29.4
And the strongest reason for the favour and fame which he achieved was the confidence felt in his principles. For no one had expected that Pompey the Great, if he overthrew Caesar, would insist on dismissing his forces in obedience to the laws, but all thought that he would continue to retain his power, appeasing the people by using the name of consulship or dictatorship or some other less obnoxious form of government.
29.5
And now it was thought that Cassius, vehement and passionate man that he was, and often swept from the path of justice by his passion for gain, was incurring the perils of wars and wanderings principally to establish some great power for himself, and not liberty for his countrymen.
29.6
For the men of a still earlier time than Pompey and Cassius, men like Cinna and Marius and Carbo, made their country the booty or prize round which they fought, and they all but confessed that they waged war to establish a tyranny.
29.7
But Brutus, we are told, was not accused even by his enemies of such a departure from his principles; nay, Antony at least, in the hearing of many, declared that in his opinion Brutus was the only conspirator against Caesar who was impelled by the splendour and by what seemed to him the nobility of the enterprise, whereas the rest banded together against the man because they envied and hated him.
29.8
Wherefore Brutus relied not so much on his armies as on his virtuous cause, as is clear from his letters.
