pted--a proof of the neglect of the
republican leaders in not sooner bringing their fleet into action. Nor
did Brutus ever hear of this success. He was ill-fitted for the life of
the camp, and after the death of Cassius he only kept his men together
by largesse and promises of plunder. Twenty days after the first battle
he led them out again. Both armies faced one another. There was little
manoeuvring. The second battle was decided by numbers and force, not by
skill; and it was decided in favor of the triumvirs. Brutus retired with
four legions to a strong position in the rear, while the rest of his
broken army sought refuge in the camp. Octavian remained to watch them,
while Antony pursued the republican chief. Next day Brutus endeavored to
rouse his men to another effort; but they sullenly refused to fight; and
Brutus withdrew with a few friends into a neighboring wood. Here he took
them aside one by one, and prayed each to do him the last service that a
Roman could render to his friend. All refused with horror; till at
nightfall a trusty Greek freedman named Strato held the sword, and his
master threw himself upon it. Most of his friends followed the sad
example. The body of Brutus was sent by Antony to his mother. His wife
Portia, the daughter of Cato, refused all comfort; and being too closely
watched to be able to slay herself by ordinary means, she suffocated
herself by thrusting burning charcoal into her mouth. Massalla, with a
number of other fugitives, sought safety in the island of Thasos, and
soon after made submission to Antony.

The name of Brutus has, by Plutarch's beautiful narrative, sublimed by
Shakespeare, become a byword for self-devoted patriotism. This exalted
opinion is now generally confessed to be unjust. Brutus was not a
patriot, unless devotion to the party of the senate be patriotism.
Toward the provincials he was a true Roman, harsh and oppressive. He was
free from the sensuality and profligacy of his age, but for public life
he was unfit. His habits were those of a student. His application was
great, his memory remarkable. But he possessed little power of turning
his acquirements to account; and to the last he was rather a learned man
than a man improved by learning. In comparison with Cassius, he was
humane and generous; but in all respects his character is contrasted for
the worse with that of the great man from whom he accepted favors and
then became his murderer.

The battle of Philipp