taking it up, without anything moving thereto, he uttered the
following verse:
"Me evil fate and Leto's son[539] have slain."
In addition to this they report that when he went out to fight the last
battle at Philippi, Apollo was the word that he gave to his soldiers.
Accordingly they consider that the utterance of that verse was a sign of
what was to befall him.
XXV. After this Antistius gave Brutus fifty ten thousands out of the
money which he was taking to Italy; and all the soldiers of Pompeius who
were still rambling about Thessaly gladly flocked to Brutus; and he took
five hundred horsemen from Cinna who was conducting them into Asia to
Dolabella.[540] He then sailed against Demetrias[541] and got possession
of a large quantity of arms, which were going to be carried away to
Antonius, and had been made at the command of the elder Cæsar for the
Parthian war. Hortensius,[542] the governor, also surrendered Macedonia
to him, and the kings and rulers all around began to side with him and
to come over; but in the meantime news arrived that Caius, the brother
of Antonius, had crossed over from Italy and was marching straight
against the troops which Gabinius[543] had under him in Epidamnus and
Apollonia. Brutus, intending to anticipate and prevent him, immediately
put in motion those who were with him, and marched through a difficult
country in the midst of a snow-storm; and he was far in advance of those
who conveyed the provisions. As he came near Epidamnus, he began to
suffer from bulimy[544] through exhaustion and cold. This malady chiefly
attacks both beasts and men when they are worn out and in the midst of
the snow, whether it is that the heat owing to the refrigeration and
condensation, when everything is internally compressed, consumes the
nourishment all at once, or that a sharp and subtle breath arising from
the snow penetrating through, cuts the body and destroys the warmth
which is dispersed outwards from it. For it seems that heat causes
sweats through meeting with the cold and being quenched about the
surface; whereof there has been further discussion in another place.
XXVI. As Brutus was fainting, and no one in the army had anything to
eat, his attendants were compelled to fly for refuge to their enemies,
and approaching the gates they asked bread of the watch, who hearing of
the mishap of Brutus came and brought to eat and to drink. In return for
which, when Brutus got possession of the city, he not only treated them
kindly, but also all the rest for their sake. Caius Antonius now came up
to Apollonia and summoned the soldiers who were there; but when they
went over to Brutus, and he perceived that the people of Apollonia were
in favour of Brutus, he left the city and marched to Buthrotum.[545] And
in the first place he lost three cohorts, which were cut to pieces by
Brutus on the march; and in the next place, attempting to force the
posts about Byblis, which were already occupied, he came to a battle
with Cicero and was defeated; for Brutus employed Cicero in command and
gained many successes through him. Brutus himself came upon Caius, who
was in marshy ground and far separated from the rest of his troops, but
he would not let his men make an attack, and he threw his cavalry around
him with orders to spare the men, saying that in a short time they would
be theirs; which in fact happened, for they surrendered themselves and
their general, so that there was now a large force with Brutus. Now
Brutus treated Caius respectfully for some time and did not deprive him
of the insignia of his office, though, as they say, many persons, and
Cicero among the rest, wrote to him from Rome and urged him to do it.
But as Caius began to have secret conferences with the officers and
attempted to excite a mutiny, he had him put in a ship and guarded. The
soldiers who had been corrupted fled to Apollonia and invited Brutus
there, but Brutus said that this was not the custom among the Romans,
and that they must come to their general, and ask pardon for their
offence. They came, and Brutus pardoned them at their prayer.
XXVII. As Brutus was going to set out for Asia, news arrived of the
changes at Rome. The young Cæsar had been strengthened by the Senate
against Antonius, whom he had driven out of Italy, and he was now
formidable, and was seeking for the consulship contrary to law, and
maintaining large armies of which the State had no need. But when Cæsar
saw that the Senate was displeased at this, and was looking abroad
towards Brutus and decreeing provinces[546] for him and confirming them,
he became alarmed. And he sent to Antonius and invited him to
friendship, and placing his troops around the city he got the
consulship, being yet hardly a young man, but in his twentieth year, as
he said in his Memoirs. He immediately instituted a prosecution on a
charge of murder against Brutus and his partisans, for having put to
death without trial the first man in the state who was filling the
highest offices; and he named as the accuser of Brutus, Lucius
Cornificius, and Marcus Agrippa as the accuser of Cassius. Accordingly
they were condemned for default of appearance, the judices being
compelled to go to the vote. It is said that when the crier, according
to custom, from the tribunal summoned Brutus into court, the mass gave a
loud groan, and the nobles bent their heads to the ground and kept
silence; but that Publius Silicius was seen to shed tears, and for this
reason was shortly after one of those who were proscribed. After this,
the three, Cæsar, Antonius and Lepidus, distributed the provinces among
them, and caused the slaughter and proscription of two hundred men,
among whom Cicero perished.
XXVIII. When the news of these events reached Macedonia, Brutus,[547]
compelled by circumstances, wrote to Hortensius to put Caius Antonius
to death, on the ground of avenging Brutus and Cicero, the one being his
friend, and the other both a friend and kinsman. This was the reason why
Antonius, when he afterwards took Hortensius at Philippi, put him to
death on the tomb of his brother. Brutus says that he felt more shame at
the cause of Cicero's death than sympathy at his misfortune, and that he
blamed his friends in Rome, for they were slain more through their own
fault than that of the tyrants, and that they submitted to see and to
witness what it should have been intolerable for them even to hear.
Brutus having taken his army over to Asia, which was now a considerable
force, set about fitting out a naval force in Bithynia[548] and in the
neighbourhood of Cyzicus; and himself moving about with his troops
settled the cities and had interviews with the rulers; and he sent to
Cassius[549] into Syria to recall him from Egypt; for he said that it
was not to get dominion, but to deliver their country that they were
rambling about and collecting a force with which they would put down the
tyrants; that they ought therefore, remembering and keeping in mind this
purpose, not to hold themselves far from Italy, but to hasten thither
and to aid the citizens. Cassius obeyed, and Brutus met him on his
return; and they fell in with one another near Smyrna, for the first
time since they had separated in Peiræus and set out, the one for
Syria, the other for Macedonia. They had accordingly great pleasure and
confidence owing to the force which each had. For they had hurried from
Italy like the most despicable fugitives, without money and without
arms, without a single ship, a single soldier, or a city, and yet after
no very long interval they had come together with ships and troops and
horses and money, able to struggle for the supremacy of the Romans.
XXIX. Now Cassius was desirous to have and to allow an equal share of
honour, but Brutus herein anticipated him by generally going to Cassius
who, in age, was his superior, and in body was not able to sustain equal
toil. The opinion was that Cassius was skilled in military matters, but
was violent in passion and governed mainly by fear, while towards his
intimates he was too much inclined to use ridicule and was too fond of
jesting. As to Brutus, they say that he was esteemed by the many for his
virtues, but loved by his friends, admired by the nobles, and not hated
even by his enemies, because the man was extraordinarily mild and
high-minded and unmoved by anger, pleasure or love of aggrandisement,
and kept his judgment upright and unbending in the maintenance of honour
and justice. That which got him most goodwill and reputation was the
faith which men had in his motives. For neither that great Pompeius, if
he had put down Cæsar, was confidently expected to give up his power to
the laws, but to retain affairs in his hands, pacifying the people with
the name of consulship and dictatorship or some other title with more
pleasing name; and this Cassius, who was a violent and passionate man
and was often carried away from justice in quest of gain, more than any
one else they thought would carry on war, and ramble about and expose
himself to danger for the purpose of getting power for himself, not
liberty for the citizens. For as to the men of still earlier times, the
Cinnas and Marii and Carbos, they viewed their country as a prize and
booty for competition, and all but in express words fought to get a
tyranny. But as to Brutus, they say that not even his enemies imputed to
him such a change in his purpose, but that many persons had heard
Antonius say, he thought Brutus was the only person who conspired
against Cæsar because of being moved by the splendour and apparent noble
nature of the deed, and that the rest combined against the man because
they hated and envied him. Accordingly it appears from what Brutus says
that he trusted not so much in his power as in his virtues. He wrote to
Atticus when he was just approaching the danger, that his affairs were
in the best plight as to fortune, for that he should either get the
victory and free the Roman people, or should die and be released from
slavery; and though everything else was safe and secure for them, one
thing was uncertain, whether they should live and be free or die. He
says that Marcus Antonius was paying a just penalty for his folly, for
while he might have been numbered with the Bruti and Cassii and Catos,
he made himself an appendage to Octavius, and if he should not be
defeated with him, he would shortly after have to fight against him. Now
he seems, in saying this, to have well divined what was to happen.
XXX. While they were then in Smyrna, Brutus claimed a share of the money
which Cassius had collected to a great amount, for Brutus alleged that
he had expended all his own resources in building so great a fleet with
which they would command all the internal sea.[550] But the friends of
Cassius were not for letting him give up the money, saying, "What you
save by economy and get with odium, it is not fair that he should take
and apply to gaining popularity and gratifying the soldiers." However,
Cassius gave him a third part of all. Separating again to their several
undertakings, Cassius, after taking Rhodes, did not conduct himself with
moderation, but made this answer at his entrance to those who addressed
him as king and lord: "I am neither king nor lord, but the executioner
and punisher of lord and king." Brutus demanded of the Lycians money and
men. When Naucrates the demagogue persuaded the cities to revolt, and
the people occupied certain heights to prevent Brutus from passing, in
the first place he sent cavalry against them when they were eating, who
killed six hundred of them; and in the next place taking possession of
the posts and forts, he released all the people without ransom with the
view of gaining over the nation by kindness. But the people were
obstinate, being enraged at what they had suffered, and despising his
moderation and humanity, till at last Brutus drove into Xanthas[551] the
most warlike of the Lycians, and blockaded them there. Some of them
attempted to escape by swimming under the river which flowed by the
city: but they were caught by nets which were sunk in the channel to the
bottom, and the tops of the nets had bells attached to them which gave a
signal as soon as any one was caught. The Xanthians, making a sally by
night, threw fire on certain engines; and when they were driven back
into the town by the Romans who perceived them, and a strong wind began
to blow against the battlements the flame which was laying hold of the
adjoining houses, Brutus, who feared for the city, ordered his soldiers
to help to extinguish the fire.
XXXI. But the Lycians were all at once seized with a horrible impulse to
despair surpassing all description, which might be best likened to a
passion for death; for with their wives and children, both freemen and
slaves, and people of every age, they threw missiles from the walls upon
the enemy who were assisting to quench the flames, and carrying reeds
and wood and everything combustible, they drew the fire to the city,
offering to it all kinds of material and in every way exciting and
feeding it. As the flames rushed onwards and engirdling the city blazed
forth with violence, Brutus, in great affliction at what was going on,
rode round the walls, being eager to save the people, and stretching out
his hands to the Xanthians he prayed them to spare themselves and save
the city; and yet no one regarded him, but in every way they sought to
destroy themselves; and not only men and women, but even the little
children; with cries and shouts, some leaped into the fire and others
broke their necks from the walls, and others presented their throats to
their fathers' knives, baring them and bidding them strike. After the
city was destroyed, there was found a woman suspended by a rope, with a
dead child hung to her neck, and firing the house with a lighted torch.
This tragical sight Brutus could not endure to see, and he wept at
hearing of it; and he proclaimed that a reward should be given to every
soldier who could save a Lycian. They say that there were only one
hundred and fifty who did not escape being saved. Now the Xanthians
after a long interval, as if they were reproducing a fated period of
destruction, renewed the fortune of their ancestors in their
desperation; for their ancestors in like manner in the time of the
Persians burnt their city and destroyed themselves.
XXXII. Brutus seeing that the city of Patara was preparing to resist him
was unwilling to attack it, and was perplexed because he feared the same
desperation; and as he had their women captive, he let them go without
ransom. These women, who were the wives and daughters of distinguished
men, reported of Brutus that he was a most moderate and just man, and
they persuaded the citizens to yield and to surrender the city. Upon
this all the rest of the Lycians surrendered and gave themselves up to
him, and they found him to be honourable and merciful beyond their
expectation; for while Cassius about the same time compelled all the
Rhodians to bring in the gold and silver which was their private
property, and a sum of eight thousand talents was thus collected, and
mulcted the commonwealth of the city in five hundred talents besides,
Brutus only demanded of the Lycians a hundred and fifty talents, and
without doing them any other wrong set out for Ionia.