r and was
coming toward him. The spirit gazed upon him as it advanced, but it did
not speak.
Brutus, who was not much accustomed to fear, boldly demanded of the
apparition who and what it was, and what had brought it there. "I am
your evil spirit," said the apparition. "I shall meet you at Philippi."
"Then, it seems," said Brutus, "that, at any rate, I shall see you
again." The spirit made no reply to this, but immediately vanished.
Brutus arose, went to the door of his tent, summoned the sentinels, and
awakened the soldiers that were sleeping near. The sentinels had seen
nothing; and, after the most diligent search, no trace of the mysterious
visitor could be found.
The next morning Brutus related to Cassius the occurrence which he had
witnessed. Cassius, though very sensitive, it seems, to the influence of
omens affecting himself, was quite philosophical in his views in respect
to those of other men. He argued very rationally with Brutus to convince
him that the vision which he had seen was only a phantom of sleep,
taking its form and character from the ideas and images which the
situation in which Brutus was then placed, and the fatigue and anxiety
which he had endured, would naturally impress upon his mind.
But to return to the battle. Brutus fought against Octavius; while
Cassius, two or three miles distant, encountered Antony, that having
been, as will be recollected, the disposition of the respective armies
and their encampments upon the plain. Brutus was triumphantly successful
in his part of the field. His troops defeated the army of Octavius, and
got possession of his camp. The men forced their way into Octavius's
tent, and pierced the litter in which they supposed that the sick
general was lying through and through with their spears. But the object
of their desperate hostility was not there. He had been borne away by
his guards a few minutes before, and no one knew what had become of him.
The result of the battle was, however, unfortunately for those whose
adventures we are now more particularly following, very different in
Cassius's part of the field. When Brutus, after completing the conquest
of his own immediate foes, returned to his elevated camp, he looked
toward the camp of Cassius, and was surprised to find that the tents had
disappeared. Some of the officers around perceived weapons glancing and
glittering in the sun in the place where Cassius's tents ought to
appear. Brutus now suspected th
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