Brutus had been desperately unwilling to provoke a civil war, ready even to go into voluntary exile for the sake of concord.The pressure of events gradually drove him to a decision.When he left Italy, it was not with the plan already conceived of mustering the armies of the East, invading Italy and restoring the Republic through violence.He did not believe in violence. At Athens he looked about for allies, opened negotiations with provincial governors--but did not act at once. In any event, principles and honor commanded a Republican to resist the worst excesses of civil war. Lepidus was a Caesarian: but Brutus refused to concur in the hounding down of the family of Lepidus, who had married his own half-sister.
彼は暴力を信じなかった。アテネにて彼は自分に同調してくれる者をさがし、地方総督との交渉の道が開かれることを求めてはいたが、即座に行動には出なかった。いずれにしても一共和政主義者の理念と高潔さが、彼に内乱の泥沼化に抗うよう命じた。レピダスはカエサリア派の人であったが、ブルータスは自分の異父妹の夫であるレピダスの家族を嗅ぎ回ることに協力する気は無かった。