Brutus
Brutus names 5 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Brutus Marcus Junius (85-42 B
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
Marcus Junius (85-42 B. C.), a noted Roman citizen. He was a nephew of Cato and a follower of Pompey. After Caesar had overthrown Pompey in the battle of Pharsalia, he received Brutus kindly and made him governor of Cisalpine Gaul, and later of Macedonia. None the less Brutus allowed himself to be drawn into the conspiracy described in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and even raised his hand to stab his benefactor. No wonder that Caesar, seeing him, cried out, "And you, too, Brutus!" After Antony had aroused the populace to fury, Brutus fled to his former government of Macedonia, placed himself at the head of the Roman legion in that province, and joined Cassius in Asia. They were beaten by the forces of Antony and Octavius. Brutus fell on the point of his sword and ended a life that should have turned out far otherwise. In Shakespeare's speech of Brutus to the citizens of Rome we have his own self justification: If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's to him I say that Brutus's love for Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I lov'd Caesar less, but that I lov'd Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free men? As Caesar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him; but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition. See Caesar
Brutus MARCUS JUNIUS, an illustrious Roman
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
MARCUS JUNIUS, an illustrious Roman, one of the murderers of Julius Cæsar. His mother was the sister of Cato. He at first sided with Pompey, but, being treated with great lenity after the battle of Pharsalia, he attached himself to Cæsar, by whom he was greatly caressed and trusted. But the stern Republican spirit of Brutus rendered it impossible for all Cæsar's kindness to him to reconcile him to Cæsar's ambition; and he at length conspired with Cassius and March 44 b. C. Antony succeeded in exciting the popular indignation against against the the raised an army, of which Brutus and Cassius took the command; but being totally defeated at the battle of Philippi, where they encountered the army of Antony and Octavianus, Brutus escaped with only a few friends, and believing his cause ruined urged his friend Strato to kill him. This for a time the latter refused to do, but at last, presenting the sword as he turned away his face, the noble Roman fell on it and expired, 36 B. c., in the 43d year of his age. BRYACEÆ, urn mosses, a natural order of muscals, distinguished by having the spore cases valveless, with an operculum without elaters. Lindley enumerated 44 genera, and, with a query, 1,100 species as belonging to the order. They are found in all humid climates, but abound in the temperate rather than in the polar regions. The word is also applied to a large group of acrocarpous mosses having a double row of teeth, the inner united at the base by a common plicate membrane. It constitutes part of the order bryaceæ.
Brutus Lucius Junius
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
Lucius Junius, a legendary Roman leader, about 500 B. C. Many stories are related of him. According to the first, he was sent with the two sons of King Tarquin to consult the oracle of Delphi in Greece. Their business done, the oracle was asked, "Which of us shall be king of Rome?" "He that kisses his mother first was the ready reply. Accordingly when they landed, the two sons of the king sped away, each eager to salute the queen mother first; but Brutus, with more wit, pretended to stumble, and pressed his lips to mother earth. Tarquin, the king, having insulted Lucretia, the peerless wife of an honored citizen, Brutus joined a band of patriots to drive the Tarquins from power. This accomplished, a republic was declared, and he was elected first consul. When Brutus found that his two sons were engaged in a treasonable conspiracy to bring the Tarquins back, he gave orders that the lictors should proceed to do their duty just as though his boys were the sons of a man not in authority. They were accordingly put to death before their father left the Senate chamber. When at length the Tarquins marched upon Rome, Brutus led a body of Roman citizens. He and one of the sons, who in former days visited the oracle, met in personal combat; each plunged his sword into the other. Both fell. The Romans conquered the followers of Tarquin and gave Brutus a magnificent burial.
Brutus LUCIUS JUNIUS, an ancient Roman hero
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
LUCIUS JUNIUS, an ancient Roman hero, son of Marcus Junius, murderers, who fled from Rome, MARCUS JUNIUS BRUTUS by the daughter of the elder Tarquin. He saved his life from the persecutions of Tarquin the Proud by feigning himself insane, whence his name Brutus (stupid). On the suicide of Lucretia, however, he threw off the mask, and headed the revolt against the Tarquins. Having secured their banishment, he proposed to abolish the regal dignity and introduce a free government, with the result that he was elected to the consulship, in which capacity he condemned his own sons to death for conspiring to restore the monarchy. He fell in battle 509 b. c.
Brutus DECIMUS JUNIUS, a Roman soldier
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
DECIMUS JUNIUS, a Roman soldier, served under Julius Cæsar in Gaul, and was afterward commander of his fleet, but, like his relative, Marcus Junius Brutus, joined in the assassination of Cæsar. He was afterward, for a short time, successful in opposing Antony, but was deserted by his soldiers in Gaul and betrayed into the hands of his opponent, who put him others, and slew him on the Ides of to death in 43 B. c.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The narrative of Marcus Junius Brutus has not moved much since Collier's wrote in 1921, though that account's "36 B. C." is a slip: he died after Philippi in 42 B.C., as Aiton's 1910 entry has it. The famous cry Aiton's gives as "And you, too, Brutus!" is Shakespeare's, not history's; Suetonius reported only a rumour that Caesar said in Greek "you too, child," and most historians now think he said nothing at all. The sharper shift concerns the other Brutus: where Collier's states flatly that Lucius Junius Brutus "fell in battle 509 b. c.," scholars today treat him and the whole expulsion of the Tarquins as largely legend, and Aiton's calling him "a legendary Roman leader" reads as the more modern judgment. One concrete afterlife: the silver and gold "EID MAR" coins Brutus struck to advertise the killing are now among the most coveted objects in numismatics.
Written for this edition, 2026.