At first he
was startled, but observing that the figure neither moved nor spoke,
but was standing silent by the bed, he asked him who he was. The
phantom replied, "Thy bad daemon, Brutus; and thou shalt see me at
Philippi." Upon which Brutus boldly replied, "I shall see;" and the
daemon immediately disappeared. In course of time having engaged with
Antonius and Caesar at Philippi, in the first battle he was victorious,
and after routing that part of the army which was opposed to him he
followed up his success and plundered Caesar's camp. As he was
preparing to fight the second battle, the same phantom appeared again
by night, without speaking to him, but Brutus, who perceived what his
fate was, threw himself headlong into the midst of the danger. However
he did not fall in the battle, but when the rout took place, he fled
to a precipitous spot, and throwing himself with his breast on his
bare sword, a friend also, as it is said, giving strength to the blow,
he died.[621] FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 435: It has been remarked by Niebuhr (_Lectures on the
History of Rome_, ii. 33) that the beginning of the Life of Caesar is
lost. He says, "Plutarch could not have passed over the ancestors, the
father, and the whole family, together with the history of Caesar's
youth, &c." But the reasons for this opinion are not conclusive. The
same reason would make us consider other lives imperfect, which are
also deficient in such matters.
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