Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/528

Rh 510 BRUTUS. and thereby repaired the losses which the latter had sustained at the commencement of the cam- paign. (Liv. Epit. 59.) Brutus was a patron of the poet L. Accius, and for the times was well versed in Greek and Roman literature ; he was also not deficient in oratorical talent. (Cic. Brut. 28.) We learn from Cicero {deAm. 2 that he was augur. The Clodia men- tioned by Cicero in a letter to Atticus (xii. 22), whom Orelli supposes to be the mother of this Brutus, was in all probability his wife, and the mother of the consul of B. c. 77. [No. 16.] (Dru- mann, /. c. ) 16. D. Junius D. f. M. n. Brutus, son of the preceding, distinguished himself by his opposition to Satuminus in b. c. 100. (Cic. pro Ralir. perd. 7.) He belonged to the aristocratical party, and is alluded to as one of the aristocrats in the oration which Sallust puts into the mouth of Lepidus against Sulla. (Sail. Hist. i. p. 937, ed. Cortius.) He was consul in b. c. 77, with Maraercus Le- pidus (Cic. Brut. 47), and in 74 became security for P. Junius before Verres, the praetor urbanus. (Cic. Verr. i. 55, 57.) He was well acquainted with Greek and Roman literature, (Cic, Brut. L c.) His wife Sempronia was a well-educated, but li- centious woman, who carried on an intrigue with Catiline ; she received the ambassadors of the Allobroges in her husband's house in 63, when he was absent from Rome. (Sail. Cat. 40.) We have no doubt that the preceding D. Brutus is the person meant in this passage of Sallust, and not D, Brutus Albinus, one of Caesar's assassins [No. 17], as some modem writers suppose, since the ktter is called an adolescens by Caesar {B. G. iii. 11) in 56, and therefore not likely to have had Sempronia sis his wife in 63 ; and because we know that Paulla Valeria was to marry Brutus Albinus in 50, (Caelius, aci Fam. viiL 7.) ^0(1^1 • D, Junius Brutus Albinus, one of Cae- sar's assassins, who must not be confounded with the more celebrated M. Junius Brutus, was in all probability the son of No. 16 and of Sempronia, as we know that they had children (Sail. Cat. 25), and the praenoiaen is the same. This D. Brutus was adopted by A. Postumius Albinus, who was consul b. c. 99 [Albinus, No. 22], whence he is called Brutus Albinus ; and this adoption is com- memorated on a coin of D. Brutus figured on p. 93. (Plut. Caes. 64, &c.. Ant. 1 1 ; Dion Cass. xliv. 14.) We first read of him as serving under Caesar in Gaul when he was still a young man. Caesar gave him the command of the fleet which was sent to attack the Veneti in b, c, 56. (Caes, B. G. iii. 11; Dion Cass, xxxix. 40-42.) He seems to have continued in Gaul till almost the close of the war, but his name does not occur frequentl)-, as he did not hold the rank of legatus. He served against Vercingetorix in 52 (Caes. B. G. vii, 9), and ap: pears to have returned to Rome in 50, when he married Paulla Valeria. (Cael. ad Fam. viii, 7.) On the breaking out of the civil war in the follow- ing year (49), he was recalled to active service, and was placed by Caesar over the fleet which was to besiege Massilia, D. Brutus, though in- ferior in the number of his ships, gained a vic- tory over the enemy, and at length obtained pos- session of Massilia, (Caes, B. C. i, 36, 56, &c., ii. 3-22 ; Dion Cass, xli. 19-22.) After this, he had the command of Further Gaul entrusted to bira where he gained a victory over the Bellovaci ; BRUTUS. and so highly was he esteemed by Caesar, that on his return from Spain through Italy, in 45, Caesar conferred upon him the honour of riding in hia carriage along with Antony and his nephew, the young Octavius. (Plut. Ajit. 11,) Caesar gave him still more substantial marks of his favour, by promising him the government of Cisalpine Gaul, with the praetorship for 44 and the consulship for 42. In Caesar's will, read after his death, it was found that D. Brutus had been made one of his heirs in the second degree ; and so entirely did he possess the confidence of Caesar, that the other murderers sent him to conduct their victim to the senate-house on the day of the assassination. The motives which induced D, Brutus to take part in the conspiracy against his friend and benefactor are not stated ; but he could have no excuse for his crime ; and among the instances of base ingra- titude shewn on the ides of March, none was so foul and black as that of D, Brutus, (Liv, Epit. 114, 116; Dion Cass, xliv, 14, 18, 35; Appian, B. C. ii. 48, 111, 113, 143, iiu 98; Suet. Caes. 81, 83 ; Veil. Pat. ii, 56.) After Caesar's death (44), D. Brutus went into his province of Cisalpine Gaul, and when Antony obtained from the people a grant of this province, Brutus refused to surrender it to him. His con- duct was warmly praised by Cicero and the sena- torial party ; but so little was he prepared to re- sist Antony, that when the latter crossed the Rubicon towards the close of the year, D. Brutus dared not meet him in the field, but threw him- self into Mutina, which was forthwith besieged by Antony. In this town he continued till April in the following year (43), when the siege was raised by the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, who were accompanied by Octavianus. Antony was defeated, and fled across the Alps; and as Hirtiua and Pansa had fallen in the battle, the command devolved upon D, Brutus, since the senate was un- willing to entrust Octavianus with any further power. He was not, however, in a condition to follow up his victory against Antony, who mean- time had collected a large army north of the Alps, and was preparing to march again into Italy. Octavianus also had obtained the consulship, not- withstanding the ill-will of the senate, and had procured the enactment of the lex Pedia, by which the murderers of Caesar were outlawed, and the execution of the sentence entrusted to himself. D. Brutus was now in a dangerous position. An- tony was marching against him from the north, Octavianus from the south ; his own troops could not be depended upon, and L, Plancus had already deserted him and gone over to Antony with three legions. He therefore determined to cross over to M, Brutus in Macedonia ; but his soldiers deserted him on the march, and he was betraj'ed by Camil- lus, a Gaulish chief, upon whom he had formerly conferred some favours, and put to death, by order of Antony, by one Capenus, a Sequanan, b. c, 43. (Cicero's Letters and Philippics; Liv, Epit. 117- 120; Dion Cass, xlv, 9, 14, xlvi, 35, &c,, 53 ; Appian, B. C. iii. 74, 81, 97, 98 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 64.) 18. M. Junius Brutus, praetor in b. c. 88, was sent with his colleague Servilius by the se- nate, at the request of Marius, to command Sulla, who was then at Nola, not to advance nearer Rome. (Plut. Sull. 9.) On Sulla's arrival at Rome, Brutus was proscribed Avith ten other senators. (Appian, B. C. i. 60.) He subsequently served