Note 92 — BRUTUS
Reading edition
As is well known, Plutarch nowhere condemns Brutus for his murder of Caesar. Appian, however, while he recognizes Brutus’ virtues, is strong in condemnation of his act. He says: “Against all these virtues and merits must be set down the crime against Caesar, which was not an ordinary or a small one, for it was committed unexpectedly against a friend, ungratefully against a benefactor who has spared them in war, and nefariously against the head of the state, in the senate house, against a pontiff clothed in his sacred vestments, against a ruler without an equal, who was most useful above all other men to Rome and its empire.” Civil Wars, White’s Trans., p. 381.
It is curious to note how Pescetti here abandons Appian in favor of Plutarch.