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Brutus' evil genius

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

Plutarch reports to us the story about this ghost. He tells us as that a night when Brutus, a sleepless man who rested very little and used to work until late at night, was in his tent studying the situation. At a certain moment looking up he saw near him a menacing and frightful apparition. Nevertheless he had the courage to speak to the phantom and asked “Who are you? A man or a god? And why do you come here to me?” the spectre answered “ I am your evil genius, Brutus, and we will meet again at Philippi”. To this, without losing his calm, Brutus replied “ Yes, we will meet again”.
And really the ghost came back: He appeared just the night before the battle. This time again Brutus suddenly saw the apparition standing near him. This time the evil genius didn’t speak, just looked at him, then always without saying a word he disappeared and Brutus was left alone.