A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

510

BRUTUS.

and thereby repaired the losses which the latter
had sustained at the commencement of the campaign. (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
(de Am. 2), that he was augur. The Clodia mentioned 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.] (Drumann, 1. c.)
16. D. JUNIUS D. F. M. N. BRUTuS, son of the
preceding, distinguished himself by his opposition
to Saturninus in B. c. 100. (Cic. pro Rabir. 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. (Sall. Hist. i. p. 937, ed. Cortius.)
Hle was consul in B. c. 77, with Mamercus Lepidus (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. i. c.)
His wife Sempronia was a well-educated, but licentious 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. (Sall. 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 modern writers suppose, since the
latter is called an adolescens by Caesar (B. G. iii.
11) in 56, and therefore not likely to have had
Sempronia as his wife in 63; and because we
know that Paulla Valeria was to marry Brutus
Albinus in 50. (Caelius, ad Fam. viii. 7.)
17. D. JUNIus BRUTUS ALBINUS, one of Caesar'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 (Saill. Cat. 25),
and the praenomen 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 commemorated on a coin of D. Brutus figured on p. 93.
(Plut. Caes. 64, &c., Ant. 11; 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 Gaultill almost the close of the war, but
his name does not occur frequently, as he did not
hold the rank of legatus. He served against
Vercingetorix in 52 (Caes. B. G. vii. 9), and appears 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 following year. (49), he was recalled to active service,
and was placed by Caesar over the fleet which
was to besiege Massilia. D. Brutus, though inferior in the number of his ships, gained a victory over the enemy, and at length obtained possession 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
him 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 his
carriage along with Antony and his nephew, the
young Octavius. (Plut. Ant. 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 ingratitude 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, iii. 98; Suet. Caes. 81,
83; Yell. 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 conduct was warmly praised by Cicero and the senatorial party; but so little was he prepared to resist 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 himself 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 Hirtins and Pansa, who
were accompanied by Octavianus. Antony was
defeated, and fled across the Alps; and as iHirtins
and Pansa had fallen in the battle, the command
devolved upon D. Brutus, since the senate was unwilling to entrust Octavianus with any further
power. He was not, however, in a condition to
follow up his victory against Antony, who meantime had collected a large army north of the Alps,
and was preparing to march again into Italy.
Octavianus also had obtained the consulship, notwithstanding 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. Antony 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 betrayed by Camillus, 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. JuNrus BRUTUS, praetor in B. c. 88,
was sent with his colleague Servilius by the senate, 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,
I Brutus was proscribed with ten other senators.
S(Appian, B. C. i. 60.) He subsequently served