But we must remember that it is the greatest and the most momentous of human affairs that are always the most uncertain, and we can not foresee what is to-day to be the result of the battle.

If it goes against us, what do you intend to do?
Do you intend to escape, or to die ?" "When I was a young man," said Brutus, in reply, "and looked at this subject only as a question of theory, I thought it wrong for a man ever to take his own life.

However great the evils that threatened him, and however desperate his condition, I considered it his duty to live, and to wait patiently for better times.

But now, placed in the position in which I am, I see the subject in a different light.

If we do not gain the battle this day, I shall consider all hope and possibility of saving our country forever gone, and I shall not leave the field of battle alive." Cassius, in his despondency, had made the same resolution for himself before, and he was rejoiced to hear Brutus utter these sentiments.