FROM THE MARRIAGE OF AZO WITH CUNEGUNDA
First Wife. Second Wife.
CUNEGUN DAs AZ 0 eG ERSENDA.
| + 1081. | Count Boxtracz. GUELPH I. + 1101. Furx—from whom the Dukes of Moprxa descended. Macrairnis Guerres IL + 1119. Henny the Black:==Wozrmrzpis,—Heiréss of Herman of Flag and + 1115. + 1195. | his possessions of Lunenburgb, é&c. on the El ?
Hsewar the Proud:=Gzaraups,—Heiress of Saxony, | + 1138. Brunswick, and Hanover.
Hewry the Lion :=MariLpa, Daughter of Henry IL
+ 1195. King of England. + : | ‘ Loses, by proscription, , all his possessions, except his allodiel —
. 8 = on wo ane wot ee hE ne eel. «Ree.
fa
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‘4 PRET 1’ bee CE ¢u
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sea Fos:
Lit DIGRESSION ON THE CHARACTER OF BRUTUS.
- Tae memory of Cesar, celebrated as it is, has not been transmitted down to posterity with such uniform and increasing applause as that of his patriot assassin. Marc Antony acknowledged the rectitude of his intentions. Augustus refused to violate his statues.* All the great ‘writers of the succeeding age enlarged on his praises,t and more than two hundred years after the establishment of the imperial government, the character of Brutus was studied as the perfect idea of Roman virtue. f In England as in France, in modern Italy as in ancient Rome, his name has always been mentioned with respect by the adherents of monarchy,§ and pronounced with enthusiasm by the friends of freedom. It may seem rash and invidious to appeal from the sentence of ages; yet surely I may be permitted to inquire in what consisted the DIVINE VIRTUE OF BRUTUS?
The few patriots who, by a bold and well-concerted enterprize, have delivered their country from foreign or domestic slavery, Timoleon and the elder Brutus, Andrew Doria and Gustavus Vasa, the three peasants of Switzerland,| and the four princes of Orange, excite the warmest sensations of esteem and gratitude in those breasts which feel for the interests of mankind. But the design of the younger Brutus was vast and perhaps impracticable, the execution feeble and unfortunate. Neither
# Plutarch. in Antonio, p. 925, in Brut.’p, 1011. Among these were the statues, which the Athenians had erected to Brutus and Cassius, by the side of their own deliverers, Harmodius and Aristogiton.
+ Under the jealous tyranny of Tiberius, Cremutius Cordus was arraigned before the senate for the encomiums which he bestowed in his history on Brutus and Cassius, He justified himself by the toleration of Augustus and the example of Asinius Pollio, Messala and Livy : nor was it within the tyrant’s power to suppress his writings, or the geiieral sense of mankind.
’ Tacit. Annal. iv. 34, 35.
+ M. Antonin. de Rebus suis, 1. i.
§ Velleius Paterculus, an elegant writer, but servilely devoted to the imperial family, and most probably one of the judges who condemned Cremutius, can only say of Brutus, Corrupto animo ejus in diem quz illi omnes virtutes unius facti temeritate abstulit. ii. 72. °
ij Who in the year 1308 delivered their country from the Austrian yoke. See Simlerus de Republica Helvetica ; Guillimannus de Rebus Helyeticis, and the great Chronicle of Tschudi.
| as
as a statesman nor as a general did Brutus ever approve himself equal to the arduous task he had so rashly undertaken, of restoring the commonwealth; instead of restoring it, the death of a mild and generous usurper produced only a series of civil wars, and the reign of three tyrants whose union and whose discord were alike fatal to the Roman people. - The sagacious Tully often laments that he could be pleased with nothing in the ides of March, except the ides themselves; that the deed. was executed with a manly courage, but supported by childish counsels; that the tyranny survived the tyrant; as the conspirators, satisfied with fame and revenge, had neglected every measure that might have restored public liberty.* Whilst Brutus and Cassius contemplated their own heroism with the most happy complacency, Marc Antony, who had pre- ° served his life, and the first magistracy of the state, by their injudicious clemency, seized the papers and treasure of the Dictator, inflamed the people and the veterans, and drove them out of Rome and Italy, without any other opposition than some grave remonstrances which the patriots ‘vainly addressed to the Consul.f
The eloquence of Cicero, and the dangerous aid of young Cesar, awakened in the senate a spirit of freedom and resistance. Brutus and Cassius had time to seize on Macedonia and Syria, whilst the forces. of. Antony were diverted and almost.destroyed in the memorable siege of Modena. ‘The legions stationed in those provinces acknowledged them as lawful proconsuls, the wealth of the east fell into their hands, and. they had collected an army of one hundred thousand men,f before the triumvirs had cemented their union with the noblest blood of Rome, and were prepared to lead their veteran legions against the Yast defenders of the public liberty. Cassius was of opinion, that they should protract their military operations into the approaching winter; but though Cassius was the older and the better soldier,{ had been the first author of the conspiracy; and was the principal support of the war, he yielded, witha
* See the XIVth, XVth, and XVIth Books of the Epistles to Atticus.
+ See Epistol. ad Famil. xi. 2,3. The spirit of thesp letters is finely tempered by the po-
Kteness with which Brutus and Cassius address the Consul. They respect the magistrate
whilst they defy the tyrant. | t Appian. L. iv. p. 640.
- § Fuit autem dux Cassius melior quanto vir Brutus. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 72,
sigh,
sigh, to the authority of Brutus, whose mind, oppressed with laborious anxiety, wished impatiently for an immediate division.* The decision was unfavourable ; and both the chiefs, relinquishing all their remaining hopes, and withdrawing themselves from the calamities which they had brought on their country, put an end to their lives by-a hasty act of despair. “ Brutus and Cassius (says the President Montesquieu) killed themselves with a precipitancy that cannot be excused ; and it is impossible to read this part of their history without pitying the republic, which was thus abandoned. The death of Cato was the catastrophe of the tragedy; but these men, in some measure, opened the tragedy by their own deaths.”
The justice of the memorable ides of March has been a subject: of controversy above eighteen hundred years; and will so remain, as long as the interests. of the community shall be considered by different tem-
pers in different lights. Men of high and active’ spirits, who deem the
loss of liberty, or sometimes, in other words, the loss of power, the worst
of misfortunes, will approve the use of every stratagem and every wea- Pow. in the chacé of the common fee of society: They will ask how a &y rsa mt, who has raised himself above the laws, and usurped the forces of the state, can be punished, except by an assassination ; and whether the CirCuamstance that most aggravates his crime, ought to secure his perso. an cË government. On the other hand, the lovers of order and modera-. uon, who are swayed by the calm of reason, rather than by the impetuoity of passion, will never consent to establish every private citizen the jack == € and avenger of the public injury, or to purchase a temporary de: ie a m~=ance by the severe retaliation that will surely be exercised on those, Whe> “have first violated the laws of war. The fate of Cæsar was alleged 0 <><-> lour the edict of proscription;{ and perhaps the generous ambition of & ne younger Guise would have been startled at the massacre of Pafs, tk ad it not satisfied his great revenge against the Admiral de Coligny, apc. <>ther leaders of a party, whom not without reason he accused of his & =ather’s murder. We may observe that the: assassination of tyrants.
* “KF his anecdote was preserved by Messala, who in the court of Augustus was always pow of remembering Cassius as his general. - Plutarch. in Brut. Tacit. Annal. iv. 34. © Considérations sur la Grandeur des Romains, chap. xii. \ Appian. iv. p. 598.
À See the 34th Book of the History of Thuanus, h | as
has been generally applauded by the ancients. The fate of a great empire is usually decided by the sword of war; but against the petty usurper of a Greek or Italian city, the dagger of conspiracy had been often found as efficacious an instrument. The same doctrine is as generally condemned by the present nations of Europe; influenced by a milder system of manners, and impressed with a deep sense of the bloody mischiefs perpetrated both by the Catholics and the Calvinists during the alliance of religious and political fanaticism.
Whilst the merit of Brutus’s GopLIKE sTROKE (for such it has been called*) is at least doubtful, we can only allow in his favour, that by acting up to the established standard of Roman virtue he is entitled to our indulgence, and in some measure to our esteem. But in these nice cases, where the esteem is bestowed on the INTENTION, rather than on the action, we ought to be well assured that the intention was pure from any interested or passionate motive; that it was not the hasty suggestion of resentment or vanity, but the calm result of consistent and well grounded virtue, impatient of slavery, and tender of the rights of mankind. The praises of antiquity, and the noble spirit that breathes in the epistles of Brutus,t may indeed prepossess us in favour of his moral character; but it is the uniform tenor of his life, private as well as public, which must in a. great degree acquit or condemn the conspirator.
Plutarch singles out of the whole life of Brutus, one exceptionable action; his promising the plunder of Lacedæmon and Thessalonica to his troops.§ But had Plutarch been better acquainted with the epistles of Atticus, he would have seen in that faithful mirror of the times, some instances of avarice and inhumanity, which the philosophic Brutus could not have excused by the sad necessity of civil war.
* Tho’ Cato liv’d, tho’ Tully spoke, Tho’ Brutus dealt the godlike stroke ; Yet perish’d fated Rome.
+ He declares (Epist. 16, or 22, in Middleton's edition) that were his father alive again he would not suffer Aim to possess a power above the laws and the senate. Pity it is that this whole correspondence, and particularly this celebrated epistle, should be liable to the suspicion of a forgery committed in those ages when Latin had ceased to be a living language. See Tunstal and Markland on one side of the question, and Dr. Middleton on the other.
§ Plutarch. in Brut.
When
When Cicero was appointed Proconsul of Cilicia, his first object was to relieve the cities of his government, almost ruined by the heavy debts.
which they had been obliged to contract in order to satisfy the rapa-
ciousness of his predecessors. The case of Salamis, in Cyprus, deserved
peculiar compassion. One Scaptius, a Roman money broker, Strongly re-
commended by Brutus, claimed very large sums as due to him from that city.
The deputies of Salamis acknowledged the debt, and made a tender of the
money with legal interest, as it was fixed by Cicero’s edict, at twelve per
cent. and compound interest at the end of every year. But Scaptius de-
manded forty-eight per cent. according to the condition of his usurious
bond; and to enforce his demand by military execution, he had obtained
from the former proconsul a troop of horse, with which he kept the senate house of Salamis closely besieged, till five of the most obstinate se-
ators were actually starved to death. This proconsul was Appius Claudius, the father-in-law of Brutus; and when the province of Cilicia devolved upon Cicero, the same Brutus recommended, with more than common earnestness, the affairs of Scaptius to the favour of the new governor.
Cicero was at first surprised at finding so intimate a connexion between
a man of merit and an infamous usurer, but he was still more astonished, when the shameful secret was disclosed. The wretched agent disap-
peared, and the virtuous Brutus, without a blush, avowed HIMSELF the creditor of the Salamians. As soon as he threw off the mask, instead
of commiserating the ruin of a city under his immediate patronage, he insisted on the utmost rigour of his iniquitous demands, and requested of Cicero, in the most haughty terms, that he would send the.same Scaptius into Cyprus at the head of a second troop of horse to exact
the extravagant amount of the accumulated principal and interest. On
this occasion the virtue of Cicero was supported by a noble firmness. ‘ I should be desirous (Re repeats it in several places) to oblige Brutus,
but I cannot sacrifice to his interest, the feelings of humanity, the prin-
ciples of justice, the uniformity of my character, and the approbation
of atl good men. I shall be concerned to lose his friendship, but I
‘shall be still more concerned to lose the esteem I have ever entertained er him:”* | So The
* “ Brutus,” says Cicero, “ has not sent me one letter, m-which there was not something VOL. 111. se singular
The numerous crimes of Verres, exaggerated as toy: mast probably have been, by. the strongest powers of eloquence, scarcely furnish such an instance of unrelenting avarice as this transaction of Hrutus, : which is related by Cicero with the candid simplicity of a private correspondence. The money due from the city of Salamis.amounated ta about twenty thousand pounds; a small part of the immense sums which Brutus appears to have lent out on similar securities.* . We cannet forbear inquiring, by what arts a private citizen, the son of a prosonbed father, and who had never commanded armes, or goversed provinces, could accumulate so ample a fortune; the unquiry would ieat] to some suspicions severe but not unreasonable.
In. the béginning of the crvil wär we find young Brutus j m the ey of Pompey, by whose. order his father had been put. to desth about thirty years before.t This sacrifice of filial piety to a sxperisr and public duty has been highly applauded. But was it im Bratuss power either to remain inactive, or to enlist in the army of Cæsar? Was it en his. power to refuse to follow the general of the republic, bis umole Cato, the consuls, ten eonsulers, the greatest part of the senate, and ¢he flower of the equestrian order?f The:defeat of Pizarsalia wud the death of Pompey removed the genetal condtraint, nd. displayed the penuise views and characters of the principal mea of his party. . or
. There were some very réspectable senators, men of an .mivanceti ze, moderate tempers, and cool penetration, who had -hever entertained a favourable opinion of the hopes, or evén of the designs of thar own party. Cicero, Marcellus, Sulpicrus, Verro hat been driven bya sense of henour mto scenes of war and tumult, as little auited to ‘their trients
singular and arrogant. His style gives me little uneasjness; but indeed he forgets what, and to whom he is writing” ,For this whole transaction see the Epistles to Atticus, 1 v. 21. vi. 1, 2, 3..
* Brutus, by Cicero’s interest, had received from ‘Ariobarzanes; king ‘of Cappadocia, a handred talents upon aceount of a much larger‘sum that wisdue to bird, The-concerns ‘ef Brutus in Asia, which he recommended to the care of the proconsul, filled a whole ‘volume of requests, or rather mandates, as they are called by Cicero. | oe
+ Plutarch. in Brut. The father was one of the lieutenants of the weak and wicked Lepidus, who raised a-rebellion in Haly after the death of Sylla;
+ Decem fuimus conswares, &c.—Qui vero pretoru? quorum princeps M. Cato, &c. —ut magna excusatione opus jis sit, qui in illa castra non venerunt. Philipp. xiii. 18, +4,
as
as to their iaclingtion. They resolved to consider the decision of Pharsalia as final, and not to aggravate, by. a vain resistance, the miseries of their country. When Cicero returned to Rome, he avoided the forum and the senate, and devoted his leisure and abilities to the noble design ef explaining the Grecian philosaphy in the Latin language. Yet his retirement was sometimes inyaded by his own rtproaches, and by those of the world; by the comparison of his tame acgwiescence, with the glorious struggle of Cato, Scipio, Labienus, amd their followers who had anew erected the standard of Hberty in Africa.*
These patriots, of more active spirits and mere sanguine hopes, thought it even yet.a crime to deapair of the-republic. Fifteen months wasted by Ceegar in the aums of-Cleopatra, the romantic campaign of Alexandria and,the rapid epmquest of Pontus, gave them time to assemble a new army ef twelve legions, disciplined by misfortune, and deriving fresh courage fram deapair. Fertile Africa afforded-every supply for carrying oa:the war: The alliance of Juha filed the Roman camp with an inbumetrable host ef Moors and Numidiens. Spain was in arms, and Italy expeeted her-delixerers with a mixture of ternor and impatience.f ‘Cæsar again fought and triumphed; but the unceonquered soul of Cato easily eacaped from life and from the usurper. Such was ‘the ‘constancy of that patriot, and such the lessons which he had ever inouleated to his vephow Bavtus ; tet.us next examine what fruits they produced. — - -
After the battle of Pharsalia, Brutus lay concealed ‘in the marshes of Fhssæaly; le made the first advances to the conqueror, experienced his:clemeney, and was immediately admitted into his confidence. The latter was obtained by revealing, I will not call it betraying, whatever be-had ‘heen able.to learn of Pompey’s designs.f He then left Cesar
* See the Epistles.to Atticns, xi. 7; where he unbosoms himself to his friend with a very wonderful, or «nther.a very natezal mixture of spirit and meanness, of petriotism and
+ Hist. de Bello African. 18, 40. Minetum..in.Coms.66. Dio. Casojius,.!. xlii. p. 338, Cicero ad Attic. 1, xi. p. 7.
+ Pluterch.in Brut. Some easuists, Spanjards and others, have.attempted to justify this eagduct.. (foc:Bayle, Dictionnaire, À l'Article Bevis) The feelings of a man of honour ere the best confutation of such sophistry:
cet to
to follow the pursuit he had pointed out,. and entertained himself with an agreeable tour through the cities of Greece and Asia. In a few months he-returned to Rome, resigned himself to the calm studies of history and rhetoric, and passed many of his leisure hours in the society of Cicero and Atticus. Their literary conversations were sometimes interrupted by complaints of the melancholy situation of public affairs.* At a time when Cicero was in retirement, Marcellus in voluntary exile,t and Cato in arms, we might at lIcast expect that the nephew of Cato would have declined any political connexion with the usurper. When Cesar set out for the African war, Brutus accepted at his hands the government of the Cisalpine Gaul;f a command of infinite im- ‘portance from its vicinity.to the capital, and from the legions always stationed in that province to protect the frontiers of Italy from the unconquered Rhetians. The same legions gave the governor of the -Cis- . alpine Gaul an almost decisive weight in every civil commotion, as a march of a few days brought him to the gates of Rome.§ Experience had already acquainted Cesar with this advantage, and ‘by thus appointing Brutus his Lieutenant during his absence, he shewed the most implicit confidence in his fidelity. Suppose that Rome had attempted to break her chains ; suppose the sons of Pompey from Spain, or Cato from Africa, had made a diversion in Italy, what could have been the conduct of the patriot Brutus? His station must have forced him into action, -and by his action he must have betrayed either -his trust or his country. Into this fatal dilemma had he wantonly thrown himself. When Cesar, on his return from the conquest of Africa, visited ‘a part of Gaul, his obsequious governor went out to meet him with the respectful attention of an experienced courtier, and attended him on his way to the triumph, in which a picture of Cato tearing out his own
* See Cicero’s Two Treatises De Claris Orateribus and De Orator. both which he dedicated: to Brutus about this time. The latter gave rise to a celebrated controversy between them,
+ He retired to Mytileno and refused to accept the victor’s clemency. His letters (see ad Familiar. }. iv.) are full of noble sentiments, and his behaviour does not t appear to have disgraced them. " |
t Plutarch. in Brut. Appian. de B.C. |. ii. p. 477. Cicer. ad Famit«1..-siii. p. 10, &o.
§ Montesquieu has already remarked the importanse of that provinee.. Considérations sur la Grandeur, &c. c. xi.
bowels
bowels was exposed to the eyes of the Roman people.* I wish not however to conceal that about’ the same time, Brutus. gave some proofs of regard for his uncle's. memory, by marrying his cousin Portia,f and by composing a Treatise on the life and character of Cato; an honourable, rather than a dangerous undertaking ; ‘since even the prudence of Cicero permitted him to publish a work on the same subject. The dictator disdained to employ the arms of power, when those of eloquence were sufficient. He appealed to the tribunal of the public, and in a severe and masterly censure of the conduct of Cato, he treated the persons of his two literary antagonists, Cicero and Brutus, with every expression of regard and esteem.f This polite controversy was so far from leaving any ‘unfavourable | impressions in Cæsar’s mind, that a few months afterwards-he named Brutus, the first of the sixteen prætors with the honourable department of the city jurisdiction, and with a promise of the consulship for one of the ensuing years.$ Could Brutus accept, could he solicit the honours of the state from a master who had abolished the freedom, and who scarcely preserved the forms of elections?
Tinget solennia campi, .
. Et non admissæ diribet| suffragia plebis, Decantatque tribus, et vana versat in urna ; | Nec cœlum servare licet; tonat augure surdo; , Et letee jurantur aves, bubone sinistro.{
-E have heard much of the heroic spirit of Brutus; of his glorious Ram ifice of gratitude to patriotism. True patriotism.would have in- ‘ta- wm <ted him not to cancel, but to refuse obligations of such a‘nature hc» mm the declared enemy of Cato and the liberty of Rome.
“ay more, by soliciting these honours, Brutus solicited a public oc-
= Plutarch. in Brut, Appian, L ii. p. 491.
+ Plutarch. Cicer. ad Attic. xiii. 9,
+ Wicer, ad Attic. xii. 21, xiii, 46. Coser paid a compliment to these two pieces in > wer of Cato; but his compliment is obscure and equivocal. He probably meant it should ¥ Se».
S Wloterch. in Brut. Velleius Paterculus,. ii, 56. - VW “The common editions read dirimit, which puzzles ail the commentators. Diribere was » Ce wan peculiar to the comitia and signifies to poll the votes in the regular divisions, “KK Lucan. Pharsal. v. 391, casion
casion of engaging his fidelity to the person and government of Ceosar, by a solemn and voluntary oath of allegiance." “A few days before the execution of their fatal purpose, these patriots all swore fealty ta Cesar, and protesting to hold his person ever sacred, they touched the altar with those hands which they had already armed for his destruction.” Antiquity has not preserved the oath, but we may suppose that it was wot very different from the warm but faithless professions of Cicero. “ We exhort, we beseech you to guard your safety against the secret dangers, which you seem to suspect. We all promise (that I-may express for others what I feel for myself) not only to watch over yeut precious life with the most anxious vigilance, but to oppose our ows bodies, our wa breasts to the.impending stroke.”t Relying on these assurances the dictator dismissed his Spanish guards,4 and neglected every precaution. He could not persuade himself that those whom he ‘had congnered would be brave enough, -or those whom he had pardonef base enough, te ehorten à life already sufficient either for nature or for glory:] By those men he was flattered antl assassinated. Such solemn perjury cannot be justified except by the dangerous maxim, that ne faith is to be kept with tyrants. |
Et was only for usurping the power of the people that Cesar could deserve the epithet of tyrant. He used the power with more moderation and ability than the people was capable of exerting; and the Romans already began to experience all the happiness and glory compatible with a monarchical form of government.** To this government Brutus had yielded his obedience and services during three years before he lifted his dagger against Cæsar’s life. What sew crime had Cesar com-
- # Appian, I. ii. p. 494.
+ Hume's Dialogue on the Principles of of Morals,
t Cicer. pro Marcello, c. 10.
ç Sueton. in Cæsar. c. 86.
| ‘Cicero pro Marcel. c. 8.
‘@ Appiah. |. ii. p.515. This maxim is introduced.in a speech of Brutus to the people 5 but the speech is evidently manufactured by the historian. -
## See some of Cæsar's vast and beneficial designs in Suetonius, c. 44. The reformation of tbe Calendar still remains a small specimen of them.
mitted,
mitted, which so suddenly* transformed his minister into an assassin? He aspired to the title of king, and that odious name called upon the descendant of Junius Brutus to assert the glories of his race! Such a regard to a word, and such insensibility to the thing itself, may be excused in the populace of Rome; but to a philosopher of an enlarged mind it was surely of little moment under what appellation. public liberty was oppressed.
. Such are the reflections, which an accurate examination of the character of Brutus has suggested to an enemy of tyranny, under ever y | shape: who will neither be awed by the frown of power, nor silenced by: the hoarse voice of popular applause. The monarch and the patriot are alike amenable to the severe but candid inquisition of truth.
® Bratus took the oath of allegiance about seventy-five days before the execution of tie conspiracy.
ry
NOMINA, GENTESQUE
