Brutus

In Latin, now, Brutus was sufficiently trained for narrative or pleading; but in Greek he affected the brevity of the apophthegm and the Spartan, of which he sometimes gives a striking example in his letters

For instance, when he had already embarked upon the war, he wrote to the Pergamenians: I hear that ye have given money to Dolabella; if ye gave it willingly confess that ye have wronged me; if unwillingly, prove it by giving willingly to me.

Again, to the Samians: Your counsels are paltry, your subsidies slow; what, think ye, will be the end of this?

And in another letter: The Xanthians ignored my benefactions, and have made their country a grave for their madness; but the Patareans entrusted themselves to me, and now enjoy their freedom in all its fullness. It is in your power also to choose the decision of the Patareans or the fate of the Xanthians. Such, then, is the style of his remarkable letters.

While he was still a youth, he made a journey to Cyprus with his uncle Cato, who was sent out against Ptolemy.[*](Cf. Cato the Younger, chapters xxxiv., xxxvi. )

And when Ptolemy made away with himself, Cato, who was himself obliged to tarry a while in Rhodes, had already dispatched one of his friends, Canidius, to take charge of the king’s treasures; but fearing that he would not refrain from theft, he wrote to Brutus bidding him sail with all speed to Cyprus from Pamphylia, where he was recruiting his health after a severe sickness.

Brutus set sail, but very much against his will, both because he had regard for Canidius, whom he thought to have been ignominiously discarded by Cato, and because on general grounds he considered such painstaking attention to administrative affairs to be illiberal and unworthy of himself as a young man addicted to letters.

However, he applied himself to this task also, and won Cato’s praise, and after converting the king’s property into money, took most of the treasure and set sail for Rome.