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

BRUTUS.
hiiiluence which Cassius exercised over him. He
was persuaded by Cassius to join the conspirators
who murdered Caesar on the 15th 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 obain their sanction of the Julian laws. The murerers 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 conspirators, shewed them clearly the intentions of Antony.
Brutus withdrew into the country, and during his
stay there he gave, in the month of July, most
splendid Ludi Apollinares, hoping thereby to turn
the disposition of the people in his favour. But
in this he was disappointed, and as Antony assumed a threatening position, he sailed in September 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 sum 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 province 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 Pompey, 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 several other legions, joined
him. C. Antonius, who also arrived in the meantime, 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 resolved to act for himself. While Octavianus in
the month of August 43 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, together with his portrait, appear on many of his
coins. The things which were going on meantime in Italy seemed to affect neither Brutus nor
Cassius, but after the triumvirate was established, 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 ihdeed 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 engagement 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 multitude 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 quantity of his varied knowledge, which he had acquired
by extensive reading and his intercourse with philosophers, was beyond his control, and was rather an
encumberance to him than anything else. Nothing
had such charms for him as study, which he prosecuted by day and night, at home and abroad. He
made abridgements of the historical works of C. Fanniusand Caelius Antipater, and on the eve of the battle 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, however, 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 possess 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 Brutum," 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 letters contain gross blunders in history and chronology, to which attention was first drawn by Erasmus
of Rotterdam. (Epist. i. 1.) Brutus is also said to
have attempted to write poetry, which does not
seem to have possessed much merit. (Cicero, in
the passages collected in Orelli's Onomast. Tull. ii.
pp. 319-324; Plut. Lie of Brutus; Appian, B. C.
ii. 11-iv. 132; Dion Cass. lib. xli.-xlviii. Respecting his oratory and the extant fragments of
it, see Meyer, Orat. Rom. Fragm. p. 443, &c., 2nd
edit.; comp. Weichert, Poet. Lat. Reliq. p. 125;
Drumann, Gesch. Romss, iv. pp. 18-44.)
BRYAXIS (Bpualus), an Athenian statuary in
stone and metal, cast a bronze statue of Seleucus,
king of Syria (Plin. H. N. 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 accordingly 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. 18), an Asclepios (H. N. xxxiv.
8. s. 19), a Liber, father of Cnidus (H. N. xxxvi.
5), and a statue of Pasiphae. (Tatian. ad Graec.
54.) If we believe Clemens Alexandrinus (Protr.
p. 30, c.), Bryaxis attained so high a degree of perfection, that two statues of his were ascribed by
some to Phidias. [W. I.]
2L