Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/531

Rh BRUTUS, influence which Cassias exercised over him. He was persuaded by Cassiua to join the conspirators who murdered Caesar on the loth of March, 44. After the deed was perpetrated he went to the forum to address the people, but found no favour. The senate, indeed, pardoned the murderers, but this was only a farce played by M. Antony to ob- tain their sanction of the Julian laws. The mur- derers then assembled the people on the capitol, and Brutus in his speech promised that they should receive all that Caesar had destined for them. All parties were apparently reconciled. But the arrangements which Antony made for the funeral of Caesar, and in consequence of which the people made an assault upon the houses of the conspira- tors, shewed them clearly the intentions of Antony. Bnitus withdrew into the country, and during his stay there he gave, in the month of July, most splendid Ludi ApoUinares, hoping thereby to turn the disposition of the people in his favour. But in this he was disappointed, and as Antony as- sumed a threatening position, he sailed in Sep- tember to Athens with the intention of taking possession of the province of Macedonia, which Caesar had assigned him, and of repelling force by force. After staying at Athens a short time in the company of philosophers and several young Romans who attached themselves to his cause, and after receiving a very large simi of money from the quaestor M. Appuleius, who brought it from Asia, Brutus intended to proceed to Macedonia. But the senate had now assigned this px'ovince to Antony, who, however, towards the end of the year, transferred it to his brother, the praetor C. Antonius. Before, however, the latter arrived, Brutus, who had been joined by the scattered troops of Pompejr, marched into Macedonia, where he was received by Q. Hortensius, the son of the orator, as his legitimate successor. Brutus found an abundance of arms, and the troops stationed in Illyricum, as well as sevend other legions, joined him. C. Antonius, who also arrived in the mean- lime, was unable to advance beyond the coast of Illyricum, and at the beginning of 43 was besieged in Apollonia and compelled to surrender. Brutus disregarded all the decrees of the senate, and re- solved to act for himself. While Octavianus in the month of August 4.S obtained the condemnation of Caesar's murderers, Brutus was engaged in a war against some Thracian tribes to procure money for himself and booty for his soldiers. About this time he assumed the title imperator, which, to- gether with his portrait, appear on many of his coins. The things which were going on mean- time in Italy seemed to affect neither Brutus nor Cassius, but after the triumvirate was establish- ed, Brutus began to prepare for war. Instead, however, of endeavouring to prevent the enemy from landing on the coast of the Ionian sea, Brutus and Cassius separated their forces and ravaged Rhodes and Lycia. Loaded with booty, Brutus and Cassius met again at Sardis in the beginning of 42, but it was only the fear of the triumvirs that prevented them from falling out with each other. Their carelessness was indeed so great, that only a small fleet was sent to the Ionian sea under the command of Statius Murcus. Before leaving Asia, Brutus had a dream which foreboded his ruin at Philippi, and in the autumn of 42 the battle of Philippi was fought. In the first engage- meat Brutus conquered the army of Octavianus, BRYAXIS. 513 while Cassius was defeated by Antony. But in a second battle, about twenty days later, Brutus was defeated and fell upon his own sword. From his first visit to Asia, Brutus appears as a man of considerable wealth, and he afterwards increased it by lending money upon interest. He possessed an extraordinary memory and a still more extraordinary imagination, which led him into superstitions differing only from those of the multi- tude by a strange admixture of philosophy. He was deficient in knowledge of mankind and the world, whence he was never able to foresee the course of things, and was ever surprised at the results. Hence also his want of independent judgment. The quan- tity of his varied knowledge, which he had acquired by extensive reading and his intercourse with philo- sophers, was beyond his control, and was rather an encumberance to him than anything else. Nothing had such charms for him as study, which he prose- cuted by day and night, at home and abroad. He made abridgements of the historical works of C. P'an- niusandCaelius Antipater,and on the eve of the bat- tle of Pharsalus he is said to have been engaged in making an abridgement of Polybius. He also wrote several philosophical treatises, among which we have mention of those On Duties, On Patience, and On Virtue. The best of his literary productions, how- ever, appear to have been his orations, though they are censured as having been too dry and serious, and deficient in animation. Nothing would enable us so much to form a clear notion of his character as his letters, but we unfortunately pos- sess only a few (among those of Cicero), the authenticity of which is acknowledged, and a few passages of others quoted by Plutarch. {Brut. 2, 22, Cic. 45.) Even in the time of Plutarch {Brut. 53) there seem to have existed forged letters of Brutus; and the two books of " Epistolae ad Bra- tum," usually printed among the works of Cicero, are unquestionably the fabrications of a later time. The name of Brutus, his fatal deed, his fortunes and personal character, offered great temptations for the forgery of such documents ; but these let- ters contain gross blunders in history and chrono- logy, to which attention was first drawn by Erasmus of Rotterdam. {Epht. i. 1.) Brutus is also said to have attempted to write poetry, which does not seem to have possessed much merit. (Cicero, in tlie passages collected in Orelli's Onomast. Tull. ii. pp. 319— 324 ; Pint. Life o/Bndus; Appian, B. C. ii. 11 — iv. 132 ; Dion Cass. lib. xli. — xlviii. Re- specting his oratory and the extant fragments of it, see Meyer, Orai. Rom. Fragm. p. 443, &c., 2nd edit. ; comp. Weichert, Poet. Lat. Reliq. p. 125 ; Drumann, Gesch. Roms, iv. pp. 18 — 44.) BRYAXIS {Bpva^is), an Athenian statuary in stone and metal, cast a bronze statue of Seleucus, king of Syria (Plin. //. iV. xxxiv. 8. s. 19), and, together with Scopas, Timotheus, and Leochares, adorned the Mausoleum with bas-reliefs. (Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 5. s. 4.) He must have lived accord- ingly B. c. 372—312. (Sillig. Catal. Art. s. v.) Besides the two works above mentioned, Bryaxis executed five colossal statues at Rhodes (Plin. H. N. xxxiv. 7. s. 1 8), an Asclepios (//. iV. xxxiv. 8. 8. 19), a Liber, father of Cnidus {H. JV. xxxvi. 5), and a statue of Pasiphae. (Tatian. ad Grace.. 54.) If we believe Clemens Alexandrinus {Proir. p. 30, c), Bryaxis attained so high a degree of per- fection, that two statues of his were ascribed by some to Phidia?. C^^'I-J 21.