Brutus

otherwise they would be more timid in doing the deed and more suspected after they had done it, since men would say that Brutus would not have declined the task if the purpose of it had been honourable.

After reflecting on this, Cassius made Brutus his first visit since the quarrel above mentioned,[*](Chapter vii. 1-3.) and when they were again on a friendly footing, asked him whether he had made up his mind to attend the meeting of the senate on the Calends of March; for it had come to his ears, he said, that Caesar’s friends would then move to have him made king.

When Brutus answered that he should not attend, What, then, said Cassius, if we should be summoned? It would at once be my duty, said Brutus, not to hold my peace, but to defend my country and die in behalf of liberty.

Then Cassius, elated, said: But what Roman will consent to have thee die in such defence?

Dost thou not know thyself Brutus? Or dost thou think that thy tribunal was covered with inscriptions by weavers and hucksters, and not by the foremost and most influential citizens? From their other praetors they demand gifts and spectacles and gladiatorial combats; but from thee, as a debt thou owest to thy lineage, the abolition of the tyranny; and they are ready and willing to suffer anything in thy behalf, if thou showest thyself to be what they expect and demand.

After this, he embraced Brutus and kissed him, and thus reconciled they betook themselves to their friends.

There was a certain Caius Ligarius[*](He is called Quintus Ligarius in the Cicero, xxxix. 5. ) among the friends of Pompey, who had been denounced as such, but pardoned by Caesar.

This man, cherishing no gratitude for his pardon, but rather offended by the power which had put his life in jeopardy, was an enemy of Caesar, and one of the most familiar friends of Brutus.

Once, when this man was sick, Brutus came to see him, and said: O Ligarius, what a time this is to be sick! Ligarius at once raised himself on his elbow, clasped Brutus by the hand, and said: Nay, Brutus, if thou hast a purpose worthy of thyself, I am well.

After this, they secretly tested the sentiments of well known men in whom they had confidence, selecting not only from their intimates, but all whom they knew to be bold, brave, and contemptuous of death.

For this reason, too, they kept their plans a secret from Cicero, although he was foremost among them, not only for the confidence, but also for the good will which he inspired. They feared that the caution which time and old age had brought him, combined with his natural timidity, and further, his habit of calculating all the details of every enterprise so as to ensure the utmost safety, would blunt the edge of their ardour at a crisis which demanded speed.

Besides, Brutus also passed by, among his other friends, Statilius the Epicurean and Favonius the devoted follower of Cato. The reason was that some time before he had put them to a very similar test by the round-about method of a philosophical discussion, when Favonius had answered that civil war was worse than illegal monarchy; and Statilius had declared that it did not become a wise and sensible man to be thrown into turmoil and peril for the sake of feeble and foolish folk.