Brutus

But on the following day Lucius Pella, a Roman who had been praetor and had enjoyed the confidence of Brutus, being denounced by the Sardians as an embezzler of the public moneys, was condemned by Brutus and disgraced;

and the matter vexed Cassius beyond measure. For a few days before, when two friends of his had been convicted of the same misdeeds, he had privately admonished them but publicly acquitted them, and continued to employ them.

He therefore found fault with Brutus on the ground that he was too observant of law and justice at a time which demanded a policy of kindness.

But Brutus bade him remember the Ides of March, on which they had slain Caesar, not because he was himself plundering everybody, but because he enabled others to do this;

since, if there is any good excuse for neglecting justice, it had been better for us to endure the friends of Caesar than to suffer our own to do wrong.

For in the one case, said he, we should have had the reputation of cowardice merely; but now, in addition to our toils and perils, we are deemed unjust. Such were the principles of Brutus.