Roman History, 47.24

Cassius Dio  translated by Earnest Cary

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24Now Brutus did not deliver any of these officials into their hands, but put them aboard ships, as if he were going to drown them, and so conveyed them to safety; fearing, however, that the troops would change sides again when they should hear reports of the events in Rome, all exaggerated to inspire alarm, 2he delivered Antonius to a certain Gaius Clodius to guard and left him in Apollonia. Meanwhile Brutus himself took the largest and strongest part of the army and retired into upper Macedonia, whence he later sailed to Asia, in order to remove his men as far as possible from Italy and to support them on the subject territory there. 3Among the various allies whom he gained at this time was Deiotarus, although this ruler was very old and had refused his assistance to Cassius.

While Brutus was delaying there, a plot was formed against him by Gellius Publicola, and Mark Antony also sent some men and attempted to rescue his brother. 4Clodius, accordingly, as he could not keep his prisoner in custody alive, killed him, either on his own responsibility or following instructions from Brutus; for the story is that at first Brutus made his prisoner’s safety of supreme importance, but later, after learning that Decimus had perished, cared nothing more about it. 5Gellius was detected, but suffered no punishment; for Brutus released him, inasmuch as he had always held him to be among his best friends and knew that his brother, Marcus Messalla, was on very close terms with Cassius. The man also made an attempt upon Cassius, but suffered no harm in that case, either. 6The reason was that his mother Polla learned of the plot in advance, and fearing for Cassius lest he should be caught off his guard (for she was very fond of him) and for her son lest he should be detected, in person and of her own free will informed Cassius of the plot beforehand, and received the life of her son as a reward. However, she did not succeed in making a better man of him; for he deserted his benefactors to join Caesar and Antony.

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