Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/354

 346 MARCUS BRUTUS. vately 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 haz- arding 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, 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 an- swered, "When I was young, Cassius, and unskilful in affairs, I was led, 1 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 but it appears, by another au- invited guest, not vice versa. thority, that the birthday was that
 * The text is a little ambiguous, of Cassius, so that Messala was tha