which Brutus being astonished, lifted up his hands to heaven, and begged the assistance of the gods, that he might live to be a husband worthy of such a wife as Porcia: so he communicated to her the preparations that were making to kill Cæsar. But on the day on which the design was executed, the uneasiness of her mind was so great that it threw her into fainting fits; afterwards, having accompanied him to the sea-shore with the greatest fortitude, she could not forbear shedding tears at the sight of a picture, representing the parting of Hector and Andromache. When she heard that Brutus had killed himself, she followed his example, and died by her own hands, not by a sword, but by swallowing burning coals. When she married Brutus, she was the relict of Bibulus, by whom she had children.
PLAUTILLA (BADISSA), a Nun in the Convent of St. Catherine, of Sienna, in Florence,
Began by little and little to design, and to imitate the designs of the best masters, so that, to the wonder of every body, she became a miniature painter: in which having shown great genius, she passed on to painting, on a larger scale, historical subjects from sacred history, and considerable works, many of which ornament the churches and houses of Florence.
There was another PLAUTILLA, of Rome, of the house of Bricci, a female architect.
