B R U 
body of Brutus was brought to Rome, and received as in 
triumph ; a funeral oration was fpoken over it, and the 
Roman matrons (hewed their grief by mourning a year for 
the father of the republic. Flor. 1,0.9. Liv. 1,0.56. Mar- 
rus Junius, father of Caefar’s murderer, wrote three books 
on civil law. He followed the party of M.iritis, and was 
conquered by Ponipey. After the death of Sylla, he was 
befieged in Mutina by Ponipey, ter whom he furrendered, 
and by wliofeorders he was put fo’death. He had mar¬ 
ried Servilia, Cato’s fitter, by whom he had a fon and two 
daughters. Cic. dcOrat. c. 55. His foil, of the fame name, 
by Servilia, was lineally defeended from Junius Brutus, 
who expelled the Tarquins from Rome. He feetned to 
inherit the republican principle of his great progenitor, 
and in the civil wars joined himfelf to the fide of Ponipey, 
though he was his father’s murderer, only becaufe he 
looked upon him as more iu!t and candid in his claims. 
At the bartle of Pharfalia, Ctefar not only fpared the life 
of Brutus, but made him one of his mod faithful friends. 
He however forgot this, becaufe Caefar afpired to tyranny. 
He Confpired with many of the mod illuftriops citizens of 
Rome againd the tyrant, and dabbed him in Pompey’s 
Bafilica. The tumult which this murder occafioned was 
great; the confpirators fled to the capitol, and by pro¬ 
claiming freedom and liberty to the populace, they re- 
edabliftied tranquillity in the city. Antony, whom Bru¬ 
tus, contrary to the opinion of his afTociates, refufed to 
feize, gained ground in behalf of his friend Ciefar, and 
the murderers were foon obliged to leave Rome. Brutus 
retired into Greece, where he gained himfelf many friends 
by his arms, as well as by perfuaflon, and he was foon af¬ 
ter purfued thither by Antony, whom young OCtavius ac¬ 
companied. A battle was fought at Philippi. Brutus, 
who Commanded the right wing of the republican army, 
defeated the enemy ; but Caffius, who had the'tare of the 
left, was overpowered, and as he knew not the fltuation 
<if his friend, and grew defperate, he ordered one of his 
freed-men to run him through. Brutus deeply deplored 
his fall, and, in the fullnefs of his grief, called him the 
laft of the Romans. In another battle, the wing which 
Brutus commanded obtained a victory ; but the other was 
defeated, and he found himfelf furrounded by the foldiers 
of Antony. He however made his efcape, and foon after 
fell upon his f« ord, B.C.42. Antony honoured him with 
a magnificent funeral. Brutus is not lefs celebrated for 
his literary talents, than for his valour in the field. When 
he was in the camp, the greateft part of his time was em¬ 
ployed in reading and writing; and the day which pre¬ 
ceded one of his moff bloody battles, while every one was 
under continual apprehenfions, Brutus calmly fpent his 
hours till the evening, in writing an epitome of Polybius. 
He was fond of imitating the auftere virtues of Cato, and 
in reading the hi (lories of nations he imbibed thofe princi¬ 
ples of freedom which were (o eminently difplayed in his 
political career. Brunts married Porcia, the daughter of 
Cato, who killed herfelf, by fwallowing burning coals, 
w hen (lie heard the fate of her hufband. C. Nep. in Attic. 
BRU'TUS, or Brute, according to the old exploded 
hiftory of this country by Geoffrey of Monmouth, was the 
firft king of Britain. He is Taid'to have been the Ton of 
Sylvius, and he of Afcaniits the fon of ^Tineas, and born 
in Italy : killing his father by chance, he fled into Greece* 
where lie took king Pandraftis prifoner, who kept the 
Trojans in llavery, whom he releafed on condition of pro¬ 
viding (hips, &c. for the Trojans to forfake the land. 
Being advifed by the oracle to fail weft beyond Gaul, he 
did fo, and, after fome adventures, landed at Totnefs in 
Devonlhire. Albion was then' inhabited by a remnant of 
giants, whom Brutus deftroyed ; and called the illand af¬ 
ter his own name, Britain. He built a city, called Neat’ 
Troy , fince London ; and, having reigned here twenty-four 
years, at his death parcelled the illand among his three 
ions : Locrine had the middle, called Loegria-, Camber 
had Wales; and AlbanaCt Scotland. 
BRU'TUS (John Michael)., a learned Venetian, born 
B R U 463 
about 1518, and ftudied at Padua. It appears from his 
letters, that lie was obliged to leave his country astan exile: 
but he does not fay 011 what account, only that it was with¬ 
out any blemilh to iiis honour. He travelled much, puf¬ 
fing part of his time in Spain, England, Frame, Ger¬ 
many, Tranfylvania, and Poland. Notwithftanding this 
itinerant kind of life, he made himfelf very learned, as 
appears from his notes on Horace, Ctefar, Cicero, &rc. He 
was in Tranfylvania in 1574; having been invited thither 
by prince Stephen, in order to compofe a hiftory of that 
country. One of his letters, dated from Cracow, Nov. 23, 
1577, informs 11s, that he had followed that prince, then 
king of Poland, in the expedition into Pruflia. He left 
Poland after the death of that monarch ; and lived with 
William of St. Clement, ambaftador from the king of Spain 
to the Imperial court. He was at Prague in January, 1590; 
but what became of him afterwards, and when and where 
he died, Mr. Bayle was not able to colleCt. His writings, 
having become very fcarce, were fo earneftly fought after 
by the beft judges, that there was great joy in the repu'b*-- 
lie of letter^, on hearing that Mr. Cromer had undertaken 
to publifh a new edition of them. The firft part of that 
defign was accomplifhed in 1698, Berlin, in 8vo. The 
Cracow edition was in 1582. Brutus promifed to add ano¬ 
ther to them, wherein he defigned to treat of an idle cuf- 
tom of giving _the fame lofty titles to perfons whom we 
write to in Latin, as are given in common languages. 
Brutus would not conform to this ftyle, but difpenfed with 
all ceremonies that might make him deviate from the pu¬ 
rity of the ancient language of Rome. This was his only 
motive, as ina^ be fairly concluded from a letter he wrbter 
to John Poniatovvfki: “ This is my firft letter to you, which 
I write in the Roman manner, as I ufed to do even to lire 
king. I can bring myfelf to every thing elfe, can love 
you, obey you, and always regard you; which 1 (hall do 
very willingly, as you highly deferve. But, when I have 
any thing to write to you in Latin, flitter me, without of¬ 
fence, to write according to the Latin tongue; for I can¬ 
not underfland that I am writing to your greatnelles,. your 
magnificences, &c. which exift no where on this (ide the 
moon: I am writing to you.” Brutus was right : fuchu 
pompous titles were the introduCtions only of barbarous 
ages ; and it is certain, that ancient Rome had no fuch 
ufage in the time of its greateft glory, and of its mott ac¬ 
complifhed politenefs. It is faid, that the Hittory of Flo-- 
rence, compofed by this author, and printed at Lyons in. 
1562, is not favourable to the houfe of Medicis; and that 
it greatly difpleafed the duke of Florence. 
BRU'TUS (Stephen Junius), the difguifed author of 
apolitical work, intitled, VindicicE centra Tyannos.. See 
Lang vet. 
BRUTZ, a town of France, in the department of the 
Ille and Vilaine, and chief place of'a canton, in the dif- 
triCt of Bain: two leagues fouth of Rennes. 
BRU'YE, or Buga, an ifiand in the Bay of Bengal,, 
near the mouth of the river Ava, about eight leagues long,, 
and three broad. Lat. 16. 15. N. Ion. 97.37, E. Greenwich. 
BRUYE'RE (John de la), a celebrated French author, 
was born at Dourdan about 1644. He wrote 1 Characters, 
deferiptive of the manners of his age, in imitation of The- 
ophraftus ; which characters were not always imaginary,, 
but deferiptive of real perfons. In 1693 he was, by an 
order of the king, chofen a member of the French-aca¬ 
demy, and died in 1696. Father Bohours, Menage, and 
other French critics, have faid great things of his Charac¬ 
ters; and l’abbe Fleuri, who fucceeded him in the aca¬ 
demy, and according to cuftom made his elogy, calls his 
book a work very lingular in its kind, and, in the opinion 
of fome judges/even fuperior to that great original Theo- 
phrattus. “The Characters of Bru-yere (fays Volta-re) 
may juftly be ranked among the extraordinary productions 
of this age. Antiquity funiifhes no examples of Inch a 
work. A ftyle rapid, concife, and nervous; exprettions 
animated and pitturelique : an life of language altogether 
new, without offendipg againft its eftablifhed rules, .(truck 
