Note 3 — INDEX.

III. In actual warfare Dion proved himself a faultless general, as he succeeded brilliantly in every enterprise planned by himself, and was able to remedy the failures caused by the misconduct of others; while Brutus seems not to have been wise in engaging in the last decisive battle, and when it was lost did not attempt to retrieve his fortunes, but gave himself up to despair, showing even less confidence than Pompeius. Yet, his position was far from hopeless, for he still retained a large part of his army, and a fleet which gave him entire command of the sea. Again, Dion cannot be accused of any crime like that which is the greatest blot upon the character of Brutus, who after his life had been saved by Cæsar’s goodness, and he had been allowed to save as many as he pleased of his fellow captives, after also he had been regarded by Cæsar as his friend, and had been promoted by Cæsar above many others, murdered his benefactor. On the contrary, Dion was the relative and friend of Dionysius, and assisted him in maintaining his government, and it was not until he was expelled from his country, his wife wronged, and his property confiscated, that he openly began a most just and lawful war against the despot. Is there not, however, another view of this question? That hatred of despotism and wrong which is so highly honoured, was possessed by Brutus pure and unalloyed by personal motives, for he had no private grudge against Cæsar, and yet risked his life on behalf of the liberty of the people: while Dion would never have made war against Dionysius, if he had not been wronged by him. This we learn distinctly from Plato’s letters, which prove that Dion did not begin his revolt until he was banished by Dionysius, after which, he deposed the tyrant. A common object made Brutus become the friend of Pompeius, who was Cæsar’s enemy both personally and politically, for Brutus made men his friends or his enemies solely according to what he thought right: while Dion assisted Dionysius much while he was on friendly terms with him, and only made war against him out of anger at his loyalty being suspected. For this reason many even of his own friends believed that after removing Dionysius from the throne he intended to succeed him, and to reign though under some title more plausible than that of despot; while even the enemies of Brutus admitted that he alone of all the conspirators against Cæsar kept one object consistently in view, which was to restore to the Romans their ancient constitution.