Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
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, being 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 their 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 one
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 counseled 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 behavior, 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 our, 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
rigor and severity of justice in a time which required them to
use more policy and favor. 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 color 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 could 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, everyone 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 dispatch 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
hushed and silent; and reasoning about something with himself
and very thoughtful, he fancied someone 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 anything 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