



Produced by Ted Garvin, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders




  DIO'S ROME



  AN HISTORICAL NARRATIVE ORIGINALLY COMPOSED IN GREEK DURING THE REIGNS OF
  SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, GETA AND CARACALLA, MACRINUS, ELAGABALUS AND ALEXANDER
  SEVERUS:



  AND


  NOW PRESENTED IN ENGLISH FORM


  BY

  HERBERT BALDWIN FOSTER, A.B. (Harvard), Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins), Acting
  Professor of Greek in Lehigh University



  THIRD VOLUME _Extant Books 45-51 (B.C. 44-29)_.


  1906




  VOLUME CONTENTS

Book Forty-five

Book Forty-six

Book Forty-seven

Book Forty-eight

Book Forty-nine

Book Fifty

Book Fifty-one




DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

45

VOL. 3.--1

The following is contained in the Forty-fifth of Dio's Rome:

About Gaius Octavius, who afterward was named Augustus (chapters 1-9).

About Sextus, the son of Pompey (chapter 10).

How Caesar and Antony entered upon a period of hostility (chapters 11-17).

How Cicero delivered a public harangue against Antony (chapters 18-47).

Duration of time, the remainder of the year of the 5th dictatorship of C.
Iulius Caesar with M. Aemilius Lepidus, Master of the Horse, and of his 5th
consulship with Marcus Antonius. (B.C. 44 = a. u. 710.)[1]


(_BOOK 45, BOSSEVAIN_.)

[B.C. 44 (_a. u_.710)]

[-1-] This was Antony's course of procedure.--Gaius Octavius Copia,--this
was the name of the son of Caesar's niece, Attia,--came from Velitrae in
the Volscian country, and having been left without a protector by the
death of his father Octavius he was brought up in the house of his mother
and her husband, Lucius Philippus, but on attaining maturity spent his
time with Caesar. The latter, who was childless, based great hopes upon
him and was devoted to him, intending to leave him as successor to his
name, authority, and supremacy. He was influenced largely by Attia's
explicit affirmation that the youth had been engendered by Apollo. While
sleeping once in his temple, she said, she thought she had intercourse
with a serpent, and through this circumstance at the end of the allotted
time bore a son. Before he came to the light of day she saw in a dream
her womb lifted to the heavens and spreading out over all the earth; and
the same night Octavius thought the sun rose from her vagina. Hardly
had the child been born when Nigidius Figulus, a senator, straightway
prophesied for him sole command of the realm. [2]

He could distinguish most accurately of his contemporaries the order of
the firmament and the mutations of the stars, what they accomplished
by separation and what by conjunctions, in their associations and
retirements, and for this reason had incurred the charge of practicing
some kind of forbidden pursuits. He accordingly met on that occasion
Octavius, who was somewhat tardy in reaching the senate on account of the
birth of the child,--there happened to be a meeting of the senate that
day,--and asked him why he was late. On learning the cause he cried out:
"You have begotten a master over us." [3] At that Octavius was alarmed and
wished to destroy the infant, but Nigidius restrained him, saying that
it was impossible for it to suffer any such fate. [-2-] This was the
conversation at that time. While the boy was growing up in the country an
eagle snatched from his hands a loaf of bread, and after soaring aloft
flew down and gave it back to him.[4] When he was a lad and staying in
Rome Cicero dreamed that the boy was let down by golden chains to the
summit of the Capitol and received a whip from Jupiter.[5] He did not
know who the youth was, but meeting him the next day on the Capitol
itself he recognized him, and told the vision to the bystanders. Catulus,
who had likewise never seen Octavius, beheld in a vision all the noble
children on the Capitol at the termination of a solemn procession to
Jupiter, and in the course of the ceremony the god cast what looked like
an image of Rome into that child's lap. Startled at this he went up into
the Capitol to offer prayers to the god, and finding there Octavius, who
had ascended the hill for some other reason, he compared his appearance
with the dream and was satisfied of the truth of the vision. When later
he had become a young man and was about to reach maturity, he was putting
on the dress of an adult when his tunic was rent on both sides from his
shoulders and fell to his feet. This event of itself not only had
no significance as forecasting any good fortune, but displeased the
spectators considerably because it had happened in his first putting on
the garb of a man: it occurred to Octavius to say: "I shall put the whole
senatorial dignity beneath my feet"; and the outcome proved in accordance
with his words. Caesar founded great hopes upon him as a result of
this, introduced him into the class of patricians and trained him for
rulership. In everything that is proper to come to the notice of one
destined to control so great a power well and worthily he educated him
with care. The youth was trained in oratorical speeches, not only in the
Latin but in this language [Greek], labored persistently in military
campaigns, and received minute instruction in politics and the science of
government.

[-3-] Now this Octavius chanced at the time that Caesar was murdered to
be in Apollonia near the Ionic Gulf, pursuing his education. He had been
sent thither in advance to look after his patron's intended campaign
against the Parthians. When he learned of the event he was naturally
grieved, but did not dare at once to take any radical measures. He had
not yet heard that he had been made Caesar's son or heir, and moreover the
first news he received was to the effect that the people were of one mind
in the affair. When, however, he had crossed to Brundusium and had been
informed about the will and the people's second thought, he made no
delay, particularly because he had considerable money and numerous
soldiers who had been sent on under his charge, but he immediately
assumed the name of Caesar, succeeded to his estate, and began to busy
himself with the situation. [-4-] At the time he seemed to some to have
acted recklessly and daringly in this, but later as a result of his
good fortune and the successes he achieved he acquired a reputation for
bravery. In many instances in history men who were wrong in undertaking
some project have been famed for wisdom because they proved fortunate in
it: others who used the best possible judgment have had to stand a charge
of folly because they did not attain their ends. He, too, acted in a
blundering and dangerous way; he was only just past boyhood,--eighteen
years of age,--and saw that the succession to the inheritance and the
family was sure to provoke jealousy and censure: yet he started in
pursuit of objects that had led to Caesar's murder, and no punishment
befell him, and he feared neither the assassins nor Lepidus and Antony.
Yet he was not thought to have planned poorly, because he became
successful. Heaven, however, indicated not obscurely all the upheaval
that would result from it. As he was entering Rome a great variegated
iris surrounded the whole sun.

[-5-] In this way he that was formerly called Octavius, but already at
this time Caesar, and subsequently Augustus, took charge of affairs and
settled them and brought them to a successful close more vigourously than
any mature man, more prudently than any graybeard. First he entered the
city as if for the sole purpose of succeeding to the inheritance, and as
a private citizen with only a few attendants, without any ostentation.
Still later he did not utter any threat against any one nor show that he
was displeased at what had occurred and would take vengeance for it. So
far from demanding of Antony any of the money that he had previously
plundered, he actually paid court to him although he was insulted and
wronged by him. Among the other injuries that Antony did him by both word
and deed was his action when the lex curiata was proposed, according to
which the transfer of Octavius into Caesar's family was to take place:
Antony himself, of course, was active to have it passed, but through some
tribunes he secured its postponement in order that the young man being
not yet Caesar's child according to law might not meddle with the property
and might be weaker in all other ways. [-6-] Caesar was restive under this
treatment, but as he was unable to speak his mind freely he bore it until
he had won over the crowd, by whose members he understood his father had
been raised to honor. He knew that they were angry at the latter's death
and hoped they would be enthusiastic over him as his son and perceived
that they hated Antony on account of his having been master of the horse
and also for his failure to punish the murderers. Hence he undertook to
become tribune as a starting point for popular leadership and to secure
the power that would result from it; and he accordingly became a
candidate for the place of Cinna, which was vacant. Though hindered
by Antony's clique he did not desist and after using persuasion upon
Tiberius Cannutius, a tribune, he was by him brought before the populace.
He took as an excuse the gift bequeathed by Caesar and in his speech
touched upon all the important points, promising that he would discharge
this debt at once, and gave them cause to hope for much besides. After
this came the festival appointed in honor of the completion of the temple
of Venus, which some, while Caesar was alive, had promised to celebrate,
but were now holding in, slight regard as they did the horse-race
connected with the Parilia;[6] and to win the favor of the populace he
provided for it at his private expense on the ground that it concerned
him because of his family. At this time out of fear of Antony he brought
into the theatre neither Caesar's gilded chair nor his crown set with
precious stones, though it was permitted by decree. [-7-] When, however,
a certain star through all those days appeared in the north toward
evening, some called it a comet, and said that it indicated the usual
occurrences; but the majority, instead of believing this, ascribed it
to Caesar, interpreting it to mean that he had become a god and had been
included in the number of the stars. Then Octavius took courage and set
up in the temple of Venus a bronze statue of him with a star above his
head. Through fear of the populace no one prevented this, and then, at
last, some of the earlier decrees in regard to honors to Caesar were put
into effect. They called one of the months July after him and in the
course of certain triumphal religious festivals they sacrificed during
one special day in memory of his name. For these reasons the soldiers
also, and particularly since some of them received largesses of money,
readily took the side of Caesar.

Rumors accordingly went abroad, and it seemed likely that something
unusual would take place. This idea gained most headway for the reason
that when Octavius was somewhat anxious to show himself in court in an
elevated and conspicuous place, as he had been wont to do in his father's
lifetime, Antony would not allow it, but had his lictors drag him down
and drive him out. [-8-] All were exceedingly vexed, and especially
because Caesar with a view to casting odium upon his rival and arousing
the multitude would no longer even frequent the Forum. So Antony became
terrified, and in conversation with the bystanders one day remarked
that he harbored no anger against Caesar, but on the contrary owed him
affection, and felt inclined to dispel the entire cloud of suspicion. The
statement was reported to the other, they held a conference, and some
thought they had become reconciled. As a fact they understood each
other's dispositions accurately, and, thinking it inopportune at that
time to put them to the test, they came to terms by making a few mutual
concessions. For some days they were quiet; then they began to suspect
each other afresh as a result of either some really hostile action
or some false report of hostility,--as regularly happens under such
conditions,--and were again at variance. When men become reconciled after
a great enmity they are suspicious of many acts that contain no malice
and of many chance occurrences. In brief, they regard everything, in the
light of their former hostility, as done on purpose and for an evil
end. While they are in this condition those who stand on neutral ground
aggravate the trouble, irritating them still more by bearing reports to
and fro under the pretence of devotion. There is a very large element
which is anxious to see all those who have power at variance with one
another,--an element which consequently takes delight in their enmity and
joins in plots against them. And the party which has previously suffered
from calumny is very easy to deceive with words adapted to the purpose
by a band of friends whose attachment is not under suspicion. This also
accounts for the fact that these men, who did not trust each other
previously, became now even more estranged.

[-9-] Antony seeing that Caesar was gaining ground attempted to attract
the populace by various baits, to see if he could detach the people from
his rival and number them among his own forces. Hence through Lucius
Antonius, his brother, who was tribune, he introduced a measure that
considerable land be opened for settlement, among the parcels being the
region of the Pontine marshes, which he stated had already been filled
and were capable of cultivation. The three Antonii, who were brothers,
all held office at the same time. Marcus was consul, Lucius tribune, and
Gaius praetor. Therefore they could very easily remove those who were
temporarily rulers of their allies and subjects (except the majority of
the assassins and some others whom they regarded as loyal) and choose
others in place of them: they could also grant some the right to hold
office for an unusually long term, contrary to the laws established by
Caesar. Also Macedonia, which fell to Marcus by lot, was appropriated
by his brother Gaius, but Marcus himself with the legions previously
despatched into Apollonia laid claim to Gaul on this side of the Alps, to
which Decimus Brutus had been assigned; the reason was that it seemed to
be very strong in resources of soldiers and money. After these measures
had been passed the immunity granted to Sextus Pompey by Caesar, as to all
the rest, was confirmed: he had already considerable influence. It was
further resolved that whatever moneys of silver or gold the public
treasury had taken from his ancestral estate should be restored. As
for the lands belonging to it Antony held the most of them and made no
restoration.

[-10-] This was the business in which they were engaged. But I shall now
go on to describe how Sextus had fared. When he had fled from Corduba, he
first came to Lacetania and concealed himself there. He was pursued, to
be sure, but eluded discovery through the fact that the natives were
kindly disposed to him out of regard for his father's memory. Later, when
Caesar had started for Italy and only a small army was left behind in
Baetica, he was joined both by the native inhabitants and by those who
escaped from the battle, and with them he came again into Baetica, because
he thought it more suitable for the carrying on of war. There he gained
possession of soldiers and cities, particularly after Caesar's death, some
voluntarily and some by violence; the commandant in charge of them, Gaius
Asinius Pollio, held a force that was far from strong. He next set out
against Spanish Carthage, but since in his absence Pollio made an attack
and did some damage, he returned with a large force, met his opponent,
and routed him. After that the following accident enabled him to startle
and conquer the rest, as well, who were contending fiercely. Pollio had
cast off his general's cloak, in order to suffer less chance of detection
in his flight, and another man of the same name, a brilliant horseman,
had fallen. The soldiers, hearing the name of the latter, who was lying
there, and seeing the garment which had been captured, were deceived, and
thinking that their general had perished surrendered. In this way Sextus
conquered and held possession of nearly that entire region. When he was
now a powerful factor, Lepidus arrived to govern the adjoining portion of
Spain, and persuaded him to enter into an agreement on condition that he
should recover his father's estate. Antony, influenced by his friendship
for Lepidus and by his hostility toward Caesar, caused such a decree to be
passed.

So Sextus, in this way and on these conditions, held aloof from Spain
proper. [-11-] Caesar and Antony in all their acts opposed each other, but
had not fallen out openly, and whereas in reality they were alienated
they tried to disguise the fact so far as appearances went. As a result
all other interests in the city were in a most undecided state and
condition of turmoil. People were still at peace and yet already at war.
Liberty led but a shadow existence, and the deeds done were the deeds
of royalty. To a casual observer Antony, since he held the consulship,
seemed to be getting the best of it, but the enthusiasm of the masses was
for Caesar. This was partly on his father's account, partly on account of
the hopes he held out to them, but above all because they were displeased
at the considerable power of Antony and were inclined to assist Caesar
while he was yet devoid of strength. Neither man had their affection, but
they were always eager for a change of administration, and it was their
nature to try to overthrow every superior force and to help any party
that was being oppressed. Consequently they made use of the two to suit
their own desires. After they had at this period humbled Antony through
the instrumentality of Caesar they next undertook to destroy the latter
also. Their irritation toward the men temporarily in power and their
liking for the weaker side made them attempt to overthrow the former.
Later they became estranged from the weaker also. Thus they showed
dislike for each of them in turn and the same men experienced their
affection and their hatred, their support and their active opposition.

[-12-] While they were maintaining the above attitude toward Caesar and
Antony, the war began as follows. Antony had set out for Brundusium to
meet the soldiers who had crossed over from Macedonia. Caesar sent some
persons to that city with money, who were to arrive there before Antony
and win over the men, and himself went to Campania, where he collected
a large crowd of men, chiefly from Capua because the people there had
received their land and city from his father, whom he said he was
avenging. He made them many promises and gave them on the spot five
hundred denarii apiece. These men usually constituted the corps of
evocati, whom one might term in Greek "the recalled", because having
ended their service they have been recalled to it again. Caesar took
charge of them, hastened to Rome before Antony could make his way back,
and came before the people, who had been made ready for him by Cannutius.
There he called to their minds in detail all the excellent works his
father had done, made a considerable, though moderate, defence of
himself, and brought accusations against Antony. He also praised
the soldiers who had accompanied him, saying that they were present
voluntarily to lend aid to the city, that they had elected him to preside
over the State and that through his mouth they made known these facts to
all. For this speech he received the approbation of his following and of
the throng that stood by, after which he departed for Etruria with a view
to obtaining an accession to his forces from that country.

[-13-] While he was doing this Antony had been at first kindly received
in Brundusium by the soldiers, because they expected they would secure
more from him than was offered them by Caesar. This belief was based
on the idea that he had possession of much more than his rival. When,
however, he promised to give each of them a hundred denarii, they raised
an outcry, but he reduced them to submission by ordering centurions as
well as others to be slain before the eyes of himself and his wife. For
the time being the soldiers were quiet, but on the way toward Gaul when
they arrived opposite the capital they revolted, and many of them,
despising the lieutenants that had been set over them, arrayed themselves
on Caesar's side. The so-called Martian and the fourth legion went over to
him in a body. He took charge of them and won their attachment by giving
money to all alike,--an act which added many more to his troops. He also
captured all the elephants of Antony, by confronting the train suddenly
as they were being conducted along. Antony stopped in Rome only long
enough to arrange a few affairs and to bind by oath all the rest of the
soldiers and the senators who were in their company; then he set out for
Gaul, fearing that that country too might indulge in an uprising. Caesar
without delay followed behind him.

[-14-] Decimus Brutus was at this time governor of that province, and
Antony set great hopes upon him, because he had been a slayer of Caesar.
But it turned out as follows. Decimus did not look askance particularly
at Caesar, for the latter had uttered no threats against the assassins: on
the other hand, he saw that Antony was no more formidable a foe than his
rival, or, indeed, than himself or any of the rest who were in power as
a result of natural acquisitiveness; therefore he refused to give ground
before him. Caesar, when he heard this decision, was for some time at a
loss what course to adopt. The young man hated both Decimus and Antony
but saw no way in which he could contend against them both at once. He
was by no means yet a match for either one of the two, and he was further
afraid that if he risked such a move he should throw them into each
other's arms and face the united opposition of the two. After stopping to
reflect that the struggle with Antony was already begun and was urgent,
but that it was not yet a fitting season for taking vengeance for his
father, he decided to make a friend of Decimus. He understood well that
he should find no great difficulty in fighting against the latter, if
with his aid he could first overcome his adversaries, but that Antony
would be a powerful antagonist on any subsequent occasion. So much did
they differ from each other. [-15-] Accordingly he sent a messenger to
Decimus, proposing friendship and promising alliance, if he would refuse
to receive Antony. This proposal caused the people in the city likewise
to join in expressing their gratitude to Caesar. Just at this time the
year was drawing to a close and no consul was on the ground, Dolabella
having been previously sent by Antony to Syria. Eulogies, however, were
delivered in the senate by the members themselves and by the soldiers who
had abandoned Antony,--with the concurrence also of the tribunes. When
they entered upon the new year they decided, in order that they might
discuss freely existing conditions, to employ a guard of soldiers
at their meetings. This pleased nearly all who were in Rome at the
time,--for they cordially detested Antony,--but particularly Cicero. He,
on account of his bitter and long-standing hostility toward the man, paid
court to Caesar, and so far as he could, by speech and action, strove to
assist him in every way and to injure Antony. It was for this reason
that, when he had left the city to escort his son to Athens for the
benefit of his education, he had returned on ascertaining that the two
were publicly estranged.

[-16-] Besides these events which took place that year Servilius
Isauricus died at a very advanced age. I have mentioned him both for that
fact and to show how the Romans of that period respected men who were
prominent through merit and hated those who behaved insolently, even on
the very slightest grounds. This Servilius while walking had once met on
the road a man on horseback, who so far from dismounting on his approach
spurned him violently aside. Later he recognized the fellow in a
defendant of a case in court, and when he mentioned the affair to the
judge, they paid no further attention to the man's plea, but unanimously
condemned him.


[B.C. 43 (_a u_. 711)]

[-17-] In the consulship of Aldus Hirtius (who was now appointed consul
in spite of the fact that his father's name had been posted on the
tablets of Sulla), with his colleague Gaius Vibius, a meeting of the
senate was held and votes were taken for three successive days, including
the first of the month itself. As a result of the war which was upon them
and the portents, very numerous and extremely unfavorable, which took
place, they were so excited that they failed to pass over these _dies
nefasti_ on which they ought not to deliberate on any matter touching
their interests. Ominous had been the falling of great numbers of
thunderbolts, some of which descended on the shrine sacred to Capitoline
Jupiter, that stood in the temple of Victory. Also a great wind arose
which snapped and scattered the columns erected about the temple of
Saturn and the shrine of Fides, and likewise knocked down and shattered
the statue of Minerva the Protectress, which Cicero had set up on the
Capitol before his exile. This portended, of course, the death of Cicero
himself. Another thing that frightened the rest of the population was
a great earthquake which occurred, and the fact that a bull which was
sacrificed on account of it in the temple of Vesta leaped up after the
ceremony. In addition to these clear indications of danger a flash darted
across from the place of the rising sun to the place of its setting and a
new star was seen for several days. Then the light of the sun seemed to
be diminished and even extinguished, and at times to appear in three
circles, one of which was surmounted by a fiery crown of sheaves. This,
if anything, proved as clear a sign as possible to them. For three men
were in power,--I mean Caesar and Lepidus and Antony,--and of them Caesar
subsequently secured the victory. At the same time that these things
occurred all sorts of oracles tending to the downfall of the democracy
were recited. Crows, moreover, flew into the temple of the Dioscuri and
pecked out the names of the consuls and of Antony and of Dolabella, which
were inscribed there somewhere on a tablet. And by night dogs in large
numbers gathered throughout the city and especially near the house of the
high priest, Lepidus, and set up howls. Again, the Po, which had flooded
a large portion of the surrounding territory, suddenly receded and left
behind on the dry land a vast number of snakes. Countless fish were cast
up from the sea on the shore near the mouth of the Tiber. Succeeding
these terrors a plague spread over nearly the whole of Italy in a
malignant form, and in view of this the senate voted that the Curia
Hostilia[7] should be rebuilt and the spot where the naval battle had
taken place be filled up. However, the curse did not appear disposed to
rest even at this point, especially when during Vibius's conduct of the
initial sacrifices on the first of the month one of his lictors suddenly
fell down and died. Because of these events many men in the course of
those days took one side or the other in their speeches and advice, and
among the deliverances was the following, of Cicero:--[-18-] "You have
heard recently, Conscript Fathers, when I made a statement to you about
the matter, why I made preparations for my departure as if I were going
to be absent from the city a very long time and then returned rapidly
with the idea that I could benefit you greatly. I would not endure an
existence under a sovereignty or a tyranny, since under such forms of
government I can not enjoy the rights of free[8] citizenship nor speak
my mind safely nor die in a way that is of service to you; and again, if
opportunity is afforded to obey any of duty's calls, I would not shrink
from action, though it involved danger. I deem it the task of an upright
man equally to keep watch over himself for his country's interests
(guarding himself that he may not perish uselessly), and in this course
of action not to fail to say or do whatever is requisite, even if it be
necessary to suffer some harm in preserving his native land.

[-19-] "These assumptions granted, a large degree of safety was afforded
by Caesar both to you and to me for the discussion of pressing questions.
And since you have further voted to assemble under guard, we must frame
all our words and behavior this day in such a fashion as to establish
the present state of affairs and provide for the future, that we may
not again be compelled to decide in a similar way about it. That our
condition is difficult and dangerous and requires much care and attention
you yourselves have made evident, if in no other way, at least by this
measure. For you would not have voted to keep the senate-house under
guard, if it had been possible for you to deliberate at all with your
accustomed orderliness, and in quiet, free from fear. It is necessary for
us even on account of the presence of the soldiers to accomplish some
measure of importance, that we may not incur the disgrace that would
certainly follow from asking for them as if we feared somebody, and then
neglecting affairs as if we were liable to no danger. We shall appear to
have acquired them only nominally in behalf of the city against Antony,
but to have given them in reality to him against our own selves, and it
will look as if in addition to the other legions which he gathers against
his country he needed to acquire these very men and so prevent your
passing any vote against him even to-day.

[-20-] "Yet some have attained such a height of shamelessness as to dare
to say that he is not warring against the State and have credited you
with so great folly as to think that they will persuade you to attend to
their words rather than to his acts. But who would choose to desist from
regarding his performances and the campaign which he has made against our
allies without any orders from the senate or the people, the countries
which he is overrunning, the cities which he is besieging, and the hopes
upon which he is building in his entire course,--who would distrust, I
say, the evidence of his own eyes, and to his ruin yield credence to the
words of these men and their false statements, by which they put you off
with pretexts and excuses?

I myself am far from asserting that in doing this he is carrying out any
legal act of administration. On the contrary, because he has abandoned
the province of Macedonia, which was assigned to him by lot, and because
he chose instead the province of Gaul, which in no way pertained to him,
and because he assumed control of the legions which Caesar had sent ahead
against the Parthians, keeping them about him though no danger threatens
Italy, and because he has left the city during the period of his
consulship to go about pillaging and injuring the country,--for all these
reasons I declare that he has long been an enemy of us all. [-21-] If you
did not perceive it immediately at the start or experience vexation
at each of his actions, he deserves to be hated all the more on
this account, in that he does not cease injuring you, who are so
long-suffering. He might perchance have obtained pardon for the errors
which he committed at first, but now by his perseverance in evil he has
reached such a pitch of knavery that he ought to be brought to book for
his former offences as well. And you ought to be especially careful in
regard to the situation, noticing and considering this point,--that the
man who has so often despised you in such weighty matters cannot submit
to be corrected by the same gentleness and kindliness that you have
shown, but must now against his will, even though never previously, be
chastised by force of arms.

"And because he partly persuaded and partly compelled you to vote
him some privileges, do not think that this makes him less guilty or
deserving of less punishment. Quite the reverse,--for this very procedure
in particular he merits the infliction of a penalty: he determined from
the outset to commit many outrages, and after accomplishing some of them
through you, he employed against your own selves the resources which came
from you, which by deception, he forced you to vote to him, though you
neither knew nor foresaw any such result. On what occasion did you
voluntarily abolish the commands given by Caesar or by the lot to each
man, and allow this person to distribute many appointments to his friends
and companions, sending his brother Gaius to Macedonia, and assigning
Gaul to himself with the aid of the legions which he was not by any means
keeping to use in your defence? Do you not remember how, when he found
you startled at Caesar's demise, he carried out all the plans that
he chose, communicating some to you carefully dissimulated and at
inopportune moments, and on his own responsibility executing others that
inflicted injuries, while all his acts were characterized by violence? He
used soldiers, and barbarians at that, against you. And need any one be
surprised that in those days some vote was passed which should not have
been, when even now we have not obtained a free hand to speak and do what
is requisite in any other way than by the aid of a body-guard? If we had
been formerly endued with this power, he would not have obtained what any
one may say he has obtained, nor would he have risen to the prominence
enabling him to do the deeds that were a natural sequence. Accordingly,
let no one retort that the rights which we were seen to give him under
command and compulsion and amid laments were legally and rightfully
bestowed. For, even in private business, that is not considered binding
which a man does under compulsion from another.

[-23-] "And yet all these measures which you are seen to have voted you
will find to be slight and varying but little from established custom.
What was there dreadful in the fact that one man was destined to govern
Macedonia or Gaul in place of another? Or what was the harm if a man
obtained soldiers during his consulship? But these are the facts that are
harmful and abominable,--that your land should be damaged, allied cities
besieged, that our soldiers should be armed against us and our means
expended to our detriment: this you neither voted nor intended. Do not,
merely because you have granted him some privileges, allow him to usurp
what was not granted him; and do not think that just as you have conceded
some points he ought similarly to be permitted to do what has not been
conceded. Quite the reverse: you should for this very reason both hate
and punish him, because he has dared not only in this case but in all
other cases to use the honor and kindness that you bestowed against you.
Look at the matter. Through my influence you voted that there should be
peace and harmony between individuals. This man was ordered to manage the
business, and conducted it in such a way (taking Caesar's funeral as a
pretext) that almost the whole city was burned down and great numbers
were once more slaughtered. You ratified all the grants made to various
persons and all the laws laid down by Caesar, not because they were
all excellent--far from it! ,--but because our mutual and unsuspecting
association, quite free from any disguise, was not furthered by changing
any one of those enactments. This man, appointed to examine into them,
has abolished many of his acts and has substituted many others in the
documents. He has taken away lands and citizenship and exemption from
taxes and many other honors from the possessors,--private individuals,
kings, and cities,--and has given them to men who had not received any,
altering the memoranda of Caesar; from those who were unwilling to give
up anything to his grasp he took away even what had been given them,
and sold this and everything else to such as wished to buy. Yet you,
foreseeing this very possibility, had voted that no tablet should be set
up after Caesar's death which might contain any article given by him to
any person. Notwithstanding, it happened many times after that. He also
said it was necessary for some provisions found in Caesar's papers to be
specially noted and put into effect. You then assigned to him, in company
with the foremost men, the task of making these excerpts; but he, paying
no attention to his colleagues, carried out everything alone according to
his wishes, in regard to the laws, the exiles, and other points which I
enumerated a few moments since. This is the way in which he wishes to
execute all your decrees.

[-24-] "Has he then shown himself such a character only in these affairs,
while managing the rest rightly? In what instance? On what motive? He was
ordered to search for and declare the public money left behind by Caesar,
and did he not seize it, paying some of it to his creditors and spending
some on high living so that he no longer has even any of this left? You
hated the name of dictator on account of Caesar's sovereignty and rejected
it entirely from the constitution: but is it not true that Antony, though
he has avoided adopting it (as if the name in itself could do any harm),
has exhibited the behavior belonging to it and the greed for gain, under
the title of consulship? You assigned to him the duty of promoting
harmony, and has he not on his own responsibility begun this great war,
neither necessary nor sanctioned, against Caesar and Decimus, whom you
approve? Innumerable cases might be mentioned, if one wished to go into
details, in which you entrusted business to him to manage as consul, and
he has not conducted a single bit of it as the circumstances demanded,
but has done quite the opposite, using against you the authority that you
imparted. Now will you assume to yourself also these errors that he has
committed and say that you yourselves are responsible for all that has
happened, because you assigned to him the management and investigation of
the matters in question? It is ridiculous. If some general or envoy that
had been chosen should fail in every way to do his duty, you who sent him
would not incur the blame for this. It would be a sorry state of things,
if all who are elected to perform some work should themselves receive the
advantages and the honors, but lay upon you the complaints and the blame.
[-25-] Accordingly, there is no sense in paying any heed to him when he
says: 'It was you who permitted me to govern Gaul, you ordered me to
administer the public finances, you gave me the legions from Macedonia.'
Perhaps these measures were voted--yet ought you to put it that way, and
not instead exact punishment from him for his action in compelling you to
make that decision? At any rate, you never at any time gave him the
right to restore the exiles, to add laws surreptitiously, to sell the
privileges of citizenship and exemption from taxes, to steal the public
funds, to plunder the possessions of allies, to abuse the cities, or
to undertake to play the tyrant over his native country. And you never
conceded to any one else all that was desired, though you have granted by
your votes many things to many persons; on the contrary you have always
punished such men so far as you could, as you will also punish him, if
you take my advice. For it is not in these matters alone that he has
shown himself to be such a man as you know and have seen him to be, but
briefly in all undertakings which he has ever attempted to perform for
the commonwealth.

[-26-] "His private life and his private examples of licentiousness
and avarice I shall willingly pass over, not because one would fail to
discover that he had committed many abominable outrages in the course of
them, but because, by Hercules, I am ashamed to describe minutely and
separately--especially to you who know it as well as I--how he conducted
his youth among you who were boys at the time, how he auctioned off
the vigor of his prime, his secret lapses from chastity, his open
fornications, what he let be done to him as long as it was possible, what
he did as early as he could, his revels, his periods of drunkenness, and
all the rest that follows in their train. It is impossible for a person
brought up in so great licentiousness and shamelessness to avoid defiling
his entire life: and so from his private concerns he brought his lewdness
and greed to bear upon public matters. On this I will refrain from
dilating, and likewise by Jupiter on his visit to Gabinius in Egypt
and his flight to Caesar in Gaul, that I may not be charged with going
minutely into every detail; for I feel ashamed for you, that knowing him
to be such a man you appointed him tribune and master of the horse and
subsequently consul. I will at present recite only his drunken insolence
and abuses in these very positions.

[-27-] "Well, then, when he was tribune he first of all prevented you
from settling suitably the work you then had in hand by shouting and
bawling and alone of all the people opposing the public peace of the
State, until you became vexed and because of his conduct passed the vote
that you did. Then, though by law he was not permitted to be absent from
town a single night, he escaped from the city, abandoning the duties of
his office, and, having gone as a deserter to Caesar's camp, guided the
latter back as a foe to his country, drove you out of Rome and all the
rest of Italy, and, in short, became the prime cause of all the civil
disorders that have since taken place among you. Had he not at that time
acted contrary to your wishes, Caesar would never have found an excuse for
the war and could not, in spite of all his shamelessness, have gathered a
competent force in defiance of your resolutions; but he would have
either voluntarily laid down his arms, or been brought to his senses
unwillingly. As it is, this fellow is the man who furnished him with the
excuses, who destroyed the prestige of the senate, who increased the
audacity of the soldiers. He it is who planted the seeds of evils which
sprang up afterward: he it is who has proved the common bane not only of
us, but also of practically the whole world, as, indeed, Heaven rather
plainly indicated. When, that is to say, he proposed those astonishing
laws, the whole air was filled with thunder and lightning. Yet this
accursed wretch paid no attention to them, though he claims to be a
soothsayer, but filled not only the city but the whole world with the
evils and wars which I mentioned.

[-28-] "Now after this is there any need of mentioning that he served as
master of the horse an entire year, something which had never before been
done? Or that during this period also he was drunk and abusive and in the
assemblies would frequently vomit the remains of yesterday's debauch on
the rostra itself, in the midst of his harangues? Or that he went about
Italy at the head of pimps and prostitutes and buffoons, women as well as
men, in company with the lictors bearing festoons of laurel? Or that he
alone of mankind dared to buy the property of Pompey, having no regard
for his own dignity or the great man's memory, but grasping eagerly those
possessions over which we even now as at that time shed a tear? He threw
himself upon this and many other estates with the evident intention of
making no recompense for them. Yet with all his insolence and violence
the price was nevertheless collected, for Caesar took this way of
discountenancing his act. And all that he has acquired, vast in extent
and gathered from every source, he has consumed in dicing, consumed in
harlotry, consumed in feasting, consumed in drinking, like a second
Charybdis.

[-29-] "Of this behavior I shall make no chronicle. But on the subject of
the insults which he offered to the State and the assassinations which
he caused throughout the whole city alike how can any man be silent? Is
memory lacking of how oppressive the very sight of him was to you, but
most of all his deeds? He dared, O thou earth and ye gods, first in
this place, within the wall, in the Forum, in the senate-house, on the
Capitol, at one and the same time to array himself in the purple-bordered
garb, to gird a sword on his thigh, to employ lictors, and to be escorted
by armed soldiers. Next, whereas he might have checked the turmoil of the
citizens, he not only failed to do so, but set you at variance when you
were in concord, partly by his own acts and partly through the medium
of others. Moreover he directed his attention in turn to the latter
themselves, and by now assisting them and now abandoning them[9] incurred
full responsibility for great numbers of them being slain and for the
fact that the entire region of Pontus and of the Parthians was not
subdued at that time immediately after the victory over Pharnaces. Caesar,
being called hither in haste to see what he was doing, did not finish
entirely any of those projects, as he was surely intending.

[-30-] "Even this result did not sober him, but when he was consul he
came naked, naked, Conscript Fathers, and anointed into the Forum, taking
the Lupercalia as an excuse, then proceeded in company with his lictors
to the rostra, and there harangued us from the elevation. From the day
the city was founded no one can point to any one else, even a praetor or
tribune or aedile, let alone a consul, who has done such a thing. To be
sure it was the festival of the Lupercalia, and the Lupercalia had been
put in charge of the Julian College[10]; yes, and Sextus Clodius had
trained him to conduct himself so, upon receipt of two thousand plethra
of the land of Leontini[11]. But you were consul, respected sir (for I
will address you as though you were present), and it was neither proper
nor permissible for you as such to speak in such a way in the Forum, hard
by the rostra, with all of us present, and to cause us both to behold
your remarkable body, so corpulent and detestable, and to hear your
accursed voice, choked with unguent, speaking those outrageous words; for
I will preferably confine my comment to this point about your mouth. The
Lupercalia would not have missed its proper reverence, but you disgraced
the whole city at once,--not to speak a word yet about your remarks on
that occasion. Who is unaware that the consulship is public, the property
of the whole people, that its dignity must be preserved everywhere, and
that its holder must nowhere strip naked or behave wantonly? [-31-] Did
he perchance imitate the famous Horatius of old or Cloelia of bygone
days? But the latter swam across the river with all her clothing, and
the former cast himself with his armor into the flood. It would be
fitting--would it not?--to set up also a statue of this consul, so that
people might contrast the one man armed in the Tiber and the other naked
in the Forum. It was by such conduct as has been cited that those heroes
of yore were wont to preserve us and give us liberty, while he took away
all our liberty from us, so far as was in his power, destroyed the whole
democracy, set up a despot in place of a consul, a tyrant in place of
a dictator over us. You remember the nature of his language when he
approached the rostra, and the style of his behavior when he had ascended
it. But when a man who is a Roman and a consul has dared to name any one
King of the Romans in the Roman Forum, close to the rostra of liberty, in
the presence of the entire people and the entire senate, and straightway
to set the diadem upon his head and further to affirm falsely in the
hearing of us all that we ourselves bade him say and do this, what most
outrageous deed will that man not dare, and from what action, however
revolting, will he refrain? [-32-] Did we lay this injunction upon you,
Antony, we who expelled the Tarquins, who cherished Brutus, who hurled
Capitolinus headlong, who put to death the Spurii?[12] Did we order you
to salute any one as king, when we have laid a curse upon the very name
of monarch and furthermore upon that of dictator as the most similar? Did
we command you to appoint any one tyrant, we who repulsed Pyrrhus from
Italy, who drove back Antiochus beyond the Taurus, who put an end to the
tyranny even in Macedonia? No, by the rods of Valerius and the law of
Porcius, no, by the leg of Horatius and the hand of Mucius, no, by the
spear of Decius and the sword of Brutus! But you, unspeakable villain,
begged and pleaded to be made a slave as Postumius pleaded to be
delivered to the Samnites, as Regulus to be given back to the
Carthaginians, as Curtius to be thrown into the chasm. And where did
you find this recorded? In the same place where you discovered that the
Cretans had been made free after Brutus was their governor, when we voted
after Caesar's death that he should govern them.

[-33-] "So then, seeing that you have detected his baneful disposition
in so many and so great enterprises, will you not take vengeance on him
instead of waiting to learn by experience what the man who caused so much
trouble naked will do to you when he is armed? Do you think that he is
not eager for the tyrant's power, that he does not pray to obtain it some
day, or that he will put the pursuit of it out of his thoughts, when he
has once allowed it a resting-place in his mind, and that he will ever
abandon the hope of sole rulership for which he has spoken and acted so
impudently without punishment! What human being who, while master of his
own voice, would undertake to help some one else secure an honor, would
not appropriate it himself when he became powerful? Who that has dared
to nominate another as tyrant over his country and himself at once would
himself refuse to be monarch? [-34-] Hence, even if you spared him
formerly, you must hate him now for these acts. Do not desire to learn
what he will do when his success equals his wishes, but on the basis of
his previous ventures plan beforehand to suffer no further outrages. What
defence could any one make of what took place? That Caesar acted rightly
at that time in accepting neither the name of king nor the diadem? If so,
this man did wrong to offer something which pleased not even Caesar. Or,
on the other hand, that the latter erred in enduring at all to look on at
and listen to such proceedings? If so, and Caesar justly suffered death
for this error, does not this man, admitted in a certain way that he
desired a tyranny, most richly deserve to perish? That this is so is
evident from what I have previously said, but is proved most clearly by
what he did after that. What other end than supremacy had he in mind that
he has undertaken to cause agitation and to meddle in private business,
when he might have enjoyed quiet with safety? What other end, that he has
entered upon campaigns and warfare, when it was in his power to remain at
home without danger? For what reason, when many have disliked to go out
and take charge even of the offices that belonged to them, does he not
only lay claim to Gaul, which pertains to him in not the slightest
degree, but use force upon it because of its unwillingness? For what
reason, when Decimus Brutus is ready to surrender to us himself and
his soldiers and the cities, has this man not imitated him, instead of
besieging and shutting him up? The only interpretation to be put upon it
is that he is strengthening himself in this and every other way against
us, and to no other end.

[-35-] "Seeing this, do we delay and give way to weakness and train up so
monstrous a tyrant against our own selves? Is it not disgraceful that our
forefathers, brought up in slavery, felt the desire for liberty, but we
who have lived under an independent government become slaves of our own
free will? Or again, that we were glad to rid ourselves of the dominion
of Caesar, though we had first received many favors from his hands, and
accept in his stead this man, a self-elected despot, who is far worse
than he; this allegation is proved by the fact that Caesar spared many
after his victories in war, but this follower of his before attaining any
power has slaughtered three hundred soldiers, among them some centurions,
guilty of no wrong, at home, in his own quarters, before the face and
eyes of his wife, so that she too was defiled with blood. What do you
think that the man who treated them so cruelly, when he owed them
care, will refrain from doing to all of you,--aye, down to the utmost
outrage,--if he shall conquer? And how can you believe that the man who
has lived so licentiously even to the present time will not proceed to
all extremes of wantonness, if he shall further secure the authority
given by arms?

[-36-] "Do not, then, wait until you have suffered some such treatment
and begin to rue it, but guard yourselves before you are molested. It is
out of the question to allow dangers to come upon you and then repent of
it, when you might have anticipated them. And do not choose to neglect
the seriousness of the present situation and then ask again for another
Cassius or some more Brutuses. It is ridiculous, when we have the power
of aiding ourselves in time, to seek later on men to set us free. Perhaps
we should not even find them, especially if we handle in such a way
the present situation. Who would privately choose to run risks for the
democracy, when he sees that we are publicly resigned to slavery? It must
be evident to every man that Antony will not rest contented with what
he is now doing, but that in far off and small concerns even he is
strengthening himself against us. He is warring against Decimus and
besieging Mutina for no other purpose than to provide himself, by
conquering and capturing them, with resources against us. He has not been
wronged by them that he can appear to be defending himself, nor does he
merely desire the property that they possess and with this in mind endure
toils and dangers, while ready and willing to relinquish that belonging
to us, who own their property and much beside. Shall we wait for him to
secure the prize and still more, and so become a dangerous foe? Shall we
trust his deception when he says that he is not warring against the City?
[-37-] Who is so silly as to decide whether a man is making war on us or
not by his words rather than by his deeds? I do not say that now for the
first time is he unfriendly to us, when he has abandoned the City and
made a campaign against allies and is assailing Brutus and besieging the
cities; but on the basis of his former evil and licentious behavior, not
only after Caesar's death but even in the latter's lifetime, I decide that
he has shown himself an enemy of our government and liberty and a plotter
against them. Who that loved his country or hated tyranny would have
committed a single one of the many and manifold offences laid to this
man's charge? From every point of view he is proved to have long been an
enemy of ours, and the case stands as follows. If we now take measures
against him with all speed, we shall get back all that has been lost:
but if, neglecting to do this, we wait till he himself admits that he is
plotting against us, we shall lose everything. This he will never do, not
even if he should actually march upon the City, any more than Marius or
Cinna or Sulla did. But if he gets control of affairs, he will not fail
to act precisely as they did, or still worse. Men who are anxious to
accomplish an object are wont to say one thing, and those who have
succeeded in accomplishing it are wont to do quite a different thing. To
gain their end they pretend anything, but having obtained it they deny
themselves the gratification of no desire. Furthermore, the last born
always desire to surpass what their predecessors have ventured: they
think it a small thing to behave like them and do something that has been
effected before, but determine that something original is the only thing
worthy of them, because unexpected.

[-38-] "Seeing this, then, Conscript Fathers, let us no longer delay nor
fall a prey to the indolence that the moment inspires, but let us take
thought for the safety that concerns the future. Surely it is a shame
when Caesar, who has just emerged from boyhood and was recently registered
among those having attained years of discretion, shows such great
interest in the State as to spend his money and gather soldiers for
its preservation that we should neither ourselves perform our duty
nor cooeperate with him even after obtaining a tangible proof of his
good-will. Who is unaware that if he had not reached here with the
soldiers from Campania, Antony would certainly have come rushing from
Brundusium instanter, just as he was, and would have burst into our city
with all his armies like a winter torrent?[13] There is, moreover, a
striking inconsistency in our conduct. Men who have long been campaigning
voluntarily have put themselves at your service for the present crisis,
regarding neither their age nor the wounds which they received in past
years while fighting for you, and you both refuse to ratify the war in
which these very men elected to serve, and show yourselves inferior to
them, who are ready to face dangers; for while you praise the soldiers
that detected the defilement of Antony and withdrew from him, though he
was consul, and attached themselves to Caesar, (that is, to you through
him), you shrink from voting for that which you say they were right in
doing. Also we are grateful to Brutus that he did not even at the
start admit Antony to Gaul, and is trying to repel him now that Antony
confronts him with a force. Why in the world do we not ourselves do the
same? Why do we not imitate the rest whom we praise for their sound
judgment? There are only two courses open to us. [-39-] One is to say
that all these men,--Caesar, I mean, and Brutus, the old soldiers, the
legions,--have decided wrongly and ought to submit to punishment, because
without our sanction or that of the people they have dared to offer armed
resistance to their consul, some having deserted his standard, and others
having been gathered against him. The other is to say that Antony by
reason of his deeds has in our judgment long since admitted that he is
our enemy and by public consent ought to be chastised by us all. No one
can be ignorant that the latter decision is not only more just but more
expedient for us. The man neither understands how to handle business
himself (how or by what means could a person that lives in drunkenness
and dicing?) nor has he any companion who is of any account. He loves
only such as are like himself and makes them the confidants of all his
open and secret undertakings. Also he is most cowardly in extreme dangers
and most treacherous even to his intimate friends, neither of which
qualities is suited for generalship or war. [-40-] Who can be unaware
that this very man caused all our internal troubles and then shared the
dangers to the slightest possible degree? He tarried long in Brundusium
through cowardice, so that Caesar was isolated and on account of him
almost failed: likewise he held aloof from all succeeding wars,--that
against the Egyptians, against Pharnaces, the African, and the Spanish.
Who is unaware that he won the favor of Clodius, and after using the
latter's tribuneship for the most outrageous ends would have killed him
with his own hand, if I had accepted this promise from him? Again, in the
matter of Caesar, he was first associated with him as quaestor, when Caesar
was praetor in Spain, next attached himself to him during the tribuneship,
contrary to the liking of us all, and later received from him countless
money and excessive honors: in return for this he tried to inspire his
patron with a desire for supremacy, which led to talk against him and was
more than anything else responsible for Caesar's death.

[-41-] "Yet he once stated that it was I who directed the assassins to
their work. He is so senseless as to venture to invent so great praise
for me. And I for my part do not affirm that he was the actual slayer of
Caesar,--not because he was not willing, but because in this, too, he was
timid,--yet by the very course of his actions I say that Caesar perished
at his hands. For this is the man who provided a motive, so that there
seemed to be some justice in plotting against him, this is he who called
him 'king', who gave him the diadem, who previously slandered him
actually to his friends. Do I rejoice at the death of Caesar, I, who never
enjoyed anything but liberty at his hands, and is Antony grieved, who has
rapaciously seized his whole property and committed many injuries on
the pretext of his letters, and is finally hastening to succeed to his
position of ruler?

[-42-] "But I return to the point that he has none of the qualities of a
great general or such as to bring victory, and does not possess many or
formidable forces. The majority of the soldiers and the best ones have
abandoned him to his fate, and also, by Jupiter, he has been deprived
of the elephants. The remainder have perfected themselves rather in
outraging and pillaging the possessions of the allies than in waging war,
A proof of the sort of spirit that animates them lies in the fact that
they still adhere to him, and of their lack of fortitude in that they
have not taken Mutina, though they have now been besieging it for so long
a time. Such is the condition of Antony and of his followers found to be.
But Caesar and Brutus and those arrayed with them are firmly intrenched
without outside aid; Caesar, in fact, has won over many of his rival's
soldiers, and Brutus is keeping the same usurper out of Gaul: and if you
come to their assistance, first by approving what they have done of their
own motion, next by ratifying their acts, at the same time giving them
legal authority for the future, and next by sending out both the consuls
to take charge of the war, it is not possible that any of his present
associates will continue to aid him. However, even if they should cling
to him most tenaciously, they would not he able to resist all the rest
at once, but he will either lay down his arms voluntarily, as soon as
he ascertains that you have passed this vote, and place himself in your
hands, or he will be captured involuntarily as the result of one battle.

"I give you this advice, and, if it had been my lot to be consul, I
should have certainly carried it out, as I did in former days when I
defended you against Catiline and Lentulus (a relative of this very man),
who had formed a conspiracy. [-43-] Perhaps some one of you regards these
statements as well put, but thinks we ought first to despatch envoys to
him, then, after learning his decision, in case he will voluntarily give
up his arms and submit himself to you, to take no action, but if he
sticks to the same principles, then to declare war upon him: this is the
advice which I hear some persons wish to give you. This policy is very
attractive in theory, but in fact it is disgraceful and dangerous to the
city. Is it not disgraceful that you should employ heralds and embassies
to citizens? With foreign nations it is proper and necessary to treat by
heralds in advance, but upon citizens who are at all guilty you should
inflict punishment straightway, by trying them in court if you can get
them under the power of your votes, and by warring against them if you
find them in arms. All such are slaves of you and of the people and of
the laws, whether they wish it or not; and it is not fitting either to
coddle them or to put them on an equal footing with the highest class of
free persons, but to pursue and chastise them like runaway servants, with
a feeling of your own superiority. [-44-] Is it not a disgrace that he
should not delay to wrong us, but we delay to defend ourselves? Or again,
that he should for a long time, weapons in hand, have been carrying on
the entire practice of war, while we waste time in decrees and embassies,
and that we should retaliate only with letters and phrases upon the man
whom we have long since discovered by his deeds to be a wrongdoer? What
do we expect? That he will some day render us obedience and pay us
respect? How can this prove true of a man who has come into such a
condition that he would not be able, even should he wish it, to be an
ordinary citizen with you under a democratic government? If he were
willing to conduct his life on fair and equitable principles, he would
never have entered in the first place upon such a career as his: and if
he had done it under the influence of folly or recklessness, he would
certainly have given it up speedily of his own accord. As the case
stands, since he has once overstepped the limits imposed by the laws and
the government and has acquired some power and authority by this action,
it is not conceivable that he would change of his own free will or heed
any one of our resolutions, but it is absolutely requisite that such a
man should be chastised with those very weapons with which he has dared
to wrong us. [-45-] And I beg you now to remember particularly a sentence
which this man himself once uttered, that it is impossible for you to be
saved, unless you conquer. Hence those who bid you send envoys are doing
nothing else than planning how you may be dilatory and the body of your
allies become as a consequence more feeble and dispirited; while he, on
the other hand, will be doing whatever he pleases, will destroy Decimus,
storm Mutina, and capture all of Gaul: the result will be that we can no
longer find means to deal with him, but shall be under the necessity of
trembling before him, paying court to him, worshiping him. This one thing
more about the embassy and I am done:--that Antony also gave you no
account of what business he had in hand, because he intended that you
should do this.

"I, therefore, for these and all other reasons advise you not to delay
nor to lose time, but to make war upon him as quickly as possible. You
must reflect that the majority of enterprises owe their success rather to
an opportune occasion than to their strength; and you should by all means
feel perfectly sure that I would never give up peace if it were really
peace, in the midst of which I have most influence and have acquired
wealth and reputation, nor have urged you to make war, did I not think it
to your advantage.

[-46-] And I advise you, Calenus, and the rest who are of the same mind
as you, to be quiet and allow the senate to vote the requisite measures
and not for the sake of your private good-will toward Antony recklessly
betray the common interests of all of us. Indeed, I am of the opinion,
Conscript Fathers, that if you heed my counsel I may enjoy in your
company and with thorough satisfaction freedom and preservation, but that
if you vote anything different, I shall choose to die rather than to
live. I have, in general, never been afraid of death as a consequence of
my outspokenness, and now I fear it least of all. That accounts, indeed,
for my overwhelming success, the proof of which lies in the fact that
you decreed a sacrifice and festival in memory of the deeds done in my
consulship,--an honor which had never before been granted to any one,
even to one who had achieved some great end in war. Death, if it befell
me, would not be at all unseasonable, especially when you consider that
my consulship was so many years ago; yet remember that in that very
consulship I uttered the same sentiment, to make you feel that in any
and all business I despised death. To dread any one, however, that was
against you, and in your company to be a slave to any one would prove
exceedingly unseasonable to me. Wherefore I deem this last to be the ruin
and destruction not only of the body, but of the soul and reputation,
by which we become in a certain sense immortal. But to die speaking and
acting in your behalf I regard as equivalent to immortality.

[-47-] "And if Antony, also, felt the force of this, he would never have
entered upon such a career, but would have even preferred to die like his
grandfather rather than to behave like Cinna who killed him. For, putting
aside other considerations, Cinna was in turn slain not long afterward
for this and the other sins that he had committed; so that I am surprised
also at this feature in Antony's conduct, that, imitating his works as
he does, he shows no fear of some day falling a victim to a similar
disaster: the murdered man, however, left behind to this very descendant
the reputation of greatness. But the latter has no longer any claim to
be saved on account of his relatives, since he has neither emulated his
grandfather nor inherited his father's property. Who is unaware of the
fact that in restoring many who were exiled in Caesar's time and later, in
accordance forsooth with directions in his patron's papers, he did not
aid his uncle, but brought back his fellow-gambler Lenticulus, who was
exiled for his unprincipal life, and cherishes Bambalio, who is notorious
for his very name, while he has treated his nearest relatives as I have
described and as if he were half angry at them because he was born into
that family. Consequently he never inherited his father's goods, but has
been the heir of very many others, some whom he never saw or heard
of, and others who are still living. That is, he has so stripped and
despoiled them that they differ in no way from dead men."




DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

46

The following is contained in the Forty-sixth of Dio's Rome:

How Calenus replied to Cicero in defence of Antony (chapters 1-28).

How Antony was defeated at Mutina by Caesar and the consuls (chapters
29-38).

How Caesar came to Rome and was appointed consul (chapters 39-49).

How Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus formed a solemn pact of union (chapters
50-56).

Duration of time one year, in which there were the following magistrates
here enumerated:

C. Vibius C. filius Pansa Capronianus, Aulus Hirtius Auli filius (B.C. 43
= a. u. 711).


(_BOOK 46, BOISSAVAIN_)

[B.C. 43 (_a. u_. 711) ]

[-1-] When Cicero had finished speaking in this vein, Quintus Fufius
Calenus arose and said:--"Ordinarily I should not have wished either to
say anything in defence of Antony or to assail Cicero. I really do not
think it proper in such discussions as is the present to do either of
these things, but simply to make known what one's opinion is. The
former method belongs to the courtroom, whereas this is a matter of
deliberation. Since, however, he has undertaken to speak ill of Antony on
account of the enmity that exists between them, instead of sending him a
summons, as he ought, if Antony were guilty of any wrong, and since he
has further mentioned me in a calumnious fashion, as if he could not have
exhibited his cleverness without heedlessly insulting one or two persons,
it behooves me also to set aside the imputation against Antony and to
bring counter-charges against the speaker. I would not have his innate
impudence fail of a response nor let my silence aid him by incurring the
suspicion of a guilty conscience; nor would I have you, deceived by what
he said, come to a less worthy decision by accepting his private spleen
against Antony in exchange for the common advantage. [-2-] He wishes
to effect nothing else than that we should abandon looking out for the
safest course for the commonwealth and fall into discord again. It is not
the first time that he has done this, but from the outset, ever since he
had to do with politics, he has been continually causing disturbance one
way or the other.

"Is he not the one who embroiled Caesar with Pompey and prevented Pompey
from becoming reconciled with Caesar? The one who persuaded you to pass
that vote against Antony by which he irritated Caesar, and persuaded
Pompey to leave Italy and transfer his quarters to Macedonia? This proved
the chief cause of all the evils which befell us subsequently. Is not he
the one who killed Clodius by the hand of Milo, and slew Caesar by the
hand of Brutus? The one who made Catiline hostile to us and despatched
Lentulus without a trial? [-3-] Hence I should be very much surprised
at you, seeing that you then changed your mind about his conduct just
mentioned and made him pay the penalty for it, if you should now heed him
again, when his talk and actions are similar. Do you not see, too, that
after Caesar's death when our affairs were settled in a most tranquil way
by Antony, as not even his accuser can deny, the latter left town because
he deemed our life of harmony to be alien and dangerous to him? That when
he perceived that turmoil had again arisen, he bade a long farewell to
his son and to Athens, and returned? That he insults and abuses Antony,
whom he was wont to say he loved, and cooeperates with Caesar, whose father
he killed? And if chance so favor, he will ere long attack Caesar also.
For the fellow is naturally distrustful and turbulent and has no ballast
in his soul, and he is always stirring things up and twisting about,
turning more ways than the sea-passage to which he fled and got the title
of deserter for it, asking all of you to take that man for friend or foe
whom he bids.

[-4-] "For these reasons be on your guard against man. He is a juggler
and imposter and grows rich and strong from the ills of others,
blackmailing, dragging, tearing the innocent, as do dogs; but in the
midst of public harmony he is embarrassed and withers away. It is not
friendship or good-will among us that can support this kind of orator.
From what other source do you think he has become rich or from what other
source great? Certainly neither family nor wealth was bequeathed him by
his father the fuller, who was always trading in grapes and olives, a man
who was glad to make both ends meet by this and by his washing, and whose
time was taken up every day and night with the vilest occupations. The
son, having been brought up in them, not unnaturally tramples and dowses
his superiors, using a species of abuse invented in the workshops and on
the street corners.

[-5-] "Now being of such an origin yourself, and after growing up naked
among your naked companions, picking up pig manure and sheep dung and
human excrement, have you dared, O most accursed wretch, first to slander
the youth of Antony who had the advantage of pedagogues and teachers as
his rank demanded, and next to impugn him because in celebrating the
Lupercalia, an ancestral festival, he came naked into the Forum? But I
ask you, you that always used all the clothes of others on account
of your father's business and were stripped by whoever met you and
recognized them, what ought a man who was not only priest but also leader
of his fellow priests to have done? Not to conduct the procession, not to
celebrate the festival, not to sacrifice according to ancestral custom,
not to appear naked, not to anoint himself? 'But it is not for that that
I censure him,' he answers, 'but because he delivered a speech and
that kind of speech naked in the Forum.' Of course this man has become
acquainted in the fuller's shop with all minute matters of etiquette,
that he should detect a real mistake and be able to rebuke it properly.

[-6-] "In regard to this matter I will say later all that needs to be
said, but just now I want to ask the speaker a question or two. Is it
not true that you for your part were nourished by the ills of others and
educated in the misfortunes of your neighbors and for this reason are
acquainted with no liberal branch of knowledge, that you have established
a kind of association here and are always waiting, like the harlots, for
a man who will give something, and that having many men in your pay to
attract profit to you you pry into people's affairs to find out who has
wronged (or seems to have wronged) whom, who hates whom, and who is
plotting against whom? With these men you make common cause, and through
these men you are supported, selling them the hopes that chance bestows,
trading in the decisions of the jurors, deeming him alone a friend who
gives more and more, and all those enemies who furnish you no business or
employ some other advocate, while you pretend not even to know those who
are already in your clutch and affect to be bored by them, but fawn upon
and giggle at those just approaching, like the mistresses of inns?

[-7-] How much better it were that you too should have been born
Bambalio,--if this Bambalio really exists,--than to have taken up such a
livelihood, in which it is absolutely inevitable that you should either
sell your speech in behalf of the innocent, or else preserve the guilty.
Yet you can not do even this effectively, though you wasted three years
in Athens. On what occasion? By what help? Why, you always come trembling
up to court as if you were going to fight in armor and after speaking a
few words in a low and half-dead voice you go away, not remembering a
word of the speech you practiced at home before you came, and without
finding anything to say on the spur of the moment. In making affirmations
and promises you surpass all mankind in audacity, but in the contests
themselves beyond uttering some words of abuse and defamation you are
most weak and cowardly. Do you think any one is ignorant of the fact that
you never delivered one of those wonderful speeches of yours that you
have published, but wrote them all up afterward, like persons who form
generals and masters-of-horse out of day? If you feel doubtful of this
point, remember how you accused Verres,--though, to be sure, you only
gave him an example of your father's trade, when you made water.

[-8-] "But I hesitate, for fear that in saying precisely what fits your
case I may seem to be uttering words that are unfitting for myself.[14]
This I will pass over; and further, by Jupiter, also the affairs of
Gabinius, against whom, you prepared accusers and then pled his cause in
such a way that he was condemned; and the pamphlets which you compose
against your friends, in regard to which you feel yourself so guilty
that you do not dare to make them public. Yet it is a most miserable and
pitiable state to be in, not to be able to deny these charges which are
the most disgraceful conceivable to admit. But I will leave these to one
side and bring forward the rest. Well, though we did grant the trainer,
as you say, two thousand plethra of the ager Leontinus, we still learned
nothing adequate from it.[15] But who should not admire your system of
instruction? And what is it? You are ever jealous of your superiors,
you always toady to the prominent man, you slander him who has attained
distinction, you inform against the powerful and you hate equally all the
excellent, and you pretend love only for those through whom you may do
some mischief. This is why you are always inciting the younger against
their elders and lead those who trust you even in the slightest into
dangers, where you desert them. [-9-] A proof of this is, that you have
never accomplished any achievement worthy of a distinguished man either
in war or in peace. How many wars have we won under you as praetor and
what kind of territory did we acquire with you as consul? Your private
activity all these years has consisted in continually deceiving some of
the foremost men and winning them to your side and managing everything
you like, while publicly you have been shouting and bawling out at random
those detestable phrases,--'I am the only one that loves you,' or, if it
should so chance, 'And what's-his-name, all the rest, hate you,' and 'I
alone am friendly to you, all the rest are engaged in plots,' and other
such stuff by which you fill some with elation and conceit, only to
betray them, and scare the rest so that you gain their attachment. If any
service is rendered by any one whomsoever of the whole people, you lay
claim to it and write your own name upon it, repeating: 'I moved it, I
proposed it, it was through me that this was done so.' But if anything
happens that ought not to have occurred, you take yourself out of the way
and censure all the rest, saying: 'You see I wasn't praetor, you see
I wasn't envoy, you see I wasn't consul.' And you abuse everybody
everywhere all the time, setting more store by the influence which
comes from appearing to speak your mind boldly than by saying what duty
demands: and you exhibit no important quality of an orator. [-10-] What
public advantage has been preserved or established by you? Who that
was really harming the city have you indicted, and who that was really
plotting against us have you brought to light? To neglect the other
cases,--these very charges which you now bring against Antony are of such
a nature and so many that no one could ever suffer any adequate penalty
for them. Why, then, if you saw us being wronged by him at the start, as
you assert, did you never attack or accuse him at the time, instead of
telling us now all the transgressions he committed when tribune, all his
irregularities when master of horse, all his villanies when consul? You
might at once, at the time, in each specific instance, have inflicted the
appropriate penalty upon him, if you had wanted to show yourself in very
deed a patriot, and we could have imposed the punishment in security
and safety during the course of the offences themselves. One of two
conclusions is inevitable,--either that you believed this to be so at the
time and renounced the idea of a struggle in our behalf, or else that you
could not prove any of your charges and are now engaged in a reckless
course of blackmail.

[-11-] "That this is so I will show you clearly, Conscript Fathers, by
going over each point in detail. Antony did say some words during his
tribuneship in Caesar's behalf: Cicero and some others spoke in behalf of
Pompey. Why now does he accuse him of preferring one man's friendship,
but acquit himself and the rest who warmly embraced the opposite cause?
Antony, to be sure, hindered at that time some measures adverse to Caesar
from being passed: and Cicero hindered practically everything that was
known to be favorable to Caesar. 'But Antony obstructed,' he replies, 'the
public judgment of the senate.' Well, now, in the first place, how could
one man have had so much power? Second, if he had been condemned for
this, as is said, how could he have escaped punishment? 'Oh, he fled, he
fled to Caesar and got out of the way.' Of course you, Cicero, did not
'leave town' just now, but you fled, as in your former exile.[16] Don't
be so ready to apply your own shame to all of us. To flee is what you
did, in fear of the court, and pronouncing condemnation on yourself
beforehand. Yes, to be sure, an ordinance was passed for your recall; how
and for what reasons I do not say, but at any rate it was passed, and you
did not set foot in Italy before the recall was granted. But Antony both
went away to Caesar to inform him what had been done and returned, without
asking for any decree, and finally effected peace and friendship with him
for all those that were found in Italy. And the rest, too, would have had
a share in it, if they had not taken your advice and fled. [-12-] Now in
view of those circumstances do you dare to say he led Caesar against his
country and stirred up the civil war and became more than any one else
responsible for the subsequent evils that befell us? Not so, but you,
who gave Pompey legions that belonged to others and the command, and
undertook to deprive Caesar even of those that had been given him: it was
you, who agreed with Pompey and the consuls not to accept the offers made
by Caesar, but to abandon the city and the whole of Italy: you, who did
not see Caesar even when he entered Rome, but had run off to Pompey
and into Macedonia. Not even to him, however, did you prove of any
assistance, but you neglected what was going on, and then, when he met
with misfortune, you abandoned him. Therefore you did not aid him at the
outset on the ground that he had the juster cause, but after setting
in motion the dispute and embroiling affairs you lay in wait at a safe
distance for a favorable turn; you at once deserted the man who failed,
as if that somehow proved him guilty, and went over to the victor, as if
you deemed him more just. And in addition to your other defects you are
so ungrateful that not only are you not satisfied to have been preserved
by him, but you are actually displeased that you were not made master of
the horse.

[-13-] "Then with this on your conscience do you dare to say that Antony
ought not to have held the office of master of the horse for a year, and
that Caesar ought not to have remained dictator for a year? But whether it
was wise or necessary for these measures to be framed, at any rate they
were both passed, and they suited us and the people. Censure these men,
Cicero, if they have transgressed in any particular, but not, by Jupiter,
those whom they have chosen to honor for showing themselves worthy of
so great a reward. For if we were forced by the circumstances that then
surrounded us to act in this way and contrary to good policy, why do you
now lay this upon Antony's shoulders, and why did you not oppose it then
if you were able? Because, by Jupiter, you were afraid. Then shall you,
who were at that time silent, obtain pardon for your cowardice, and shall
he, because he was preferred before you, submit to penalties for his
excellence? Where did you learn that this was just, or where did you read
that this was lawful?

[-14-] "'But he did not rightly use his position as master of horse.'
Why? 'Because,' he answers, 'he bought Pompey's possessions.' How many
others are there who purchased numberless articles, no one of whom
is blamed? That was the purpose in confiscating certain articles and
exposing them in the market and proclaiming them by the voice of the
public crier, to have somebody buy them. 'But Pompey's goods ought not to
have been sold.' Then it was we who erred and did wrong in confiscating
them; or (to clear your skirts and ours) it was at least Caesar who acted
irregularly, he who ordered this to be done: yet you did not censure him
at all. I maintain that in this charge he is proven to be absolutely
beside himself. He has brought against Antony two quite opposite
accusations,--one, that after helping Caesar in very many ways and
receiving in return vast gifts from him he was then required under
compulsion to surrender the price of them, and the second, that he
inherited naught from his father, spent all that he had like Charybdis
(the speaker is always bringing in some comparison from Sicily, as if we
had forgotten that he had been exiled there), and paid the price of all
that he purchased.

[-15-] "So in these charges this remarkable orator is convicted of
violently contradicting himself and, by Jupiter, again in the following
statements. At one time he says that Antony took part in everything
that was done by Caesar and by this means became more than any one else
responsible for all our internal evils, and again he charges him with
cowardice, reproaching him with not having shared in any other exploits
than those performed in Thessaly. And he makes a complaint against him to
the effect that he restored some of the exiles and finds fault with him
because he did not secure the recall of his uncle; as if any one believes
that he would not have restored him first of all, if he had been able to
recall whomsoever he pleased, since there was no grievance on either side
between them, as this speaker himself knows. Indeed, though he told many
wretched lies about Antony, he did not dare to say anything of that kind.
But he is utterly reckless about letting slip anything that comes to his
tongue's end, as if it were mere breath.

[-16-] "Why should one follow this line of refutation further? Turning
now to the fact that he goes about with such a tragic air, and has but
this moment said in the course of his remarks that Antony rendered the
sight of the master of the horse most oppressive by using everywhere
and under all circumstances the sword, the purple, the lictors, and the
soldiers at once, let him tell me clearly how and in what respect we have
been wronged by this. He will have no statement to make; for if he had
had, he would have sputtered it out before anything else. Quite the
reverse of his charge is true. Those who were quarreling at that time
and causing all the trouble were Trebellius and Dolabella: Antony did no
wrong and was active in every way in our behalf, so much so that he was
entrusted by us with guarding the city against those very men, and not
only did this remarkable orator not oppose it (he was there) but even
approved it. Else let him show what syllable he uttered on seeing the
licentious and accursed fellow (to quote from his abuse), besides doing
nothing that the occasion required, securing also so great authority from
you. He will have nothing to show. So it looks as if not a word of what
he now shouts aloud was ventured at that time by this great and patriotic
orator, who is everywhere and always saying and repeating: 'I alone am
contending for freedom, I alone speak freely for the democracy; I cannot
be restrained by favor of friends or fear of enemies from looking out for
your advantage; I, even if it should be my lot to die in speaking in your
behalf, will perish very gladly.' And his silence was very natural, for
it occurred to him to reflect that Antony possessed the lictors and the
purple-bordered vesture in accordance with the customs of our ancestors
in regard to masters of horse, and that he was using the sword and the
soldiers perforce against the rebels. For what most excessive outrages
would they not have committed but for his being hedged about with these
protections, when some of them so despised him as it was?

[-17-] "That these and all his other acts were correct and most
thoroughly in accord with Caesar's intention the facts themselves show.
The rebellion went no further, and Antony, far from paying a penalty for
his course, was subsequently appointed consul. Notice, I beg of you, how
he administered this office of his. You will find, if you scrutinize the
matter minutely, that its tenure proved of great value to the city.
His traducer, knowing this, could not endure his jealousy but dared to
slander him for those deeds which he would have longed to do himself.
That is why he introduced the matter of his stripping and anointing and
those ancient fables, not because there was any pertinence in them now,
but in order to obscure by external noise his opponent's consummate skill
and success. Yet this same Antony, O thou earth, and ye gods (I shall
call louder than you and invoke them with greater justice), saw that the
city was already in reality under a tyranny through the fact that all
the legions obeyed Caesar and all the people together with the senate
submitted to him to such an extent that they voted among other measures
that he should be dictator for life and use the appurtenances of a king.
Then he showed Caesar his error most convincingly and restrained him most
prudently, until the latter, abashed and afraid, would not accept either
the name of king or the diadem, which he had in mind to bestow upon
himself even against our will. Any other man would have declared that
he had been ordered to do it by his master, and putting forward the
compulsion as an excuse would have obtained pardon for it,--yes, indeed,
he would, when you think of what kind of votes we had passed at that time
and what power the soldiers had secured. Antony, however, because he was
thoroughly acquainted with Caesar's disposition and accurately aware of
all he was preparing to do, by great good judgment succeeded in turning
him aside from his course and retarding his ambitions. The proof of it
is that afterward he no longer behaved in any way like a monarch, but
mingled publicly and unprotected with us all; and that accounts most of
all for the possibility of his meeting the fate that he did.

[-18-] "This is what was done, O Cicero or Cicerulus or Ciceracius or
Ciceriscus or Graeculus[17] or whatever you like to be called, by the
uneducated, the naked, the anointed man: and none of it was done by you,
the clever, the wise, the user of much more olive oil than wine, you who
let your clothing drag about your ankles not, by Jupiter, as the dancers
do, who teach you intricacies of reasoning by their poses, but in order
to hide the ugliness of your legs. Oh no, it's not through modesty that
you do this, you who delivered that long screed about Antony's habits.
Who is there that does not see these soft clothes of yours? Who does not
scent your carefully combed gray locks? Who is there unaware that you put
away your first wife who had borne you two children, and at an advanced
age married another, a mere girl, in order that you might pay your debts
out of her property? And you did not even retain her, to the end that you
might keep Caerellia fearlessly, whom you debauched when she was as much
older than yourself as the maiden you married was younger, and to whom
you write such letters as a jester at no loss for words would write if
he were trying to get up an amour with a woman seventy years old.
This, which is not altogether to my taste, I have been induced to say,
Conscript Fathers, in the hope that he should not go away without getting
as good as he sent in the discussion. Again, he has ventured to reproach
Antony for a little kind of banquet, because he, as he says, drinks
water, his purpose being to sit up at night and compose speeches against
us,--though he brings up his son in such drunkenness that the latter is
sober neither night nor day. Furthermore he undertook to make derogatory
remarks about Antony's mouth, this man who has shown so great
licentiousness and impurity throughout his entire life that he would not
keep his hands off even his closest kin, but let out his wife for hire
and deflowered his daughter.

[-18-] "These particulars I shall leave as they stand and return to the
point where I started. That Antony against whom he has inveighed, seeing
Caesar exalted over our government, caused him by granting what seemed
personal favors to a friend not to put into effect any of the projects
that he had in mind. Nothing so diverts persons from objects which they
may attain without caring to secure them righteously, as for those who
fear such results to appear to endure the former's conduct willingly.
These persons in authority have no regard for their own consciousness of
guilt, but if they think they have been detected, they are ashamed and
afraid: thereafter they usually take what is said to them as flattery and
believe the opposite, and any action which may result from the words as
a plot, being suspicious in the midst of their shame. Antony knew
this thoroughly, and first of all he selected the Lupercalia and that
procession in order that Caesar in the relaxation of his spirit and the
fun of the affair might be rebuked with immunity, and next he selected
the Forum and the rostra that his patron might be shamed by the very
places. And he fabricated the commands from the populace, in order that
hearing them Caesar might reflect not on what Antony was saying at the
time, but on what the Roman people would order a man to say. How could
he have believed that this injunction had really been laid upon any one,
when he knew that the people had not voted anything of the kind and did
not hear them shouting out. But it was right for him to hear this in the
Roman Forum, where we had often joined in many deliberations for freedom,
and beside the rostra from which we had sent forth thousands and
thousands of measures in behalf of the democracy, and at the festival of
the Lupercalia, in order that he should remember Romulus, and from the
mouth of the consul that he might call to mind the deeds of the early
consuls, and in the name of the people, that he might ponder the fact
that he was undertaking to be tyrant not over Africans or Gauls or
Egyptians, but over very Romans. These words made him turn about; they
humiliated him. And whereas if any one else had offered him the diadem,
he might have taken it, he was then stopped short by that speech and felt
a shudder of alarm.

"These, then are the deeds of Antony: he did not uselessly break a leg,
in order himself to escape, nor burn off a hand, in order to frighten
Porsenna, but by his cleverness and consummate skill he put an end to
the tyranny of Caesar better than any spear of Decius and better than the
sword of Brutus. [-20-] But you, Cicero, what did you effect in your
consulship, not to mention wise and good things, that was not deserving
of the greatest punishment? Did you not throw our city into uproar and
party strife when it was quiet and harmonious, and fill the Forum and
Capitol with slaves, among others, that you had called to your aid? Did
you not ruin miserably Catiline, who was overanxious for office, but
otherwise guilty of no violence? Did you not pitiably destroy Lentulus
and his followers, who were not guilty, not tried, and not convicted, in
spite of the fact that you are always and everywhere prating interminably
about the laws and about the courts? If any one should take these phrases
from your speeches, there is nothing left. You censured Pompey because
he conducted the trial of Milo contrary to legalized precedent: yet you
afforded Lentulus no privilege great or small that is enjoined in these
cases, but without a speech or trial you cast him into prison, a man
respectable, aged, whose ancestors had given many great pledges that he
would be friendly to his country, and who by reason of his age and his
character had no power to do anything revolutionary. What trouble did he
have that would have been cured by the change of condition? What blessing
did he possess that would not certainly be jeopardized by rebellion? What
arms had he collected, what allies had he equipped, that a man who had
been consul and was praetor should be so pitilessly and impiously cast
into a cell without being allowed to say a word of defence or hear a
single charge, and die there like the basest criminals? For this is what
this excellent Tullius most of all desired,--that in [the Tullianum,] the
place that bears his name, he might put to death the grandson of that
Lentulus once became the head of the senate. [-21-] What would he
have done if he had obtained authority to bear arms, seeing that he
accomplished so many things of such a nature by his words alone? These
are your brilliant achievements, these are your great exhibitions of
generalship; and not only were you condemned for them by the rest, but
you were so ready to vote against your own self in the matter that you
fled before your trial came on. Yet what greater demonstration of your
bloodguiltiness could there be than that you came in danger of perishing
at the hands of those very persons in whose behalf you pretended you had
done this, that you were afraid of the very ones whom you said you had
benefited by these acts, and that you did not wait to hear from them or
say a word to them, you clever, you extraordinary man, you aider of other
people, but secured your safety by flight as if from a battle? And you
are so shameless that you have undertaken to write a history of these
events that I have related, whereas you ought to have prayed that no
other man even should give an account of any of them: then you might at
least derive this advantage, that your doings should die with you and no
memory of them be transmitted to posterity. Now, gentlemen, if you want
to laugh, listen to his clever device. He set himself the task of writing
a history of the entire existence of the city (for he pretends to be a
sophist and poet and philosopher and orator and historian), and he began
not from the founding of it, like the rest are similarly busied, but from
his own consulship, so that he might proceed backwards, making that the
beginning of his account, and the kingdom of Romulus the end.

[-22-] "Tell me now, you who write such things and do such things, what
the excellent man ought to say in popular address and do in action: for
you are better at advising others about any matter whatsoever than at
doing your own duty, and better at rebuking others than at reforming
yourself. Yet how much better it were for you instead of reproaching
Antony with cowardice to lay aside yourself that effeminacy both of
spirit and of body, instead of bringing a charge of disloyalty against
him to cease yourself from doing anything disloyal or playing the
deserter, instead of accusing him of ingratitude to cease yourself from
wronging your benefactors! For this, I must tell you, is one of his
inherent defects, that he hates above all those who have done him any
favor, and is always fawning upon somebody else but plotting against
these persons. To leave aside other instances, he was pitied and
preserved by Caesar and enrolled among the patricians, after which he
killed him,--no, not with his own hand (he is too cowardly and womanish),
but by persuading and making ready others who should do it. The men
themselves showed that I speak the truth in this. When they ran out into
the Forum with their naked blades, they invoked him by name, saying
'Cicero!' repeatedly, as you all heard. His benefactor, Caesar, then, he
slew, and as for Antony from whom he obtained personally safety and
a priesthood when he was in danger of perishing at the hands of the
soldiers in Brundusium, he repays him with this sort of thanks, by
accusing him for deeds with which neither he himself nor any one else
ever found any fault and attacking him for conduct which he praises in
others. Yet he sees this Caesar, who has not attained the age yet to hold
office or have any part in politics and has not been chosen by you, sees
him equipped with power and standing as the author of a war without our
vote or orders, and not only has no blame to bestow, but pronounces
laudations. So you perceive that he investigates neither what is just
with reference to the laws nor what is useful with reference to the
public weal, but simply manages everything to suit his own will,
censuring in some what he extols in others, spreads false reports against
you, and calumniates you gratuitously.[-23-] For you will find that all
of Antony's acts after Caesar's demise were ordered by you. To speak about
the disposition of the funds and the examination of the letters I deem to
be superfluous. Why so? Because first it would be the business of the one
who inherited his property to look into the matter, and second, if there
was any truth in the charge of malfeasance, it ought to have been
stopped then on the moment. For none of the transactions was carried on
underhandedly, Cicero, but they were all recorded on tablets, as you
yourself affirm. If Antony committed his many wrongs so openly and
shamelessly as you say, and plundered the whole of Crete on the pretext
that in accord with Caesar's letters it had been left free after the
governorship of Brutus, though the latter was later given charge of it by
us, how could you have kept silent and how could any one else have borne
it? But these matters, as I said, I shall pass over; for the majority of
them have not been mentioned individually, and Antony is not present,
who could inform you exactly of what he has done in each instance. As to
Macedonia and Gaul and the remaining provinces and legions, yours are
the decrees, Conscript Fathers, according to which you assigned to the
various governors their separate charges and delivered to Antony Gaul,
together with the soldiers. This is known also to Cicero. He was there
and helped vote for all of them just like you. Yet how much better it
would have been for him then to speak in opposition, if any item of
business was not going as it should, and to instruct you in these matters
that are now brought forward, than to be silent at the time and allow
you to make mistakes, and now nominally to censure Antony but really to
accuse the senate!

[-24-] "Any sensible person could not assert, either, that Antony forced
you to vote these measures. He himself had no band of soldiers so as to
compel you to do anything contrary to your inclinations, and further the
business was done for the good of the city. For since the legions had
been sent ahead and united, there was fear that when they heard of
Caesar's assassination they might revolt, put some inferior man at their
head, and begin to wage war again: so it seemed good to you, taking a
proper and excellent course, to place in command of them Antony the
consul, who was charged with the promotion of harmony, who had rejected
the dictatorship entirely from the system of government. And that is the
reason that you gave him Gaul in place of Macedonia, that he should stay
here in Italy, committing no harm, and do at once whatever errand was
assigned him by you.

[-25-] "This I have said to you that you may know that you decided
rightly. For Cicero that other point of mine was sufficient,--namely,
that he was present during all these proceedings and helped us to pass
the measures, though Antony had not a soldier at the time and could not
have brought to bear on us pressure in the shape of any terror that would
have made us neglect a single point of our interest. But even if you were
then silent, tell us now at least: what ought we to have done under the
circumstances? Leave the legions leaderless? Would they have failed
to fill both Macedonia and Italy with countless evils? Commit them to
another? And whom could we have found more closely related and suited
to the business than Antony, the consul, the director of all the city's
affairs, the one who had taken such good care of harmony among us, the
one who had given countless examples of his affection for the State? Some
one of the assassins, perhaps? Why, it wasn't even safe for them to live
in the city. Some one of the party opposed to them? Everybody suspected
those people. What other man was there surpassing him in esteem,
excelling him in experience? Or are you vexed that we did not choose you?
What kind of administration would you have given? What would you not have
done when you got arms and soldiers, considering that you occasioned so
many and so great instances of turmoil in your consulship as a result of
these elaborate antitheses, which you have made your specialty, of which
alone you were master. [-26-] But I return to my point that you were
present when it was being voted and said nothing against it, but assented
to all the measures as being obviously excellent and necessary. You did
not lack opportunity to speak; indeed you roared out considerable that
was beside the purpose. Nor were you afraid of anybody. How could you,
who did not fear the armed warrior, have quailed before the defenceless
man? Or how have feared him alone when you do not dread him in the
possession of many soldiers! Yes, you also give yourself airs for
absolutely despising death, as you affirm.

"Since these facts are so, which of the two, senators, seems to be in the
wrong, Antony, who is managing the forces granted him by us, or Caesar,
who is surrounded with such a large band of his own? Antony, who has
departed to take up the office committed to him by us, or Brutus, who
prevents him from setting foot in the country? Antony, who wishes to
compel our allies to obey our decrees, or they, who have not received the
ruler sent them by us but have attached themselves to the man who was
voted against? Antony, who keeps our soldiers together, or the soldiers,
who have abandoned their commander? Antony, who has introduced not one of
these soldiers granted him by us into the city, or Caesar, who by money
persuaded those who had long ago been in service to come here? I think
there is no further need of argument to answer the imputation that he
does not seem to be managing correctly all the duties laid upon him by
us, and to show that these men ought to suffer punishment for what they
have ventured on their own responsibility. Therefore you also secured the
guard of soldiers that you might discuss in safety the present situation,
not on account of Antony, who had caused no trouble privately nor
intimidated you in any way, but on account of his rival, who both had
gathered a force against him and has often kept many soldiers in the city
itself.

[-27-] "I have said so much for Cicero's benefit, since it was he who
began unfair argument against us. I am not generally quarrelsome, as he
is, nor do I care to pry into others' misdeeds, as he continually gives
himself airs for doing. Now I will tell you what advice I have to give,
not favoring Antony at all nor calumniating Caesar or Brutus, but planning
for the common advantage, as is proper. I declare that we ought not yet
to make an enemy of either of these men in arms nor to enquire exactly
what they have been doing or in what way. The present crisis is not
suitable for this action, and as they are all alike our fellow-citizens,
if any one of them fails the loss will be ours, or if any one of them
succeeds his aggrandizement will be a menace to us. Wherefore I believe
that we ought to treat them as friends and citizens and send messengers
to all of them alike, bidding them lay down their arms and put themselves
and their legions in our hands, and that we ought not yet to wage war on
any one of them, but after their replies have come back approve those who
are willing to obey us and fight against the disobedient. This course is
just and expedient for us,--not to be in a hurry or do anything rashly,
but to wait and after giving the leaders themselves and their soldiers an
opportunity to change their minds, then, if in such case there be need of
war, to give the consuls charge of it.

[-28-] "And you, Cicero, I advise not to show a womanish sauciness nor
to imitate Bambalio even in making war[18] nor because of your private
enmity toward Antony to plunge the whole city publicly again into danger.
You will do well if you even become reconciled to him, with whom you have
often enjoyed friendly intercourse. But even if you continue embittered
against him, at least spare us, and do not after acting as the promoter
of friendship among us then destroy it. Remember that day and the speech
which you delivered in the precinct of Tellus, and yield a little to this
goddess of Concord under whose guidance we are now deliberating, and
avoid discrediting those statements and making them appear as if not
uttered from a sincere heart, or by somebody else on that occasion. This
is to the advantage of the State and will bring you most renown. Do not
think that audacity is either glorious or safe, and do not feel sure
of being praised just for saying that you despise death. Such men all
suspect and hate as being likely to venture some deed of evil through
desperation. Those whom they see, however, paying greatest attention to
their own safety they praise and laud, because such would not willingly
do anything that merited death. Do you, therefore, if you honestly
wish your country to be safe, speak and act in such a way as will both
preserve yourself and not, by Jupiter, involve us in your destruction!"

[-29-] Such language from Calenus Cicero would not endure. He himself
always spoke his mind intemperately and immoderately to all alike, but he
never thought he ought to get a similar treatment from others. On this
occasion, too, he gave up considering the public interest and set himself
to abusing his opponent until that day was spent, and naturally for
the most part uselessly. On the following day and the third many other
arguments were adduced on both sides, but the party of Caesar prevailed.
So they voted first a statue to the man himself and the right to
deliberate among the ex-quaestors as well as of being a candidate for the
other offices ten years sooner than custom allowed, and that he should
receive from the City the money which he had spent for his soldiers,
because he had equipped them at his own cost for her defence: second,
that both his soldiers and those that had abandoned Antony should have
the privilege of not fighting in any other war and that land should be
given them at once. To Antony they sent an embassy which should order him
to give up the legions, leave Gaul, and withdraw into Macedonia--and to
his followers they issued a proclamation to return home before a given
day or to know that they would occupy the position of enemies. Moreover
they removed the senators who had received from him governorships over
the provinces and resolved that others should be sent in their place.
These measures were ratified at that time. Not long after, before
learning his decision, they voted that a state of rebellion existed,
changed their senatorial garb, gave charge of the war against him to the
consuls and Caesar (a kind of pretorian office), and ordered Lepidus and
Lucius Munatius Plancus, who was governing a portion of Transalpine Gaul,
to render assistance.

[-30-] In this way did they themselves furnish an excuse for hostility
to Antony, who was without this anxious to make war. He was pleased to
receive news of the decrees and forthwith violently reproached the envoys
with not treating him rightly or fairly as compared with the youth
(meaning Caesar). He also sent others in his turn, so as to put the blame
of the war upon the senators, and make some counter-propositions which
saved his face but were impossible of performance by Caesar and those who
sided with him. He intended not to fulfill one of their demands, well
aware that they too would not take up with anything that he submitted. He
promised, however, that he would do all that they had determined, that he
himself might have a refuge in saying that he would have done it, while
at the same time his opponent's party would be before him in becoming
responsible for the war, by refusing the terms he laid before them. In
fine, he said that he would abandon Gaul and disband his legions, if they
would grant these soldiers the same rewards as they had voted to Caesar's
and would elect Cassius and Marcus Brutus consuls. He brought in the
names of these men in his request with the purpose that they should
not harbor any ill-will toward him for his operations against their
fellow-conspirator Decimus.

[-31-] Antony made these offers knowing well that neither of them would
be acted upon. Caesar would never have endured that the murderers of his
father should become consuls or that Antony's soldiers by receiving the
same as his own should feel still more kindly toward his rival. Nor, as a
matter of fact, were his offers ratified, but they again declared war
on Antony and gave notice to his associates to leave him, appointing a
different day. All, even such as were not to take the field, arrayed
themselves in military cloaks, and they committed to the consuls the care
of the city, attaching to the decree the customary clause "to the end
that it suffer no harm." And since there was need of large funds for the
war, they all contributed the twenty-fifth part of the property they
owned and the senators also four asses[19] per tile of all the houses in
the city that they themselves owned or dwelt in belonging to others. The
very wealthy besides donated no little more, while many cities and
many individuals manufactured gratuitously weapons and other necessary
accoutrements for a campaign. The public treasury was at that time so
empty that not even the festivals which were due to fall during that
season were celebrated, except some small ones out of religious scruple.
[-32-] These subscriptions were given readily by those who favored Caesar
and hated Antony. The majority, however, being oppressed by the campaigns
and the taxes at once were irritated, particularly because it was
doubtful which of the two would conquer but quite evident that they would
be slaves of the conqueror. Many of those, therefore, that wished Antony
well, went straight to him, among them tribunes and a few praetors: others
remained in their places, one of whom was Calenus, but did all that they
could for him, some things secretly and other things with an open defence
of their conduct. Hence they did not change their costume immediately,
and persuaded the senate to send envoys again to Antony, among them
Cicero: in doing this they pretended that the latter might persuade him
to make terms, but their real purpose was that he should be removed from
their path. He too reflected on this possibility and becoming alarmed
would not venture to expose himself in the camp of Antony. As a result
none of the other envoys set out either.

[-33-] While this was being done portents of no small moment again
occurred, significant for the City, and for the consul Vibius himself.
In the last assembly before they set out for the war a man with the
so-called sacred disease[20] fell down while Vibius was speaking. Also a
bronze statue of him which stood at the porch of his house turned around
of itself on the day and at the hour that he started on the campaign, and
the sacrifices customary before war could not be interpreted by the seers
by reason of the quantity of blood. Likewise a man who was just then
bringing him a palm slipped in the blood which had been shed, fell, and
defiled the palm. These were the portents in his case. Now if they had
befallen him when a private citizen, they would have pertained to him
alone, but since he was consul they had a bearing on all alike. They
included the following incidents: the figure of the Mother of the Gods on
the Palatine formerly facing the east turned around of its own accord
to the west; that of Minerva held in honor near Mutina, where the most
fighting was going on, sent forth after this a quantity of blood and
milk; furthermore the consuls took their departure just before the Feriae
Latinae; and there is no case where this happened that the forces fared
well. So at this time, too, both the consuls and a vast multitude of the
people perished, some immediately and some later, and also many of the
knights and senators, including the most prominent. For in the first
place the battles, and in the second place the assassinations at home
which occurred again as in the Sullan regime, destroyed all the flower of
them except those actually concerned in the murders.

[-34-] Responsibility for these evils rested on the senators themselves.
For whereas they ought to have set at their head some one man of superior
judgment and to have cooeperated with him continuously, they failed to do
this, but made proteges of a few whom they strengthened against the
rest, and later undertook to overthrow these favorites as well, and
consequently they found no one a friend but all hostile. The comparative
attitude of men toward those who have injured them and toward their
benefactors is different, for they remember a grudge even against their
wills but willingly forget to be thankful. This is partly because they
disdain to appear to have been kindly treated by any persons, since
they will seem to be the weaker of the two, and partly because they are
irritated at the idea that they will be thought to have been injured by
anybody with impunity, since that will imply cowardice on their part.
So those senators by not taking up with some one person, but attaching
themselves to one and another in turn, and voting and doing now something
for them, now something against them, suffered much because of them
and much also at their hands. All the leaders had one purpose in the
war,--the abolition of the popular power and the setting up of a
sovereignty. Some were fighting to see whose slaves they should be, and
others to see who should be their master; and so both of them equally
wrought havoc, and each of them won glory according to fortune, which
varied. The successful warriors were deemed shrewd and patriotic, and the
defeated ones were called both enemies of their country and pestilential
fellows.

[-35-] This was the state that the Roman affairs had at that time
reached: I shall now go on to describe the separate events. There seems
to me to be a very large amount of self-instruction possible, when one
takes facts as the basis of his reasoning, investigates the nature of
the former by the latter, and then proves his reasoning true by its
correspondence with the facts.

The precise reason for Antony's besieging Decimus in Mutina was that
the latter would not give up Gaul to him, but he pretended that it was
because Decimus had been one of Caesar's assassins. For since the true
cause of the war brought him no credit, and at the same time he saw the
popular party flocking to Caesar to avenge his father, he put forward this
excuse for the conflict. That it was a mere pretext for getting control
of Gaul he himself made plain in demanding that Cassius and Marcus Brutus
be appointed consuls. Each of these two utterances, of the most opposite
character as they were, he made with an eye to his own advantage. Caesar
had begun a campaign against his rival before the war was granted him by
the vote, but had done nothing worthy of importance. When he learned
of the decrees passed he accepted the honors and was glad, especially
because when he was sacrificing at the time of receiving the distinction
and authority of praetor the livers of all the victims, twelve in number,
were found to be double. He was impatient, to be sure, at the fact that
envoys and proposals had been sent also to Antony, instead of unrelenting
war being declared against him at once, and most of all because he
ascertained that the consuls had forwarded some private despatch to his
rival about harmony, that when some letters sent by the latter to certain
senators had been captured these officials had handed them to the persons
addressed, concealing the transaction from him, and that they were not
carrying on the war zealously or promptly, making the winter their
excuse. However, as he had no means of making known these facts,--for he
did not wish to alienate them, and on the other hand he was unable to use
any persuasion or force,--he stayed quiet himself in winter quarters in
Forum Cornelium, until he became frightened about Decimus. [-36-] The
latter had previously been vigorously fighting Antony off. On one
occasion, suspecting that some men had been sent into the city by him
to corrupt the soldiers, he called all those present together and after
giving them a few hints proclaimed by herald that all the men under arms
should go to one side of a certain place that he pointed out and the
private citizens to the other side of it: in this way he detected and
arrested Antony's followers, who were isolated and did not know which way
to turn. Later he was entirely shut in by a wall; and Caesar, fearing he
might be captured by storm or capitulate through lack of provisions,
compelled Hirtius to join a relief party. Vibius was still in Rome
raising levies and abolishing the laws of Antony. Accordingly, they
started out and without a blow took possession of Bononia, which had been
abandoned by the garrisons, and routed the cavalry who later confronted
them: by reason of the river, however, near Mutina and the guard beside
it they found themselves unable to proceed farther. They wished,
notwithstanding, even so to make known their presence to Decimus, that
he might not in undue season make terms, and at first they tried sending
signals from the tallest trees. But since he did not understand, they
scratched a few words on a thin sheet of lead, and rolling it up like a
piece of paper gave it to a diver to carry across under water by night.
Thus Decimus learned at the same time of their presence and their promise
of assistance, and sent them a reply in the same fashion, after which
they continued uninterruptedly to communicate all their plans to each
other.

[-37-] Antony, therefore, seeing that Decimus was not inclined to yield,
left him to the charge of his brother Lucius, and himself proceeded
against Caesar and Hirtius. The two armies faced each other for a number
of days and a few insignificant cavalry battles occurred, with honors
even. Finally the Celtic cavalry, of whom Caesar had gained possession
along with the elephants, withdrew to Antony's side again. They had
started from the camp with the rest and had gone on ahead as if intending
to engage separately those of the enemy who came to meet them; but after
a little they turned about and unexpectedly attacked those following
behind (who did not stand their ground), killing many of them. After this
some foraging parties on both sides fell to blows and when the remainder
of each party came to the rescue a sharp battle ensued between the two
forces, in which Antony was victorious. Elated by his success and in
the knowledge that Vibius was approaching he assailed the antagonists'
fortification, thinking possibly to destroy it beforehand and make the
rest of the conflict easier. They, in consideration of their disaster and
the hope which Vibius inspired, kept guard but would not come out for
battle. Hence Antony left behind there a certain portion of his army with
orders to come to close quarters with them and so make it appear as much
as possible that he himself was there and at the same time to take
good care that no one should fall upon his rear. After issuing these
injunctions he set out secretly by night against Vibius, who was
approaching from Bononia. By an ambush he succeeded in wounding the
latter severely, in killing the majority of his soldiers and confining
the rest within their ramparts. He would have annihilated them, had
he proceeded to besiege them for any time at all. As it was, after
accomplishing nothing at the first assault he began to be alarmed lest
while he was delaying he should receive some setback from Caesar and the
rest; so he again turned against them. Wearied by the journey both ways
and by the battle he was also in doubt whether he should find that his
opponents had conquered the force hostile to them; and in this condition
he was confronted by Hirtius and suffered a decisive defeat. For when
Hirtius and Caesar perceived what was going on, the latter remained to
keep watch over the camp while the former set out against Antony. [-38-]
Upon the latter's defeat not only Hirtius was saluted as imperator by
the soldiers and by the senate, but likewise Vibius, though he had
fared badly, and Caesar who had done no fighting even. To those who had
participated in the conflict and had perished there was voted a public
burial, and it was resolved that the prizes of war which they had taken
while alive should be restored to their fathers and sons.

Following this official action Pontius Aquila, one of the assassins and
a lieutenant of Decimus, conquered in battle Titus Munatius Plancus, who
opposed him; and Decimus, when a certain senator deserted to Antony,
so far from displaying anger toward him sent back all his baggage and
whatever else he had left behind in Mutina, the result being that the
affection of many of Antony's soldiers grew cool, and some of the nations
which had previously sympathized with him proceeded to rebel: Caesar and
Hirtius, however, were elated at this, and approaching the fortifications
of Antony challenged him to combat; he for a time was alarmed and
remained quiet, but later when some reinforcements sent by Lepidus came
to him he took courage. Lepidus himself did not make it clear to which
of the two sides he sent the army: he thought well of Antony, who was a
relative, but had been summoned against him by the senate; and for these
reasons he made plans to have a refuge in store with both parties, by not
giving to Marcus Silanus, the commander, orders that were in the least
clear. But he, doubtless knowing well his master's frame of mind, went on
his own responsibility to Antony. [-39-] So when the latter had been thus
assisted he became bold and made a sudden sally from the gates: there was
great slaughter on both sides, but at last he turned and fled.

Up to this time Caesar was being strengthened by the people and the
senate, and because of this expected that among other honors to be
bestowed he would be forthwith appointed consul. It happened that Hirtius
perished in the occupation of Antony's camp and Vibius died of his wounds
not long after, so that Caesar was charged with having caused their death
that he might succeed to the office. But the senate had previously, while
it was still uncertain which of the two would prevail, done away with all
the privileges which formerly, granted to any person beyond the customs
of the forefathers, had paved the way to sovereignty: they voted that
this edict should apply to both parties, intending by it to anticipate
the victor, while laying the blame upon the other, who should be
defeated. First they forbade any one to hold office more than a year, and
second that any superintendent of grain supplies or commissioner of food
should be chosen. When they ascertained the outcome, they rejoiced at
Antony's defeat, changed their raiment once more, and celebrated a solemn
thanksgiving for sixty[21] days. All those arrayed on his side they held
in the light of enemies, and took possession of their property as they
did of the leader's. [-40-] Nor did they propose that Caesar any longer
should receive any great reward, but even undertook to overthrow him, by
allowing Decimus to secure all the prizes for which he was hoping. They
voted Decimus not only the right of sacrifice but a triumph and gave him
charge of the rest of the war and of the legions,--those of Vibius and
others. Upon the soldiers that had been besieged with him they resolved
that eulogies should be bestowed and all the other rewards which
had formerly been offered to Caesar's men, although these troops had
contributed nothing to the victory, but had merely beheld it from the
walls. Aquila, who had died in the battle, they honored with an image,
and restored to his heirs the money which he had expended from his own
purse for the equipment of Decimus's soldiers. In a word, practically
every advantage that had been given Caesar against Antony was voted to
others against the man himself. And to the end that no matter how much he
might wish it he should not be able to do any harm, they armed all his
enemies against him. To Sextus Pompey they entrusted the fleet, to Marcus
Brutus Macedonia, and to Cassius Syria together with the war against
Dolabella. They would certainly have further deprived him of the forces
that he had, but they were afraid to vote this openly, owing to their
knowledge that his soldiers were devoted to him. Still, even so, they
strove to set his followers at variance with one another and with him.
They did not wish to approve and honor all of them, for fear they should
fill them with too great conceit, nor again to dishonor and neglect all,
for fear they should alienate them the more and as a consequence force
them to agree together. Hence they adopted a middle course, and by
approving some of them and others not, by allowing some to wear an olive
garland at the festivals and others not, and furthermore by voting to
some money to the extent of twenty-five hundred denarii and to others
not a farthing, they hoped to bring about between them and by that means
weaken them. [-41-] Those charged with these commissions also they sent
not to Caesar but to the men in the field. He became enraged at this, but
nominally allowed the envoys to mix with the army without his presence,
though he sent word beforehand that no answer should be given and that
he himself should be at once sent for. So when he came into the camp and
joined them in listening to the despatches, he succeeded in conciliating
them much more by that very action. Those who had been preferred in honor
were not so delighted at this precedence as they were suspicious of the
affair, particularly as a result of Caesar's influence. And those who had
been slighted were not at all angry at their comrades, but added their
doubts of the sincerity of the decrees, imputing their dishonor to all
and sharing their anger with them. The people in the City, on learning
this, though frightened did not even so appoint him consul, for which he
was most anxious, but granted him the distinction of consular honors, so
that he might now record his vote along with the ex-consuls. When he took
no account of this, they voted that he should be made a praetor of the
first rank and subsequently also consul. In this way did they think they
had handled Caesar cleverly as if he were in reality a mere youth and
child, as they were always repeating. He, however, was exceedingly vexed
at their general behavior and especially at this very fact that he was
called child, and so made no further delay, but turned against their
camps and powers. With Antony he secretly arranged a truce, and he
assembled the men who had escaped from the battle, whom he himself had
conquered and the senate had voted to be enemies, and in their presence
made many accusations against both the senate and the people.

[-42-] The people in the City on hearing this for a time held him in
contempt, but when they heard that Antony and Lepidus had become of one
mind they began again to court his favor,--for they were in ignorance of
the propositions he had made to Antony,--and assigned to him charge of
the war against the two. Caesar was accordingly ready to accept even this
if he could be made consul for it. He was working in every way to be
elected, through Cicero among others, and so earnestly that he promised
to make him his colleague. When he was not even then chosen, he made
preparations, to be sure, to carry on war, as had been decreed, but
meanwhile arranged that his own soldiers (of their own motion, of course)
should suddenly take an oath not to fight against any legion that had
been Caesar's. This had a bearing on Lepidus and Antony, since the
majority of their adherents were of that class. So he waited and sent
as envoys to the senate on this business four hundred of the soldiers
themselves.

[-43-] This was the excuse that they had for an embassy, but in addition
they demanded the money that had been voted them and urged that Caesar be
appointed consul. While the senators were postponing their reply, which
required deliberation, as they said, they asked (naturally on the
instructions from Caesar) that amnesty be granted to some one who had
embraced Antony's cause. They were not really anxious to obtain it, but
wanted to test the senators and see if they would grant the request, or,
if such were not the issue, whether to pretend to be displeased about
it would serve as a starting point for indignation. They failed to
gain their petition, for while no one spoke against it there were many
preferring the same request on behalf of others and thus among a mass of
similar representations their demand also was rejected on some plausible
excuse. Then they openly showed their anger, and one of them issued from
the senate-chamber and grasping a sword (they had gone in unarmed) said:
"If you do not grant the consulship to Caesar, this shall grant it." And
Cicero interrupting him answered: "If you exhort in this way, he will get
it." Now for Cicero this instrument had destruction in readiness. Caesar
did not censure the soldier's act, but made a complaint because they had
been obliged to lay aside their arms on entering the senate and because
one of them was asked whether they had been sent by the legions or by
Caesar. He summoned in haste Antony and Lepidus (whom he had attached to
him through friendship for Antony), and he himself, pretending to have
been forced to such measures by his soldiers, set out with all of them
against Rome. [-44-] Some[22] of the knights and others who were present
they suspected were acting as spies and they consequently slew them,
besides injuring the lands of such as were not in accord with them and
doing much other damage with this excuse. The senators on ascertaining
their approach sent them their money before they came near, hoping that
when the invaders received that they might retire, and when they still
pressed on they appointed Caesar consul. Nothing, however, was gained by
this step. The soldiers were not at all grateful to them for what
they had done not willingly but under compulsion, but were even more
emboldened, in the idea that they had thoroughly frightened them.
Learning of this the senate altered its policy and bade the host not
approach the city but remain over one hundred and fifty stadia from
it. They themselves also changed their garb again and committed to
the praetors the care of the city, as had been the custom. And besides
garrisoning other points they occupied Janiculum in advance with the
soldiers that were at hand and with others from Africa.

[-45-] While Caesar was still on the march this was the condition of
things; and all the people who were at that time in Rome with one accord
sought a share in the proceedings, as the majority of men are wont to be
bold until they come in sight and have a taste of dangers. When, however,
he arrived in the suburbs, they were alarmed, and first some of the
senators, later many of the people, went over to his side. Thereupon
the praetors also came down from Janiculum and surrendered to him their
soldiers and themselves. Thus Caesar took possession of the city without a
blow and was appointed consul also by the people, though two proconsuls
were chosen to hold the elections; it was impossible, according to
precedent, for an interrex to be created for so short a period merely to
superintend the comitia, because many men who held the curule offices
were absent from the city. They endured having the two proconsuls named
by the praetor urbanus rather than to have the consuls elected under his
direction, because now these proconsular officials would limit their
activities to the elections and consequently would appear to have been
invested with no powers outlasting them.[23] This was of course done
under pressure of arms. Caesar, that he might appear to not to have used
any force upon them, did not enter the assembly,--as if it was his
presence that any one feared instead of his power.

[-46-] Thus he was chosen consul, and there was given him as a
fellow-official--perhaps one ought to say _under_-official--Quintus
Pedius. He was very proud of this fact that he was to be consul at an
earlier age than it had ever been the lot of any one else, and further
that on the first day of the elections, when he had entered the Campus
Martius, he saw six vultures, and later while haranguing the soldier
twelve others. For, comparing it with Romulus and the omen that had
befallen the latter, he began to expect that he should obtain his
sovereignty. He did not, however, simply on the ground that he had
already been given the distinction of the consular honors, assume
distinction as being consul for the second time. This custom was since
then observed in all similar cases to our own day. The emperor Severus
was the first to change it; for he honored Plautianus with the consular
honors and afterward introduced him to the senate and appointed him
consul, proclaiming that he was entering the consulship the second time.
In imitation of him the same thing was done in other instances. Caesar,
accordingly, arranged affairs in general in the city to suit his taste,
and gave money to the soldiers, to some what had been voted from the
funds prescribed, and to the rest individually from his private funds, as
the story went, but in reality from the public store.

In this way and for the reasons mentioned did the soldiers receive the
money on that occasion. But some of them got a wrong idea of the matter
and thought it was compulsory for absolutely all the citizen forces at
all times to be given the twenty-five hundred denarii, if they went to
Rome under arms. For this reason the followers of Severus who had come to
the city to overthrow Julianus behaved most terrifyingly both to their
leader himself and to us, while demanding it. And they were won over by
Severus with two hundred and fifty denarii, while people in general were
ignorant what claim was being set up.

[-47-] Caesar while giving the soldiers the money also expressed to them
his fullest and sincerest thanks. He did not even venture to enter
the senate-chamber without a guard of them. To the senate he showed
gratitude, but it was all fictitious and pretended. For he was accepting
as if it were a favor received from willing hands what he had attained
by violence. And they actually took great credit to themselves for their
behavior, as if they had given him the office voluntarily; and moreover
they granted to him whom previously they had not even wished to choose
consul the right after his term expired to be honored, as often as he
should be in camp, above all those who were consuls at one time or
another. To him on whom they had threatened to inflict penalties, because
he had gathered forces on his own responsibility without the passing of
any vote, they assigned the duty of collecting others: and to the man for
whose disenfranchisement and overthrow they had ordered Decimus to
fight with Antony they added Decimus's legions. Finally he obtained the
guardianship of the city, so that he was able to do everything that he
wished according to law, and he was adopted into Caesar's family in the
regular way, as a consequence changing his name. He had, as some think,
been even before this accustomed to call himself Caesar, as soon as this
name was bequeathed to him together with the inheritance. He was not,
however, exact about his title, nor did he use the same one in dealing
with everybody until at this time he had ratified it in accordance with
ancestral custom, and was thus named, after his famous predecessor, Gaius
Julius Caesar Octavianus. For it is the custom when a person is adopted
for him to take most of his appellation from his adopter but to keep one
of his previous names slightly altered in form. This is the status of the
matter, but I shall call him not Octavianus but Caesar, because this name
has prevailed among all such as secure dominion over the Romans. He took
another one in addition, namely _Augustus_, and therefore the subsequent
emperors assume it. That one will be given when it comes up in the
history, but until then the title Caesar will be sufficient to show that
Octavianus is indicated.

[-48-] This Caesar, then, as soon as he had conciliated the soldiers and
enslaved the senate, turned himself to avenging his father's murder. As
he was afraid of somehow causing an upheaval among the populace in the
pursuit of this business he did not make known his intention until he had
seen to the payment of the bequests made to them. When they had been made
docile by means of the money, although it belonged to the public funds
and had been collected on the pretext of war, then at length he began to
follow up the assassins. In order that this procedure of his might not
appear to be characterized by violence but by justice, he proposed a law
about their trial and tried the cases in their absence. The majority of
them were out of town and some even held governorships over provinces.
Those who were present also did not come forward, by reason of fear, and
withdrew unobserved. Consequently they were convicted by default, and
not only those who had been the actual murderers of Caesar and their
fellow-conspirators, but many others who so far from plotting against
Caesar, had not even been in the city at the time. This action was
directed chiefly against Sextus Pompey. The latter though he had had no
share whatever in the attack was nevertheless condemned because he had
been an enemy. Those adjudged guilty were debarred from fire and water
and their property was confiscated. The provinces,--not only those which
some of them were governing, but all the rest,--were committed to the
friends of Caesar.

[-49-] Among those held liable was also Publius Servilius Casca, the
tribune. He had suspected Caesar's purpose in advance, before he entered
the city, and had quietly slipped away. For this act he was at once
removed from his office, on the charge of having left the city contrary
to precedent, by the populace convened by his colleague Publius Titius;
and in this way he was condemned. When Titius not long after died, the
proverbial fate that had been observed from of old was once more in
evidence. No one up to that time who had expelled a colleague had lived
the year out: but first Brutus after the expulsion of Collatinus died in
his turn, then Gracchus was stabbed after expelling Octavius, and Cinna
who put Marullus and Flavus out of the way not long after perished. This
has been the general experience.

Now the assassins of Caesar had many accusers who were anxious to
ingratiate themselves with his son, and many who were persuaded so to
act by the rewards offered. They received money from the estate of the
convicted man and the latter's honors and office, if he had any, and
exemption from further service in the army, applicable to themselves
and their children and grandchildren. Of the jurors the majority voted
against the accused out of fear of Caesar and a wish to please him,
generally hinting that they were justified in doing this. Some cast their
votes in consideration of the law enacted about punishing the culprits,
and others in consideration of the arms of Caesar. And one, Silicius
Corona, a senator, voted outright to acquit Marcus Brutus. He made a
great boast of this at the time and secretly received approval from the
rest: that he was not immediately put to death gained for Caesar a great
reputation for toleration, but later he was executed as the result of a
proscription.

[-50-] After accomplishing this Caesar's next step was naturally a
campaign against Lepidus and Antony. Antony on fleeing from the battle
described had not been pursued by Caesar on account of the war being
entrusted to Decimus; and the latter had not pursued because he did not
wish a rival to Caesar to be removed from the field. Hence the fugitive
collected as many as he could of the survivors of the battle and came
to Lepidus, who had made preparations to march himself into Italy in
accordance with the decree, but had again been ordered to remain where he
was. For the senators, when they ascertained that Silanus had embraced
Antony's cause, were afraid that Lepidus and Lucius Plancus might also
cooeperate with him, and sent to them to say that they had no further need
of them. To prevent their suspecting anything ulterior and consequently
causing trouble they ordered them to help in building homes for the men
once driven out of Vienna (in Gallia Narbonensis) by the Allobroges
and then located between the Rhone and the Arar, at their confluence.
Therefore they submitted, and founded the so-called Lugudunum, now known
as Lugdunum. They might have entered Italy with their arms, had they
wished, for the decrees by this time exerted a very weak influence upon
such as had troops, but, with an eye to the outcome of the war Antony was
conducting, they wished to appear to have yielded obedience to the senate
and incidentally to strengthen their position. [-51-] Indeed, Lepidus
censured Silanus severely for making an alliance with Antony, and when
the latter himself came would not hold conversation with him immediately,
but sent a despatch to the senate containing an accusation of his own
against him, and for this stand he received praise and command of the
war against Antony. Hence the first part of the time he neither admitted
Antony nor repelled him, but allowed him to be near and to associate with
his followers; he would not, however, hold a conference with him. But
when he ascertained Antony's agreement with Caesar, he then came to terms
with both of them himself. Marcus Juventius,[24] his lieutenant, learned
what was being done and at first tried to alter his purpose; then, when
he did not succeed in persuading him, he made away with himself in the
sight of the soldiers. For this the senate voted eulogies and a statue to
Juventius and a public funeral, but Lepidus they deprived of his image
which stood upon the rostra and made him an enemy. They also set a
certain day for his comrades and threatened them with war if they should
not abandon him before that day. Furthermore they changed their
clothing again,--they had resumed citizen's apparel in honor of Caesar's
consulship,--and summoned Marcus Brutus and Cassius and Sextus to proceed
against them. When the latter seemed likely to be too slow in responding,
they committed the war to Caesar, being ignorant of the conspiracy
existing. [-52-] He nominally received it, in spite of having made
his soldiers give voice to a sentiment previously mentioned,[25] but
accomplished no corresponding results. This was not because he had
formed a compact with Antony and through him with Lepidus,--little he
cared for that fact,--but because he saw they were powerful and knew
their purposes were linked by the bands of kinship, and he could not use
force with them; and besides he cherished hopes of bringing about
through them the downfall of Cassius and Brutus, who were already very
influential, and subsequently of wearing them out one against the other.
Accordingly, even against his will he kept his covenant with them and
directed his efforts to effecting a reconciliation for them with the
senate and with the people. He did not himself propose the matter, lest
some suspicion of what had really taken place should arise, but he set
out as if to make war on them, while Quintus urged, as if it were his own
idea, that amnesty and restoration be granted them. He did not secure
this, however, until the senate had communicated it to the supposedly
ignorant Caesar and he had unwillingly agreed to it, compelled, as he
alleged, by the soldiers.

[-53-] While this was being done Decimus at first set forth in the
intention of making war upon the pair, and associated with him Lucius
Planeus, since the latter had been appointed in advance as his colleague
for the following year. Learning, however, of his own condemnation and of
their reconciliation he wished to lead a campaign against Caesar, but was
abandoned by Plancus who favored the cause of Lepidus and Antony. Then he
decided to leave Gaul and hasten into Macedonia on land through Illyricum
to Marcus Brutus, and sent ahead some of the soldiers while he was
engaged in finishing some business he had in hand. But they embraced
Caesar's cause, and the rest were pursued by Lepidus and Antony and then
were won over through the agency of others. So, being deserted, he was
seized by a personal foe. When he was about to be executed he complained
and lamented so loudly that one Helvius Blasio, who was kindly disposed
to him from association on campaigns, in his sight voluntarily slew
himself first.

[-54-] So Decimus afterward died also. Antony and Lepidus left
lieutenants in Gaul and themselves proceeded to join Caesar in Italy,
taking with them the larger and the better part of their armies. They did
not trust him very far and wished not to owe him any favor, but to seem
to have obtained amnesty and restoration on their own merits and by their
own strength, and not through him. They also hoped to become masters of
whatever they desired, of Caesar and the rest in the City, by the size
of their armies. With such a feeling they marched through the country,
according it friendly treatment. Still, it was damaged by their numbers
and audacity no less than if there had been a war. They were met near
Bononia by Caesar with many soldiers: he was exceedingly well prepared to
defend himself against them, if they should offer any violence. Yet at
this time he found no need of arms to oppose them. They really hated
one another bitterly, but because they had just about equal forces and
desired one another's assistance to take vengeance first on the rest of
their enemies, they entered upon a simulated agreement. [-55-] They came
together to confer, not alone but bringing an equal number of soldiers,
on a little island in the river that flows past Bononia, with the
understanding that no one else should be present on either side. First
they withdrew to a distance from the various followers and searched one
another carefully to make sure that no one had a dagger hidden under his
arm. Then they considered at leisure different points and in general made
a solemn compact for securing sovereignty and overthrowing enemies.
But to prevent its appearing that they were headed straight toward an
oligarchy and so envy and opposition arise on the part of the people at
large, the three were to be chosen in common as a kind of commissioners
and correctors for the administration and settlement of affairs. This
office was not to be perpetual, but for five years, under the general
proviso that they should manage all questions, whether they made any
communication about them to the people and the senate or not, and give
the offices and other honors to whomsoever they pleased. The private
arrangement, however, in order that they should not be thought to be
appropriating the entire sovereignty, was that both Libyas, Sardinia, and
Sicily should be given to Caesar, all of Spain and Gallia Narbonensis to
Lepidus, and the rest of Gaul south and north of the Alps to Antony to
rule. The former was called Gallia Togata, as I have said, because it
seemed to be more peaceful than the other divisions, and because the
dwellers there already employed Roman citizen-garb: the other was termed
Gallia Comata because the Gauls there mostly let their hair grow long,
and were in this way distinguished from the others. [-56-] So they made
these allotments, for the purpose of securing the strongest provinces
themselves and giving others the impression that they were not
striving for the whole. A further agreement was that they should cause
assassinations of their enemies, that Lepidus after being appointed
consul in Decimus's stead should keep guard over Rome and the remainder
of Italy, and that the others should make an expedition against Brutus
and Cassius. They also pledged themselves to this course by oath. After
this, in order to let the soldiers hear and be witnesses of the terms
they had made, they called them together and made known to them in
advance all that it was proper and safe to tell them. Meanwhile the
soldiers of Antony, of course at the latter's direction, committed to
Caesar's charge the daughter of Fulvia (Antony's wife), whom she had
by Clodius,--and this in spite of Caesar's being already betrothed to
another. He, however, did not refuse her; for he did not think this
inter-marriage would hinder him at all in the designs which he had
against Antony. Among other points for his reflection was his knowledge
that his father Caesar had not failed to carry out all of his plans
against Pompey, in spite of the relationship between the two.




DIO'S

ROMAN HISTORY

47

The following is contained in the Forty-seventh of Dio's Rome:

How Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus came to Rome and instituted a reign of
slaughter (chapters 1-19).

About Brutus and Cassius and what they did before the battle of Philippi
(chapters 20-36).

How Brutus and Cassius were defeated by Caesar and perished (chapters
37-49).

Duration of time, the remainder of the consulship of Gaius Vibius Pansa
and Aulus Hirtius, together with one additional year, in which there were
the following magistrates here enumerated:

M. Aemilius M.F. Lepidus cos. (II), L. Munatius L.F. Plancus. (B.C. 42 =
a. u. 712.)


(_BOOK 47, BOISSEVAIN._)


[B.C. 43 (_a. u._ 711)]

[-1-] After forming these compacts and taking mutual oaths they hastened
to Rome under the assumption that they were all going to rule on equal
terms, but each one had the intention of getting the entire power
himself. Yet they had learned in advance very clearly before this, but
most plainly at this time, what would be the future. In the case of
Lepidus a serpent coiled about a centurion's sword and a wolf that
entered his camp and his tent while he was eating dinner and knocked
down the table indicated at once power and disappointment as a result of
power: in that of Antony milk flowing about the ramparts and a kind of
chant echoing about at night signified gladness of heart and destruction
succeeding it. These portents befell them before they entered Italy. In
Caesar's case at the very time after the covenant had been made an eagle
settled upon his tent and killed two crows that attacked it and tried to
pluck out its feathers,--a sign which granted him victory over his two
rivals.

[-2-] So they came to Rome, first Caesar, then the others, each one
separately, with all their soldiers, and immediately through the tribunes
enacted such laws as pleased them. The orders they gave and force that
they used thus acquired the name of law and furthermore brought them
supplications; for they required to be besought earnestly when they were
to pass any measures. Consequently sacrifices were voted for them as
if for good fortune and the people changed their attire as if they had
secured prosperity, although they were considerably terrified by the
transactions and still more by omens. For the standards of the army
guarding the city were covered with spiders, and weapons were seen
reaching up from earth to heaven while a great din resounded from them,
and in the shrines of Aesculapius bees gathered in numbers on the roof and
crowds of vultures settled on the temple of the Genius Populi and on that
of Concord. [-3-] And while these conditions still remained practically
unchanged, those murders by proscription which Sulla had once caused were
put into effect and the whole city was filled with corpses. Many were
killed in their houses, many in the streets, and scattered about in the
fora and near the temples: the heads of such were once more attached to
the rostra and their trunks flung out to be devoured by the dogs and
birds or cast into the river. Everything that had been done before in
the days of Sulla found a counterpart at this time, except that only two
white tablets were posted, one for the senators and one for the rest. The
reason for this I have not been able to learn from any one else nor to
find out myself. The cause which one might have imagined, that fewer were
put to death, is least of all true: for many more names were listed,
because there were more leaders concerned. In this respect, then, the
case differed from the murders that had earlier taken place: but that the
names of those prominent were not posted with the rabble, but separately,
appeared very nonsensical to the men who were to be murdered in the same
way. Besides this no few other very unpleasant conditions fell to their
lot, although the former regime, one would have said, had left nothing to
be surpassed. [-4-] But in Sulla's time those guilty of such murderous
measures had some excuse in their very hardihood: they were trying the
method for the first time, and not with set intentions; hence in most
cases they behaved less maliciously, since they were acting not according
to definite plans but as chance dictated. And the victims, succumbing
to sudden and unheard of catastrophes, found some alleviation in the
unexpectedness of their experience. At this time, on the other hand,
they were executing in person or beholding or at least understanding
thoroughly by fresh descriptions merely deeds that had been dared before;
in the intervals, expecting a recurrence of similar acts, some were
inventing various new methods to employ, and others were becoming
afflicted by new fears that they too should suffer. The perpetrators
resorted to most unusual devices in their emulation of the outrages of
yore and their consequent eagerness to add, through the resources of art,
novel features to their attempts. The others reflected on all that they
might suffer and hence even before their bodies were harmed their spirits
were thoroughly on the rack, as if they were already undergoing the
trial. [-5-] Another reason for their faring worse on this occasion than
before was that previously only Sulla's own enemies and the foes of the
leaders associated with him were destroyed: among his friends and the
people in general no one perished at his bidding; so that except the very
wealthy,--and these can never be at peace with the stronger element
at such a time,--the remainder took courage. In this second series of
assassinations, however, not only the men's enemies or the rich were
being killed, but also their best friends and quite without looking for
it. On the whole it may be said that almost nobody had incurred the
enmity of those men from any private cause that should account for
his being slain by them. Politics and compromises regarding posts of
authority had created both their friendships and their violent hatreds.
All those that had aided or assisted one of the group in any way the
others held in the light of an enemy. So it came about that the same
persons had become friends to some one of them, and enemies to the entire
body, so that while each was privately quelling his antagonists, they
destroyed the dearest friends of all in general. In the course of their
joint negotiations[26] they made a kind of account of who was on their
side and who was opposed, and no one was allowed to take vengeance on one
of his own enemies who was a friend of another without giving up some
friend in his turn: and because of their anger over what was past and
their suspicion of the future they cared nothing about the preservation
of an associate in comparison with vengeance on an adversary, and so gave
them up without much protest. [-6-] Thus they offered one another staunch
friends for bitter enemies and implacable foes for close comrades; and
sometimes they exchanged even numbers, at others several for one or fewer
for more, altogether carrying on the transactions as if at a market, and
overbidding one another as at an auction room. If some one was found just
equivalent to another and the two were ranked alike, the exchange was a
simple one; but all whose value was raised by some excellence or esteem
or relationship could be despatched only in return for several. As there
had been civil wars, lasting a long time and embracing many events, not
a few men during the turmoil had come into collision with their nearest
relatives. Indeed, Lucius Caesar, Antony's uncle, had become his enemy,
and Lepidus's brother, Lucius Paulus, hostile to him. The lives of these
were saved, but many of the rest were slaughtered even in the houses of
their very friends and relatives, from whom they especially expected
protection and honor. And in order that no person should feel less
inclined to kill any one out of fear of being deprived of the rewards
(remembering that in the time of Sulla Marcus Cato, who was quaestor, had
demanded of some of the murderers all they had received for their
work), they proclaimed that the name of no proscribed person should be
registered in the public records. On this account they slew ordinary
citizens more readily and made away with the prosperous, even though they
had no dislike for a single one of them. For since they stood in need
of vast sums of money and had no other source from which to satisfy the
desire of their soldiers, they affected a kind of common enmity against
the rich. Among the other transgressions they committed in the line of
this policy was to declare a mere child of age, so that they might kill
him as already exercising the privileges of a man.

[-7-] Most of this was done by Lepidus and Antony. They had been honored
by the former Caesar for a very long time and as they had been in office
and holding governorships most of the period they had many enemies. It
appeared as if Caesar had a part in the business merely because of his
sharing the authority, for he himself was not at all anxious to kill any
large number. He was not naturally cruel and had been brought up in
his father's ways. Moreover, as he was young and had just entered the
political arena, there was no inevitable necessity for his bitterly
hating many persons, and he wished to have people's affection. This is
indicated by the fact that from the time he broke off his joint rulership
with his colleagues and held the power alone he did nothing of the sort.
And at this time he not only refrained from destroying many but preserved
a large number. Those also who betrayed their masters or friends he
treated most harshly and those who helped anybody most leniently. An
instance of it occurs in the case of Tanusia, a woman of note. She
concealed her husband Titus Vinius, who was proscribed, at first in a
chest at the house of a freedman named Philopoemen[27] and so made it
appear that he had been killed. Later she waited for a national festival,
which a relative of hers was to direct, and through the influence of his
sister Octavia brought it about that Caesar alone of the three entered the
theatre. Then she sprang up and informed him of the deception, of which
he was still ignorant, brought in the very chest and led from it her
husband. Caesar, astonished, released all of them (death being the penalty
also for such as concealed any one) and enrolled Philopoemen among the
knights.

[-8-] He, then, saved the lives of as many as he could. Lepidus allowed
his brother Paulus to escape to Miletus and toward others was not
inexorable. But Antony killed savagely and relentlessly not only those
whose names had been posted, but likewise those who had attempted to
assist any of them. He had their heads in view when he happened to be
eating and sated himself to the fullest extent on this most unholy and
pitiable sight. Fulvia also put to death many herself both by reason of
enmity and on account of their money, and some with whom her husband was
not acquainted. When he saw the head of one man, he exclaimed: "I didn't
know about him!" Cicero's head also being brought to them (he had been
overtaken and slain while trying to flee), Antony uttered many bitter
reproaches against him and then ordered it to be exposed on the rostra
more prominently than the rest, in order that he might be seen in the
place from which he used to be heard inveighing against him,--together
with his right hand, just as it had been cut off. Before it was taken
away Fulvia took it in her hands and after abusing it spitefully and
spitting upon it, set it on her knees, opened the mouth, and pulled out
the tongue, which she pierced with the brooches that she used for her
hair, at the same time uttering many brutal jests. Yet even this pair
saved some persons from whom they got more money than they could expect
to obtain by their death. But in order that the places for their names
on the tablets might not be empty, they inscribed others in their stead.
Except that Antony did release his uncle at the earnest entreaty of his
mother Julia he performed no other praiseworthy act.

[-9-] For these causes the murders had great variety of detail, and the
rescues that fell to the lot of some were of many kinds. Numbers were
ruined by their most intimate friends, and numbers were saved by their
most inveterate foes. Some slew themselves and others were given freedom
by the very pursuers, who approached as if to murder them. Some who
betrayed masters or friends were punished and others were honored for
this very reason: of those who helped others to survive some paid the
penalty and others received rewards. Since there was not one man but
three, who were acting in all cases each according to his own desire and
for his private advantage, and since the same persons were not enemies or
friends of the whole group, since, also, two of them might be anxious for
some one to be saved whom the third wished to destroy, or for some one
to perish whom the third wished to survive, many complicated situations
resulted, according as they felt good-will or hatred toward any one.
[-10-] I, accordingly, shall omit an accurate and detailed description of
all the events,--it would be a vast undertaking and would not add much
to the history,--but shall relate what I deem to be most worthy of
remembrance. Here is one.

A slave had hidden his master in a cave, and then, when even so through
another's information he was likely to perish, this slave changed clothes
with him and wearing his master's apparel confronted the pursuers as the
man himself and was slain. So they were turned aside, thinking they had
despatched the desired man, but he when they had departed made his escape
to some other place.

Or a second. Another slave had likewise changed his entire accoutrement
with his master, and entered a covered litter which he made the other
help to carry. When they were overtaken the one in the litter was killed
without being even looked at, and the master, as a baggage-carrier,
was saved. Those services were rendered by those servants to their
benefactors in return for some kindness previously received.

There was also a branded runaway who so far from betraying the man who
had branded him very willingly preserved him. He was detected in carrying
him away and was being pursued, when he killed somebody who met him by
chance and gave the latter's clothes to his master. Having then placed
him upon a pyre he himself took his master's clothing and ring and going
to meet the pursuers pretended that he had killed the man while fleeing.
Because of his spoils and the marks of the branding he was believed and
both saved the person in question and was himself honored.

The names connected with the above anecdotes have not been preserved.
But in the case of Hosidius Greta his son arranged a funeral for him as
though already dead and preserved him in that way. Quintus Cicero, the
brother of Marcus, was secretly led away by his child and saved, so far
as his rescuer's responsibility went. The boy concealed his father so
well that he could not be discovered and when tormented for it by all
kinds of torture did not utter a syllable. His father, learning what was
being done, was filled at once with admiration and pity for the boy,
and therefore came voluntarily to view and surrendered himself to the
slayers.

[-11-] This gives an idea of the greatness of the manifest achievements
of virtue and piety at the time. It was Popillius Laenas who killed
Marcus Cicero, in spite of the latter's having done him favors as his
advocate; and in order that he might depend not wholly on hearsay but
also on the sense of sight to establish himself as the murderer of the
orator, he set up an image of himself wearing a crown beside his victim's
head, with an inscription that gave his name and the service rendered. By
this act he pleased Antony so much that he secured more than the price
offered. Marcus Terentius Varro was a man who had given no offence, but
as his appellation was identical with that of one of the proscribed,
except for one name, he was afraid that, this might lead him to suffer
such a fate as did Cinna. Therefore he issued a statement making known
this fact; he was tribune at the time. For this he became the subject of
much idle amusement and laughter. The uncertainty of life, however, was
evidenced by the very fact that Lucius Philuscius, who had previously
been proscribed by Sulla and had escaped, had his name now inscribed
again on the tablet and perished, whereas Marcus Valerius Messala,
condemned to death by Antony, not only continued to live in safety but
was later appointed consul in place of Antony himself. Thus many survive
from inextricable difficulties and no fewer are ruined through a spirit
of confidence. Hence a man ought not to be alarmed to the point of
hopelessness by the calamities of the moment, nor to be elated to
heedlessness by temporary exultation, but by placing his hope of the
future half-way between both to make reliable calculations for either
event. [-12-] This is the way it befell at that time: very many of those
not proscribed were involved in the downfall of others on account of
spite or money, and very many whose names were proclaimed not only
survived but returned to their homes again, and some of them even held
offices. They had a refuge, of course, with Brutus and Cassius and
Sextus, and the majority directed their flight toward the last mentioned.
He had been chosen formerly to command the fleet and had held sway for
some time on the sea, so that he had surrounded himself with a force of
his own, though he was afterward deprived of his office by Caesar. He had
occupied Sicily, and then, when the order of proscription was passed
against him, too, a host of assassinations took place, he aided greatly
those who were in like condition. Anchoring near the coast of Italy he
sent word to Rome and to the other cities offering among other things to
those who saved anybody double the reward advertised for murdering the
same and promising to the men themselves a reception and assistance and
money and honors. [-13-] Therefore great numbers came to him. I have
not even now recorded the precise total of those who were proscribed or
slaughtered or who escaped, because many names originally inscribed on
the tablets were erased and many were later inscribed in their place, and
of these not a few were saved while many outside of these succumbed.
It was not even allowed anybody to mourn for the victims, but several
perished from this cause also. And finally, when the calamities broke
through all the pretence they could assume and no one even of the most
stout-hearted could any longer wear an air of indifference to them, but
in all their work and conversation their countenances were overcast and
they were not intending to celebrate the usual festival at the beginning
of the year, they were ordered by a public notice to appear in good
spirits, on pain of death if they should refuse to obey. So they were
forced to rejoice over the common evils as over blessings. Yet why need I
have mentioned it, when they voted to those men (the triumvirs, I mean)
civic crowns and other distinctions as to benefactors and saviors of
the State? They did not think of being held to blame because they were
killing a few, but wished to receive additional praise for not putting
more out of the way. And to the populace they once openly stated that
they had emulated neither the cruelty of Marius and Sulla so as to incur
hatred, nor the mildness of Caesar so as to be despised and as a result
become objects of a conspiracy.

[-14-] Such were the conditions of the murders; but many other unusual
proceedings took place in regard to the property of persons left alive.
They actually announced, as if they were just and humane rulers, that
they would give to the widows of the slain their dowries, to the male
children a tenth, and to the female children a twentieth of the property
of each one's father. This was not, however, granted save in a few
cases: of the rest all the possessions without exception were ruthlessly
plundered. In the first place they levied upon all the houses in the City
and those in the rest of Italy a yearly rent, which was the entire amount
from dwellings which people had let, and half from such as they occupied
themselves, with reference to the value of the domicile. Again, from
those who had lands they took away half of the proceeds. Besides, they
had the soldiers get their support free from the cities in which they
were wintering, and distributed them to various rural districts,
pretending that they were sent to take charge of confiscated territory
or that of persons who still opposed them. For this last class they had
termed likewise enemies because they had not changed their attitude
before the appointed day. So that the whole country outside the towns was
also pillaged. The autocrats allowed the soldiers to do this to the end
that, having their pay before the work, they might devote all their
energy to their commanders' interests, and promised to give them cities
and lands: And with this in view they further assigned to them persons to
divide the land and settle them. The mass of the soldiers was made loyal
by this course: of the more prominent they tempted some with the goods of
those that had been despatched by lowering the price on certain articles
and granting others to them free, and others they honored with the
offices and priesthoods of the victims. The commanders, to make sure that
they themselves should get the finest both of lands and buildings and
give their followers what they pleased, gave notice that no one else
should frequent the auction room unless he wanted to buy something:
whoever did so should die. And they handled bona fide purchasers in such
a way that the latter discovered nothing and paid the very highest price
for what they wanted, and consequently had no desire to buy again.

[-15-] This was the course followed in regard to possessions. As to the
offices and priesthoods of such as had been put to death they distributed
them not in the fashion prescribed by law but however it suited them.
Caesar resigned the office of consul, giving up willingly that which he
had so desired as to make war for it, and his colleague gave up his
place, whereupon they appointed Publius Ventidius, though praetor, and one
other; and to the former's praetorship they promoted one of the aediles.
Afterward they removed all the praetors (who held office five days longer
than Ventidius) and sent them to be governors of the provinces, while
they installed others in their places. Some laws were abolished and
others introduced instead.

And, in brief, they ordered everything else
just as seemed good to them. They did not, to be sure, lay claim to
titles which were offensive and had been therefore done away with, but
they managed matters according to their own wish and desire, so that
Caesar's sovereignty by comparison appeared all gold.

[B.C. 42 (_a. u_. 712)]

In addition to transacting that year the business mentioned, they voted a
temple to Serapis and Isis. [-16-] When Marcus Lepidus and Lucius Plancus
became consuls tablets were again exposed, not bringing death to any
one any longer, but defrauding the living of their property. They were
collecting funds because they were in need of more money, due to the fact
that they owed large sums to large numbers of soldiers, were expending
considerable on works undertaken by the latter, and thought they should
lay out far more still on wars in prospect. The fact that those taxes
which had been formerly abrogated were now again put in force or
established on a new basis, and the institution of joint contributions,
many of which kept being levied on the land and on the servants,
displeased people moderately, it can not be denied. But to have those who
were in the slightest degree still prosperous, not only of the senators
or knights but even among the freedmen, and men and women alike,
bulletined on the tablets and another tenth of their wealth confiscated
disturbed all beyond measure. For it was only nominally that a tenth of
his property was exacted from each one: in reality not so much as a tenth
was left. They were not ordered to contribute a stated amount according
to the value of their possessions, but they had the duty of estimating
their own goods and then, being accused of not having made a fair
estimate, they lost the rest besides.

[-17-] If any still escaped this somehow, yet they were brought into
straits by the assessments, and as they were terribly destitute of money
they too were in a way deprived of everything. Moreover, the following
device, distressing to hear but most distressing in practice, was put
into operation. Whoever of them wished was allowed by abandoning his
property afterward to make a requisition for one-third of it, which meant
getting nothing and also having trouble. For when they were being
openly and violently despoiled of two-thirds, how should they get back
one-third, especially since goods were being sold for an infinitesimal
price? In the first place, since many wares were being advertised for
sale at once and the majority of men were without gold or silver, and the
rest did not dare to buy because it would look as if they had something
and they would place in jeopardy the remnant of their wealth, the prices
were relaxed: in the second place, everything was sold to the soldiers
far below its value. Hence no one of the private citizens saved anything
worth mentioning. In addition to other drains they surrendered servants
for the fleet, buying them if they had none, and the senators repaired
the roads at their individual expense. Only those who wielded arms
enjoyed superlative wealth. _They_, to be sure, were not satisfied with
their pay, though it was in full, nor with their outside perquisites,
though of vast extent, nor with the very large prizes bestowed for the
murders, nor with the acquisition of lands, which was made almost without
cost to them. But in addition some would ask for and receive all the
property of the dying, and others still forced their way into the
families of such as were old and childless. To such an extent were they
filled with greed and shamelessness that one man asked from Caesar himself
the property of Attia, Caesar's mother, who had died at the time and had
been honored by a public burial.

[-18-] While these three men were behaving in this wise, they were also
magnifying the former Caesar to the greatest degree. As they were all
aiming at sole supremacy and were all striving for it, they vindictively
pursued the remainder of the assassins, apparently in the idea that they
were preparing from afar immunity for themselves in what they were doing,
and safety; and everything which tended to his honor they readily took
up, in expectation of some day being themselves deemed worthy of similar
distinctions: for this reason they glorified him by the decrees which had
been passed, and by others which they now added to them. On the first day
of the year they themselves took an oath and made others swear that they
would consider binding all his acts; this action is still taken in the
case of all officials who successively hold power, or again of those
who lived in his era, and have not been dishonored. They also laid the
foundation of a hero-shrine in the Forum, on the spot where he had been
burned, and escorted a kind of image of him at the horse-races together
with a second statue of Venus. In case news of a victory came from
anywhere they assigned the honor of a thanksgiving to the victor by
himself and to Caesar, though dead, by himself. They compelled everybody
to celebrate his birthday wearing laurel and in good spirits, passing
a law that all others, neglected it, were accursed before Jupiter and
before him while any senators or their sons should forfeit twenty-five
myriads of denarii. Now it happened that the Ludi Apollinares fell on the
same day, and they therefore voted that his natal feast should be held
on the previous day,[28] because (they said) there was an oracle of the
Sibyl forbidding a festival to be celebrated during that twenty-four
hours to any god except Apollo. [-19-] Besides granting him these
privileges they regarded the day on which he had been murdered (on which
there was always a regular meeting of the senate) as a dies nefas. The
room in which he had been murdered they closed immediately and later
transformed it into a privy. They also built the Curia Julia, called
after him, next to the so-named Comitium, as had been voted. Besides,
they forbade any likeness of him, because he was in very truth a god, to
be carried at the funerals of his relatives, which ancient custom was
still being observed. And they enacted that no one who took refuge in his
shrine to secure immunity should be banished or stripped of his goods,--a
right given to no one of the gods even, save to such as had a place in
the days of Romulus. Yet after men began to gather there the place had
inviolability in name without its effects; for it was so fenced about
that no one at all could any longer enter it.

In addition to those gifts to Caesar they allowed the vestal virgins to
employ one lictor each, because one of them had been insulted, owing to
not being recognized, while returning home from dinner toward evening.
The offices in the City they assigned for a greater number of years in
advance, thus at the same time giving honor through the expected offices
to those fitted for them and retaining a grasp on affairs for a longer
time by means of those who were to hold sway.

[-20-] When this had been accomplished, Lepidus remained there, as I have
said, to take up the administration of the City and of the rest of Italy,
and Caesar and Antony started on their campaign. Brutus and Cassius had at
first, after the compact made by them with Antony and the rest, gone
into the Forum and discharged the activities of praetorship with the same
diligence as before.

[B.C. 44 (_a. u._ 710)]

But when some began to be displeased at the killing of Caesar, they
withdrew, pretending to be in haste to reach the governorships abroad to
which they had been appointed. Cassius, who was praetor urbanus,[29] had
not yet finished his duties in connection with the Ludi Apollinares.
However, though absent he accomplished that task most brilliantly through
the medium of his fellow-praetor Antony, and did not himself sail away
from Italy at once, but lingered with Brutus in Campania, to watch the
course of events. And in their capacity as praetors they sent a certain
number of letters to Rome to the people, until such time as Caesar
Octavianus began to aspire to public position and to win the affections
of the populace. Then, in despair of the republic and fear of him, they
set sail. The Athenians gave them a splendid reception; for though they
were indeed honored by nearly everybody else for what they had done, the
inhabitants of this city voted them bronze images beside that of
Harmodius and that of Aristogeiton, as having emulated them. [-21-]
Meanwhile, learning that Caesar was making progress they neglected the
Cretans and Bithynians, to whom they were directing their course, for
among them they saw no aid forthcoming worthy the name: but they turned
to Syria and to Macedonia, which did not, to be sure, appertain to them
in the least, because they were teeming with money and troops for
the occasion. Cassius proceeded to the Syrian country, because its
inhabitants were acquainted with him and friendly as a result of his
campaign with Crassus, while Brutus united Greece and Macedonia. The
inhabitants would have followed him anywhere because of the glory of his
deeds and in the hope of similar achievements, and they were further
influenced by the fact that he had acquired numerous soldiers, some
survivors of the battle of Pharsalus, who were still at this time
wandering about in that region, and others who either by reason of
disease or because of want of discipline had been left behind from the
contingent that took the field with Dolabella. Money came to him, too,
from Trebonius in Asia. So without the least effort, perhaps because it
contained no force worth mentioning, he by this means gained the country
of Greece. He reached Macedonia at the time that Gaius Antonius had just
arrived and Quintus Hortensius, who had governed it previously, was about
to lay down his office. However, he experienced no trouble. The departing
official embraced his cause at once, and Antonius was weak, being
hindered by Caesar's supremacy in Rome from performing any of the duties
belonging to his office. The neighboring territory of Illyricum was
governed by Vatinius, who came thence to Dyrrachium and occupied it in
advance. He was a political adversary of Brutus, but could not injure him
at all, for his soldiers, who disliked him and furthermore despised him
by reason of a disease, went over to the other side.

[B.C. 43 (_a. u_. 711)]

Brutus, taking charge of these, led an expedition against Antonius, who
was in Apollonia: the latter came out to meet him, whereupon Brutus won
over his soldiers and confined him within the walls, whither he fled
before him. After this Antonius was by betrayal taken alive, but no harm
was done to him. [-22-] Close upon this success the victor acquired all
of Macedonia and Epirus, and then despatched a letter to the senate,
stating what had been accomplished, and placing himself, the provinces,
and the soldiers at its disposal. The senators, who by chance already
felt suspicious of Caesar, praised him strongly and bade him govern all
that region. When, then, he had confirmed his leadership by the decree,
he himself felt more encouraged and he found his subjects ready to
support him unreservedly. For a time he communicated with Caesar, when the
latter appeared to be hostile to Antony, urging him to resist his enemy
and be reconciled with him (Brutus), and he was making preparations to
sail to Italy because the senate summoned him. After Caesar, however,
had matters thoroughly in hand in Rome, and proceeded openly to take
vengeance on his father's slayers, Brutus remained where he was,
deliberating how he should successfully ward off the other's attack when
it occurred: and besides managing admirably the other districts as well
as Macedonia, he calmed the minds of his legions when they had been
thrown into a state of discontent by Antonius. [-23-] For the latter,
although his conqueror had not even deprived him of a praetor's
perquisites, did not enjoy keeping quiet in safety and honor, but
connived at a revolt among the soldiers of Brutus. Being discovered at
this work before he had done any great harm, he was stripped of his
praetor's insignia, and delivered to be guarded without confinement that
he might not cause an uprising. Yet not even then did he remain quiet,
but concocted more schemes of rebellion than ever, so that some of the
soldiers came to blows with one another and others started for Apollonia
after Antonius himself, in the intention of rescuing him. This, however,
they were unable to do: Brutus had learned in advance from some
intercepted letters what was to be done and by putting him into an
enclosed chair got him out of the way on the pretence that he was moving
a sick man. The soldiers, not being able to find the object of their
search, in fear of Brutus seized a point of high ground commanding the
city. Brutus induced them to come to an understanding, and by executing a
few of the most audacious and dismissing others from his service he set
matters in such a light that the men arrested and killed those sent away,
on the ground that they were most responsible for the sedition, and asked
for the surrender of the quaestor and the lieutenants of Antonius. [-24-]
Brutus did not give up any of the latter, but put them aboard boats with
the avowed intention of drowning them, and so conveyed them to safety.
Fearing, however, that when they should hear the next news of more
terrifying transactions in Rome they might change their attitude, he
delivered Antonius to a certain Gaius Clodius to guard, and left him at
Apollonia. Meanwhile Brutus himself took the largest and strongest part
of the army and retired into upper Macedonia, whence he later sailed to
Asia, to the end that he might remove his men as far as possible from
Italy and support them on the subject territory there. Among other allies
whom he won over at this time was Deiotarus, although he was of a great
age and had refused assistance to Cassius. While he was delaying here a
plot was formed against him by Gellius Poplicola, and Mark Antony sent
some men to attempt to rescue his brother. Clodius, accordingly, as
he could not guard his prisoner safely, killed him, either on his own
responsibility, or according to instructions from Brutus. For the story
is that at first the latter made his safety of supreme importance, but
later, learning that Decimus had perished, cared nothing more about it.
Gellius was detected, but suffered no punishment. Brutus released him
because he had always held him to be among his best friends and knew that
his brother, Marcus Messala, was on very close terms with Cassius. The
man had also attacked Cassius, but had suffered no evil in that case,
either. The reason was that his mother Polla learned of the plot in
advance, and being very fearful lest Cassius should be overtaken by his
fate (for she was very fond of him) and lest her son should be detected,
voluntarily informed Cassius of the plot herself beforehand, and received
the preservation of her son as a reward. His easy escapes, however, did
not improve him at all, and he deserted his benefactors to join Caesar
and Antony. [-25-] As soon as Brutus learned of the attempt of Mark
Antony and of the killing of his brother, he feared that some other
insurrection might take place in Macedonia during his absence, and
immediately hastened to Europe. On the way he took charge of the
territory which had belonged to Sadalus (who died childless and left it
to the Romans), and invaded the country of the Bessi, to see if he could
at the same time recompense them for the trouble they were causing and
surround himself with the name and reputation of imperator, which would
enable him to fight more easily against Caesar and Antony. Both projects
he accomplished, being chiefly aided by Rhascuporis, a certain prince.
After going thence into Macedonia and making himself master of everything
there, he withdrew again into Asia.

[B.C. 44 (_a. u_. 710)]

[-26-] Brutus besides doing this had stamped upon the coins which were
being minted his own likeness and a helmet and two daggers, indicating by
this and by the inscription that in company with Cassius he had liberated
his country. At that same period Cassius had crossed over to Trebonius in
Asia ahead of Dolabella, and after securing money from him and a number
of the cavalry whom Dolabella had sent before him into Syria attached
to his cause many others of the Asiatics and Cilicians. As a result he
brought Tarcondimotus[30] and the people of Tarsus into the alliance,
though they were reluctant. For the Tarsians were so devoted to the
former Caesar (and out of regard for him to the second also) that they
had changed the name of their city to Juliopolis after him. This done,
Cassius went to Syria, and without striking a blow assumed entire
direction of the nations and the legions.

[B.C. 43 (_a. u_. 710)]

The situation in Syria at that time was this. Caecilius Bassus, a knight,
who had made the campaign with Pompey and in the retreat had arrived
at Tyre, continued to spend his time there, incognito. On 'Change. Now
Sextus was governing the Syrians, for Caesar, since he was quaestor and
also a relative of his, had entrusted to his care all Roman interests
in that quarter on the occasion of his own march from Egypt against
Pharnaces. So Bassus at first remained quiet, satisfied to be allowed to
live: when, however, some similar persons had associated themselves with
him and he had attracted to his enterprise various soldiers of Sextus
who at various times came there to garrison the city, and likewise many
alarming reports kept coming in from Africa about Caesar, he was no longer
pleased with existing circumstances but raised a rebellion, his aim being
either to help the followers of Scipio and Cato and the Pompeians or to
clothe himself in some authority. Sextus discovered him before he had
finished his preparations, but he explained that he was collecting this
body as an auxiliary force for Mithridates of Pergamum against Bosporus;
his story was believed, and he was released. So after this he forged an
epistle, which he pretended had been sent to him by Scipio, in which he
announced that Caesar had been defeated and had perished in Africa and
stated that the governorship of Syria had been assigned to him. His next
step was to use the forces he had in readiness for occupying Tyre and
from there he approached the camp of Sextus. In the attack on the latter
which followed Bassus was defeated and wounded. Consequently, after this
experience, he no longer employed violent tactics, but sent messages to
his opponent's soldiers, and in some way or other so prevailed over some
of them that they took upon themselves the murder of Sextus.

[-27-] The latter out of the way the usurper gained possession of all his
army except some few. The soldiers wintering in Apamea withdrew before
he reached them toward Cilicia, and were pursued but were not won over.
Bassus returned to Syria, where he was named commander, and he conquered
Apamea so as to have it as a base for warfare. He enlisted not only the
free but the slave fighting population, gathered money, and accumulated
arms. While he was thus engaged one Gaius Antistius invested the position
he was holding, and the two had a nearly even struggle in which neither
party succeeded in gaining any great advantage. Thereupon they parted,
without any definite truce, to await the bringing up of allies. The
troops of Antistius were increased by such persons in the vicinity as
favored Caesar and soldiers that had been sent by him from Rome, those of
Bassus by Alchaudonius the Arabian. The latter was the leader who had
formerly made an arrangement with Lucullus, as I mentioned,[31] and
later joined with the Parthian against Crassus. On this occasion he was
summoned by both sides, but entered the space between the city and the
camps and before making any answer auctioned off his services; and as
Bassus offered more money he assisted him, and in the battle wrought
great havoc with his arrows. The Parthians themselves, too, came at the
invitation of Bassus, but on account of the winter failed to remain with
him for any considerable time, and hence did not accomplish anything of
importance. This commander, then, had his own way for a time, but was
later again held in check by Marcius Crispus[32] and Lucius Staius
Murcus.

[-28-] Things were in this condition among them when Cassius came on the
scene and at once conciliated all the cities through the reputation of
what he had done in his quaestorship and his other fame, and attached the
legions of Bassus and of the rest without additional labor. While he
was encamped in one spot with all of them a great downpour from the sky
suddenly occurred, during which wild swine rushed into the camp through
all the gates at once, overturning and mixing up everything there. Some,
accordingly, inferred from this that his power was only temporary and
that disaster was subsequently coming. Having secured possession of Syria
he set out into Judea on learning that the followers of Caesar left behind
in Egypt were approaching. Without effort he enlisted both them and the
Jews in his undertaking. Next he sent away without harming in the least
Bassus and Crispus and such others as did not care to share the campaign
with him; for Staius he preserved the rank with which he had come there
and besides entrusted to him the fleet.

Thus did Cassius in brief time become strong: and he sent a despatch to
Caesar about reconciliation and to the senate about the situation, couched
in similar language to that of Brutus. Therefore the senate confirmed his
governorship of Syria and voted for the war with Dolabella. [-29-] The
latter had been appointed to govern Syria and had started out while
consul, but he proceeded only slowly through Macedonia and Thrace into
the province of Asia and delayed there also. While he was still there
he received news of the decree, and did not go forward into Syria but
remained where he was, treating Trebonius in such a way as to make him
believe most strongly that Dolabella was his friend. Trebonius had his
free permission to take food for his soldiers and to live on intimate
terms with him. When his dupe became in this way imbued with confidence
and ceased to be on his guard, Dolabella by night suddenly seized Smyrna,
where the other was, slew him, and hurled his head at Caesar's image, and
thereafter occupied all of Asia. When the Romans at home heard of this
they declared war against him; for as yet Caesar had neither conquered
Antony nor obtained a hold upon affairs in the City. The citizens also
gave notice to Dolabella's followers of a definite day before which they
must leave off friendship with him, in order to avoid being regarded also
in the light of enemies. And they instructed the consuls to carry on
opposition to him and the entire war as soon as they should have brought
their temporary business to a successful conclusion (not knowing yet that
Cassius held Syria). But in order that he should not gain still greater
power in the interval they gave the governors of the neighboring
provinces charge of the matter. Later they learned the news about
Cassius, and before anything whatever had been done by his opponents at
home they passed the vote that I cited. [-30-] Dolabella, accordingly,
after becoming in this way master of Asia came into Cilicia while Cassius
was in Palestine, took over the people of Tarsus with their consent,
conquered a few of Cassius's guards who were at Aegeae, and invaded Syria.

From Antioch he was repulsed by the contingent guarding the place, but
gained Laodicea without a struggle on account of the friendship which its
inhabitants felt for the former Caesar. Upon this he spent some days in
acquiring new strength,--the fleet among other reinforcements came to
him speedily from Asia,--and crossed over into Aradus with the object
of getting both money and ships from the people also. There he was
intercepted with but few followers and ran into danger. He had escaped
from this when he encountered Cassius marching toward him, and gave
battle, which resulted in his own defeat. He was then shut up and
besieged in Laodicea, where he was entirely cut off from the land, to
be sure (Cassius being assisted by some Parthians among others), but
retained some power through the Asiatic ships and the Egyptian ones which
Cleopatra had sent him, and furthermore by means of the money which came
to him from her. So he carried on marauding expeditions until Staius got
together a fleet, and sailing into the harbor of Laodicea vanquished the
ships that moved out to meet him, and barred Dolabella from the sea also.
Then, prevented on both sides from bringing up supplies, he was led by
lack of necessaries to make a sortie. However, he was quickly hurled back
within the fortress, and seeing that it was being betrayed he feared
that he might be taken alive, and so despatched himself. His example was
followed by Marcus Octavius, his lieutenant. These were deemed worthy of
burial by Cassius, although they had cast out Trebonius unburied. The men
who had participated in the campaign with them and survived obtained both
safety and amnesty, in spite of having been regarded as enemies by the
Romans at home. Nor yet did the Laodiceans suffer any harm beyond being
obliged to contribute money. But for that matter no one else, though many
subsequently plotted against Cassius, was chastised.

[B.C. 42 (_a. u._ 712)]

[-31-] While this was going on the people of Tarsus had attempted to keep
from the passage through the Taurus Tillius Cimber, an assassin of Caesar
who was then governing Bithynia and was hurrying forward to help Cassius.
Out of fear, however, they abandoned the spot and at the time made a
truce with him, because they thought him strong, but afterward they
perceived the small number of his soldiers and neither took him into
their city nor furnished him provisions. He constructed a kind of fort
over against them and set out for Syria, believing it to be of more
importance to aid Cassius than himself to destroy their city. They then
made an attack upon this and got possession of it, after which they
started for Adana, a place on their borders always at variance with them,
giving as an excuse that it was following the cause of Cassius. The
latter, when he heard of it, first, while Dolabella was still alive sent
Lucius Rufus against them, but later came himself, to find that they had
already capitulated to Rufus without a struggle. Upon them he inflicted
no severe penalty save to take away all their money, private and public.
As a result, the people of Tarsus received praise from the triumvirate,
who now held sway in Rome, and were inspired with hope of obtaining some
return for their losses. Cleopatra also, on account of the detachment
she had sent to Dolabella, was granted the right to have her son called
King of Egypt. This son, whom she named Ptolemy, she also pretended was
sprung from Caesar, and she was therefore wont to address him as Caesarion.

[-32-] Cassius when he had settled matters in Syria and in Cilicia
came to meet Brutus in Asia. For when they learned of the union of the
triumvirs and what the latter were doing against them, they came
together there and made common cause more than ever. As they had a like
responsibility for the war and looked forward to a like danger and did
not even now recede from their position regarding the freedom of the
people, and as they were eager also to overthrow their opponents, three
in number and the authors of such deeds, they could plan and accomplish
everything in common with much greater zest. To be brief, they resolved
to enter Macedonia and to hinder the others from crossing over there, or
else to cross into Italy before the others started. Since the men were
said to be still settling affairs in Rome and it was thought likely that
they should have their hands full with Sextus, lying in wait near by,
they did not carry out their plans immediately. Instead, they went about
themselves and sent others in various directions, winning over such as
were not yet in accord with them, and gathering money and soldiers.
[-33-] In this way nearly all the rest, even those who had before paid no
attention to them, at once made agreements with them; but Ariobarzanes,
the Rhodians, and the Lycians, though they did not oppose them, were
still unwilling to form an alliance with them. These were therefore
suspected by Brutus and Cassius of favoring their antagonists, since they
had been well treated by the former Caesar, and fear was entertained by
the two leaders lest when they themselves departed this group should
cause some turmoil and lead the rest to revolt. Hence they determined to
turn first in the direction of these doubtful parties, hoping that since
they were far stronger in point of weapons and were willing to bestow
favors ungrudgingly they might soon either persuade or force them to
join. The Rhodians, who had so great an opinion of their seamanship that
they anticipated Cassius by sailing to the mainland and displayed to his
army the fetters they were bringing with the idea that they were going to
capture many alive, were yet conquered by him, first in a naval battle
near Myndus and later close to Rhodes itself. The commanding officer was
Staius, who overcame their skill by the number and size of his ships.
Thereupon Cassius himself crossed over to their island, where he met with
no resistance, possessing, as he did, their goodwill because of the stay
he had made there in the interests of his education. And he did them no
hurt except to appropriate their ships and money and holy and sacred
vessels,--all save the chariot of the Sun. Afterward he arrested and
killed Ariobarzanes.

[-34-] Brutus overcame in battle the public army of the Lycians which
confronted him near the borders, and entering the citadel at the same
time as the fugitives captured it at a single stroke; the majority of
the cities he brought to his side, but Xanthus he shut up in a state of
siege. Suddenly the inhabitants made a sortie, and themselves rushed
in with them, and once inside arrows and javelins at once rendered his
position very dangerous. He would, indeed, have perished utterly, had
not his soldiers pushed their way through the very fire and unexpectedly
attacked the assailants, who were light-armed. These they hurled back
within the walls and themselves rushed in with them, and once inside cast
some of the fire on several houses, terrifying those who saw what was
being done, and giving those at a distance the impression that they had
simply captured everything. The result was that the natives of their own
accord helped set fire to the rest, and most of them slew one another.
Next Brutus came to Patara and invited the people to conclude friendship;
but they would not obey, for the slaves and the poorer portion of the
free population, who had received in advance for their services the
former freedom, the latter remission of debts, prevented any compact
being made. So at first he sent them the captive Xanthians, to whom many
of them were related by marriage, in the hope that through these he might
bring them to terms. When they yielded none the more, in spite of his
giving to each man gratuitously his own kin, he erected a kind of
salesroom in a safe spot under the very wall, where he led each one of
the prominent men past and auctioned him off, to see if by this means at
least he could gain the Patareans. They were as little inclined as ever
to make concessions, whereupon he sold a few and let the rest go. When
those within saw this, they no longer were stubborn, but forthwith
attached themselves to his cause, regarding him as an upright man; and
they were punished only in a pecuniary way. The people of Myra took the
same action when after capturing their general at the harbor he then
released him. Similarly in a short time he secured control of the rest.

[-35-] When both had effected this they came again into Asia; and all the
suspicious facts they had heard from slanderous talk which will arise
under such conditions they brought up in common, one case at a time,
and, after they were settled, hastened into Macedonia. They had been
anticipated by Gaius Norbanus and Decidius Saxa, who had crossed over
into Ionium before Staius reached there, had occupied the whole country
as far as Pangaeum, and had encamped near Philippi. This city is located
close beside Mount Pangaeum and close beside Symbolon. Symbolon is a
name they give the place for the reason that the mountain mentioned
corresponds (_symballei_) to another that rises in the interior; and it
is between Neapolis and Philippi. The former was near the sea, across
from Thasos, while the latter has been built within the mountains on the
plain. Saxa and Norbanus happened to have occupied the shortest path
across, therefore Brutus and Cassius did not even try to get through that
way, but went around by a longer path,--the so-called Crenides.[33]
Here, too, they encountered a guard, but overpowered it, got inside the
mountains, approached the city along the high ground, and there encamped
each one apart,--if we are to follow the story. As a matter of fact they
bivouacked in one spot. In order that the soldiers might preserve better
discipline and be easier to manage, the camp was made up of two separate
divisions: but as all of it, including the intervening space, was
surrounded by a ditch and a rampart, the entire circuit belonged to both,
and from it they derived safety in common. [-36-] They were far superior
in numbers to their adversaries then present and by that means got
possession of Symbolon, having first ejected the inhabitants. In this way
they were able to bring provisions from the sea, over a shorter stretch
of country, and had only to make a descent from the plain to get them.
For Norbanus and Saxa did not venture to offer them battle with their
entire force, though they did send out horsemen to make sorties, wherever
opportunity offered. Accomplishing nothing, however, they were rather
careful to keep their camp well guarded than to expose it to danger,
and sent in haste for Caesar and Antony. These leaders on learning that
Cassius and Brutus were for some time busy with the Rhodians and the
Lycians had thought that their adversaries would have more fighting on
their hands there, and so instead of hastening had sent Saxa and Norbanus
forward into Macedonia. On finding out that their representatives were
caught they bestowed praise on the Lycians and Rhodians, promising to
make them a present of money, and they themselves at once set out from
the city. Both, however, encountered a delay of some time,--Antony near
Brundusium, because blocked by Staius, and Caesar near Rhegium, having
first turned aside to meet Sextus, held Sicily and was making an attempt
on Italy. [-37-] When it seemed to them to be impossible to dislodge him,
and the case of Cassius and Brutus appeared to be more urgent, they left
a small part of their army to garrison Italy and with the major portion
safely crossed the Ionian sea. Caesar fell sick and was left behind at
Dyrrachium, while Antony marched for Philippi. For a time he was a source
of some strength to his soldiers, but after laying an ambush for some of
the opposite party that were gathering grain and failing in his attempt
he was no longer of good courage himself. Caesar heard of it and feared
either possible outcome, that his colleague should be defeated in a
separate attack or again that he should conquer: in the former event he
felt that Brutus and Cassius would attain power, and in the latter that
Antony would have it all himself; therefore he made haste though still
unwell. At this action the followers of Antony also took courage. And
since it did not seem safe for them to refuse to encamp together, they
brought the three divisions together to one spot and into one stronghold.
While the opposing forces were facing each other sallies and excursions
took place on both sides, as chance dictated. For some time, however, no
ordered battle was joined, although Caesar and Antony were exceedingly
anxious to bring on a conflict. Their forces stronger than those of their
adversaries, but they were not so abundantly supplied with provisions,
because their fleet was away fighting Sextus and they were therefore not
masters of the sea.

[-38-] Hence these men for the reasons specified and because of Sextus,
who held Sicily and was making an attempt on Italy, were excited by
the fear that while they delayed he might capture Italy and come
into Macedonia. Cassius and Brutus had no particular aversion to a
battle,--they had the advantage in the number of soldiers, though the
latter were deficient in strength,--but some reflection on their own
condition and that of their opponents showed them that allies were being
added to their own numbers every day and that they had abundant food by
the help of the ships; consequently they put off action in the hope of
gaining their ends without danger and loss of men. Because they were
lovers of the people in no pretended sense and were contending with
citizens, they consulted the interests of the latter no less than those
of their own associates, and desired to afford preservation and liberty
to both alike. For some time, therefore, they waited, not wishing to
provoke a contest with them. The troops, however, being composed mostly
of subject nations, were oppressed by the delay and despised
their antagonists who, apparently out of fear, offered within the
fortifications the sacrifice of purification, which regularly precedes
struggles. Hence they urged a battle and spread a report that if there
should be more delay, they would abandon the camp and disperse; and at
this the leaders, though against their will, went to meet the foe.

[-39-] You might not unnaturally guess that this struggle proved
tremendous and surpassed all previous civil conflicts of the Romans.
This was not because these contestants excelled those of the old days in
either the number or the valor of the warriors, for far larger masses
and braver men than they had fought on many fields, but because on this
occasion they contended for liberty and for democracy as never before.
And they came to blows with one another again later just as they had
previously. But the subsequent struggles they carried on to see to whom
they should belong: on this occasion the one side was trying to bring
them into subjection to sovereignty, the other side into a state of
autonomy. Hence the people never attained again to the absolute right
of free speech, in spite of being vanquished by no foreign nation (the
subject population and the allied nations then present on both sides were
merely a kind of complement of the citizen army): but the people at once
gained the mastery over and fell into subjection to itself; it defeated
itself and was defeated; and in that effort it exhausted the democratic
element and strengthened the monarchical. I do not say that the people's
defeat at that time was not beneficial. (What else can one say regarding
those who fought on both sides than that the Romans were conquered and
Caesar was victorious?) They were no longer capable of concord in the
established form of government; for it is impossible for an unadulterated
democracy that has grown to acquire domains of such vast size to have
the faculty of moderation. After undertaking many similar conflicts
repeatedly, one after another, they would certainly some day have been
either enslaved or ruined.

[-40-] We may infer also from the portents which appeared to them on that
occasion that the struggle between them was clearly tremendous. Heaven,
as it is ever accustomed to give indications before most remarkable
events, foretold to them accurately both in Rome and in Macedonia all the
results that would come from it. In the City the sun at one time appeared
diminished and grew extremely small, and again showed itself now huge,
now tripled in form, and once shone forth at night. Thunderbolts
descended on many spots, and most significantly upon the altar of Jupiter
Victor; flashes darted hither and thither; notes of trumpets, clashing of
arms, and cries of camps were heard by night from the gardens of Caesar
and of Antony, located close together beside the Tiber. Moreover a dog
dragged the body of a dog to the temple of Ceres, where he dug the earth
with his paws and buried it. A child was born with hands that had ten
fingers, and a mule gave birth to a prodigy of two species. The front
part of it resembled a horse, and the rest a mule. The chariot of Minerva
while returning to the Capitol from a horse-race was dashed to pieces,
and the statue of Jupiter at Albanum sent forth blood at the very time
of the Feriae from its right shoulder and right hand. These were advance
indications to them from Heaven, and the rivers also in their land gave
out entirely or began to flow backward. And any chance deeds of men
seemed to point to the same end. During the Feriae the prefect of the city
celebrated the festival of Latiaris,[34] which neither belonged to him
nor was ordinarily observed at that time, and the plebeian aediles
offered to Ceres contests in armor in place of the horse-race. This was
what took place in Rome, where certain oracles also both before the
events and pertaining to them were recited, tending to the downfall
of the democracy. In Macedonia, to which Pangeaum and the territory
surrounding it are regarded as belonging, bees in swarms pervaded the
camp of Cassius, and in the course of its purification some one set the
garland upon his head wrong end foremost, and a boy while carrying
a Victory in some procession, such as the soldiers inaugurate, fell
down.[35] But the thing which most of all portended destruction to them,
so that it became plain even to their enemies, was that many vultures and
many other birds, too, that devour corpses gathered only above the heads
of the conspirators, gazing down upon them and squawking and screeching
with terrible and bloodcurdling notes.

[-41-] To that party these signs brought evil, while the others, so far
as we know, were visited by no omen, but saw some such, visions as the
following in dreams. A Thessalian dreamed that the former Caesar had
bidden him tell Caesar that the battle would occur on the second day
after that one, and that he should resume some of the insignia which his
predecessor wore while dictator: Caesar therefore immediately put his
father's ring on his finger and wore it often afterward. That was the
vision which that man saw, whereas the physician who attended Caesar
thought that Minerva enjoined him to lead his patient, though still in
poor health, from his tent and place him in line of battle: and by this
act he was saved. In most cases safety is the lot of such as remain in
the camp and of those in the fortifications, while danger accompanies
those who proceed into the midst of weapons and battles; but this was
reversed in the case of Caesar. It was quite visibly the result of his
leaving the rampart and mingling with the fighting men that he survived,
although from sickness he stood with difficulty even without his arms.

[-42-] The engagement was of the following nature. No arrangement had
been made as to when they should enter battle, yet as if by some compact
they all armed themselves at dawn, advanced into the square intervening
between them quite leisurely, as though they were competitors in games,
and there were quietly marshaled. When they stood opposed advice was
given partly to the entire bodies and partly to individuals of both
forces by the generals and lieutenants and subalterns. They made many
suggestions touching the immediate danger and many adapted to the future,
words such as men would speak who were to encounter danger on the moment
and were endeavoring to anticipate troubles to come. For the most part
the speeches were very similar, inasmuch as on both sides alike there
were Romans together with allies. Still, there was a difference. The
officers of Brutus offered their men the prizes of liberty and democracy,
of freedom from tyrants and freedom from masters; they pointed out to
them the excellencies of equality in government, and all the unfairness
of monarchy that they themselves had experienced or had heard in other
cases; they called to the attention of the soldiers the separate details
of each system and besought them to strive for the one, and to take care
not to endure the other. The opposing officers urged their army to take
vengeance on the assassins, to possess the property of their antagonists,
to be filled with a desire to rule all of their race, and (the clause
which inspired them most) they promised to give them five thousand
denarii apiece. [-43-] Thereupon they first sent around their
watchwords,--the followers of Brutus using "Liberty," and the others
whatever happened to be given out,--and then one trumpeter on each side
sounded the first note, followed by the blare of the remainder. Those in
front sounded the "at rest" and the "ready" signal on their trumpets in
a kind of circular spot, and then the rest came in who were to rouse
the spirit of the soldier and incite them to the onset. Then there was
suddenly a great silence, and after waiting a little the leaders issued a
clear command and the lines on both sides joined in a shout. After that
with a yell the heavy-armed dashed their spears against their shields and
hurled the former at each other, while the slingers and the archers sent
their stones and missiles. Then the two bodies of cavalry trotted forward
and the contingents shielded with breastplates following behind joined in
hand to hand combat. [-44-] They did a great deal of pushing and a great
deal of stabbing, looking carefully at first to see how they should wound
others and not be wounded themselves; they desired both to kill their
antagonists and to save themselves. Later, when their charge grew fiercer
and their spirit flamed up, they rushed together without stopping to
consider, and paid no more attention to their own safety, but would even
sacrifice themselves in their eagerness to destroy their adversaries.
Some threw away their shields and seizing hold of those arrayed opposite
them either strangled[36] them in their helmets and struck them from the
rear, or snatched away their defence in front and delivered a stroke on
their breasts. Others took hold of their swords and then ran their
own into the bodies of the men opposite, who had been made as good as
unarmed. And some by exposing some part of their bodies to be wounded
could use the rest more readily. Some clutched each other in an embrace
that prevented the possibility of striking, but they perished in the
intertwining of swords and bodies. Some died of one blow, others of many,
and neither had any perception of their wounds, dying too soon to feel
pain, nor lamented their taking off, because they did not reach the point
of expressing grief. One who killed another thought in the excessive joy
of the moment that he could never die. Whoever fell lost consciousness
and had no knowledge of his state. [-45-] Both sides remained stubbornly
in their places and neither side retired or pursued, but there, just as
they were, they wounded and were wounded, slew and were slain, until late
in the day. And if all had contested with all, as may happen under such
circumstances, or if Brutus had been arrayed against Antony and Cassius
against Caesar, they would have proved equally matched. As it was, Brutus
forced the invalid Caesar from his path, while Antony overruled Cassius,
who was by no means his equal in warfare. At this juncture, because not
all were conquering the other side at once, but both parties were in turn
defeated and victorious, the results[37] were practically the same. Both
had conquered and had been defeated, each had routed their adversaries
and had been routed, pursuits and flights had fallen to the lot of both
alike and the camps on both sides had been captured. As they were many
they occupied a large expanse of plain, so that they could not see each
other distinctly. In the battle each one could recognize only what was
opposite him, and when the rout took place each side fled the opposite
way to its own fortifications, situated at a distance from each
other, without stopping to look back. Because of this fact and of the
immeasurable quantity of dust that rose they were ignorant of the
termination of the battle, and those who had conquered thought they had
been victorious over everything, and those who were defeated deemed they
had been worsted everywhere. They did not learn what had happened until
the ramparts had been laid in ruins, and the victors on each side on
retiring to their own head-quarters encountered each other.

[-46-] So far, then, as the battle was concerned, both sides both
conquered thus and were defeated. At this time they did not resume the
conflict, but as soon as they had retired and beheld each other and
recognized what had taken place, they both withdrew, not venturing
anything further. They had beaten and had proved inferior to each other.
This was shown first by the fact that the entire ramparts of Caesar
and Antony and everything within them had been captured. (That proved
practically the truth of the dream, for if Caesar had remained in his
place, he would certainly have perished with the rest.) It was shown
again in the fate of Cassius. He came away safe from the battle, but
stripped of his fortifications he had fled to a different spot, and
suspecting that Brutus, too, had been defeated and that several of the
victors were hastening to attack him he made haste to die. He had sent a
certain centurion to view the situation and report to him where Brutus
was and what he was doing. This man fell in with some horsemen whom
Brutus had dispatched to seek his colleague, turned back with them and
proceeded leisurely, with the idea that there was hurry, because no
danger presented itself. Cassius, seeing them afar off, suspected they
were enemies and ordered Pindarus, a freedman, to kill him. The centurion
on learning that his leader's death was due to his dilatoriness slew
himself upon his body.

[-47-] Brutus immediately sent the body of Cassius secretly to Thasos. He
shrank from burying it upon the ground, for fear the army would be filled
with grief and dejection at sight of the preparations. The remainder
of his friend's soldiers he took under his charge, consoled them in a
speech, won their devotion by a gift of money to make up for what they
had lost, and then transferred his position to their enclosure, which
was more suitable. From there he started out to harass his opponents in
various ways, especially by assaulting their camp at night. He had no
intention of joining issue with them again in a set battle, but had great
hopes of overcoming them without danger by the lapse of time. Hence he
tried regularly to startle them in various ways and disturb them by
night, and once by diverting the course of the river he washed away
considerable of their wall. Caesar and Antony were getting short of both
food and money, and consequently gave their soldiers nothing to replace
what had been seized and carried off. Furthermore, the force that was
sailing to them in transports from Brundusium had been destroyed by
Staius. Yet they could not safely transfer their position to any other
quarter nor return to Italy, and so, even as late as this, they set all
their hopes upon their weapons,--hopes not merely of victory but even
of preservation. They were eager to meet the danger before the naval
disaster became noised abroad among their opponents and their own men.
[-48-] As Brutus evinced an unwillingness to meet them in open fight,
they somehow cast pamphlets over his palisade, challenging his soldiers
either to embrace their cause (promises being attached) or to come into
conflict if they had the least particle of strength. During this delay
some of the Celtic force deserted from their side to Brutus, and Amyntas,
the general of Deiotarus, and Rhascuporis deserted to them. The latter,
as some say, immediately returned home. Brutus was afraid, when this
happened, that there might be further similar rebellion and decided to
join issue with them. And since there were many captives in his camp, and
he neither had any way to guard them during the progress of the battle,
and could not trust them to refrain from doing mischief, he despatched
the majority of them, contrary to his own inclination, being a slave in
this matter to necessity; but he was the more ready to do it because of
the fact that his opponents had killed such of his soldiers as had been
taken alive. After doing this he armed his men for battle. When the
opposing ranks were arrayed, two eagles that flew above the heads of the
two armies battled together and indicated to the combatants the outcome
of the war. The eagle on the side of Brutus was beaten and fled: and
similarly his heavy-armed force, after a contest for the most part even,
was defeated, and then when many had fallen his cavalry, though it fought
nobly, gave way. Thereupon the victors pursued them, as they fled, this
way and that, but neither killed nor captured any one; and then they kept
watch of the separate contingents during the night and did not allow them
to unite again.

[-49-] Brutus, who had reached in flight a steep and lofty spot,
undertook to break through in some way to the camp. In this he was
unsuccessful, and on learning that some of his soldiers had made terms
with the victors he had no further hope, but despairing of safety and
disdaining capture he himself also took refuge in death. He uttered aloud
this sentence of Heracles:

  "Unhappy Virtue, thou wert but a name, while I,
  Deeming thy godhead real, followed thee on,
  Who wert but Fortune's slave." [38]

Then he called one of the bystanders to kill him. His body received
burial by Antony,--all but his head, which was sent to Rome: but as the
ships encountered a storm during the voyage across from Dyrrachium that
was thrown into the sea. At his death the mass of his soldiers, on
amnesty being proclaimed for them, immediately transferred their
allegiance. Portia perished by swallowing red-hot charcoal. Most of the
prominent men who had held any offices or belonged to the assassins or
the proscribed, straightway killed themselves, or, like Favonius, were
captured and destroyed: the remainder at this time escaped to the sea and
thereafter joined Sextus.




DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

48

The following is contained in the Forty-eighth of Dio's Rome:

How Caesar contended with Fulvia and Lucius Antonius (chapters 1-16).

How Sextus Pompey occupied Sicily (chapters 17-23).

How the Parthians occupied the country to the edge of the Hellespont
(chapters 24-26).

How Caesar and Antony reached an agreement with Sextus (chapters 27-38).

How Publius Ventidius conquered the Parthians and recovered Asia
(chapters 39-42).

How Caesar began to make war upon Sextus (chapters 43-48).

About Baiae (chapters 49-54).

Duration of time five years, in which there were the following
magistrates here enumerated:

L. Antonius M. F. Pietas, P. Servilius P. F. Isauricus consul (II).(B.C.
41 = a. u. 713.)

Cn. Domitius M. F Calvinus [consul] (II), C. Asinius|| Cn. F. Pollio.
(B.C. 40 = a. u. 714.)

L. Marcius L. F. Censorinus, C. Calvisius||[39] C. F. Sabinus. (B.C. 39 =
a. u. 715.)

Appius Claudius C. F. Pulcher, C. Norbanus C. F. Flaccus. (B.C. 38 = a.
u. 716.)

M. Vipsanius L. F. Agrippa, L. Caninius L. F. Gallus. (B.C. 37 = a. u.
717.)


(_BOOK 48, BOISSEVAIN_.)

[B.C. 42(_a. u_.712)]

[-1-] So perished Brutus and Cassius, slain by the swords with which they
had despatched Caesar. The rest also who had shared in the plot against
him were all except a very few destroyed, some previously, some at this
time, and some subsequently. Justice and the Divine Will seemed to sweep
onward and lead forward to such a fate the men who had killed their
benefactor, one who had attained such eminence in both excellence and
good fortune. Caesar and Antony for the moment secured an advantage over
Lepidus, because he had not shared the victory with them; yet they
were destined ere long to turn their arms against each other. It is a
difficult matter for three men or two that are equal in rank and have
come into power over such vast interests as a result of war to be of one
accord. Hence, whatever they had gained for a time while in harmony for
the purpose of the overthrow of their adversaries they now began to
set up as prizes in their rivalry with each other. They immediately
redistributed the empire, so that Spain and Numidia fell to Caesar, Gaul
and Africa to Antony; they further agreed that in case Lepidus showed any
vexation at this Africa should be evacuated for him. [-2-] This was all
they could allot between them, since Sextus was still occupying Sardinia
and Sicily, and other regions outside of Italy were in a state of
turmoil. About the peninsula itself I need say nothing, for it has always
remained a kind of choice exception in such divisions: and not even now
did they talk as if they were struggling to obtain it, but to defend it.
So, leaving these other regions to be common property, Antony took it
upon himself to settle affairs of nations that had fought against them
and to collect the money which had been offered to the soldiers in
advance: Caesar was charged with curtailing the power of Lepidus, if he
should make any hostile move, with conducting the war against Sextus, and
with assigning to those of his campaigners who had passed the age limit
the land which he had promised them; and these he forthwith dismissed.
Furthermore he sent with Antony two legions of his followers, and his
colleague sent word that he would give him in return an equal number
of those stationed at that tune in Italy. After making these compacts
separately, putting them in writing, and sealing them, they exchanged the
documents, to the end that if any transgression were committed, it might
be proved from the very records. Thereupon Antony set out for Asia and
Caesar for Italy. [-3-] Sickness attacked the latter violently on the
journey and during the voyage, giving rise in Rome to an expectation of
his death. They did not believe, however, that he was lingering so
much by reason of ill health as because he was devising some harm, and
consequently they expected to fall victims to every possible persecution.
Yet they voted to these men many honors for their victory, such as would
have been given assuredly to the others, had they conquered; in such
crises it is ever the case that all trample on the loser and honor the
victor; and in particular they decided, though against their will, to
celebrate thanksgivings during practically the entire year. This
Caesar ordered them outright to do in gratitude for vengeance upon the
assassins. At any rate during his delay all sorts of stories were
current, and all sorts of behavior resulted. For example, some spread a
report that he was dead, and aroused delight in many breasts: others
said he was planning some evil, and filled numerous persons with fear.
Therefore some hid their property and took care to protect themselves,
and others considered in what way they might make their escape. Others,
and the majority, not being able to apprehend anything clearly by reason
of their excessive fear, prepared to meet a certain doom. The confident
element was extremely small, and its numbers few. In the light of the
former frequent and diverse destruction of both persons and possessions
they expected that anything similar or still worse might happen, because
now they had been utterly vanquished. Wherefore Caesar, in dread that
they might take some rebellious step, especially since Lepidus was there,
forwarded a letter to the senate urging its members to be of good cheer,
and further promising that he would do everything in a mild and humane
way, after the manner of his father.

[B.C. 41 (_a. u_.713)]

[-4-] This was what then took place. The succeeding year Publius
Servilius and Lucius Antonius nominally became consuls, but in reality it
was the latter and Fulvia. She, the mother-in-law of Caesar and wife of
Antony, had no respect for Lepidus because of his slothfulness, and
herself managed affairs, so that neither the senate nor the people dared
transact any business contrary to her pleasure. Actually, when Lucius
himself was anxious to have a triumph over certain peoples dwelling in
the Alps, on the ground that he had conquered them, for a time Fulvia
opposed him and no one would grant it; but when her favor was courted and
she permitted it, all voted for the measure: therefore it was nominally
Antonius ... over the people whom he said he had vanquished (in reality
he had done nothing deserving a triumph nor had any command at all in
those regions),--but in truth Fulvia ...[40] and had the procession. And
she assumed a far prouder bearing over the affair than did he, because
she had a truer cause; to give any one authority to hold a triumph was
greater than to celebrate it by securing the privilege from another.
Except that Lucius donned the triumphal apparel, mounted the chariot, and
performed the other rites customary in such cases, Fulvia herself seemed
to be giving the spectacle, employing him as her assistant. It took
place on the first day of the year, and Lucius, just as Marius had done,
exulted in the circumstance that he held it on the first day of the month
that he began to be consul. Moreover he exalted himself even above his
predecessor, saying that he had voluntarily laid aside the decorations of
the procession and had assembled the senate in his street dress, whereas
Marius had done it unwillingly. He added that the latter had received a
crown from almost nobody, whereas he obtained many, and particularly from
the people, tribe by tribe, as had never been the case with any former
triumphator. (It was done by the aid of Fulvia and by the money which he
had secretly given some persons to spend.)

[-5-] It was in this year that Caesar arrived in Rome, and, after taking
the usual steps to celebrate the victory, turned his attention to the
administration and despatch of business. For Lepidus through fear of him
and out of his general weakness of heart had not rebelled; and Lucius and
Fulvia, on the supposition that they were relatives and sharers in his
supremacy were quiet,--at least at first. As time went on they became at
variance, the persons just mentioned because they did not get a share in
the portion of lands to be assigned which belonged to Antony, and Caesar
because he did not get back his troops from the other two. Hence their
kinship by marriage was dissolved and they were brought to open warfare.
Caesar would not endure the domineering ways of his mother-in-law, and,
choosing to appear to be at odds with her rather than with Antonius, sent
back her daughter, whom he declared on oath to be still a virgin. In
pursuing such a course he was careless whether it should be thought
that the woman had remained a virgin in his house so long a time for
common-place reasons, or whether it should seem that he had planned the
situation considerably in advance, as a measure of preparation for the
future. After this action there was no longer any friendship between
them. Lucius together with Fulvia attempted to get control of affairs,
pretending to be doing this in behalf of Marcus, and would yield to Caesar
on no point: therefore on account of his devotion to his brother he took
the additional title of Pietas. Caesar naturally found no fault with
Marcus, not wishing to alienate him while he was attending to the nations
in Asia, but reproached and resisted the pair, giving out that they were
behaving in all respects contrary to their brother's desire and were
eager for individual supremacy.

[-6-] In the land allotments both placed the greatest hope of power, and
consequently the beginning of their quarrel was concerned with them.
Caesar for his part wished to distribute the territory to all such as had
made the campaign with himself and Antony, according to the compact
made with them after the victory, that by so doing he might win their
good-will: the others demanded to receive the assignment that appertained
to their party and settle the cities themselves, in order that they might
get the power of these settlements on their side. It seemed to both to
be the simplest method to grant the land of the unarmed to those who
had participated in the conflict. Contrary to their expectation great
disturbance resulted and the matter took the aspect of a war. For at
first Caesar was for taking from the possessors and giving to the veterans
all of Italy (except what some old campaigner had received as a gift or
bought from the government and was now holding), together with the bands
of slaves and other wealth. The persons deprived of their property were
terribly enraged against him, and caused a change of policy. Fulvia and
the consul now hoped to find more power in the cause of the others, the
oppressed, and consequently neglected those who were to receive the
fields, but turned their attention to that party which was of greater
numbers and was animated by a righteous indignation at the deprivation
they were suffering. Next they took some of them individually, aided and
united them, so that the men who were before afraid of Caesar now that
they had got leaders became courageous and no longer gave up any of their
property: they thought that Marcus, too, would approve their course.
[-7-] Among these, therefore, Lucius and Fulvia secured a following, and
still made no assault upon the adherents of Caesar. Their attitude was not
that there was no need for the soldiers to receive allotments, but
they maintained that the goods of their adversaries in the combat were
sufficient for them; especially they pointed out lands and furniture,
some still being held intact, others that had been sold, of which they
declared the former ought to be given to the men outright and in the
second case the price realized should be presented to them. If even this
did not satisfy them, they tried to secure the affection of them all by
holding out hopes in Asia. In this way it quickly came about that Caesar,
who had forcibly robbed the possessors of any property and caused
troubles and dangers on account of it to all alike, found himself
disliked by both parties; whereas the other two, since they took nothing
from anybody and showed those who were to receive the gifts a way to the
fulfillment of the pledges from already existing assets and without a
combat, won over each of the bodies of men. As a result of this and
through the famine which was trying them greatly at this time, because
the sea off Sicily was in control of Sextus, and the Ionian Gulf was
in the grasp of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Caesar found himself in a
considerable dilemma. For Domitius was one of the assassins, and, having
escaped from the battle fought at Philippi, he had got together a small
fleet, had made himself for a time master of the Gulf, and was doing the
greatest damage to the cause of his opponents.

[-8-] There was not only this to trouble Caesar greatly but also the fact
that in the disputes which had been inaugurated between the ex-soldiers
and the senators as well as the rest of the multitude that possessed
lands,--and these proved very numerous because the contestants were
struggling for the greatest interests,--he could not attach himself to
either side without danger. It was impossible for him to please both. The
one side wished to run riot, the other to be unharmed: the one side to
get the other's property, the other to hold what belonged to it. As
often as he gave the preference to the interests of this party or that,
according as he found it necessary, he incurred the hatred of the others:
and he did not meet with so much gratitude for the favors he conferred as
with anger for what he failed to yield. Those benefited took all that was
given them as their due and regarded it as no kindness, and the opposite
party was wrathful because robbed of their own belongings. And as a
result he continued to offend either this group or the other, at one
time reproached with being a friend of the people and again with being
a friend of the army. He could make no headway, and further learned by
actual experience that arms had no power to hold those injured friendly
toward him, and that it was possible for all such as would not submit to
perish by the use of weapons, but out of the question for any one to be
forced to love a person whom he will not. After this, though reluctantly,
he stopped taking anything from the senators; previously he used to deem
it his right to distribute everything that was theirs, asking seriously:
"From what source else shall we pay the prizes of war to those who have
served?"--as if any one had commanded him to wage war or to make such
great promises. He also kept his hands off the valuables,--whatever
costly objects women had for dowries, or others had less in value than
the land individually given to the old soldiers. [-9-] When this was done
the senate and the rest, finding nothing taken from them, became fairly
resigned to his rule, but the veterans were indignant, regarding his
sparingness and the honor shown to the others to be their own dishonor
and loss, since they were to receive less. They killed not a few of the
centurions and the other intimates of Caesar who tried to restrain
them from mutiny, and came very near compassing their leader's own
destruction, using every plausible excuse possible for their anger. They
did not cease their irritation till the land that belonged to their
relatives and the fathers and sons of those fallen in battle but was held
by somebody else was granted to these three classes freely. This measure
caused the soldier element to become somewhat more conciliatory, but that
very thing produced vexation again among the people. The two used to come
in conflict and there was continual fighting amongst them, so that many
were wounded and killed on both sides alike. The one party was superior
by being equipped with weapons and having experience in wars, and the
other by its numbers and the ability to pelt opponents from the roofs.
Owing to this a number of houses were burned down, and to those dwelling
in the city rent was entirely remitted to the extent of five hundred
denarii, while for those in the rest of Italy it was reduced a fourth for
one year. For they used to fight in all the cities alike, wherever they
fell in with each other.

[-10-] When this took place constantly and soldiers sent ahead by Caesar
into Spain made a kind of uprising at Placentia and did not come to
order until they received money from the people there, and they were
furthermore hindered from crossing the Alps by Calenus and Ventidius,
who held Farther Gaul, Caesar became afraid that he might meet with some
disaster and began to wish to be reconciled with Fulvia and the consul.
He could not accomplish anything by sending messages personally and with
only his own authorization, and so went to the veterans and through them
attempted to negotiate a settlement. Elated at this they took charge of
those who had lost their land, and Lucius went about in every direction
uniting them and detaching them from Caesar, while Fulvia occupied
Praeneste, had senators and knights for her associates, and was wont to
conduct all her deliberations with their help, even sending orders to
whatever points required it. Why should any one be surprised at this,
when she was girt with a sword, and used to pass the watchwords to the
soldiers, yes, often harangued them,--an additional means of giving
offence to Caesar? [-11-] The latter, however, had no way to overthrow
them, being far inferior to them not only in troops, but in good-will on
the part of the population; for he caused many distress, whereas they
filled every one with hope. He had often privately through friends
proposed reconciliation to them, and when he accomplished nothing, he
sent envoys from the number of the veterans to them. He expected by
this stroke pretty surely to obtain his request, to adjust present
difficulties, and to gain a strength equal to theirs for the future. And
even though he should fail of these aims, he expected that not he but
they would bear the responsibility for their quarrel. This actually took
place. When he effected nothing even through the soldiers, he despatched
senators, showing them the covenants made between himself and Antony, and
offering the envoys as arbitrators of the differences. But his opponents
in the first place made many counter-propositions, demands with which
Caesar was sure not to comply, and again, in respect to everything that
they did said they were doing it by the orders of Mark Antony. So that
when nothing was gained in this way either, he betook himself once more
to the veterans. [-12-] Thereupon these assembled in Rome in great
numbers, with the avowed intention of making some communication to the
people and the senate. But instead of troubling themselves about this
errand they collected on the Capitol and commanded that the compacts
which Antony and Caesar made be read to them. They ratified these
agreements and voted that they should be made arbitrators of the
differences existing. After recording these acts on tablets and sealing
them they delivered them to the vestal virgins to keep. To Caesar, who was
present, and to the other party by an embassy they gave orders to meet
for adjudication at Gabii on a stated day. Caesar showed his readiness to
submit to arbitration, and the others promised to put in an appearance,
but out of fear or else perhaps disdain did not come. (For they were wont
to make fun of the warriors, calling them among other names _senatus
caligatus_ on account of their use of military boots.) So they condemned
Lucius and Fulvia as guilty of some injustice, and gave precedence to the
cause of Caesar. After this, when the latter's adversaries had deliberated
again and again, they took up the war once more and did not make ready
for it in any quiet fashion. Chief among their measures was to secure
money from sources, even from temples. They took away all the votive
offerings that could be turned into bullion, those deposited in Rome
itself as well as those in the rest of Italy that was under their
control. Both money and soldiers came to them also from Gallia Togata,
which had been included by this time in the domain of Italy, to the end
that no one else, under the plea that it was a single district, should
keep soldiers south of the Alps.

[-13-] Caesar, then, was making preparations, and Fulvia and Lucius were
gathering hoards of supplies and assembling forces. Meanwhile both sent
embassies and despatched soldiers and officers in every direction, and
each managed to seize some places beforehand and was repulsed from
others. The most of these transactions, and those connected with no great
or important occurrence, I shall pass over, and briefly relate the points
which are of chief value.

Caesar made an expedition against Nursia, among the Sabini, and routed the
garrison encamped before it but was repulsed from the city by Tisienus
Gallus. Accordingly, he went over into Umbria and laid siege to Sentinum,
but failed to capture it. Lucius had meanwhile been sending on one excuse
and another soldiers to his friends in Rome, and then coming suddenly on
the scene himself conquered the cavalry force that met him, hurled the
infantry back to the wall, and after that took the city, since those that
had been there for some days helped the defenders within by attacking the
besiegers. Lepidus, to whom had been entrusted the guarding of the place,
made no resistance by reason of his inherent slothfulness, nor did
Servilius the consul, who was too easy-going. On ascertaining this Caesar
left Quintus Salvidienus Rufus to look after the people of Sentinum, and
himself set out for Rome. Hearing of this movement Lucius withdrew in
advance, having had voted to him the privilege of going out on some war.
Indeed, he delivered an address in soldier's costume, which no one else
had done. Thus Caesar was received into the capital without striking a
blow, and when he did not capture the other by pursuit, he returned and
kept a more careful watch over the city. Meantime, as soon as Caesar had
left Sentinum, Gaius Furnius the guarder of the fortifications had issued
forth and pursued him a long distance, and Rufus unexpectedly attacked
the citizens within, captured the town, plundered, and burned it. The
inhabitants of Nursia came to terms--and suffered no ill treatment; when,
however, after burying those that had fallen in the battle which had
taken place between themselves and Caesar, they inscribed on their tombs
that they had died contending for liberty, an enormous fine was imposed
upon the people, so that they abandoned their city and entire country
together.

[-14-] While they were so engaged, Lucius on setting out from Rome after
his occupancy had proceeded toward Gaul: his road was blocked, however,
and so he turned aside to Perusia, an Etruscan city. There he was cut off
first by the lieutenants of Caesar and later by Caesar himself, and was
besieged. The investing of the place proved a long operation: the
situation is naturally a strong one and had been amply stocked with
provisions; and horsemen sent out by him before he was entirely hemmed
in harassed his antagonists greatly while many others, moreover, from
various sections vigorously defended him. Many attempts were made upon
the besieged individually and there was sharp fighting close to the
walls, until the followers of Lucius in spite of being generally
successful were nevertheless overcome by hunger. The leader and some
others obtained pardon, but most of the senators and knights were put
to death. And the story goes that they did not merely suffer death in a
simple form, but were led to the altar consecrated to the former Caesar
and there sacrificed,--three hundred[41] knights and many senators, among
them Tiberius Cannutius who formerly during his tribuneship had assembled
the populace for Caesar Octavianus. Of the people of Perusia and the rest
there captured the majority lost their lives, and the city itself, except
the temple of Vulcan and statue of Juno, was entirely destroyed by fire.
This piece of sculpture was preserved by some chance and was brought to
Rome in accordance with a vision that Caesar saw in a dream: there it
accorded those who desired to undertake the task permission to settle the
city again and place the deity on her original site,--only they did not
acquire more than seven and one-half stadia of the territory.

[B.C. 40 (_a. u._ 714)]

[-15-] When that city had been captured during the consulship of Gnaeus
Calvinus and Asinius Pollio,--the former holding office the second
time,--other posts in Italy partly perforce and partly voluntarily
capitulated to Caesar. For this reason Fulvia with her children made her
escape to her husband, and many of the other foremost men made their
way some to him and some to Sextus in Sicily. Julia, the mother of the
Antonii, went there at first and was received by Sextus with extreme
kindness; later she was sent by him to her son Marcus, carrying
propositions of friendship and with envoys whom she was to conduct to his
presence. In this company which at that time turned its steps away from
Italy to Antony was also Tiberius Claudius Nero. He was holding a kind of
fort in Campania, and when Caesar's party got the upper hand set out with
his wife Livia Drusilla and with his son Tiberius Claudius Nero. This
episode illustrated remarkably the whimsicality of fate. This Livia who
then fled from Caesar later on was married to him, and this Tiberius who
then escaped with his parents succeeded him in the office of emperor.

[-16-] All this was later. At that time the inhabitants of Rome resumed
the garb of peace, which they had taken off without any decree, under
compulsion from the people; they gave themselves up to merrymaking,
conveyed Caesar in his triumphal robe into the city and honored him with
a laurel crown, so that he enjoyed this decoration as often as the
celebrators of triumphs were accustomed to use it. Caesar, when Italy
had been subdued and the Ionian Gulf had been cleared,--for Domitius
despairing of continuing to prevail any longer by himself had sailed away
to Antony,--made preparations to proceed against Sextus. When, however,
he ascertained his power and the fact that he had been in communication
with Antony through the latter's mother and through envoys, he feared
that he might get embroiled with both at once; therefore preferring
Sextus as more trustworthy or else as stronger than Antony he sent him
his mother Mucia and married the sister of his father-in-law, Lucius
Scribonius Libo, in the hope that by the aid of his kindness and his
kinship he might make him a friend.

[B.C. 44 (_a. u._ 710)]

[-17-] Sextus, after he had originally left Spain according to his
compact with Lepidus and not much later had been appointed admiral, was
removed from his office by Caesar. For all that he held on to his fleet
and had the courage to sail to Italy; but Caesar's adherents were already
securing control of the country and he learned that he had been numbered
among the assassins of Caesar's father.

[B.C. 43 (_a. u._ 711)]

Therefore he kept away from the mainland but sailed about among the
islands, maintaining a sharp watch on what was going on and supplying
himself with food without resort to crimes. As he had not taken part in
the murder he expected to be restored by Caesar himself. When, however,
his name was exposed on the tablet and he knew that the edict of
proscription was in force against him also, he despaired of getting back
through Caesar and put himself in readiness for war. He had triremes
built, received the deserters, made an alliance with the pirates, and
took under his protection the exiles. By these means in a short time he
became powerful and was master of the sea off Italy, so that he made
descents upon the harbors, cut loose the boats, and engaged in pillage.
As matters went well with him and his activity supplied him with soldiers
and money, he sailed to Sicily, where he seized Mylae and Tyndaris without
effort but was repulsed from Messana by Pompeius Bithynicus, then
governor of Sicily. Instead of retiring altogether from the place, he
overran the country, prevented the importation of provisions, gained the
ascendancy over those who came to the rescue,--filling some with fear
of suffering a similar hardship, and damaging others by some form of
ambuscade,--won over the quaestor together with the funds, and finally
obtained Messana and also Bithynicus, by an agreement that the latter
should enjoy equal authority with him. The governor suffered no harm, at
least for the time being: the others had their arms and money taken from
them. His next step was to win over Syracuse and some other cities,
from which he gathered more soldiers and collected a very strong fleet.
Quintus Cornificius also sent him quite a force from Africa.

[-18-] While he was thus growing strong, Caesar for a time took no action
in the matter, both because he despised him and because the business in
hand kept him occupied.

[B.C. 42 (_a. u._ 712)]

But when owing to the famine the deaths in the City became numerous and
Sextus commenced to make attempts on Italy also, Caesar began to have a
small fleet equipped and sent Salvidienus Rufus with a large force ahead
to Rhegium. Rufus managed to repel Sextus from Italy and when the latter
retired into Sicily he undertook to manufacture boats of leather, similar
to those adapted to ocean sailing. He made a framework of light rods for
the interior and stretched on the outside an uncured oxhide, making an
affair like an oval shield. For this he got laughed at and decided that
it would be dangerous for him to try to use them in crossing the strait,
so he let them go and ventured to undertake the passage with the fleet
that had been equipped and had arrived. He was not able, however, to
accomplish his purpose, for the number and size of his ships were no
match for the skill and daring of the enemy. This took place in the
course of Caesar's expedition into Macedonia, and he himself was an
eye-witness of the battle; the result filled him with chagrin, most of
all because he had been defeated in this their first encounter. For this
reason he no longer ventured, although the major part of his fleet had
been preserved, to cross over by main force: he frequently tried to
effect it secretly, feeling that if he could once set foot on the island,
he could certainly conquer it with his infantry; after a time, since the
vigilant guard kept in every quarter prevented him from gaining anything,
he ordered others to attend to the blockade of Sicily and he himself went
to meet Antony at Brundusium. whence with the aid of the ships he crossed
the Ionian Gulf. [-19-] Upon his departure Sextus occupied all of the
island and put to death Bithynicus on the charge that the latter had
plotted against him. He also produced a triumphal spectacle and had a
naval battle of the captives in the strait close to Rhegium itself, so
that his opponents could look on; in this combat he had wooden boats
contend with others of leather, in the intention of making fun of Rufus.
After this he built more ships and dominated the sea all round about,
acquiring some renown, in which he took pride, based on the assumption
that he was the son of Neptune, and that his father had once ruled the
whole sea. So he fared as long as the resistance of Cassius and Brutus
held out. When they had perished, Lucius Staius and others took refuge
with him. He was at first glad to receive this ally and incorporated the
troops that Staius led in his own force: subsequently, seeing that the
new accession was an active and high-spirited man, he executed him on a
charge of treachery. Then he acquired the other's fleet and the mass of
slaves who kept arriving from Italy and gained tremendous strength. So
many persons, in fact, deserted that the vestal virgins prayed in the
name of the sacrifices that their desertions might be restrained.

[B.C. 40 (_a. u_. 714)]

[-20-] For these reasons and because he gave the exiles a refuge, was
negotiating friendship with Antony, and plundering a great portion of
Italy, Caesar felt a wish to become reconciled with him. When he failed
of that he ordered Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa to wage war against him, and
himself set out for Gaul. Sextus when he heard of that kept watch of
Agrippa, who was busy superintending the Ludi Apollinares. This person
was praetor at the time, holding a brilliant position in many ways because
he was such an intimate friend of Caesar, and for two days he had been
conducting the horse-race and enjoyed the so-called "Troy contest,"
carried on by children of the nobility, which added to his glory. While
he was so engaged Sextus crossed over into Italy and remained there
carrying on marauding expeditions until Agrippa arrived. Then, after
leaving a garrison at certain points, he sailed back again.--Caesar had
formerly tried, as has been described, to get possession of Gaul through
others, but had not been able on account of Calenus and the rest who
followed Antony's fortunes. But now he occupied it in person, for he
found Calenus dead of a disease and acquired his army without difficulty.
Meanwhile, seeing that Lepidus was vexed at being deprived of the office
that belonged to him, he sent him to Africa; for he proposed, by being
the sole bestower of that position, instead of allowing Antony to share
in the appointment, to gain in a greater degree Lepidus's attachment.

[B.C. 44 (_a. u_. 710)]

[-21-] As I have remarked, [42] the Romans had two provinces in that part
of Libya. The governors, before the union of the three men, were Titus
Sextius over the Numidian region, and Cornificius with Decimus Laelius
over the rest; the former was friendly to Antony, the latter two to
Caesar. For a time Sextius waited in the expectation that the others,
who had a far larger force, would invade his domain, and prepared to
withstand them there. When they delayed, he began to disdain them; and
he was further elated by a cow, as they say, that uttered human speech
bidding him lay hold of the prize before him, and by a dream in which a
bull that had been buried in the city of Tucca seemed to urge him to dig
up its head and carry it about on a spear-shaft, since by this means he
should conquer. Without hesitation, then, especially when he found the
bull in the spot where the dream said it was, he invaded Africa first
himself.

[B.C. 43 (_a. u_. 711)]

At the beginning he occupied Adrymetum and
some few other places, taken by surprise at his sudden assault. Then,
while in an unguarded state because of this very success, he was ambushed
by the quaestor, lost a large portion of his army, and withdrew into
Numidia. His misfortune had happened to occur when he was without the
protection of the bull's head, and he therefore ascribed his defeat to
that fact and made preparations to take the field again. Meantime his
opponents anticipated him by invading his domain. While the rest were
besieging Cirta, the quaestor with the cavalry proceeded against him,
overcame him in a few cavalry battles, and won over the other
quaestor. After these experiences Sextius, who had secured some fresh
reinforcements, risked battle again, conquered the quaestor in his
turn, and shut up Laelius, who was overrunning the country, within his
fortifications. He deceived Cornificius, who came to the defence of his
colleague, making him believe that the latter had been captured, and
after thus throwing him into a state of dejection defeated him. So
Cornificius met his death in battle, and Laelius, who made a sally with
the intention of taking the enemy in the rear, was also slain.

[-22-] When this had been accomplished, Sextius occupied Africa and
governed both provinces without interference, until Caesar according to
the covenant made by him with Antony and Lepidus took possession of the
office and assigned Gaius Fuficius Fango to take charge of the people;
then the governor voluntarily gave up the provinces. When the battle with
Brutus and Cassius had been fought, Caesar and Antony redistributed the
world, Caesar taking Numidia for his share of Libya, and Antony Africa.
Lepidus, as I have stated,[43] had power among the three only in name,
and often was not recorded in the documents even to this extent. When,
therefore, this occurred Fulvia bade Sextius resume his rule of Africa.
He was at this time still in Libya, making the winter season his plea,
but in reality his lingering there was due to his certain knowledge that
there would be some kind of upheaval. As he could not persuade Fango to
give up the country, he associated himself with the natives, who detested
their ruler; he had done evil in his office, for he was one of that
mercenary force, many of whose members, as has been stated in my
narrative,[44] had been elected even into the senate. At this turn of
affairs Fango retired into Numidia, where he accorded harsh treatment to
the people of Cirta because they despised him on seeing his condition.
There was also one Arabio who was a prince among the barbarians dwelling
close at hand, who had first helped Laelius and later attached himself
to Sextius: him he ejected from his kingdom, when he refused to make
an alliance with him. Arabio fled to Sextius and Fango demanded his
surrender. When his request was refused, he grew angry, invaded Africa
and did some damage to the country: but Sextius took the field against
him, and he was defeated in conflicts that were slight but numerous;
consequently he retired again into Numidia. Sextius went after him and
was in hopes of soon vanquishing him, especially with the aid of Arabio's
horse, but he became suspicious of the latter and treacherously murdered
him, after which he accomplished for the time being nothing further. For
the cavalry, enraged at Arabio's death, left the Romans in the lurch and
most of them took the side of Fango. [-23-] After these skirmishes they
concluded friendship, agreeing that the cause for war between them had
been removed. Later Fango watched until Sextius, trusting in the truce,
was free from fear, and invaded Africa. Then they joined battle with each
other, and at first both sides conquered and were beaten. The one leader
prevailed through the Numidian horsemen and the other through his citizen
infantry, so that they plundered each other's camps, and neither knew
anything about his fellow-soldiers. When as they retired they ascertained
what had happened, they came to blows again, the Numidians were routed,
and Fango temporarily fled to the mountains. During the night some
hartbeestes ran across the hills, and thinking that the enemy's cavalry
were at hand he committed suicide. Thus Sextius gained possession of
nearly everything without trouble, and subdued Zama, which held out
longest, by famine. Thereafter he governed both the provinces again until
such time as Lepidus was sent. Against him he made no demonstration,
either because he thought the step had the approval of Antony, or because
he was far inferior to him in troops.

[B.C. 40 (_a. u._ 714)]

He remained quiet, pretending that the necessity was a favor to himself.
In this way Lepidus took charge of both provinces.

[B.C. 42 (_a. u_. 712)]

[-24-] About this same period that the above was taking place, and after
the battle the scene of which was laid at Philippi, Mark Antony came
to the mainland of Asia and there by visiting some points himself and
sending deputies elsewhere he levied contributions upon the cities
and sold the positions of authority. Meanwhile he fell in love with
Cleopatra, whom he had seen in Cilicia, and no longer gave a thought to
honor but was a slave of the fair Egyptian and tarried to enjoy her love.
This caused him to do many absurd things, one of which was to drag her
brothers from the temple of Artemis at Ephesus and put them to death.
Finally, leaving Plancus in the province of Asia and Saxa in Syria, he
started for Egypt. Many disturbances resulted from this action of his:
the Aradii, islanders, would not yield any obedience to the messengers
sent by him to them after the money and also killed some of them, and the
Parthians, who had previously been restless, now assailed the Romans more
than ever. Their leaders were Labienus and Pacorus the latter the son of
King Orodes, and the former a child of Titus Labienus. I will narrate how
he came among the Parthians and what he did in conjunction with Pacorus.
He was by chance an ally of Brutus and Cassius and had been sent to
Orodes before the battle to secure some help: he was detained by him a
long time (over three lines starting at line beginning "constant ill
treatment"): and his presence ignored, because the king hesitated to
conclude the alliance with him yet feared to refuse.

[B.C. 41 (_a. u._ 713)]

Subsequently, when news of the defeat was brought and it appeared to be
the intention of the victors to spare no one who had resisted them, he
remained among the barbarians, choosing to live with them rather than
perish at home. This Labienus, accordingly, as soon as he perceived
Antony's relaxation, his passion, and his journeying into Egypt,
persuaded the Parthian monarch to make an attempt upon the Romans. He
said that their armies had been partly ruined, partly damaged, and that
the remainder of the warriors were in revolt and would again be at war.
Therefore he advised the king to subjugate Syria and the adjoining
districts, while Caesar was detained in Italy and with Sextus, and Antony
abandoned himself to love in Egypt. He promised that he would act as
leader in the war, and announced that in this way he could detach many of
the provinces, inasmuch as they were hostile to the Romans owing to the
latter's constant ill treatment of them.

[-25-] By such words Labienus persuaded Orodes to wage war and the king
entrusted to him a large force and his son Pacorus, and with them invaded
Phoenicia. They marched to Apamea and were repulsed from the wall, but
won over the garrisons in the country without resistance. These had
belonged to the troops that followed Brutus and Cassius. Antony had
incorporated them in his own forces and at this time had assigned them to
garrison Syria because they knew the country. So Labienus easily won over
these men, since they were well acquainted with, him, all except Saxa,
their temporary leader. He was a brother of the general and was quaestor,
and hence he alone refused to join the Parthian invaders. Saxa the
general was conquered in a set battle through the numbers and ability
of the cavalry, and when later by night he made a dash from his
entrenchments to get away, he was pursued. His flight was due to his fear
that his associates might take up with the cause of Labienus, who labored
to prevail upon them by shooting various pamphlets into the camp.
Labienus took possession of these men and slew the greater part, then
captured Apamea, which no longer resisted when Saxa had fled into
Antioch, since he was believed to be dead; he later captured Antioch,
which the fugitive had abandoned, and at last, pursuing him in his flight
into Cilicia, seized the man himself and killed him. [-26-] Upon his
death Pacorus made himself master of Syria and subjugated all of it
except Tyre. This city the Romans that survived and the natives who sided
with them had occupied in advance, and neither persuasion nor force
(for Pacorus had no fleet) could prevail against them. They accordingly
remained secure from capture. The rest Pacorus gained and then invaded
Palestine, where he removed from office Hyrcanus, to whom the affairs of
the district had been entrusted by the Romans, and set up his brother
Aristobulus[45] as ruler instead because of the enmity existing between
them. Meantime Labienus had occupied Cilicia and had obtained the
allegiance of the cities of the mainland except Stratonicea; Plancus in
fear of him had crossed over to the islands: most of these towns he took
without conflict, but Mylasa and Alabanda with great peril. These cities
had accepted garrisons from him, but murdered them on the occasion of
a festival and revolted. For this he himself punished the people of
Alabanda when he had captured it, and razed to the ground Mylasa,
abandoned by the dwellers there. Stratonicea he besieged for a long time,
but was unable to capture it in any way.

In satisfaction of the defections mentioned he continued to levy money
and rob the temples; and he named himself imperator and Parthicus,--the
latter being quite the opposite of the Roman custom, in that he took his
title from those he had led against his countrymen: whereas regularly
it would imply that he had conquered the Parthians instead of citizens.
[-28-] Antony kept hearing of these operations as he did of whatever else
was being done, such as matters in Italy, of which he was not in the
least ignorant; but in each instance he failed to make a timely defence,
for owing to passion and drunkenness he devoted no thought either to his
allies or to his enemies. While he had been classed as a subordinate and
was pursuing high prizes, he gave strict attention to his task: when,
however, he attained power, he no longer gave painstaking care to any
single matter but joined in the wanton life of Cleopatra and the rest of
the Egyptians until he was entirely undone.

[B.C. 40 (_a. u_. 714)]

Rather late he was at last forced to bestir himself and sailed to Tyre
with the announcement that he was going to aid it, but on seeing that the
remainder of the country had been occupied before his coming, he deserted
the inhabitants on the pretext that he had to wage war against Sextus. On
the other hand he excused his dilatoriness with regard to the latter by
bringing forward the activity of the Parthians. So on account of Sextus
he gave no assistance to his allies and on account of his allies no
assistance to Italy, but coasted along the mainland as far as Asia and
crossed into Greece. There, after meeting his mother and wife, he made
Caesar his enemy and cemented a friendship with Sextus. After this he went
over to Italy and got possession of Sipontum but besieged Brundusium,
which refused to come to terms with him.

[-28-] While he was thus engaged, Caesar, who had already arrived from
Gaul, had collected his forces and had sent Publius Servilius Rullus to
Brundusium, and Agrippa against Sipontum. The latter took the city by
storm, but Servilius was suddenly attacked by Antony who destroyed many
and won over many others. The two leaders had thus broken out into open
war and proceeded to send about to the cities and to the veterans, or to
any place whence they thought they could get any aid. All Italy was again
thrown into turmoil and Rome especially; some were already choosing one
side or the other, and others were hesitating. While the chief figures
themselves and those who were to follow their fortunes were in a quiver
of excitement, Fulvia died in Sicyon,--the city where she was staying.
Antony was really responsible for her death through his passion for
Cleopatra and the latter's lewdness. But at any rate, when this news was
announced, both sides laid down their arms and effected a reconciliation,
either because Fulvia had actually been the original cause of their
variance or because they chose to make her death an excuse in view of the
fear with which each inspired the other and the equality of their forces
and hopes. The arrangement made allotted to Caesar Sardinia, Dalmatia,
Spain and Gaul, and to Antony all the districts that belonged to the
Romans across the Ionian Sea, both in Europe and in Asia. The provinces
in Libya were held by Lepidus, and Sicily by Sextus.

[-29-] The government they divided anew in this way and the war against
Sextus they made a common duty, although Antony through messengers had
taken oaths before him against Caesar. And it was chiefly for this reason
that Caesar had schooled himself to receive under a general amnesty all
those who had gone over to the enemy in the war with Lucius, Antony's
brother, some among them, Domitius particularly, who had been of the
assassins, as well as all those whose names had been posted on the
tablets or had in any way cooeperated with Brutus and Cassius and later
embraced the cause of Antony. So great is the irony to be found in
factions and wars; for those in power decide nothing according to
justice, but determine on friend and foe as their temporary needs and
advantages demand. Therefore they regard the same men now as enemies, now
as useful helpers, according to the occasion.

[-30-] When they had reached this agreement in the camp outside
Brundusium, they entertained each other, Caesar in a soldierly, Roman
fashion, and Antony with Asiatic and Egyptian manners. As it appeared
that they had become reconciled, the soldiers who were at that time
following Caesar surrounded Antony and demanded of him the money which
they had promised them before the battle of Philippi. It was for this
he had been sent into Asia, to collect as much as possible. And when he
failed to give them anything, they would certainly have done him some
harm, if Caesar had not restrained them by feeding them with new hopes.
After this experience, to guard against further unruliness, they sent
those soldiers who were clearly disqualified by age into the colonies,
and then took up the war anew. For Sextus had come into Italy according
to the agreement made between himself and Antony, intending with the
latter's help to wage war against Caesar: when he learned that they had
settled their difficulties he himself went back into Sicily, but ordered
Menas, a freedman of his on whom he placed great reliance, to coast about
with a portion of the fleet and damage the interests of the other side.
He, accordingly, inflicted injury upon considerable of Etruria and
managed to capture alive Marcus Titius, the son of Titius who had been
proscribed and was then with Sextus; this son had gathered ships for
enterprises of his own and was blockading the province of Narbonensis.
Titius underwent no punishment, being preserved for his father's sake and
because his soldiers carried the name of Sextus on their shields: he did
not, however, recompense his benefactor fairly, but fought him to the
last ditch and finally slew him, so that his name is remembered among the
most prominent of his kind. Menas besides the exploits mentioned sailed
to Sardinia and had a conflict with Marcus Lurius, the governor there;
and at first he was routed, but later when the other was pursuing him
heedlessly he awaited the attack and contrary to expectations won a
victory in turn. Thereupon his enemy abandoned the island and he occupied
it. All the towns capitulated, save Caralis, which he took by siege:
it was there that many fugitives from the battle had taken refuge. He
released without ransom among others of the captives Helenus, a freedman
of Caesar in whom his master took especial delight: he thus laid up for
himself with that ruler a kindness long in advance by way of preparing a
refuge for himself, if he should ever need aught at Caesar's hands.

[-31-] He was occupied as above described. And the people in Rome refused
to remain quiet since Sardinia was in hostile hands, the coast was being
pillaged, and they had been cut off from importation of grain, while
famine and the great number of taxes of all sorts that were being imposed
and the "contributions," in addition, that were laid upon such as
possessed slaves irritated them greatly. As much as they were pleased
with the reconciliation of Antony and Caesar,--for thought that harmony
between these men meant peace for themselves,--they were equally or more
displeased at the war the two men were carrying on against Sextus. But
a short time previously they had brought the two rulers into the city
mounted on horses as if at a triumph, and had bestowed upon them the
triumphal robe precisely similar to that worn by persons celebrating, had
made them view the festivals from their chairs of state and had hastened
to espouse to Antony, when once her husband was dead, Octavia the sister
of Caesar, though she was then pregnant. Now, however, they changed their
behavior to a remarkable degree. At first forming in groups or gathering
at some spectacle they urged Antony and Caesar to secure peace, crying out
a great deal to this effect. When the men in power would not heed them,
they fell at odds with them and favored Sextus. They talked frequently in
his behalf, and at the horse-races honored by a loud clapping of hands
the statue of Neptune carried in the procession, evincing great pleasure
at it. When for some days it was not brought in, they took stones and
drove the officials from the Forum, threw down the images of Caesar and
Antony, and finally, on not accomplishing anything in this way even,
rushed violently upon them as if to kill them. Caesar, although his
followers were wounded, rent his clothes and betook himself to
supplicating them, whereas Antony presented a less yielding front. Hence,
because the wrath of the populace was aroused to the highest pitch and
it was feared that they would commit some violence, the two rulers were
forced unwillingly to make propositions of peace to Sextus.

[-32-] Meantime they removed the praetors and the consuls though it was
now near the close of the year, and appointed others instead, caring
little that these would have but a few days to hold office. (One of those
who at this time became consuls was Lucius Cornelius Balbus, of Gades,
who so much surpassed the men of his generation in wealth and munificence
that at his death he left a bequest of twenty-five denarii to each of the
Romans.) They not only did this, but when an aedile died on the last day
of the year, they chose another to fill out the closing hours. It was at
this same time that the so-called Julian supply of water was piped into
Rome and the festival that had been vowed for the successful completion
of the war against the assassins was held by the consuls. The duties
belonging to the so-called Septemviri were performed by the pontifices,
since none of the former was present: this was also done on many other
occasions.

[-33-] Besides these events which took place that year Caesar gave a
public funeral to his pedagogue Sphaerus, who had been freed by him. Also
he put to death Salvidienus Rufus, suspected of plotting against him.
This man was of most obscure origin, and while he was a shepherd a flame
had issued from his head. He had been so greatly advanced by Caesar that
he was made consul without even being a member of the senate, and his
brother who died before him had been laid to rest across the Tiber, a
bridge being constructed for this very purpose. But nothing human is
lasting, and he was finally accused in the senate by Caesar himself and
executed as an enemy of his and of the entire people; thanksgivings
were offered for his downfall and furthermore the care of the city was
committed to the triumvirs with the customary admonition, "that it should
suffer no harm."

[B.C. 41 (_a. u_. 713)]

In the year previous to this men belonging to the order of knights had
slaughtered wild beasts at the horse-race which came in the course of
the Ludi Apollinares, and an intercalary day was inserted, contrary to
custom, in order that the market held every nine days should not fall
on the first day of the following year,--something which was strictly
forbidden from very early times. Naturally the day had to be subtracted
again later, in order that the calendar should run according to the
system devised by the former Caesar. The domain of Attalus and of
Deiotarus, who had both died in Gaul, was given to a certain Castor. Also
the so-called Lex Falcidia, which has the greatest force even still
in regard to the succession to inheritances, was enacted by Publius
Falcidius, a tribune: its terms are that if an heir feels oppressed in
any way, he may secure at least a fourth, of the property left behind by
surrendering the rest.

[B.C. 39 (_a. u_. 715)]

[-34-] These were the events of the two years; the next season, when
Lucius Marcius and Gaius Sabinus held the consulship, the acts of the
triumvirs from the time they had formed a close combination received
ratification at the hands of the senate, and certain further taxes were
imposed by them, because the expenditures proved far greater than had
been allowed for in the time of the former Caesar. For they were expending
vast sums, especially upon the soldiers, and were ashamed of being the
only ones to lay out money contrary to custom. Then I might mention that
Caesar now for the first time shaved his beard, and held a magnificent
entertainment himself besides granting all the other citizens a festival
at public expense. He also kept his chin smooth afterward, like the rest;
he was already beginning to conceive a passion for Livia, and for this
reason divorced at once Scribonia, who had borne him a daughter. Hence,
as the expenditures grew far greater than before, and the revenues were
not anywhere sufficient but at this time came in in even smaller amounts
by reason of the factional disputes, they introduced certain new taxes;
and they enrolled in the senate as many persons as possible, not only
from among the allies or soldiers, or sons of freedmen, but even slaves.
At any rate one Maximus, when about to become quaestor, was recognized by
his master and taken away. And he incurred no injury through having dared
to stand for the office: but another who had been caught serving as a
praetor, was hurled down the rocks of the Capitol, having been
first freed, that there might be some legal justification for his
punishment[46].

[-35-] The expedition which Antony was getting in readiness against the
Parthians afforded them some excuse for the mass of prospective senators.
The same plea permitted them to extend all the offices for a number of
years and that of consul to eight full years, rewarding some of those who
had cooeperated with them, and bringing others to trial. They chose not
two annual consuls, as had been the custom, but now for the first time
several, and on the very day of the elections. Formerly, to be sure, some
had held office after others who had neither died nor been removed for
disenfranchisement or in any other way: but those persons had become
officials as suited those who had been elected for the entire year,
whereas now no magistrate was chosen to serve for a year, but first one,
then another would be appointed for different divisions of the entire
time. Also the men first to enter upon office were accustomed to hold the
title of the consulship through the entire year as is now done: the rest
were accorded the same title by the dwellers in the capital themselves
and by the people in the rest of Italy during each period of their office
(as is also now the custom), but those in outside nations knew few or
none of them and therefore called them lesser consuls.

[-36-] This was the situation at home when the leaders first made
proposals to Sextus through companions as to how and on what terms they
could effect a reconciliation; afterward the parties concerned held a
conference near Misenum. The two from the capital took their stand on the
land, the other on a kind of mound constructed for his safety in the sea,
by which it was purposely surrounded, not far from them. There was also
present the entire fleet of Sextus and the entire infantry force of the
other two; and not that merely, but the one command had been drawn up on
the shore and the other on the ships, both fully armed, so that this very
fact made it perfectly evident to all that it was from fear of their
accoutrement and from necessity, that the two rulers were making peace
because of the people and Sextus because of his adherents. The compact
was framed upon the following conditions,--that the deserters from
among the slaves should be free and that all those driven out, save
the assassins, should be restored. The latter, of course, they had to
exclude, but in reality several of them were destined to return. Sextus
himself, indeed, was thought to have been one of them. It was recorded,
at any rate, that all the rest save those mentioned should be allowed to
return under a general amnesty and with a right to a quarter of their
confiscated property; that tribuneships, praetorships and priesthoods
should be given to some of them immediately; that Sextus himself should
be chosen consul and be appointed augur, should obtain seventeen hundred
and fifty myriads of denarii from his paternal estate, and should govern
Sicily, Sardinia and Achaea for five years, not receiving deserters nor
acquiring more ships nor keeping any garrisons in Italy, but bending
his efforts to secure peace on the sea for the peninsula, and sending a
stated amount of grain to the people of the City. They limited him to
this period of time because they wished it to appear that they also were
holding merely a temporary and not an unending authority.

[-37-] After settling and drafting these compacts they deposited the
documents with the priestesses,--the vestal virgins,--and then exchanged
pledges and treated one another as friends. Upon this a tremendous and
inextinguishable shout arose from the mainland and the ships at once. For
many soldiers and many individuals who were present suddenly uttered a
cry in unison because they were terribly tired of the war and vehemently
desired peace. And the mountains resounded so that great panic and alarm
were spread, and many died of fright at the very reverberation, while
others perished by being trampled under foot and suffocated. Those who
were in the small boats did not wait to reach the land itself but jumped
out into the sea and the rest rushed out into the breakers. Meantime
they embraced one another while swimming and threw their arms around one
another's necks under water, making a diversified picture accompanied by
diversified sounds. Some knew that their relatives and associates were
living and seeing them present gave way to unrestrained joy. Others,
thinking that those dear to them had died previously, saw them now
unexpectedly and for a long time knew not what to do but were rendered
speechless, distrusting their sight yet praying that it might be true;
and they were not sure of them until they had called their names and had
heard them say something. They rejoiced as if the men had been brought
to life again, but as they were forced to share their pleasure with a
multitude they did not continue without tears. Again, some who were
unaware that their loved ones had perished and thought they were alive
and present sought for them and went about asking every one they met
regarding them. As long as they could learn nothing they were like
maniacs and were torn different ways, both hoping to find them and
fearing that they were dead,--not able to despair in view of their desire
nor to indulge in grief in view of their hope. On learning at last the
truth they would tear their hair and rend their clothing, calling upon
the lost by name as if they could hear anything and giving way to grief
as if their friends were just dead and lying there somewhere. And if any
of them were affected in no such way, they were at least disturbed by the
experiences of the rest. They either rejoiced with somebody in joy or
grieved with somebody in pain, and so, even if they were free from
personal interest, yet they could not remain indifferent on account of
their connection with the rest. As a result there was no possibility of
their being either sated or ashamed, because they were all affected in
the same way, and they spent the entire day as well as the greater part
of the night in this behavior.

[-38-] After this the parties chiefly concerned as well as the rest
received one another and inaugurated entertainments in turn, first
Sextus on the ship and then Caesar and Antony on the shore. Sextus so far
surpassed them in power that he would not disembark to meet them on the
mainland until they had gone aboard his boat. In the course of this
proceeding, however, he refused to murder them both in the small boat
with only a few followers, though he might easily have done so and Menas
advised it[47]. To Antony, who had possession of his ancestral home at
Carinae (the spot so named is in the city of Rome), he uttered a jest
in the happiest manner, saying that he was entertaining them at
Carinae,--that is, on the "keels of ships," which is the meaning of the
word in Latin. Nevertheless he did not act in any way as if he bore
malice toward them, and on the following day he was feasted in turn and
betrothed his daughter to Marcus Marcellus, the nephew of Caesar.

[-39-] This war, then, had been deferred: that of Labienus and the
Parthians came to an end in the following way. Antony himself returned
from Italy to Greece and delayed there a very long time, satisfying his
desires and harming the cities, to the end that they should be delivered
to Sextus in the weakest possible condition. He lived during this time in
many ways contrary to the customs of his country. He called himself the
younger Dionysus and insisted on being called so by others. When the
Athenians in view of this and his other behavior betrothed Athena to him,
he declared he accepted the marriage and he exacted from them a dowry of
one hundred myriads. While he was occupied in this way he sent Publius
Ventidius before him into Asia. The latter came upon Labienus before
his presence was announced and terrified him by the suddenness of his
approach and by his legions; for the Parthian leader was separated from
the members of his tribe and had only soldiers from the neighborhood.
Ventidius found that he would not even risk a conflict and so pushed him
back and pursued him into Syria, taking the lightest part of his fighting
force with him on the expedition. He overtook him near the Taurus range
and allowed him to proceed no farther, and they encamped there quietly
for several days. Labienus awaited the Parthians and Ventidius the
heavy-armed soldiers. [-40-] Both came at once during the same days and
Ventidius through fear of the barbarian cavalry remained on the high
ground, where he was encamped. The Parthians, because of their numbers
and because they had conquered once before, despised their opponents and
rode up to the hill at dawn, before joining Labienus; as no one came out
to meet them, they attacked it, charging straight up the incline. When
they were in that position the Romans rushed out and easily routed them,
as it was down-hill. Many of the assailants were killed in conflict, but
still more in turning back were confused with one another; for some had
already been routed and others were coming up. The survivors took refuge
not with Labienus but in Cilicia. Ventidius pursued them as far as the
camp, and there, seeing Labienus, stopped. The latter marshaled his
forces as if to offer him battle, but perceiving that his soldiers were
dejected by reason of the flight of the barbarians he did not then
venture any opposition and when night came he attempted to escape in
some direction. Ventidius learned beforehand from deserters of the
contemplated move and by posting ambushes killed many in the retreat and
took possession of the rest, who were abandoned by Labienus. The latter
by changing his dress reached safety and for some time escaped detection
in Cilicia. Later he was captured by Demetrius, a freedman of the former
Caesar, who had at this time been assigned to Cyprus by Antony. He learned
that Labienus was in hiding and made a search for him, which resulted in
the fugitive's arrest.

[-41-] After this Ventidius recovered Cilicia and attended himself to
the administration of this district, but sent ahead Pompaedius Silo with
cavalry to Amanus. This is a mountain on the border between Cilicia and
Syria, and contains a pass so narrow that a wall and gates were once
built across it and the place received its name from that fact. Silo,
however, found himself unable to occupy it and ran in danger of being
annihilated by Phranapates, lieutenant of Pacorus, who was guarding the
passage. And that would have been his fate, had not Ventidius by chance
come upon him when he was fighting and defended him. He attacked the
barbarians, who were not looking for his arrival and were likewise fewer
in number, and slew Phranapates and many others. In this way he gained
Syria deserted by the Parthians,--all except the district of the
Aradii,--and subsequently without effort occupied Palestine, by scaring
away from it King Antigonus. Besides accomplishing this he exacted large
sums of money from the rest individually, and large sums also from
Antigonus and Antiochus and Malchus the Nabathaean, because they had
given help to Pacorus. Ventidius himself received no reward for these
achievements from the senate, since he was acting not with full powers,
but as a lieutenant: Antony, however, obtained praise and thanksgivings.
As for the Aradii, they were afraid that they might have to pay the
penalty for what they had ventured against Antony, and would not come to
terms though they were besieged by him for a time; later they were with
difficulty captured by others.

[-40-] About this same time an uprising took place in Parthian Illyricum,
but was put down by Pollio after some conflicts. There was another on the
part of the Ceretani in Spain, and they were subjugated by Calvinus after
he had had some little preliminary successes and also a preliminary
setback; this last was occasioned by his lieutenant, who was ambuscaded
by the barbarians and deserted by his soldiers. Their leader undertook
no operation against the enemy until he had punished them. Calling
them together as if for some other purpose he had the rest of the army
surround them; and out of two companies of a hundred he chose out every
tenth man for punishment and chastised the centurion who was serving in
the so-called primus pilus as well as many others. After doing this and
gaining, like Marcus Crassus, a renown for his disciplining the army, he
set out against his opponents and with no great difficulty vanquished
them. He obtained a triumph in spite of the fact that Spain was assigned
to Caesar; for the rulers could at will grant the honors to those who
served as their lieutenants. The money customarily given by the cities
for the purpose Calvinus took only from the Spanish towns, and of it he
spent a part on the festival but the greater portion on the palace. It
had been burned down and he built it up, adorning it splendidly at the
dedication with various objects and with images, in particular, which he
asked from Caesar, implying that he would send them back. Though asked
for them later, he did not return them, excusing himself by a witticism.
Pretending that he had not enough assistants, he said: "Send some men and
take them." Caesar shrank from seizure of sacred things and hence allowed
them to remain as votive offerings.

[B.C. 38 (_a. u_. 716)]

[-43-] This is what happened at that time. Now in the consulship of
Appius Claudius and Gaius Norbanus, who were the first to have two
quaestors apiece as associates, the populace revolted against the tax
gatherers, who oppressed them severely, and came to blows with the men
themselves, their assistants, and the soldiers that helped them to exact
the money; and sixty-seven praetors one after another were appointed and
held office. One who was chosen to be quaestor while still reckoned as
a child then on the next day obtained the standing of a iuvenis: and
another person who had been enrolled in the senate desired to fight in
the arena. He was prevented, however, from doing this, and an act was
passed prohibiting any senator from taking part in gladiatorial combats,
any slave from serving as lictor, and any burning of dead bodies from
being carried on within fifteen stadia of the city.

Many things of a portentous nature had come to pass even before that time
(such as olive oil spouting beside the Tiber), and many, also, precisely
then. The tent of Romulus was burned as a result of some ritual which the
pontifices were performing in it; a statue of Virtus, standing before
some of the gates, fell upon its face; and certain persons rendered
inspired by the Mother of the Gods declared that the goddess was angry
with them. On this point the Sibylline books were consulted. They made
the same statements and prescribed that the statue be taken down to
the sea and purified with water from it. In obedience to the order the
goddess went very far indeed out into the surges, where she remained an
extremely long time and returned only quite late,--her action causing the
Romans no little fear, so that they did not recover courage until four
palm trees grew up round about her temple and in the Forum.

[-44-] Besides these occurrences at the time Caesar married Livia. She was
the daughter of Livius Drusus, who had been among those proscribed by the
tablet and had committed suicide after the defeat in Macedonia, and
the wife of Nero, whom she had accompanied in his flight, as has been
related. She was also in the sixth month with child from him. When Caesar
accordingly hesitated and enquired of the pontifices whether it was
permissible to wed her while pregnant, they answered that if the origin
of the foetus were doubtful, the marriage should be put off, but if it
were definitely admitted, nothing prevented an immediate consummation.
Perhaps they really found this among the ordinances of the forefathers,
but certainly they would have said so even had they not found it. The
woman was given in marriage by her husband himself, as some father might
do. And the following incident occurred at the marriage feast. One of the
prattling boys, such as women frequently keep about them naked to play
with,[48] on seeing Livia reclining in one place with Caesar and Nero in
another with some man, went up to her and said: "What are you doing here,
mistress? For your husband," pointing him out, "is reclining over there."
After these events, when the woman went to live with Caesar, she gave
birth to Claudius Drusus Nero. Caesar took him and sent him to his father,
making this entry in the records, that Caesar returned to its father Nero
the child borne by Livia, his own wife. Nero died not long after and left
Caesar himself as guardian to this boy and to Tiberius: the populace had a
good deal to say about this, among other things that the prosperous have
children in three months; and this saying passed into a proverb.

[-45-] At just about the same time that this was going on in the city
Bogud the Moor sailed to Spain, acting either on instructions from Antony
or on his own motion, and did much damage, receiving also considerable
injury in return: meantime the people of his own land in the neighborhood
of Tingi rose against him, and so he evacuated Spain but failed to win
back his own domain. For the adherents of Caesar in Spain and Bocchus came
to the aid of the rebels and proved too much for him. Bogud departed to
join Antony, while Bocchus forthwith took possession of his kingdom, and
this act was afterward confirmed by Caesar. The Tingitanians were given
citizenship.

At this time and even earlier Sextus and Caesar had broken out into war;
for since they had come to an agreement not of their own free will or
choice but under compulsion, they did not abide by it any time at all,
so to speak, but broke the truce at once and stood opposed. They were
destined to come to war under any conditions, even if they had found no
excuse; their alleged grievances, however, were the following. Menas, who
was at this time still in Sardinia, as if he were a kind of praetor, had
incurred the suspicion of Sextus by his release of Helenus and because he
had been in communication with Caesar, and he was slandered to some extent
by his peers, who envied his position of power. He was therefore summoned
by Sextus on the pretext that he should give an account of the grain and
money of which he had charge; instead of obeying he seized and killed
the men sent to him on this errand, and after negotiating with Caesar
surrendered to him the island, the fleet together with the army, and
himself. Caesar was glad to see him and declared that Sextus was harboring
deserters contrary to the treaty, having triremes built, and keeping
garrisons in Italy: and so far from giving up Menas on demand, he
supported him in great honor, gave him the decoration of gold rings, and
enrolled him in the order of the knights. The matter of the gold rings
is as follows. Of the ancient Romans no one,--not to mention such as had
once been slaves,--who had grown up as a free citizen even, was allowed
to wear gold rings, save senators and knights,--as has been stated.
Therefore they are given to those freedmen whom the man in power may
select; although they may use gold in other ways, this is still an
additional honor and distinguishes them as superior, or as capable,
through having been freed, of becoming knights.

[-46-] Such is the matter in question. Sextus, having this as a reproach
against Caesar, and the further facts that Achaea had been impoverished
and the rights agreed upon were not granted either to him or to the
restored exiles, sent to Italy Menecrates, another freedman of his, and
had him ravage Volturnum and other parts of Campania. Caesar on learning
this took the documents containing the treaty from the vestal virgins and
sent for Antony and Lepidus. Lepidus did not at once obey. Antony came to
Brundusium from Greece where, by chance, he still was: but before he met
Caesar, who was in Etruria, he became alarmed because a wolf had entered
his head-quarters and killed soldiers; so he sailed back to Greece again,
making the urgency of the Parthian situation his excuse. Caesar, however
much he felt that he had been abandoned by his colleague with the purpose
that he should face the difficulties of the war alone, nevertheless
showed no anger openly. Sextus kept repeating that Antony was not for
punishing him and set himself more zealously to the task in hand. Finally
he sailed against Italy, landed at different points, inflicted much
injury and endured much in return. Meantime off Cyme there was a naval
battle between Menecrates and Calvisius Sabinus. In this several ships of
Caesar were destroyed, because he was arrayed against expert seafarers;
but Menecrates out of rivalry attacked Menas and perished, making the
loss of Sextus an equal one. For this reason the latter laid no claim to
victory and Caesar consoled himself over the defeat. [-47-] He happened at
this time to be in Rhegium, and the party of Sextus feared he would cross
over into Sicily; and being somewhat disheartened, too, at the death
of Menecrates, they set sail from Cyme. Sabinus pursued them as far
as Scyllaeum, the Italian promontory, without trouble. But, as he was
rounding that point, a great wind fell upon him, hurling some of the
ships against the promontory, sinking others out at sea, and scattering
all the rest. Sextus on ascertaining this sent the fleet under command of
Apollophanes against them. He, discovering Caesar coasting along somewhere
in these parts with the intention of crossing into Sicily along with
Sabinus, made a dash upon him. Caesar had the ships come to anchor,
marshaled the heavy-armed soldiers upon them, and at first made a noble
resistance. The ships were drawn up with prows facing outward and so
offered no safe point for attack, but being shorter and higher could do
more hurt to those that approached them, and the heavy-armed fighters,
when they could come in conflict with the enemy, proved far superior.
Apollophanes, however, transferred such as were wounded and were in
difficulty from time to time to other ships assigned for the purpose, by
backing water, and took on board fresh men; he also made constant charges
and used missiles carrying fire, so that his adversary was at last
routed, fled to the land, and came to anchor. When even then the pursuers
pressed him hard, some of Caesar's ships suddenly cut their anchors and
unexpectedly offered opposition. It was only this and the fact that night
interrupted operations that kept Apollophanes from burning some of the
ships and towing all the rest away.

[-48-] After this event an ill-fated wind on the following day fell upon
Caesar and Sabinus as they were anchored together and made their previous
reverse seem small. The fleet of Sabinus suffered the less, for Menas,
being an old hand on the sea, foresaw the storm. He immediately stationed
his ships out at sea, letting them ride with slack anchors some distance
apart, so that the ropes should not be stretched and break; then he rowed
directly against the wind, and in this way no rope was strained, and he
remained constantly in the same position, recovering by the use of the
oars all the distance which he lost by the impetus of the wind. The
remaining commanders, because they had gone through a severe experience
the day before, and as yet had no precise knowledge of nautical matters,
were cast out upon the shore close by and lost many ships. The night,
which had been of the greatest aid to them before, was now among the
chief agencies in promoting disaster. All through it the wind blew
violently, tearing the vessels from their anchors and dashing them
against the rocks. That of course was the end of them, and the sailors
and marines likewise perished without hope of rescue, since the darkness
prevented them from seeing ahead and they could not hear a word because
of the uproar and the reverberation from the mountains, especially since
the wind smote them in the face. So it was that Caesar despaired of Sicily
and was satisfied to guard the coast country: Sextus on the other hand
was still more elated, believing himself in very truth to be the son of
Neptune, and he put on a dark blue robe besides, as some relate, casting
horses as well as men alive into the straits. He plundered and harassed
Italy himself, sending Apollophanes to Libya. The latter was pursued by
Menas, who overtook and injured him. The islands round about Sicily went
over to the side of Sextus, whereupon Caesar seized the territory of the
Lipareans in advance and ejecting them from the island conveyed them to
Campania, where he forced them to live in Neapolis so long as the war
should continue. [-49-] Meantime he kept having boats made throughout
almost all of Italy and collected slaves for rowers first from his
friends, who were supposed to give willingly, and then from the
rest,--senators and knights and well-to-do private citizens. He also
assembled heavy-armed troops and gathered money from all citizens,
allies, and subjects, both in Italy and abroad.

This year and the following he spent on the construction of ships and the
gathering and training of rowers.

[B.C. 37 (_a. u_. 717)]

He himself oversaw and arranged these details and all other matters in
Italy and in Gaul (where there was a slight uprising). To Agrippa he
entrusted the equipment of the boats. He sent for this man, who was
fighting against the revolted Gauls, at the time when he had been the
second of the Romans to cross the Rhine for purposes of warfare, and he
honored him by bestowing a triumph and bidding him to secure the
building and training of the fleet. Agrippa,--he was consul with Lucius
Gallus,--would not hold the triumph, deeming it disgraceful for him to
exalt himself when Caesar had fared poorly, but set to work heart and soul
to fit out the fleet. All along the coasts of Italy vessels were taking
shape; but since no shore was found safe for them to ride at anchor,--the
majority of the coast land being still in those days without harbors,--he
conceived and executed a magnificent enterprise which I shall describe at
some length, showing its nature and the present characteristics of the
locality where it took place.

[-50-] At Cyme in Campania, between Misenum and Puteoli, there is a
crescent-shaped spot. It is shut in by small hills, bare except in a
few places, and the sea there forms a kind of triple bay. The first is
outside and near the cities; the second is separated from it by a small
passage; and the third, like a real harbor, is seen far back. The last
named is called Avernus, and the middle bay Lucrinus: the outer one
belongs to the Tyrrhenian Sea and takes its name from that water. In this
roadstead within the other two, which had but narrow entrances then,
Agrippa, by cutting channels close along the shore through the land
separating Lucrinus from the sea on each side, produced harbors affording
most safe anchorage for ships. While the men were working a certain image
situated above Avernus, either of Calypso to whom this place, whither
they say Odysseus also sailed, is devoted, or to some other heroine, was
covered with sweat like a human body. [-51-] Now what this imported I
cannot say; but I will go on to tell of everything else worth reporting
which I saw in that place. These mountains close to the inner bodies of
water have springs full of both fire and water in considerable quantity
mixed together. Neither of the two elements is anywhere to be found by
itself (that is, neither pure fire or cold water alone is to be seen) but
from their association the water is heated and the fire moistened. The
former on its way down the foothills to the sea runs into reservoirs and
the inhabitants conduct the steam from it through pipes into rooms set
up high, where they use the steam for vapor baths. The higher it ascends
from the earth and from the water, the dryer it becomes. Costly apparatus
has been installed for turning both the fire and the vapor to practical
use; and they are very well suited for employment in the conduct of daily
life and also for effecting cures.

Now besides these products that mountain makes an earth, the peculiar
nature of which I am going to describe. Since the fire has not the power
of burning (for by its union with, the water all its blazing qualities
are extinguished) but is still able to separate and melt the substances
with which it comes in contact, it follows that the oily part of the
earth is melted by it, whereas the hard and what I might call the bony
part of it is left as it was. Hence the masses of earth necessarily
become porous and when exposed to the dry air crumble into dust, but when
they are placed in a swirl of water and sand grow into a solid piece; as
much of them as is in the liquid hardens and petrifies. The reason for
this is that the brittle element in them is disintegrated and broken up
by the fire, which possesses, the same nature, but by the admixture of
dampness is chilled, and so, being compressed all over, through and
through, becomes indissoluble. Such is Baiae, where Agrippa as soon as he
had constructed the entrances collected ships and rowers, of which he
fortified the former with armor and trained the latter to row on wooden
benches.

[-52-] Now the population of Rome was being disturbed by signs. Among the
various pieces of news brought to them was one to the effect that many
dolphins battled with one another and perished near Aspis, the African
city. And in the vicinity of the City blood descended from heaven and was
smeared all about by the birds. When at the Ludi Romani not one of the
senators was entertained on the Capitol, as had been the custom, they
took this, too, as a portent. Again, the incident that happened to Livia
caused her pleasure, but inspired the rest with terror. A white bird
carrying a sprig of fruited laurel had been thrown by an eagle into her
lap. As this seemed to be a sign of no small importance, she took care of
the bird and planted the laurel. The latter took root and grew, so that
it amply supplied those who were afterward to celebrate triumphs; and
Livia was destined to hold Caesar's power in a fold of her robe and to
dominate him in everything.

[-53-] The rest, however, in the City had their peace of mind thoroughly
shattered by this and the differences between officials. Not only the
consuls and praetors but even the quaestors were arrayed against one
another, and this lasted for some time. The reason was that all were
anxious not so much to hold office a longer time at home as to be counted
among the ex-officials and secure the outward honors and influence that
belonged to that class. They were no longer chosen for any specified
time, but took just long enough to enter upon the title of the office and
resign, whenever it so seemed good to those in power. Many did both
on the same day. Some actually had to abandon hope of offices through
poverty, and in this I am not speaking of those then supporting Sextus,
who had been disenfranchised as if by some principle of right. But
we have the case of a certain Marcus Oppius who through lack of means
desired to resign the aedileship,--both he and his father had been among
the proscribed,--and the populace would not permit it, but contributed
money for his various necessities of life and the expenses of his office.
And the story goes that some criminals, too, really came into the theatre
in masks as if they were actors and left their money there with the rest.
So this man was loved by the multitude while in life and at his death not
long after was carried to the Campus Martius and there burned and buried.
The senate was indignant at the utter devotion of the masses to him and
took up his bones, on the plea that it was impious for them to lie in
that consecrated spot; they were persuaded by the pontifices to make this
declaration although they buried many other men there both before and
after.

[-54-] At this same period Antony came into Italy again from Syria. The
reason he gave was that he intended to bear his share of the war against
Sextus because of Caesar's mishaps; he did not, however, stay by his
colleague, but, having come to spy upon his actions rather than to
accomplish anything, he gave him some ships and promised to send others,
in return for which he received heavy-armed infantry and set sail
himself, stating that he was going to conduct a campaign against the
Parthians. Before he departed they presented to each other their mutual
grievances, at first through friends and then personally. As they had no
leisure for war together they became reconciled in a way, chiefly through
the instrumentality of Octavia. In order that they might be bound by
still more ties of relationship Caesar betrothed his daughter to Antyllis,
Antony's son, and Antony betrothed to Domitius, though he had been an
assassin of Caesar and had been proscribed to die, his own daughter, borne
to him by Octavia. This was all mutual pretence. They had no intention of
carrying out any of these unions, but were acting a part in view of the
needs of the existing situation. Furthermore Antony sent Octavia herself
at once from Corcyra to Italy, that she might not share his danger while
he was warring against the Parthians. Besides the above negotiations at
that time they removed Sextus from his priesthood as well as from the
consulship to which he had been appointed, and granted themselves chief
authority for another five years, since the first period had elapsed.
After this Antony hastened to Syria and Caesar gave his attention to the
war. Nearly everything went as he wished, but Menas, who was naturally
untrustworthy and always followed the fortunes of the stronger, and was
further vexed because he held no office but had been made a subordinate
of Sabinus, deserted again to Sextus.




DIO'S

ROMAN HISTORY

49

The following is contained in the Forty-ninth of Dio's Rome.

How Caesar conquered Sextus and overthrew Lepidus (chapters 1-18).

How Ventidius conquered and slew Pacorus and expelled the Parthians,
driving them across the Euphrates (chapters 19-21).

How Antony was defeated by the Parthians (chapters 22-33).

How Caesar subjugated the Pannonians (chapters 34-38).

How Antony by guile captured Artavasdes, the king of Armenia (chapters
39-41).

How the Portico of Paulus was consecrated (chapter 42).

How Mauritania Caesariensis became Roman property (chapters 43, 44).

Duration of time four years, in which there were the following
magistrates here enumerated.

L. Gellius L. F. Poplicola, M. Cocceius Nerva. (B.C. 36 = a. u. 718.)

L. Cornificius L. F., Sextusi Pompeius Sexti F. (B.C. 35 = a. u. 719.)

M. Antonius M. F. (II), L. Scribonius L. F. Libo. (B.C. 34 = a. u. 720.)

Caesar (II), L. Volcacius L. F. Tullus. (B.C. 33 = a. u. 721.)


(_BOOK 49, BOISSEVAIN_.)

[B.C. 36 (a. u. 718)]

[-1-] This happened in the winter when Lucius Gellius and Cocceius Nerva
became consuls. Caesar, when his fleet had been made ready and spring set
in, started from Baise and coasted along Italy, having great hopes of
encompassing Sicily on all sides. For he was sailing thither with many
ships and those of Antony were already in the strait. Also Lepidus,
though reluctantly, had promised to assist him. His greatest ground of
confidence lay in the height of the vessels and the thickness of the
timbers. They had been built unusually stout and unusually high so as
to carry the largest number of marines possible; indeed, they were
surmounted by towers, in order that the conflict might be waged from a
higher point, as if from a wall: they were further intended to resist
the rammings of antagonists and to bend aside their beaks by making the
collision more violent. With such calculations Caesar was hastening to
Sicily. As he was passing the promontory of Palinurus, so-called, a great
storm fell upon him. This destroyed many ships, and Menas coming upon the
rest in confusion burned a number and towed away the rest. And had he not
again changed sides on the promise of immunity and through some other
hopes, besides betraying the whole fleet that he commanded by receiving
some triremes that simulated desertion, Caesar's voyage to Sicily on this
occasion also would have proved fruitless. Menas's action was due to the
fact that he was not allowed by Sextus to fight against Lepidus and was
under suspicion in nearly every way. Caesar was then extremely glad to
receive him, but trusted him no longer. He first repaired the damaged
ships, freed the slaves that served on the triremes, and assigned the
spare seamen, (many of whom when their vessels were destroyed in the
wreck had dived and escaped by swimming) to Antony's fleet, which was
short of men. Then he came to Lipara, and leaving there Agrippa and the
ships, returned to the mainland with the intention of transporting the
infantry across into Sicily, when an opportunity should arise.

[-2-] On learning this Sextus himself lay quietly at anchor off Messana,
watching for his attempt to cross, and ordered Demochares to anchor
opposite Agrippa at Mylae. This pair spent most of the time in testing
each other's strength according as each one would temporarily give way
a little; yet they did not dare to risk an engagement with their entire
armaments. They were not acquainted with each other's forces and on both
sides they figured everything about their opponents as being greater and
more terrible than the reality. Finally Agrippa comprehended that it
was not advantageous for him to delay,--for the adherents of Sextus,
occupying a friendly position, had no need to hurry,--and taking the best
of his ships set out for Mylae to spy out the numbers of the enemy. As he
could not see them all and no one of them manifested any inclination to
come out into the open sea, he despised them, and on his return made
preparations to sail against Mylae on the following day with all his
ships. Demochares came to much, the same conclusion. He had the idea that
the ships which had approached him were the only ones, and seeing that
they sailed very slowly by reason of their size he sent for Sextus by
night and made preparations to assail Lipara itself. When day broke, they
were sailing against each other, expecting to meet inferior numbers.
[-3-] As they came near together and each contrary to his expectations
saw that his opponents were many more than he had thought, they were at
first both alike thrown into confusion, and some even backed water. Then,
fearing flight more than battle, because in the latter they hoped to
prevail, but in the former they expected to be utterly destroyed, they
moved toward each other and joined in conflict on the sea. The one side
surpassed in the number of its ships, the other in the experience of its
sailors: to the first the height of the vessels, the thickness of the
catheads and the towers were a help, but charges straight ahead furthered
the progress of the second, and the strength of Caesar's marines was
matched by the daring of their antagonists; for the majority of them,
being deserters from Italy, were quite desperate. As a result, possessing
the mutual advantages and deficiencies which I have mentioned, they had
equal power contributed by their evenly balanced equipment, and so their
contest was close for a very long period. The followers of Sextus alarmed
their opponents by the way they dashed up the waves: and they knocked
holes in some ships by assailing them with a rush and bursting open the
parts outside the oars, but as they were struck from the towers in the
combat and brought alongside by grappling irons, they suffered no less
harm than they inflicted. The Caesarians, also, when they came into close
conflict and had crossed over to the hostile ships, proved superior; but
as the enemy leaped out into the sea whenever the boats sank, and by
their swimming well and being lightly equipped succeeded easily in
climbing upon others, the attackers were at a corresponding disadvantage.
Meantime the rapidity with which the ships of the one party could sail
proved an offset to the solidity of those on the other side, and the
heaviness of the latter counterbalanced the agility of the former. [-4-]
Late in the day, near nightfall, Caesar's party finally conquered,
but instituted no pursuit: the reason as it appears to me and may be
conjectured from probability was that they could not overtake the fleeing
ships and were afraid of running aground in the shallows, with which they
were unacquainted, near the coast. Some say that Agrippa because he was
battling for Caesar and not for himself thought it sufficient merely to
rout his adversaries. For he had been in the habit of saying to his most
intimate associates that the majority of those holding sovereign power
wish no one to display more ability than themselves; and that they
attended personally to nearly all such matters as afford them a conquest
without effort, but assign the less favorable and more complicated
business to others. And if they ever are forced to entrust some choice
enterprise to their assistants, they are irritated and displeased at the
latter's renown. They do not pray that these subordinates may be defeated
and fare badly, yet they do not choose to have them win a complete
success and secure glory from it. His advice therefore was that the
man who intended to survive must relieve his masters of the annoyance
incident to such undertakings and still reserve for them the successful
completion of the work. As for me, I know that the above is regularly
true and that Agrippa paid attention to it, but I am not setting down
that on that particular occasion this was the cause of his failure to
pursue. For he was not able, no matter how much he might have desired it,
to follow up the foe.

[-5-] While the naval battle was in progress, Caesar, as soon as he
perceived that Sextus was gone from Messana and that the strait was
destitute of guards, did not let slip this opportunity of the war but
immediately embarked on Antony's vessels and crossed to Tauromenium. Yet
this seizure of the opportunity was not accompanied by good fortune. No
one prevented him from sailing or disembarking, and he constructed his
camp, as he had done everything else, at leisure. When, however, the
naval battle had ended, Sextus got back to Messana with speed, and
learning of Caesar's presence he quickly filled the ships with fresh
warriors and assailed him with the vessels and also with his heavy-armed
men on land. Caesar did not come out to fight the latter, but sailed out
against Sextus through contempt of the few opposing ships and because
they had been previously defeated: then it was that he lost the majority
of his fleet and barely avoided destruction himself. He could not even
escape to his own men that were in Sicily but was glad to reach the
mainland in safety. He was himself then in security, but was mightily
disturbed at seeing his army cut off on the island. His confidence was
not restored until a fish of its own accord jumped out of the sea and
fell at his feet. By this incident his spirits were invigorated and he
believed the soothsayers who had told him that he should make Sicily his
slave.

[-6-] Caesar in haste sent for Agrippa to render aid to them, and meantime
they were being besieged. When, provisions began to fail them and no
rescuing force appeared, Cornificius their leader became afraid that if
he stayed where he was he should in the course of time be compelled by
hunger to yield to the besieging party; and he reflected that while he
delayed there in that way none of the enemy would come into conflict with
him, because he was stronger in point of heavy-armed infantry, but if
he should go forward in any direction one of two things would
happen,--either they would be attacked by the enemy and come off
victorious, or, if their adversaries were unwilling to do this, they
would retire to a place of safety, get a supply of provisions, and obtain
some help from Caesar or from Agrippa. Therefore he burned all the vessels
which had survived from the sea-fight and had been cast up against the
ramparts, and started out himself as if to proceed to Mylae. Both cavalry
and light-armed troops attacked him from a distance (not daring to come
to close quarters) and proved frightfully troublesome to him. For the
enemy came close, whenever there was good opportunity, and again turned
back with rapidity. But his men, being heavy-armed, could not pursue them
in any way owing to the weight of their armor, and were endeavoring to
protect the unarmed, who had been saved from the fleet. As a result they
were continually suffering disastrously and could do no damage in return;
for, in case they made a rush upon any group, they would put the foe to
flight, but not being able to pursue farther they found themselves in
a worse plight on their return, since by their sortie they had been
isolated. They endured the greatest hardship throughout their entire
journey, but chiefly in crossing the rivers. Then their adversaries
hemmed them in as they were going along rapidly, in disorder, a few at a
time, as usual on such occasions, and struck them in favorable spots that
they saw exposed. They were shot at, moreover, whenever they encountered
places that were muddy or where the current was strong, and when they
happened to be stuck for a moment or were carried down stream. [-7-]
This the enemy did for three whole days and on the last demoralized them
completely, especially since Sextus with his heavy-armed contingent had
been added to their attacking force. Consequently the Caesarians no longer
mourned such as were perishing but counted them fortunate to escape from
further torment, and in their hopelessness wished that they, too, were
among those already dead, wounded were far more in number than those
died, and being struck from a distance with stones and javelins and
receiving no blow from near at hand their wounds were in many places,
and not as a rule favorably located. These men were themselves in great
distress and they caused the survivors far more trouble than did the
enemy. For if they were carried they usually brought about the death of
the men supporting them, and if they were left behind, they threw the
whole army into dejection by their laments. The detachment would have
perished utterly, had not the foe, though reluctantly, taken their hands
off them. Agrippa, after winning the naval battle, had sailed back
to Lipara, but when he learned that Sextus had fled to Messana and
Demochares had gone off in some other direction, he crossed over to
Sicily, occupied Mylae and Tyndaris, and sent food and soldiers to the
other party. Sextus, thinking that Agrippa himself would come likewise,
became frightened and beat a hasty retreat before his approach, even
abandoning some baggage and supplies in his fortifications. The followers
of Cornificius obtained from these ample support and made their way in
safety to Agrippa. Caesar received them back with praises and gifts,
although he had treated them after the victory of Agrippa in a very
supercilious manner, thinking the latter had finished the war.
Cornificius, indeed, prided himself so much upon his preservation of the
soldiers, that in Rome, whenever he went out of his house to dine, he
always returned home on the back of an elephant.

[-8-] Caesar after this entered Sicily and Sextus encamped opposite him in
the vicinity of Artemisium. They did not have any great battle at
once, but indulged in a few slight cavalry skirmishes. While they were
stationed there in hostile array Sextus received as an accession Tisienus
Gallus, and Caesar Lepidus with his forces. Lepidus had encountered the
storm which I mentioned, and also Demochares, and he had lost a number
of ships: he did not come to Caesar immediately, but on account of his
reverse or to the end that his colleague should face difficulties by
himself or in the wish to draw Sextus away from him he had made an
assault on Lilybaeum. Gallus was sent thither by Sextus and contended
against him. From there both the contestants, as they accomplished
nothing, went to Artemisium. Gallus proved a source of strength to
Sextus, but Lepidus quarreled with Caesar; he claimed the privilege of
managing everything on equal terms with Caesar as his fellow-commander,
whereas he was employed by him entirely in the capacity of lieutenant:
therefore he inclined to favor Sextus and secretly held communication
with him. Caesar suspected this, but dared not give expression to his
doubts and alienate him openly, nor could he safely conceal his thoughts:
he felt it would look suspicious if he should not consult him at all and
that it would be dangerous to reveal all his plans. Hence he determined
to dispose of the uncertainty as quickly as possible, before there was
any rebellion, though for most reasons there was no need of particular
haste. He had as much food and as much money as Sextus, and therefore
hoped to overthrow him without effort before a great while. Still, when
he had once reached this decision, he himself led out his land force and
marshaled it in front of the camp, while simultaneously Agrippa sailed
close in and lay at anchor. Sextus, whose forces were far inferior to
theirs, would not oppose them on either element. This lasted for several
days. Finally, Pompey became afraid that he might be despised for his
behavior and be deserted by his allies, hence he gave orders for the
ships to weigh anchor; in these he reposed his chief trust.

[-9-] When the signal was raised and the trumpet gave the first call,
all the boats joined battle near the land and the infantry force of
both alike was marshaled at the very edge of the breakers, so that the
spectacle was a most notable one. The whole sea in that vicinity was full
of ships,--they were so many that they formed a long line,--and the
land just back of it was occupied by the armed men, while that further
removed, but adjoining, was taken up by the rest of the throng that
followed each side. Wherefore, though the struggle seemed to be between
the fighters on the ships alone, in reality the others too participated.
For those on the ships contended more valiantly in order to exhibit
their prowess to those beholding them, and the latter, in spite of being
considerably separated from them, nevertheless in watching the men in
action were themselves in a way concerned in the conflict. The battle was
for a long time an even one, the fighting being precisely similar to
that in previous encounters, and the men on shore followed it with minds
equally intent. They were very hopeful of having the whole war settled by
this engagement: yet they felt encouraged even should that not prove the
case, the one party expecting that if they should conquer then no further
labor of importance would be theirs, and that if they should prevail on
this occasion they would incur no further danger of defeat. Accordingly,
in order that they might keep their eyes fixed upon the action and not
incommode those taking part in it they were silent or employed but little
shouting. Their cries were directed to the combatants or were addressed
by way of invocation to the gods; such as got the upper hand received
praise and such as gave way abuse, and besides uttering many exhortations
to their warriors they shouted not a little against each other, wishing
their own men to hear more easily what was said, and their opponents to
catch familiar words less frequently.

[-10-] While the two sides were equally matched, these were the
conditions among both parties alike and they even tried to show by
gestures of the whole body that they could see and understand. When,
however, the adherents of Sextus were routed, then in unison and with
one impulse the one side raised the paean and the others a wail of
lamentation. The soldiers as if they too had shared defeat at once
retired to Messana. Caesar took up such of the vanquished as were cast on
shore and went into the sea itself to set on fire all the vessels
that ran aground in shoal water; thus there was no safety for such as
continued to sail, for they would be disabled by Agrippa, nor for such as
tried to land anywhere, for they were destroyed by Caesar, except for
a few that made good their escape to Messana. In this hard position
Demochares on the point of being taken slew himself and Apollophanes who
had his ship unscathed and might have fled went over to Caesar. The same
was done by others,--by Gallus and all the cavalry that followed him
and subsequently by some of the infantry. [-11-] This most of all caused
Sextus to despair of the situation, and he resolved to flee. He took his
daughter and certain other persons, his money and the rest of his chief
valuables, put them by night aboard of such ships as sailed best out of
the number that had been preserved, and departed. No one pursued him, for
his sailing had been secret and Caesar was temporarily in the midst of
great disturbance.

Lepidus had attacked Messana and on being admitted to the town set fire
to some of it and pillaged other portions. When Caesar on ascertaining
this came up quickly and withstood him, he was alarmed and slipped out
of the city, but encamped on a strong hill and made complaints about his
treatment; he detailed all the slights he had received and demanded
all that had been conceded to him according to their first compact and
further laid claim to Sicily, on the ground that he had helped subdue
it. He sent some men to Caesar with these charges and challenged him
to submit to arbitration: his forces consisted of troops which he had
brought in from Libya and all of those who had been left behind in
Messana; for he had been the first to enter it and had suggested to them
some hopes of a change in the government. [-12-] Caesar made no answer
to it, thinking that he had justice all on his side and in his weapons,
since he was stronger than his rival. He immediately set out, however,
against him with some few followers, expecting to alarm him by his
suddenness,--Lepidus not being of an energetic nature,--and to win over
his soldiers. On account of the fewness of the men accompanying him they
thought when he entered the camp that he was on a peaceful errand. But
as his words were not at all to their liking, they became irritated and
attacked him, even killing some of the men: he himself quickly received
aid and was saved. After this he came against them once more with his
entire army, shut them within their ramparts, and besieged them. This
made them afraid of capture, and without creating any general revolt,
through dread of Lepidus, they individually, a few at a time or one by
one, deserted him and transferred their allegiance. In this way he too
was compelled on his own initiative to array himself in mourning garments
and become a suppliant of Caesar. As a result Lepidus was shorn of all
authority and could not even live in Italy without a guard. Of those who
had been enlisted in the cause of Sextus, members of the senatorial or
equestrian classes were punished, save a few, while in the case of the
rank and file all free citizens were incorporated in the legions of
Caesar, and those that had been slaves were given back to their masters
for vengeance: in case no master could be found for any one of them, he
was impaled. Of the cities some voluntarily opened their gates to the
victor and received pardon, and others resisted him and were disciplined.

[-13-] While Caesar was thus occupied his soldiers revolted. Being so many
they drew encouragement from their very numbers and when they stopped
to think of their dangers and the hopes that rested on them they became
insatiable in the matter of rewards, and gathering in groups they
demanded whatever each one longed for. When their talk had no
effect,--for Caesar since no enemy longer confronted him made light of
them,--they became clamorous. Setting before him all the hardships they
had endured and bringing to his notice any promise he had ever made them
they uttered many threats besides, and thought to render him willy-nilly
their slave. As they gained nothing this way, they demanded with much
heat and deafening shouts to be relieved at least from further service,
saying they were worn out. This was not because they really wished to be
free from it, for most of them were in their prime, but because they had
an inkling of the coming conflict between Caesar and Antony and for that
reason set a high value upon themselves. And what they could not obtain
by requests they expected they could secure by threatening to abandon
him. Not even this, however, served their purpose. Caesar would not yield
to them, even if he knew for an absolute certainty that the war was going
to occur and clearly understood their wishes. He did not think it proper
for a commander to do anything against his will under compulsion from
the soldiers, because they would be sure, if he did, to want to get the
advantage of him again in some other matter. [-14-] So he pretended that
their request was a fair one and their desire only human and dismissed
first those that had accompanied him in the campaign against Antony at
Mutina, and next, since the rest were troublesome, all of them who had
been ten years in the service. And in order to restrain the remainder he
gave further notice that he would no longer employ any one of them, no
matter how much such a person might wish it. On hearing this they uttered
not another word, but began to exhibit great devotion toward him because
he announced that he would give to the men that had been released,--not
to all, save to the first of them, but to the worthiest,--everything that
he had promised, and would assign them land. They were also influenced by
the fact that he gave to all of them five hundred denarii and to those
who had been victors in the sea-fight a crown of olive besides. After
this he inspired them all personally with great hopes and the centurions
with the idea that he would appoint them to the senatorial bodies in
their native lands. Upon his lieutenants he bestowed various gifts and
upon Agrippa a golden crown adorned with beaks of ships,--a decoration
given to nobody before or since. And it was later ratified by a decree
that as often as any persons celebrated a triumph, wearing[49] the laurel
crown, Agrippa should always wear this trophy of the naval encounter. In
this way Caesar calmed the soldiers temporarily. The money he gave them at
once and the land not much later. And since what was still held by the
government at the time did not suffice, he bought more in addition,
especially considerable from the Campanians dwelling in Capua, since
their city needed a number of settlers. To them he also gave in return
the so-called Julian supply of water, one of their chief sources of pride
at all times, and the Gnosian territory,[50] from which they still gather
harvests.

That took place later. At the time under discussion he administered the
government in Sicily and through Statilius Taurus won both the Libyas
without a struggle and sent back to Antony a number of ships equivalent
to those lost. [-15-]Meantime conditions in Etruria which had been full
of rebellion regained a state of quiet when the inhabitants heard of his
victory. The people of the capital unanimously bestowed laudations upon
him and images, the right to front seats and an arch surmounted by a
trophy, as well as the privilege of riding into the city on horseback, of
wearing the laurel crown on all occasions, and of holding a banquet with
his wife and children in the precinct of the Capitoline Jupiter on the
anniversary of the day that he had conquered, which was to be a perpetual
day of thanksgiving. This is what they granted him directly after the
victory. The persons to announce it were, first, a soldier stationed in
the city, who on the very day in question had become possessed by some
god and after saying and doing many unusual things finally ran up to
the temple on the Capitol and laid his sword at the feet of Jupiter to
signify that there would be no further use for it; after that came the
rest who had been present at the action and had been sent to Rome by
Caesar. When he arrived himself he assembled them according to ancestral
custom outside the pomerium, gave them an account of what had been done,
and renounced some of the honors voted him. He then remitted the tribute
called for by the registered lists and everything else that was owing the
government since before the period of the civil wars, abolished certain
taxes, and refused to accept the priesthood of Lepidus, which was offered
to him; for it was not lawful to take away the appointment from a man
still alive. At this time they voted him many other distinctions. Some at
once declared that this striking magnanimity of his at this time was due
to the calumnies of Antony and of Lepidus and was intended to lay the
blame of former unjust behavior upon them alone. Others said that since
he was unable in any way to collect the debts he made of the people's
impotency a favor that cost him nothing. In spite of this various talk
that gained currency in different quarters they now resolved that a house
be presented to him from the public treasury. He had made the place on
the Palatine which he had bought to erect a structure public property,
and had consecrated it to Apollo, because a thunderbolt descended upon
it. Hence they voted him the house and protection from any insult by deed
or word. Any one who committed such an offence was to be bound by the
same penalties as prevailed in the case of a tribune. For he received
permission to sit upon the same benches with them.

[-16-] These were the gifts bestowed upon Caesar by the senate. As for
him, he enrolled among the augurs above the proper number, Valerius
Messala, whom he previously in the proscriptions condemned to death, made
the people of Utica citizens, and gave orders that no one should wear
purple clothing except senators and such as held public office. For it
had been already appropriated by ordinary individuals in a few cases. In
this same year there was no aedile owing to a lack of candidates, and the
praetors and the tribunes performed the aediles' duties: also no praetor
urbanus was appointed for the Feriae, but some of the regular praetors
discharged his functions. Other matters in the city and in the rest of
Italy were under the charge of one Gaius Maecenas, a knight, both then and
for a long time afterward.

[-17-] Now Sextus after taking ship from Messana was afraid of pursuit
and suspected that there might be some act of treachery on the part of
his retinue. Therefore he gave notice to them that he was going to sail
seaward, but when he had extinguished the light which flagships exhibit
during night voyages for the purpose of having the rest follow close
behind, he coasted along Italy, then went over to Corcyra and from there
came to Cephallenia. Here the remainder of his vessels, which had
by chance been driven from the course by a storm, joined him again.
Accordingly, after calling them together, he took off his general's
uniform and made an address of which the substance was that while they
remained together they could render no lasting aid to one another or
escape detection, but if they scattered they could more easily make
good their escape; and he advised each man to look out individually and
separately for his own safety. The majority were led to give ear to his
arguments and they departed in different directions, while he with the
remainder crossed over to Asia with the intention of going straight to
Antony. When he reached <DW26>s and learned that the latter had gone on
a campaign against the Medes and that Caesar and Lepidus had become
estranged, he decided to winter in the country. The Lesbians, indeed,
out of affectionate remembrance for his father were ready to receive and
detain him. He ascertained, however, that Antony had met with a mishap in
Media, and reflected further that Gaius Furnius, temporarily the governor
of Asia, was not friendly to him. Hence he did not remain, but hoping to
succeed to Antony's leadership because a number of men had come to him
from Sicily and still others had rallied around him, some drawn by the
glamour of his father's renown and some who were seeking a livelihood, he
resumed the outfit of a general and continued his preparations to occupy
the opposite shore. [-18-] Meantime Antony had got back again into
friendly territory and on learning what Sextus was doing promised he
would grant him amnesty and favor, if he would lay down his arms. Sextus
wrote back to the effect that he would obey him, but did not do so,
because he felt a contempt for the man, inspired by his recent disasters,
and because he immediately set off for Egypt. Hence he held to his
previous design and entered into negotiations with the Parthians. Antony
ascertained this, but without turning back sent against him the fleet and
Marcus Titius, who had formerly come to him from Sextus and was still
with him. Sextus received information of this move in advance, and in
alarm, since his preparations were not yet complete, abandoned his
anchorage. He went forward then, taking the course which seemed most
likely to afford escape, and reached Nicomedea, where he was overtaken.
At this he opened negotiations with Antony, placing some hope in him
because of the kindness which had been shown him. When the chieftain,
however, refused to enter into a truce with him without first taking
possession of the ships and the rest of his force, Sextus despaired of
safety by sea, put all of his heavier baggage into the ships (which he
thereupon burned) and proceeded inland. Titius and Furnius pursued him,
and overtaking him at Midaeium in Phrygia surrounded him and captured him
alive. When Antony learned this he at first under the influence of anger
sent a despatch that the captive should be put to death, but again not
long after repenting[51] ... that his life should be spared....[51] Now
the bearer of the second letter came in before the first, and later
Titius received the epistle in regard to killing him. Thinking,
therefore, that it was really the second, or else knowing the truth but
not caring to heed it, he followed the order of the arrival of the
two, but not their manifest intention. So Sextus was executed in the
consulship of Lucius Cornificius and one Sextus Pompeius.

[B.C. 35 (_a. u_. 719)]

Caesar held a horse-race in honor of the event, and set up for Antony
a chariot in front of the rostra and images in the temple of Concord,
giving him also authority to hold banquets there with his wife and
children, this being similar to the decree that had once been passed
in his own honor. He pretended to be still Antony's friend and was
endeavoring to console him for the disasters inflicted by the Parthians
and in that way to cure any jealousy that might be felt at his own
victory and the decrees which followed it.

[B.C. 38 (_a. u_. 716)]

[-19-]This was what Caesar did: Antony's experience with the barbarians
was as follows. Publius Ventidius heard that Pacorus was gathering an
army and was invading Syria, and became afraid, since the cities had not
grown quiet and the legions were still scattered in winter-quarters, and
so he acted as follows to delay him and make the assembling of an army
a slow process. He knew that a certain prince Channaeus, with whom he
enjoyed an acquaintance, was rather disposed to favor the Parthian cause.
Ventidius, then, honored him as if he had his entire confidence and took
him as an adviser in some matters where he could not himself be injured
and would cause Channaeus to think he possessed his most hidden secrets.
Having reached this point he affected to be afraid that the barbarians
might abandon the place where they customarily crossed the Euphrates near
where the city Zeugma is located, and use some other road farther down
the river. The latter, he said, was in a flat district convenient for the
enemy, whereas the former was hilly and suited _them_ best. He persuaded
the prince to believe this and through the latter deceived Pacorus. The
Parthian leader took the route through the flat district, where Ventidius
kept pretending he hoped he would not go, and as this was longer than the
other it gave the Roman time to assemble his forces. [-20-] So he met
Pacorus when he had advanced to Cyrrestician Syria and conquered him. For
he did not prevent them from crossing the river, and when they had got
across he did not at once attack them, so that they imputed sloth
and weakness to the Romans and therefore marched against the Roman
fortification, although on higher ground, expecting to take it without
resistance. When a sally was suddenly made, the attacking party, being
cavalry, was driven back without effort down the <DW72>. At the foot they
defended themselves valiantly,--the majority of them were in armor,--but
were confused by the unexpectedness of the onslaught and stumbling over
one another were damaged most of all by the heavy-armed men and the
slingers. The latter struck them, from a distance with powerful weapons
and proved a very great annoyance. The fall of Pacorus at this critical
juncture injured them most of all. As soon as they saw that their leader
had perished, a few steadily contended over his body, but when these were
destroyed all the rest gave way. Some of them desired to escape homeward
across the bridge and were not able, being cut off and killed before they
could reach it, and others fled for refuge to Antiochus in Commagene.
Ventidius easily reduced the rest of the places in Syria, whose attitude
had depended on the outcome of the war, by sending the monarch's head
about through the different cities; their doubtful allegiance had been
due to their extreme love for Pacorus because of his justness and
mildness,--a love which had equaled that bestowed by them upon any
previous sovereign. The general himself led an expedition against
Antiochus on the plea that he had not delivered up the suppliants, but
really because of his money, of which he had vast stores.

[-21-] When he had progressed so far Antony suddenly came upon him, and
so far from being pleased was actually jealous of his having gained some
reputation by his own efforts. Consequently he removed him from his
command and employed him on no other business either at the time or
later, though he obtained thanksgivings for both achievements and a
triumph for his assistant's work. The Romans of the capital voted these
honors to Antony as a result of his prominence and in accordance with
law, because he was commander: but they voted them also to Ventidius,
since they thought that he had paid the Parthians in full through the
death of Pacorus for the disasters that Roman arms had incurred in the
time of Crassus, especially since both events had befallen on the same
day of the corresponding years. And it turned out that Ventidius alone
celebrated the triumph, even as the victory had been his alone, for
Antony met an untimely fate, and he acquired a greater reputation from
this fact and the irony of fortune alike. He himself had once marched in
procession with the other captives at the triumph of Pompeius Strabo,
and now he was the first of the Romans to celebrate a triumph over the
Parthians.

[-22-] This took place at a later period: at the time mentioned Antony
attacked Antiochus, shut him up in Samosata and proceeded to besiege
him. As he accomplished nothing and the time was spent in vain, and he
suspected that the soldiers felt coldly toward him on account of his
dishonoring Ventidius, he secretly opened negotiations with the foe,
and made fictitious agreements with him so that he might have a fair
appearing reason for withdrawal. In the end Antony got neither hostages
(except two and these of little importance) nor the money which he had
demanded, but he granted Antiochus the death of one Alexander, who had
earlier deserted from him to the Roman side. After doing this he set out
for Italy, and Gaius Sosius received from him the governorship of Syria
and Cilicia. This man subdued the Aradii, who had been besieged up to
this time and had been reduced to hard straits by famine and disease, and
conquered Antigonus in battle after killing the Roman guards that he kept
about him, and reduced him by siege when he took refuge in Jerusalem. The
Jews had committed many outrages upon the Romans,--for the race is very
bitter when aroused to anger,--but they suffered far more themselves. The
first of them were captured fighting for the precinct of their god, and
later the rest on the day even then called the day of Saturn. And so
great still were their religious scruples that the men who had been first
captured along with the temple obtained leave from Sosius when the day of
Saturn came around again, and went up with the remaining population into
the building, where they performed all the customary rites. These people
Antony entrusted to one Herod to govern, and Antigonus he bound to
a cross and flogged,--treatment accorded to no other king by the
Romans,--and subsequently slew him.

[B.C. 37 (_a. u_. 717)]

[-23-] This was the course of events in the days of Claudius and
Norbanus: the following year the Romans accomplished nothing worthy
of note in Syria. Antony arrived in Italy and returned again to the
province, consuming the entire season: and Sosius, because he would
be advancing his master's interests and not his own, and furthermore
dreading his jealousy and anger, spent the time in devising means not for
achieving success and drawing down his enmity, but for pleasing him by
remaining quiet. Parthian affairs with no outside interference underwent
a severe revolution from the following cause. Orodes their king succumbed
to age and grief for Pacorus combined, and while still alive delivered
the government to Phraates, the eldest of his remaining children. He
in his discharge of it proved himself the most impious of men. He
treacherously murdered his brothers, sons of the daughter of Antiochus,
because they were his superiors in excellence and (on their mother's
side) in family: when Antiochus chafed under this outrage he killed him
in addition and after that destroyed the noblest men in the remaining
population and kept committing many other abuses. Consequently a number
of the more prominent persons abandoned him and betook themselves to
various places, some going to Antony, among whom was Monaeses. This
happened in the consulship of Agrippa and Gallus.

[B.C. 36 (_a. u_. 718)]

[-24-] During the remainder of winter, when Gallus and Nerva were
holding office, Publius Canidius Crassus made a campaign against the
Iberians that inhabit this portion of the world, conquered in battle
their king Pharnabazus and brought them into alliance; with this king he
invaded Albanis, the adjoining country, and, after overcoming the
dwellers there and their king Zober, conciliated them likewise. Antony
was elated at this and furthermore based great hopes upon Monaeses, who
had promised him to lead his army and bring over to him most of Parthia
without conflict. Hence the Roman took up the war against the Parthians
in earnest and besides making various presents to Monaeses gave him three
Roman cities to govern until he should finish the war, and promised him
in addition the Parthian kingdom. While they were so occupied Phraates
became terrified, especially because the Parthians took the flight of
Monaeses very much amiss, and he opened negotiations with him, offering
him anything whatever, and so persuaded him to return. When Antony found
this out, he was naturally angry, but did not kill Monaeses although the
latter was still in his power; for he felt sure he could not win the
confidence of any other of the barbarians, in case he should do such a
thing, and he wanted to try a little trick against them. He accordingly
released Monaeses, apparently supposing the latter was going to bring the
Parthian affairs under his control, and sent envoys with him to Phraates.
Nominally he was arranging for peace on the condition of getting back the
standards and the prisoners captured in the disaster of Crassus,
intending to take the king off his guard while the latter was expecting
a pacific settlement; but in fact he was putting everything in readiness
for war. [-25-] And he went as far as the Euphrates, thinking it was
free of guards. When, however, he found that whole region carefully
guarded, he turned aside from it, but led a campaign against Artavasdes,
the king of the Medes, persuaded thereto by the king of Greater Armenia,
who had the same name and was an enemy of the aforementioned. Just as he
was he at once advanced toward Armenia, and learning there that the Mede
had gone a considerable distance from his own land in the discharge of
his duties as an ally of the Parthian king, he left behind the beasts of
burden and a portion of the army with Oppius Statianus, giving orders
for them to follow, and himself taking the cavalry and the strongest of
the infantry hurried on in the confidence of seizing all his opponent's
strongholds at one blow; he assailed Praaspa, the royal residence,
heaped up mounds and made constant attacks. When the Parthian and the
Medan kings ascertained this, they left him to continue his idle
toil,--for the walls were strong and many were defending them,--but
assailed Statianus off his guard and wearied on the march and slew the
whole detachment except Polemon, king of Pontus, who was then
accompanying the expedition. Him alone they took alive and released in
exchange for ransom. They were able to accomplish this because the
Armenian king was not present at the battle; but though he might have
helped the Romans, as some say, he neither did this nor joined Antony,
but retired to his own country. [-26-] Antony hastened at the first
message sent him by Statianus to go to his assistance, but was too
late. For except corpses he found no one. This outcome caused him fear,
but, inasmuch as he fell in with no barbarian, he suspected that they had
departed in some direction through terror, and this lent him new courage.
Hence when he met them a little later he routed them, for his slingers
were numerous, and as the latter could shoot farther than would the bows
they inflicted severe injury upon the men in armor. However, he did not
kill any remarkable number of them, because the barbarians could ride
fast. So he proceeded again against Praaspa and besieged it, though he
did no great damage to the enemy; for the men inside the walls repulsed
him vigorously, and those outside could not easily be entrapped into a
combat. Thus he lost many of his own men in searching for and bringing
provisions, and many by his own discipline. At first, as long as they
could get their food from somewhere in the neighborhood, they had no
difficulty about either undertaking: they could attend to the siege and
safely secure supplies both at once. When, however, all material at hand
had been used up, and the soldiers were obliged to go to some distance,
it happened to them that if few were sent anywhere, not only did they not
bring anything, but they perished as well; if a number were sent, they
left the wall destitute of besiegers and meantime lost many men and many
engines at the hands of the barbarians, who would make a sortie against
them. [-27-] For this reason Antony gave them all barley instead of wheat
and destroyed every tenth man in some instances: indeed, the entire force
which was supposed to be besieging endured the hardships of persons
besieged. The men within the walls watched carefully for opportunities
to make sallies; and those outside harassed fearfully the Romans that
remained in position as often as they became separated, accomplishing
this by making a sudden charge and wheeling about again in a narrow
space: this force outside did not trouble the food trains while the
latter were en route to the villages, but would fall upon them
unexpectedly when scattered in the homeward march. But since Antony even
under these conditions maintained his place before the city, Phraates,
fearing that in the long run he might do it some harm either by himself
or through securing some allied force, secretly sent some men to open
negotiations with him and persuaded him by pretending that it would be
very easy to secure peace. After this, when men were sent to him by
Antony, he held a conference with them seated upon a golden chair and
twanging his bowstring; he first inveighed against them at length, but
finally promised that he would grant peace, if they would straightway
remove their camp. On hearing this Antony was both alarmed at his
boastfulness and ready to believe that a truce could be secured if he
himself should shift his position: hence he withdrew without destroying
any of his implements of siege but behaved as if in friendly territory.
[-28-] When he had done this and was awaiting the truce, the Medes
burned the engines and scattered the mounds, while the Parthians made
no proposition to him respecting peace but suddenly attacked him and
inflicted very serious damage. He found out that he had been deceived
and did not venture to employ any further envoys, being sure that the
barbarians would not agree to any reasonable terms, and not wishing to
cast the soldiers into dejection by failing to arrange a truce. Therefore
he resolved, since he had once started, to hurry on into Armenia. His
troops took another road, since the one by which they had come they
believed to have been blocked entirely, and on the way their sufferings
were unusually great. They came into unknown regions where they wandered
at random, and furthermore the barbarians seized the passes in advance of
their approach, digging trenches outside of some and building palisades
in front of others, spoiled the water-courses everywhere, and drove
away the flocks. In case they ever got a chance to march through more
favorable territory, the enemy would turn them aside from such places by
false announcements that they had been occupied beforehand, and caused
them to take different roads along which ambuscades had been previously
posted, so that many perished through such mishaps and many of hunger.
[-29-] As a result there were some desertions, and they would all have
gone over, had not the barbarians shot down before the eyes of the others
any who dared to take this course. Consequently the men refrained from
this, and from Fortune's hands obtained the following relief. One day
when they fell into an ambush and were struck with fast-flying arrows,
they suddenly made by joining shields the _testudo_, and rested their
left knees on the ground. The barbarians had never seen anything of the
kind before and thought that they had fallen from their wounds and needed
only one finishing blow; so they threw aside their bows, leaped from
their horses, and drawing their daggers came close to put an end to them.
At this the Romans rose to their feet, spread out the phalanx at a word,
and each one attacked the man nearest and facing him; thus they cut down
great numbers since they were contending armed against an unprotected
foe, men prepared against men off their guard, heavy infantry against
archers, Romans against barbarians. All the survivors immediately retired
and no one followed them for the future.

[-30-] This _testudo_ and the way in which it is formed deserve a word of
explanation. The baggage animals, the light-armed troops, and the cavalry
are marshaled in the center of the army. Those infantrymen who use the
oblong, hollow, grooved shields are drawn up around the edges, making a
rectangular figure; and, facing outward with spear-points projecting,[52]
they enclose the rest. The other infantrymen, who have flat shields, form
a compact body in the center and raise their shields above themselves and
above all the rest, so that nothing but shields can be seen in every part
of the phalanx alike and all the men by the density of formation are
under shelter from missiles. It is so marvelously strong that men can
walk upon it, and when ever they get into a hollow, narrow passage, even
horses and vehicles can be driven over it. Such is the method of
this arrangement, and this shows why it has received the title of
_testudo_,[53]--with reference to its strength and to the excellent
shelter it affords. They use it in two ways: either they approach some
fort to assault it, often even enabling men to scale the very walls,
or where sometimes they are surrounded by archers they all bend
together,--even the horses being taught to kneel and recline,--and
thereby cause the foe to think that they are exhausted; then, when the
others draw near, they suddenly rise, to the latter's great alarm.

[-31-] The _testudo_, then, is the kind of device just described. As for
Antony, he suffered no further harm from the enemy, but underwent severe
hardships by reason of the cold. It was now winter, and the mountain
districts of Armenia, through which, as the only route open to him, he
was actually thankful to be able to proceed, are never free from snow
and ice. The wounds, of which the men had many, there created especial
discomfort. So many kept perishing and were continually rendered useless
for fighting that he would not allow reports of each individual case, but
forbade any one to bring him any such news; and although he was angry
with the Armenian king for deserting them, and anxious to take vengeance
on him, he nevertheless humiliated himself before the monarch and paid
court to him for the purpose of obtaining provisions and money from him.
Finally, as the soldiers could not hold out to march farther, in the
winter time, too, and were at any rate going to have their hardships for
nothing since he was minded to return to Armenia before a great while, he
flattered the prince tremendously and made him many attractive promises,
to get him to allow the men to winter where they were; he said that in
the spring he would make another campaign against the Parthians. Money
also came to him from Cleopatra, so that to each of the infantrymen was
given one hundred denarii[54] and to the rest a proportionate allowance.
But inasmuch as the amount sent was not enough for them he paid the
remainder from his own funds, and though the expense was his own he gave
Cleopatra the credit of the favor. For he both solicited contributions
from his friends and levied a great deal of money upon the allies.

[-32-] Following these transactions he departed for Egypt. Now the Romans
at home were not ignorant of anything that had taken place in spite of
the fact that his despatches did not contain the truth; for he concealed
all his unpleasant experiences and some of them he described as just the
opposite, making it appear that he was progressing famously: but, for all
that, rumor reported the truth and Caesar and his circle investigated it
carefully and discussed it. They did not, however, make public their
evidence, but instead sacrificed cattle and held festivals. Since Caesar
at that time was still getting the worst of it against Sextus, the truth
of the facts could not be rendered fitting or opportune. Besides his
above actions Antony assigned positions of government, giving Gaul to
Amyntas, though he had been only the secretary of Deiotarus, and also
adding to his domain Lycaonia with portions of Pamphylia, and bestowing
upon Archelaus Cappadocia after driving out Ariarathes. This Archelaus on
his father's side belonged to those Archelauses who had contended against
the Romans, but on his mother's side was the son of Glaphyra, an hetaera.
It is quite true that for these appointments Antony, who could be very
magnanimous in dealing with the possessions of other people, was somewhat
less ill spoken of among the soldiers.

But in the matter of Cleopatra he incurred outspoken dislike because
he had taken into his family children of hers,--the elder ones being
Alexander and Cleopatra, twins at a birth, and the younger one Ptolemy,
called also Philadelphus,--and because he had granted to them a great
deal of Arabia, both the district of Malchus and that of the Ituraeans
(for he executed Lysanias, whom he had himself made king over them,
on the charge that he had favored Paccrus) and also a great deal of
Phoenicia and Palestine together with parts of Crete, and Cyrene and
Cyprus.

[B.C. 35 (_a. u_. 719)]

[-33-] These are his acts at that time: the following year, when Pompeius
and Cornificius were consuls, he attempted to conduct a campaign against
the Armenian prince; and as he placed no little hope in the Mede, because
the latter was indignant at Phraates owing to not having received from
him much of the spoils or any other honor, and was anxious to punish the
Armenian king for bringing in the Romans, Antony sent Polemon to him and
requested friendship and alliance. And he was so well satisfied with the
business that he both made terms with the Mede and later gave Polemon
Lesser Armenia as a reward for his embassy. First he summoned the
Armenian to Egypt as a friend, intending to seize him there without
effort and make away with him; but when the prince suspected this and did
not obey, he plotted to deceive him in another fashion. He did not openly
evince anger toward him, in order not to alienate him, but to the end
that he might find his foe unprepared set sail from Egypt with the avowed
object of making one more campaign against the Parthians. On the way
Antony learned that Octavia was arriving from Rome, and went no farther,
but returned; this he did in spite of having at once ordered her to go
home and later accepting the gifts which she sent, some of them being
soldiers which she had begged from her brother for this very purpose.

[-34-] As for him, he became more than ever a slave to the passion and
wiles of Cleopatra. Caesar meantime, since Sextus had perished and affairs
in Libya required settlement, went to Sicily as if intending to take ship
thither, but after delaying there found that the winter made it too late
for crossing. Now the Salassi, Taurisci, Liburni, and Iapudes had not for
a long time been behaving fairly toward the Romans, but had failed to
contribute revenue and sometimes would invade and harm the neighboring
districts. At this time, in view of Octavius's absence, they were openly
in revolt. Consequently he turned back and began his preparations against
them. Some of the men who had been dismissed when they became disorderly,
and had received nothing, wished to serve again: therefore he assigned
them to one camp, in order that being alone they might find it impossible
to corrupt any one else and in case they should wish to show themselves
rebellions might be detected at once. As this did not teach them
moderation any the more, he sent out a few of the eldest of them to
become colonists in Gaul, thinking that thus he would inspire the rest
with hopes and win their devotion. Since even then they continued
audacious, some of them paid the penalty. The rest displayed rage at
this, whereupon he called them together as if for some other purpose, had
the rest of the army surround them, took away their arms, and removed
them from the service. In this way they learned both their own weakness
and Caesar's force of mind, and so they really experienced a change of
heart and after urgent supplications were allowed to enter the service
anew. For Caesar, being in need of soldiers and fearing that Antony would
appropriate them, said that he pardoned them, and he found them most
useful for all tasks.

[-35-] It was later that they proved their sincerity. At this time he
himself led the campaign against the Iapudes, assigning the rest of the
tribes to others to subdue. Those that were on his side of the mountains,
dwelling not far from the sea, he reduced with comparatively little
trouble, but he overcame those on the heights and beyond them with no
small hardship. They strengthened Metulum, the largest of their cities,
and repulsed many assaults of the Romans, burned to the ground many
engines and laid low Octavius himself as he was trying to step from a
wooden tower upon the circuit of the wall. Later, when he still did not
desist but kept sending for additional forces, they pretended to wish to
negotiate terms and received members of garrisons into their citadel.
Then by night they destroyed all of these and set fire to their houses,
some killing themselves and some their wives and children in addition, so
that nothing whatever remained for Caesar. For not only they but also
such as were captured alive destroyed themselves voluntarily shortly
afterward.

[-36-] When these had perished and the rest had been subdued without
performing any exploit of note, he made a campaign against the
Pannonians. He had no complaint to bring against them, not having been
wronged by them in any way, but he wanted both to give his soldiers
practice and to support them abroad: for he regarded every demonstration
against a weaker party as just, when it pleased the man whom weapons made
their superior. The Pannonians are settled near Dalmatia close along
the Ister from Noricum to European Moesia and lead the most miserable
existence of mankind. They are not well off in the matter of land or sky,
they cultivate no olives or vines except to the slightest extent, and
these wretched varieties, since the greater part of their days is passed
in the midst of most rigorous winter, but they drink as well as eat
barley and millet. They have been considered very brave, however, during
all periods of which we have cognizance. For they are very quick to anger
and ready to slay, inasmuch as they possess nothing which can give them
a happy life. This I know not by hearsay or reading only, but I have
learned it from actual experience as their governor. For after my term as
ruler in Africa and in Dalmatia,--the latter position my father also held
for a time,--I was appointed[55] to Upper Pannonia, so-called, and hence
my record is founded on exact knowledge of all conditions among them.
Their name is due to the fact that they cut up a kind of toga in a way
peculiar to themselves into strips which they call _panni_, and then
stitch these together into sleeved tunics for themselves.

They have been named so either for this or for some other reason; but
certain of the Greeks who were ignorant of the truth have spoken of them
as Paeones, which is an old word but does not belong there, but rather
applies to Rhodope, close to the present Macedonia, as far as the sea.
Wherefore I shall call the dwellers in the latter district Paeones, but
the others Pannonians, just as they themselves and as the Romans do.

[-37-] It was against this people, then, that Caesar at that time
conducted a campaign. At first he did not devastate or plunder at all,
although they abandoned their villages in the plain. He hoped to make
them his subjects of their free will. But when they harassed him as he
advanced to Siscia, he became angry, burned their land, and took all
the booty he could. When he drew near the city the natives for a moment
listened to their rulers and made terms with him and gave hostages, but
afterward shut their gates and accepted a state of siege. They possessed
strong walls and were in general encouraged by the presence of two
navigable rivers. The one named the Colops[56] flows past the very
circuit of the wall and empties into the Savus not far distant: it
has now encircled the entire city, for Tiberius gave it this shape by
constructing a great canal through which it rejoins its ancient course.
At that time between the Colops on the one hand, which flowed on past
the very walls, and the Savus on the other, which flowed at a little
distance, an empty space had been left which had been buttressed with
palisades and ditches. Caesar secured boats made by the allies in that
vicinity, and after towing them through the Ister into the Savus, and
through that stream into the Colops, he assailed the enemy with infantry
and ships together, and had some naval battles on the river. For the
barbarians prepared in turn some boats made of one piece of wood with
which they risked a conflict; and on the river they killed besides many
others Menas the freedman of Sextus, and on the land they vigorously
repulsed the invader until they ascertained that some of their allies had
been ambushed and destroyed. Then in dejection they yielded. When they
had thus been captured the remainder of Pannonian territory was induced
to capitulate.

[-38-] After this he left Fufius Geminus there with a small force and
himself returned to Rome. The triumph which had been voted to him
he deferred, but granted Octavia and Livia images, the right of
administering their own affairs without a supervisor, and freedom from
fear and inviolability equally with the tribunes.

[B.C. 34 (_a. u._ 720)]

In emulation of his father he had started out to lead an expedition into
Britain, and had already advanced into Gaul after the winter in which
Antony for the second time and Lucius Libo were consuls, when some of the
newly captured and Dalmatians with them rose in revolt. Geminus, although
expelled from Siscia, recovered the Pannonians by a few battles; and
Valerius Messala overthrew the Salassi and the rest who had joined them
in rebellion. Against the Dalmatians first Agrippa and then Caesar also
made campaigns. The most of them they subjugated after undergoing many
terrible experiences themselves, such as Caesar's being wounded, barley
being given to some of the soldiers instead of wheat, and others, who had
deserted the standards, being decimated: with the remaining tribes[57]
Statilius Taurus carried on war.

[-39-] Antony meanwhile resigned his office as soon as appointed, putting
Lucius Sempronius Atratinus in his place; consequently some name the
latter and not the former in the enumeration of the consuls. In the
course of his efforts to take vengeance on the Armenian king with least
trouble to himself, he asked the hand of his daughter, pretending to want
to unite her in marriage to his son Alexander; he sent on this errand one
Quintus Deillius, who had once been a favorite of his, and promised to
give the monarch many gifts. Finally, at the beginning of spring, he came
suddenly into Nicopolis (founded by Pompey) and sent for him, stating
that he wanted to deliberate on and execute with his aid some measures
against the Parthians. The king suspecting the plot did not come, so he
sent Deillius to have another talk with him and marched with undiminished
haste toward Artaxata. In this way, after a long time, partly by
persuading him through friends, and partly by scaring him through his
soldiers, and writing and acting toward him in every way as thoroughly
friendly, he induced him to come into his camp. Thereupon the Roman
arrested him and at first keeping the prince without bonds he led him
around among the garrisons with whom his treasures were deposited, to see
if he could win them without a struggle. He made a pretence of having
arrested him for no other purpose than to collect tribute of the
Armenians that would ensure both his preservation and his sovereignty.
When, however, the guardians of the gold would have nothing to do with
him and the troops under arms chose Artaxes, the eldest of his children,
king in his stead, Antony bound him in silver chains. It seemed
disgraceful, probably, for one who had been a king to be made fast in
iron bonds. [-40-] After this, capturing some settlements peaceably and
some by force, Antony occupied all of Armenia, for Artaxes after fighting
an engagement and being worsted retired to the Parthian prince. After
doing this he betrothed to his son the daughter of the Median king with
the intention of making him still more his friend; then he left the
legions in Armenia and went once more to Egypt, taking the great mass of
booty and the Armenian with his wife and children. He sent them ahead
with the other captives for a triumph held in Alexandria, and himself
drove into the city upon a chariot, and among the other favors he granted
to Cleopatra he brought before her the Armenian and his family in golden
bonds. She was seated in the midst of the populace upon a platform plated
with silver and upon a gilded chair. The barbarians would not be her
suppliants nor do obeisance to her, though much coercion was brought to
bear upon them and hopes were held out to persuade them, but they merely
addressed her by name: this gave them a reputation for spirit, but they
were subject to a great deal of ill usage on account of it.

[-41-] After this Antony gave an entertainment to the Alexandrians, and
in the assemblage had Cleopatra and her children sit by his side: also in
the course of a public address he enjoined that she be called Queen of
Monarchs, and Ptolemy (whom he named Caesarion) King of Kings. He then
made a different distribution by which he gave them Egypt and Cyprus.
For he declared that one was the wife and the other the true son of the
former Caesar and he made the plea that he was doing this as a mark of
favor to the dead statesman,--his purpose being to cast reproach in this
way upon Octavianus Caesar because he was only an adopted and not a real
son of his. Besides making this assignment to them, he promised to give
to his own children by Cleopatra the following lands,--to Ptolemy Syria
and all the region west of the Euphrates as far as the Hellespont, to
Cleopatra Libya about Cyrene, and to their brother Alexander Armenia and
the rest of the districts across the Euphrates as far as the Indi. The
latter he bestowed as if they were already his. Not only did he say this
in Alexandria, but sent a despatch to Rome, in order that it might secure
ratification also from the people there. Nothing of this, however, was
read in public.

[B.C. 32 (_a. u._ 722)]

Domitius and Sosius were consuls by that time and being extremely devoted
to him refused to accede to Caesar's urgent demands that they should
publish it to all. Though they prevailed in this matter Caesar won a
victory in turn by not having anything that had been written about the
Armenian king made known to the public. He felt pity for the prince
because he had been secretly in communication with him for the purpose of
injuring Antony, and he grudged the latter his triumph. While Antony was
engaged as described he dared to write to the senate that he wished to
give up his office and put all affairs into the hands of that body and of
the people: he was not really intending to do anything of the kind, but
he desired that under the influence of the hopes he roused they might
either compel Caesar, because on the spot, to give up his arms first, or
begin to hate him, if he would not heed them.

[-42-] In addition to these events at that time the consuls celebrated
the festival held in honor of Venus Genetrix. During the Feriae, prefects,
boys and beardless youths, appointed by Caesar and sprung from knights
but not from senators, directed ceremonies. Also Aemilius Lepidus Paulus
constructed at his own expense the so-called _Porticus Pauli_ and
dedicated it in his consulship; for he was consul a portion of that
year. And Agrippa restored from his own purse the so-called Marcian
water-supply, which had been cut off by the destruction of the pipes, and
carried it in pipes to many parts of the city. These men, though rivals
in the outlay of their private funds, still dissembled the fact and
behaved sensibly: others who were holding even some most insignificant
office strove to get a triumph voted to themselves, some through Antony
and some through Caesar; and on this pretext they levied large sums upon
foreign nations for gold crowns.

[B.C. 33 (_a. u._ 721)]

[-43-] The next year Agrippa agreed to be made aedile and without taking
anything from the public treasury repaired all the public buildings
and all the roads, cleaned out the sewers, and sailed through them
underground into the Tiber. And seeing that in the hippodrome men made
mistakes about the number of turns necessary, he established the system
of dolphins and egg-shaped objects, so that by them the number of times
the track had been circled might be clearly shown. Furthermore he
distributed to all olive oil and salt, and had the baths open free of
charge throughout the year for the use of both men and women. In the
many festivals of all kinds which he gave (so many that the children of
senators could perform the "Troy" equestrian exercise), he also paid
barbers, to the end that no one should be at any expense for their
services. Finally he rained upon the heads of the people in the theatre
tickets that were good for money in one case, clothes in another, and
something else in a third, and he also would place various other large
stocks of goods in the squares and allow the people to scramble for them.
Besides doing this Agrippa drove the astrologers and charlatans from the
city. During these same days a decree was passed that no one belonging to
the senatorial class should be tried for piracy, and so those who were
under any such charge at the time were released and some were given
_carte blanche_ to commit crimes in future. Caesar became consul for the
second time with Lucius Tullus as his colleague, but on the very first
day, as Antony had done, he resigned; and with the sanction of the senate
he introduced some persons from the populace to the rank of patricians.
When a certain Lucius Asellius, who was praetor, on account of a long
sickness wished to lay down his office, he appointed his son in his
stead. And another praetor died on the last day of his term, whereupon
Caesar chose another for the remaining hours. At the decease of Bocchus
he gave his kingdom to no one else, but enrolled it among the Roman
provinces. And since the Dalmatians had been utterly subdued, he erected
from the spoils thus gained the porticoes and secured the collection of
books called the Octavian, after his sister.

[-44-] Antony meantime had marched as far as the Araxes, presumably to
conduct a campaign against the Parthians, but was satisfied to arrange
terms with the Median monarch. They made a covenant to serve each other
as allies, the one against the Parthians and the other against Caesar, and
to cement the compact they exchanged some soldiers; the Median prince
received a portion of the newly acquired Armenia and Antony his daughter
Iotape, to be united in marriage with Alexander, and the military
standards taken in the battle with Statianus; after this Antony bestowed
upon Polemon, as I have stated, Lesser Armenia, both made Lucius Flavius
consul and removed him (as his colleague), and set out for Ionia and
Greece to wage war against Caesar. The Median at first, by employing the
Romans as allies, conquered the Parthians and Artaxes who came against
him; but as Antony sent for his soldiers and moreover retained those of
the prince, the latter was in turn defeated and captured, and so Armenia
was lost together with Media.


DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY 50

The following is contained in the Fiftieth of Dio's Rome.

How Caesar and Antony commenced hostilities against each other (chapters
1-14).

How Caesar conquered Antony at Actium (chapters 15-35).

Duration of time two years, in which there were the following magistrates
here enumerated:

Cn. Domitius L.F.Cn.N. Ahenobarbus, C. Sosius C.F. T.N. (B.C. 32 = a. u.
722.)

Caesar (III), M. Valerius M.F. Messala Corvinus. (B.C. 31 = a. u. 723.)


(_BOOK 50, BOISSEVAIN_.)

[-1-] The Roman people had been robbed of democracy but had not become
definitely a monarchy: Antony and Caesar still controlled affairs on an
equal footing, had divided the management of most of them, and nominally
considered that the rest belonged to them in common, though in reality
they endeavored to appropriate each interest as fast as either was able
to gain any advantage over the other. Sextus had now perished, the
Armenian king had been captured, the parties hostile to Caesar were
silent, the Parthians showed no signs of restlessness, and so after this
they turned openly against each other and the people became entirely
enslaved. The causes for the war, or the pretexts, were as follows.
Antony charged against Caesar that he had removed Lepidus from his
position, and had taken possession of his territory and the troops
of both him and Sextus, which ought to have been common property. He
demanded the half of these as well as the half of the soldiers that had
been levied in the parts of Italy which belonged to both of them. Caesar's
charge against him was that he was holding Egypt and other countries that
he had not drawn by lot, had killed Sextus (whom he would willingly have
spared, he said), and by deceiving and binding the Armenian king had
caused much ill repute to attach to the Roman people. He, too, demanded
half of the spoils, and above all reproached him with Cleopatra and the
children of hers which he had seen fit to regard as his own, the gifts
bestowed upon them, and particularly that he called the boy such a name
as Caesarion and placed him in the family of Caesar. [-2-] These were their
mutual charges; and to a certain extent mutual rejoinders were made, some
sent by letter to each other and others given to the public, by Caesar
orally, by Antony in writing. On this pretext also they kept constantly
sending envoys back and forth, wishing to appear as far as possible
justified in the complaints they made and to reconnoitre each other's
position at the same time.

[B.C. 32 (_a. u._ 722)]

Meanwhile they were collecting money avowedly for some different purpose
and were making all other preparations for war as if against other
persons, until the time that Gnaeus Domitius and Gaius Sosius, both
belonging to Antony's party, became consuls. Then they made no further
concealment, but admitted their alienation outright. It happened in the
following way.

Domitius did not openly attempt any radical measures, since he had had
the experience of many calamities. Sosius, however, had never experienced
such evils, and so on the very first day of the month he spoke at length
in praise of Antony and inveighed forcibly against Caesar. Indeed, he
would have immediately introduced measures against the latter, had not
Nonius Balbus, a tribune, prevented it. Caesar had suspected what he
was going to do and wished neither to permit it to come to pass nor by
offering opposition to appear to be commencing war; hence he did not
enter the senate at this time nor even live in the city at all, but
invented some excuse which took him out of town. He was not only
influenced by the above considerations but desired to deliberate at
leisure according to the reports brought to him and decide by mature
reflection upon the proper course. Later he returned and convened the
senate; he was surrounded by a guard of soldiers and friends who had
daggers concealed, and sitting between the consuls upon his chair of
state he spoke at length, and calmly, from where he sat regarding his own
position, and brought many accusations against Sosius and Antony. When
neither of the consuls themselves nor any one else ventured to utter a
word, he bade them come together again on a specified day, giving them to
understand that he would prove by certain documents that Antony was in
the wrong. The consuls did not dare to reply to him and could not endure
to be silent, and therefore secretly left the city before the time came
for them to appear again; after that they took their way to Antony,
followed by not a few of the senators who were left. Caesar on learning
this declared, to prevent its appearing that he had been abandoned by
them as a result of some injustice, that he had sent them out voluntarily
and that he granted the rest who so wished permission to depart unarmed
to Antony.

[-3-] This action of theirs just mentioned was counterbalanced by the
arrival of others who had fled from Antony to Caesar--among them Titius
and Plancus, though they were honored by Antony among the foremost and
knew all his secrets. Their desertion was due to some friction between
themselves and the Roman leader, or perhaps they were disgusted in the
matter of Cleopatra: at any rate they left soon after the consuls had
taken the final step and Caesar in the latter's absence had convened the
senate and read and spoken all that he wished, upon hearing of which
Antony assembled a kind of senate from the ranks of his followers, and
after considerable talk on both sides of the question took up the war and
renounced his connection with Octavia. Caesar was very glad to receive the
pair and learned from them about Antony's condition, what he was doing,
what he had in mind, what was written in his will, and the name of the
man that had it; for they had taken part in sealing it. He became still
more violently enraged from this cause and did not shrink from searching
for the document, seizing it, and then carrying it into the senate and
subsequently the assembly, and reading it. The clauses contained in it
were of such a nature that his most lawless behavior brought upon him
no reproach from the citizens. The writer had asseverated the fact that
Caesarion was truly sprung from Caesar, had given some enormous presents to
his children by the Egyptian queen, who were being reared by him, and had
ordered that his body be buried in Alexandria and by her side.

[-4-] This made the Romans in their indignation believe that the other
reports circulated were also true,--viz., that if Antony should prevail,
he would bestow their city upon Cleopatra and transfer the seat of power
to Egypt. And thereat they became so angry that all, not only such as
disliked him or were indifferent to the two men, censured him, but even
his most intimate friends did so severely. For in consternation at what
was read and eager to relieve themselves of the suspicion felt toward
them by Caesar, they said the same as the rest. They deprived him of the
consulship, to which he had been previously elected, and of all his
remaining authority. They did not declare him an enemy in so many words,
because they feared its effect on his adherents, since it would be
necessary that they also be held in the position of enemies in case they
should not abandon him; but by action they showed their attitude as
plainly as possible. For they voted to the men arrayed on his side pardon
and praise if they would abandon him, and declared war outright upon
Cleopatra, put on their military cloaks as though he were close at hand,
and went to the temple of Bellona where they performed through Caesar as
_fetialis_ all the rites preliminary to war in the customary fashion.
These were stated to refer to Cleopatra, but their real bearing was on
Antony. [-5-] She had enslaved him so absolutely that she persuaded him
to act as gymnasiarch[58] to the Alexandrians; and she was saluted by him
as "queen" and "mistress," had Roman soldiers in her body-guard, and all
of these inscribed her name upon their shields. She used to frequent the
market-place with him, joined him in the management of festivals, in the
hearing of lawsuits, and in riding; and in the cities she was actually
carried in a chair, while Antony accompanied her on foot along with the
eunuchs. He also termed his head-quarters "the palace", sometimes wore an
Oriental dagger at his belt, dressed in a manner not in accordance with
the customs of his native land, and let himself be seen even in public
upon a gilded couch and a chair of similar appearance. He joined her in
sitting for paintings and statues, he representing Osiris and Dionysus,
and she Selene and Isis. This more than all made him seem to have become
crazed by her through some enchantment. She so charmed and enthralled
not only him but all the rest who had any influence with him that she
conceived the hope of ruling the Romans, and made her greatest vow,
whenever she took any oath, that of dispensing justice on the Capitol.

[-6-] This was the reason that they voted for war against Cleopatra, but
they made no such declaration against Antony, knowing well that he would
be made hostile in any case, for he was certainly not going to betray
her and espouse Caesar's cause. And they wished to have this additional
reproach to heap upon him, that he had voluntarily taken up war in behalf
of the Egyptian woman against his native country, though no ill treatment
had been accorded him personally at home.

Now the men of fighting age were being rapidly assembled on both sides,
money was being collected from all quarters, and all warlike equipment
was being gathered with speed. The entire armament distinctly surpassed
in size anything previous. All the following nations cooeperated with one
side or the other in this war. Caesar had Italy--he attached to his cause
even all those who had been placed in colonies by Antony, partly by
frightening them on account of their small numbers and partly by
conferring benefits; among other things that he did was to settle again
as an act of his own the men who inhabited Bononia, so that they might
seem to be his colonists. His allies, then, were Italy, Gaul, Spain,
Illyricum, the Libyans,--both those who had long since accepted Roman
sway (except those about Cyrene), and those that had belonged to Bogud
and Bocchus,--Sardinia, Sicily, and the rest of the islands adjacent to
the aforementioned divisions of the mainland. On Antony's side were the
regions obeying Rome in continental Asia, the regions of Thrace, Greece,
Macedonia, the Egyptians, the Cyrenaeans together with the surrounding
country, the islanders dwelling near them, and practically all the
princes and potentates who were neighbors to that part of the Roman
empire then under his control,--some taking the field themselves and
others being represented by troops. And so enthusiastic were the outside
contingents on both sides that they confirmed by oath their alliance with
each man.

[-7-] Such was the strength of the contestants. Antony took an oath to
his own soldiers that he would fight without quarter and further promised
that within two months after his victory he would give up his entire
power and commit it to the senate and the people: some of them with
difficulty persuaded him to do so only when six months had elapsed, so
that he might be able to settle matters leisurely. And he, however far
he was from seriously contemplating such an act, yet made the offer to
strengthen the belief that he was certainly and without fail going to
conquer. He saw that his own force was much superior in numbers and
hoped to weaken that of his opponent by bribes. He sent gold in every
direction, most of all into Italy, and especially to Rome; and he tempted
his opponents individually, trying to win followers. As a result Caesar
kept the more vigilant watch and gave money to his soldiers.

[-8-] Such was the vigor and the equipment of the two; and meantime all
sorts of stories were circulated by men, and from the gods also there
were many plain indications. An ape entered the temple of Ceres during
a certain service, and tumbled about everything in the building. An owl
flew first upon the temple of Concord and then upon practically all the
other holiest buildings, and finally after being driven away from every
other spot settled upon the temple of the Genius Populi and was not
caught, and did not depart until late in the day. The chariot of Jupiter
was demolished in the Roman hippodrome, and for many days a flash would
rise over the sea toward Greece and dart up into the firmament. Many
unfortunate accidents also were caused by storm: a trophy standing upon
the Aventine fell, a statue of Victory was dislodged from the back wall
of the theatre, and the wooden bridge was broken down completely. Many
objects were destroyed by fire, and moreover there was a fierce volcanic
discharge from Aetna which damaged cities and fields. On seeing and
hearing these things the Romans remembered also about the serpent,
because he too had doubtless indicated something about the situation
confronting them. A little before this a great two-headed serpent,
eighty-five feet long, had suddenly appeared in Etruria and after doing
much damage had been killed by lightning. This had a bearing upon all of
them. The chief force engaged on both sides alike was made up of Romans,
and many were destined at that juncture to perish in each army, and then
all of the survivors to become the property of the victor. Antony was
given omens of defeat beforehand by the children in Rome; without any
one's having suggested it they formed two parties, of which one called
itself the Antonians and the other the Caesarians, and they fought
with each other for two days, when those that bore Antony's name were
defeated. His death was portended by what happened to one of his images
set up as an offering in the temple of Jupiter at Albanum; although it
was stone it sent forth streams of blood.

[-9-] All alike were excited over these events, yet in that year
nothing further took place. Caesar was busied settling matters in Italy,
especially when he discovered the presence of money sent by Antony, and
so could not go to the front before winter. His rival started out with
the intention of carrying the war into Italy before they suspected his
movements, but when he came to Corcyra and ascertained that the advance
guard of ships sent to reconnoitre his position was hiding in the
vicinity of the mountains of Ceraunia, he conceived the idea that Caesar
himself with all his fleet had arrived; hence he would proceed no
farther. Instead, he sailed back to the Peloponnesus, the season being
already late autumn, and passed the winter at Patrae, distributing the
soldiers in every direction to the end that they might keep guard over
the various districts and secure more easily an abundance of provisions.
Meanwhile volunteers from each party went over to both sides, senators
as well as others, and Lucius Messius was caught as a spy by Caesar. He
released the man in spite of his being one of those previously captured
at Perusia, but first showed him all his power. To Antony Caesar sent
a letter, bidding him either withdraw from the sea a day's journey on
horseback, and grant him the free privilege of coming to him by boat on
condition that they should meet within five days, or else to cross over
to Italy himself on the same terms. Antony made a great deal of fun of
him and said: "Who will be our arbitrator, if the compact is transgressed
in any way?" And Caesar did not expect that his demands would receive
compliance, but hoped to inspire his own soldiers with courage and his
opponents with terror by this act.

[B.C. 31 (_a. u._ 723)]

[-10-] As consuls for the next year after this Caesar and Antony had been
appointed at the time when they settled the offices for eight years at
once[59]; and this was the last year of the period: and as Antony had
been deposed,--a fact which I stated,[60]--Valerius Messala, who had once
been proscribed by them,[61] became consul with Caesar. About this time a
madman rushed into the theatre at one of the festivals, seized the crown
of the former Caesar and put it on, whereupon he was torn to pieces by the
bystanders. A wolf that darted into the temple of Fortune was caught and
killed, and at the hippodrome during the very contest of the horses a dog
overpowered and devoured another dog. Fire also consumed a considerable
portion of the hippodrome, the temple of Ceres, another shrine dedicated
to Spes, besides a large number of other structures. The freedmen were
thought to have caused this. All of them who were in Italy and possessed
property worth five myriads[62] or more had been ordered to contribute
an eighth of it. The result was numerous riots, murders, and firing of
buildings on their part, and they were not brought to order until they
were subdued by armed force. After this the freedmen who held any land in
Italy grew frightened and kept quiet: they had been ordered, too, to give
a quarter of their annual income, and though they were on the point of
rebelling against this extortion, they were not bold enough after the
demonstration mentioned to show further insubordination, but reluctantly
made their contribution without disputing the matter. Therefore it was
believed that the fire was due to a plot originated by the freedmen: yet
this did not prevent it from being recorded among the great portents,
because of the number of buildings burned.

[-11-] Disregarding such omens as had appeared to them they neither felt
fear nor displayed less hostility but spent the winter in employing spies
and annoying each other. Caesar had set sail from Brundusium and proceeded
as far as Corcyra, intending to attack the ships near Actium while off
their guard, but he encountered rough weather and received damage which
caused him to withdraw. When spring came, Antony made no move at any
point: the crews that manned the triremes were made up of all kinds of
nations, and as they had been wintering at a distance from him they had
secured no practice and had been diminished in numbers by disease and
desertions; Agrippa also had seized Methone by storm, had killed Bogud
there, was watching for merchant vessels to come to land, and was making
descents from time to time on various parts of Greece, which caused
Antony extreme disturbance. Caesar in turn was encouraged by this and
wished to employ as soon as possible the energy of the army, which was
trained to a fine point, and to carry on the war in Greece near his
rival's supporters rather than in Italy near Rome. Therefore he collected
all his soldiers who were of any value, and all of the men of influence,
both senators and knights, at Brundusium. He wished to have the first to
cooeperate with him and to keep the second from being alone and acting in
any revolutionary way, but chiefly he wished to show mankind that the
largest and strongest element among the Romans was in accord with him.
Therefore he ordered all to bring with them a stated number of servants
and that, except the soldiers, they should also carry food for
themselves; after this with the entire array he crossed the Ionian Gulf.
[-12-] He was leading them not to the Peloponnesus or against Antony, but
to Actium, where the greater part of his rival's fleet was at anchor, to
see if he could gain possession of it, willing or unwilling, in advance.
Consequently he disembarked the cavalry under the shadow of the Ceraunian
mountains and sent them to the point mentioned, while he himself with his
ships seized Corcyra, deserted by the garrisons within it, and came to
a stop in the so-called Sweet Harbor: it is so named because it is made
sweet by the river emptying into it. There he established a naval station
and from there he set out to sail to Actium. No one came out to meet him
or would hold parley with him, though he urged them to do one of two
things,--come to an agreement or come into battle. But the first
alternative they would not accept through distrust, nor the second,
through fear. He then occupied the site where Nicopolis now stands and
took up a position on a high piece of ground there from which there is a
view over all the outer sea near Paxa, over the inner Ambracian Gulf, and
the intermediary water (on which are the harbors near Nicopolis) alike.
This spot he strengthened and constructed walls from it down to Comarus,
the outer harbor, so that he commanded Actium with his camp and his
fleet, by land and sea. I have heard the report that he transferred
triremes from the outer sea to the gulf through the fortifications, using
newly flayed hides smeared with olive oil instead of hauling-engines.
However, I can find no exploit recorded of these ships in the gulf and
therefore I am unable to trust the tradition; for it was certainly no
small task to draw triremes on hides over a long and uneven tract of
land. Still, it is said to have been performed. Actium is a place sacred
to Apollo and is located in front of the mouth of the narrows leading
into the Ambracian Gulf opposite the harbors at Nicopolis. These narrows
are of uniform breadth, though closely confined, for a long distance, and
both they and all the waters outside the entrance are fit for ships to
come to anchor in and lie in wait. This space the adherents of Antony had
occupied in advance, had built towers on each side of the mouth, and had
taken up the intervening space with ships so that they could both sail
out and retreat with security. The men were bivouacked on the farther
side of the narrows, along by the sanctuary, on an extensive level area
quite suitable for either battle or encampment. The nature of the place
made them far more subject to disease both in winter and in summer.

[-13-] As soon as Antony ascertained Caesar's arrival, he did not delay,
but hastened to Actium with his followers. He reached there in a short
time but did not at once risk an encounter, though Caesar was constantly
marshaling his infantry in front of the camp, often making dashes at them
with his ships and beaching their transports; for his object was to join
battle with only such as were present, before Antony's entire command
assembled. For this very reason the latter was unwilling to risk his all,
and he had recourse for several days to trials and skirmishes until he
had gathered his legions. With these, especially since Caesar no longer
displayed an equal readiness to assail them, he crossed the narrows and
encamped not far from him, after which he sent cavalry around the gulf
and besieged him on both sides. Caesar himself remained quiet, and did not
take any risks which he could avoid, but sent a detachment into Greece
and Macedonia with the intention of drawing Antony off in that direction.
While they were so engaged Agrippa sailed suddenly to Leucas and captured
the vessels there, took Patrae by conquering Quintus Nasidius in a fight
at sea, and later also reduced Corinth. Following upon these events
Marcus Titius and Statilius Taurus made a sudden charge upon Antony's
cavalry, which they defeated, and won over Philadelphus, king of
Paphlagonia. Meantime, also, Gnaeus Domitius, having some grievance
against Cleopatra, transferred his allegiance and proved, indeed, of no
service to Caesar (for he fell sick and died not long after), but still
created the impression that his desertion was due to despair of the
success of the party on whose side he was ranged. Many others followed
his example, so that Antony was no longer equally imbued with courage but
was suspicious of everybody. It was after this that he tortured and
put to death Iamblichus, king of some of the Arabians, and others, and
delivered Quintus Postumius, a senator, to his servants to be placed on
the rack. Finally he became afraid that Quintus Deillius and Amyntas the
Gaul, who happened to have been sent into Macedonia and Thrace after
mercenaries, would espouse Caesar's cause, and he started to overtake
them, pretending that he wished to render them assistance in case any
hostile force should attack. And meantime a battle at sea occurred.
[-14-] Lucius Tarius,[63] with a few ships was anchored opposite Sosius,
and the latter hoped to achieve a notable success by attacking him before
Agrippa, to whom the whole fleet had been entrusted, should arrive.
Accordingly, after waiting for a thick mist, so that Tarius should not
become aware of their numbers beforehand and flee, he set sail suddenly
just before dawn and immediately at the first assault routed his opponent
and pursued him, but failed to capture him; for Agrippa by chance met
Sosius on the way, so that he not only gained nothing from the victory
but perished[64] together with Tarcondimotus and many others.

Antony, because of his conflict and because he himself on his return had
been defeated in a cavalry battle by Caesar's advance guard, no longer
thought it well to encamp in two different places, but during the night
left the redoubt which was near his opponents and retired to the other
side of the narrows, where the larger part of his army had bivouacked.
When provisions also began to fail him because he was cut off from
foraging, he held a council to deliberate whether they should remain in
position and hazard an encounter or transfer their post somewhere else
and make the war a long one. [-15-] After several had given opinions
the advice of Cleopatra prevailed,--that the choicest sites be given in
possession of garrisons and that the rest of the force weigh anchor with
them for Egypt. She held this view as a result of being disturbed by
omens. Swallows had built their nests about her tent and on the flagship
on which she sailed, and milk and blood together had dripped from
beeswax. Their images with the forms of gods which the Athenians had
placed on their Acropolis were hurled down by thunderbolts into the
Theatre. This and the consequent dejection and listlessness of the army
began to alarm Cleopatra and she filled Antony with fears. They did not
wish, however, to sail out either secretly or openly as fugitives, for
fear they should strike terror to the hearts of their allies, but rather
with preparations made for a naval battle, in order that they might
equally well force their way through in case there should be any
resistance. Therefore they chose out first the best of the vessels, since
the sailors had become fewer by death and desertion, and burned the rest;
next they secretly put all their most prized valuables aboard of them by
night. When the boats were ready, Antony gathered his soldiers and spoke
as follows:--

[-16-] "All provisions that I was required to make for the war have
received due attention, fellow-soldiers, in advance. First, there is your
immense throng, all the chosen flower of our dependents and allies; and
to such a degree are you masters of every form of combat recognized among
us that alone by yourselves you are formidable to adversaries. Then
again, you yourselves can see how large and how fine a fleet we have and
how many fine hoplites, cavalry, slingers, peltasts, archers, mounted
archers. Most of these classes are not found at all on the other side,
and so far as they are found they are much fewer and weaker than
ours. The funds of the enemy are small, though obtained by forced
contributions, and can not last long, while they have rendered the
contributors better disposed toward us than toward the men who took them;
hence the population is in no way favorable to the oppressors and is
moreover on the point of open revolt. Our treasury, filled from abundant
resources, has harmed no one and will aid all of us. [-17-] In addition
to these considerations so numerous and of such great importance I am
on general principles disinclined to make any bombastic statement
about myself. Yet since this too is one of the factors contributing
to supremacy in war and is believed among all men to be of greatest
importance,--I mean that men who are to fight well must secure an
excellent general--necessity itself has rendered quite indispensable
some remarks about myself, their purpose being to enable you to realize
still more the fact that not only are you such soldiers that you could
conquer even without a good leader, but I am such a leader that I can
win even with poor soldiers. I am at that age when persons attain their
greatest perfection both of body and intellect and suffer deterioration
neither through the rashness of youth nor the feebleness of old age, but
are strongest because in a condition half-way between the two. Moreover I
possess such a nature and such a training that I can with greatest ease
discern what requires to be done and make it known. Experience, which
causes even the ignorant and the uneducated to appear to be of some
value, I have been acquiring through my whole political and whole
military career. From boyhood till now I have been continually exercised
in similar pursuits; I have been much ruled and done much ruling, from
which I have learned on the one hand what kind of orders and of what
magnitude must be issued, and on the other how far and in what way one
must render obedience. I have been subject to terror, to confidence: as a
result I have made it my custom neither to entertain any fear too readily
nor to venture on any hazard too heedlessly. I have met with good
fortune, I have met with failure: consequently I find it possible to
avoid both despair and excess of pride.

[-18-] "I speak to you who know these facts and make you who hear them
my witnesses not in the intention of uttering idle boasts about
myself,--your consciousness of the truth being sufficient glory for
me,--but to the end that you may in this way bring home to yourselves
how much better we are equipped than our opponents. For, while they are
inferior to us in quantity both of soldiers and of money and in diversity
of equipment, in no one respect are they so strikingly lacking as in the
age and inexperience of their general. About him I need in general make
no exact or detailed statement, but to sum up I will say this, which you
all understand, that he is a veritable weakling in body and has never
himself been victor in any important battle either on land or on the sea.
Indeed, at Phillipi and in the same conflict I won the day, whereas he
was defeated.

"To this degree do we differ from each other, and usually victories fall
to the better equipped. And if they have any strength at all, you would
find it to exist in their heavy-armed force on land; as for their ships,
they will not so much as be able to sail out against us. You yourselves
can of course see the size and stoutness of our vessels, which are such
that if the enemy's were equivalent to them in number, yet because of
these advantages the foe could do no damage either by charges from the
side or by charges from the front. For first the thickness of the timbers
and second the very height of the ships would certainly check them, even
if there were no one on board to defend them. Where will any one find a
chance to assail ships which carry so many archers and slingers striking
assailants, moreover, from the towers up aloft? If any one should
approach, how could he fail to get sunk by the very number of the oars
or how could he fail to be plunged under water when shot at by all the
warriors on the decks and in the towers? [-19-] Do not think that they
have any nautical ability because Agrippa won a sea-fight off Sicily:
they contended not against Sextus but against his slaves, not against a
like equipment with ours but against one far inferior. If, again, any one
makes much of their good fortune in that combat, he is bound to take into
equal consideration the defeat which Caesar himself suffered at the hands
of Sextus. By this comparison he will find that conditions are not the
same, but that all our advantages are more numerous and greater than
theirs. And, in general, how large a part does Sicily form of the whole
empire and how large a fraction of our equipment did the troops of Sextus
possess, that any one should properly fear Caesar's armament, which is
precisely the same as before and has grown neither larger nor better,
just on account of his good luck, instead of taking courage from the
defeat that he endured? Reflecting on this fact I have not cared to
risk our first engagement with the infantry, where they appear to have
strength in a way, in order that no one of you should be liable to
discouragement as a result of any failure in that department: instead,
I have chosen to begin with the ships where we are strongest and have a
vast superiority over our antagonists, to the end that after a victory
with these we may despise the infantry. You know well that the whole
outcome of the war depends on each side on our fleets. If we come out
victorious in this engagement, we shall suffer no harm from any of the
rest but cut them off on a kind of islet,--for all surrounding regions
are in our possession,--and without effort subdue them, if in no other
way, by hunger.

[-20-] "Now I do not think that further words are necessary to tell you
that we shall be struggling not for small or unimportant interests, but
it will prove true that if you are zealous you will obtain the greatest
rewards, but if careless will suffer the most frightful misfortunes.
What would they not do to us, if they should prevail, when they killed
practically all the followers of Sextus that had been of any prominence,
and even destroyed many followers of Lepidus that cooeperated with Caesar's
party? But why should I mention this, seeing that they have removed
Lepidus, who was guilty of no wrong and was further their ally, from
all his powers as general and keep him under guard as if he were some
captive? They have further hounded for money all the freedmen in Italy
and likewise other men who possess any land to such an extent as to
force some of them to take up arms, with the consequence that not a few
perished. Is it possible that those who spared not their allies will
spare us? Will those who seized for funds the property of their own
adherents refrain from our wealth? Will they show humanity as victors who
before victory have committed every conceivable outrage? Not to spend
time in speaking of the concerns of other people, I will enumerate the
audacity that they have displayed toward us who stand here. Who was
ignorant that I was chosen a partner and colleague of Caesar and received
charge of the management of public affairs equally with him, received
similar honors and offices, and have been a great while now in possession
of them? Yet of all of them, so far as is in his power, I have been
deprived; I have become a private citizen instead of a leader, an outcast
from the franchise instead of consul, and this not by the action of the
people or the senate but by his own act and that of his adherents, who do
not comprehend that they are preparing a sovereign for themselves first
of all. For how could one speak of enactments of people and senate, when
the consuls and some others fled straightway from the city, in order
to escape casting any such vote? How will that man spare either you or
anybody else, when he dared while I was alive, in possession of such
great power, a victor over the Armenians, to seek for my will, take it by
violence from those who had received it, open it, and read it publicly?
And how will he manifest any humanity to others with whom he has no
connection, when he has shown himself such a man toward me,--his friend,
his table companion, his relative?

[-21-] "Now in case we are to draw any inferences from his decrees, he
threatens you openly, having made the majority of you enemies outright,
but against me personally no such declaration has been made, though he is
at war with me and is already acting in every way like one who has not
only conquered me but murdered me. Hence, when he treated me in such a
way whom he pretends not yet even at this day to regard as an enemy, he
will surely not keep his hands off you, with whom he clearly admits that
he is at odds. What does it signify that he is threatening us all alike
with arms but in his decree declares he is at war with some and not
with others? It is not, by Jupiter, with the intention of making any
distinction between us, or treating one class in one way and another in
another, if he prevails, but it is in order to set us at variance and in
collision and thus render us weaker. He is not unaware that while we are
in accord and doing everything as one body he can never in any way get
the upper hand, but if we quarrel, and some choose one policy and the
rest another, he may perhaps prevail. [-22-] It is for this reason that
he assumes this kind of attitude toward us. I and the Romans that cleave
to me foresee the danger, although so far as the decrees are concerned we
enjoy a kind of amnesty: we comprehend his plot and neither abandon you
nor look personally to our own advantage. In like manner you, too, whom
he does not even himself deny that he regards as hostile, yes, most
hostile, ought to bear in mind all these facts, and embracing common
dangers and common hopes cooeperate in every way and show enthusiasm to an
equal degree in our enterprise and set over against each other carefully
first what we shall suffer (as I said), if defeated, and what we shall
gain, if victorious. For it is a great thing for us to escape being
worsted and so enduring any form of insult or rapacity, but greatest of
all to conquer and effect whatever any one of us may wish. On the other
hand, it is most disgraceful for us, who are so many and so valiant, who
have weapons and money and ships and horses, to choose the worse instead
of the better course, and when we might afford the other party liberty
to prefer to join them in slavery. Our aims are so utterly opposed that,
whereas he desires to reign as sovereign over you, I wish to free you and
them together, and this I have confirmed by oath. Therefore as men who
are to struggle for both sides alike and to win blessings that shall be
common to all, let us labor, fellow-soldiers, to prevail at the present
juncture and to gain happiness for all time."

[-23-] After delivering a speech of this sort Antony put all his most
prominent associates aboard the boats, to prevent them from concerting
revolutionary measures when they got by themselves, as Deillius and some
other deserters had done; he also embarked great numbers of archers,
slingers, and hoplites. And since the defeat of Sextus had been largely
due to the size of Caesar's ships and the number of his marines, Antony
had equipped his vessels to surpass greatly those of his opponents, for
he had had constructed only a few triremes, but the rest were ships with
four banks and with ten banks, and represented all the remaining degrees
of capacity: upon these he had built lofty towers, and he had put aboard
a crowd of men who could fight from behind walls, as it were. Caesar for
his part was observing their equipment and making his preparations; when
he learned from Deillius and others their intention he himself assembled
the army and spoke to this effect:--

[-24-] "Having discovered, fellow-soldiers, both from what I have learned
from hearsay and from what I have tested by experience, that the most and
greatest military enterprises, or, indeed, I might say human affairs in
general, turn out in favor of those persons who both think and act in a
more just and pious manner, I am keeping this strictly in mind myself and
I advise you to consider it. No matter how numerous and mighty the force
we possess, no matter if it be such that even a man who chose the less
just of two courses might expect to win with its aid, nevertheless I base
my confidence far more upon the causes underlying the war than upon this
factor. For that we who are Romans and lords of the greatest and best
portion of the world should be despised and trodden under foot of an
Egyptian woman is unworthy of our fathers who overthrew Pyrrhus, Philip,
Perseus, Antiochus, who uprooted the Numantini and the Carthaginians, who
cut down the Cimbri and the Ambrones; it is unworthy also of ourselves
who have subjugated the Gauls, have subdued the Pannonians, have advanced
as far as the Ister, have crossed the Rhine, have gone over into Britain.
How could all those who have had a hand in the exploits mentioned fail
to grieve vehemently, if they should learn that we had succumbed to an
accursed woman? Should we not be guilty of a gross deviation from right
conduct, if, after surpassing all men everywhere in valor, we should then
bear humbly the insults of this throng, who, O Hercules, are Alexandrians
and Egyptians (what worse or what truer name could one apply to them?),
who serve reptiles and other creatures as gods, who embalm their bodies
to secure a reputation for immortality, who are most reckless in
braggadocio but most deficient in bravery, and worst of all are slaves
to a woman instead of a man? Yet these have dared to lay claim to our
possessions and to acquire them through us, evidently expecting that we
will give up the prosperity which we possess for them. [-25-] Who can
help lamenting to see Roman soldiers acting as body-guards of their
queen? Who can help groaning when he hears Roman knights and senators
flattering her like eunuchs? Who can help weeping when he both hears and
sees Antony himself, the man twice consul, often imperator, to whom was
committed in common with me the superintendence of the public business,
who was entrusted with so many cities, so many legions,--when he sees
that this man has now abandoned all his ancestors' habits of life, has
emulated all alien and barbaric customs, that he pays no honor to us or
to the laws or to his fathers' gods, but worships that wench as if she
were some Isis or Selene, calling her children Sun and Moon, and finally
himself bearing the title of Osiris and Dionysus, in consequence of which
he has bestowed entire islands and some of the continents, as though he
were master of the whole earth and the whole sea? I am sure that this
appears marvelous and incredible to you, fellow-soldiers: therefore you
ought to be the more indignant. For if that is actually so which you do
not even believe on hearing it, and if that man in his voluptuary career
commits acts at which any one who learns of them must grieve, would you
not properly become exceedingly enraged?

[-26-] "Yet at the start I was so devoted to him that I gave him a share
of my leadership, married my sister to him, and granted him legions. Even
after this I felt so kindly, so affectionately toward him that I was
unwilling to wage war on him because of his insulting my sister, or
because he neglected the children she had borne him, or because he
preferred the Egyptian woman to her, or because he bestowed upon the
former's children practically all your possessions, or, in fine, for any
other reason. The cause is that, first of all, I did not think it proper
to assume the same attitude toward Antony as toward Cleopatra. I deemed
her by the very fact of her foreign birth to be at the outset hostile to
his career, but I believed that he, as a citizen, could be corrected.
Later I entertained the hope that if not voluntarily at least reluctantly
he might change his mind as a result of the decrees passed against her.
Consequently I did not declare war upon him. He, however, has looked
haughtily and disdainfully upon my efforts and will neither be released,
though we would fain release him, nor be pitied though we try to pity
him. He is either unreasonable or mad,--and this which I have heard I
do believe, that he has been bewitched by that accursed female,--and
therefore pays no heed to our kindness or humaneness, but being in
slavery to that woman he undertakes in her behalf both war and needless
dangers which are both against our interests and against those of his
country. What else, then, is our duty except to fight him back together
with Cleopatra? [-27-]Hence let no one call him a Roman but rather an
Egyptian, nor Antony but rather Serapio. Let no one think that he was
ever consul or imperator, but only gymnasiarch. He has himself of his own
free will chosen the latter title instead of the former, and casting away
all the august terms of his own land has become one of the cymbal players
from Canopus.[65] Again, let no one fear that he can give any unfavorable
turn to the war. Even previously he was of no ability, as you know
clearly who conquered him near Mutina. And even if once he did attain to
some capacity through campaigning with us, be well assured that he has
now ruined all of it by his changed manner of life. It is impossible for
one who leads an existence of royal luxury and coddles himself like a
woman to think any valorous thoughts or do valorous deeds, because it is
quite inevitable that a person takes the impress of the practices with
which he comes in contact. A proof of this is that in the one war which
he has waged in all this long time and the one campaign that he has made
he lost great numbers of citizens in the battles, returned in thorough
disgrace from Praaspa, and parted with very many additional men in
the flight. If any one of us were obliged to perform a set dance or
cordax[66] in an amusing way, such a person would surely yield the honors
to him; he has practiced this: but since it is a case of arms and
battle, what is there about him that any one should dread? His physical
condition? He has passed his prime and become effeminate. His strength of
mind? He plays the woman and has surrendered himself to unnatural lust.
His piety toward our gods? He is at war both with them and his country.
His faithfulness to his allies? But is any one unaware how he deceived
and imprisoned the Armenian? His liberal treatment of his friends? But
who has not seen the men who have miserably perished at his hands? His
reputation with the soldiers? But who even of them has not condemned him?
Evidence of their feeling is found in the fact that numbers daily come
over to our side. For my part I think that all our citizens will do this,
as on a former occasion when he was going from Brundusium into Gaul. So
long as they expected to get rich without danger, some were very glad
to cleave to him. But they will not care to fight against us, their own
countrymen, in behalf of what does not belong to them at all, especially
when they are given the opportunity to win without hazard both
preservation and prosperity by joining us.

[-28-] "Some one may say, however, that he has many allies and a store of
wealth. Well, how we have been accustomed to conquer the dwellers on Asia
the mainland is known to Scipio Asiaticus the renowned, is known to Sulla
the fortunate, to Lucullus, to Pompey, to my father Caesar, and to your
own selves, who vanquished the supporters of Brutus and Cassius. This
being so, if you think their wealth is so much more than others', you
must be all the more eager to make it your own. It is but fair that for
the greatest prizes the greatest conflicts should be undergone. And I
can tell you nothing else greater than that prize which lies within your
grasp,--namely, to preserve the renown of your forefathers, to guard your
individual pride, to take vengeance on those in revolt against us, to
repulse those who insult you, to conquer and rule all mankind, to allow
no woman to make herself equal to a man. Against the Taurisci and Iapudes
and Dalmatians and Pannonians you yourselves now before me battled most
zealously and frequently for some few walls and desert land; you subdued
all of them though they are admittedly a most warlike race; and, by
Jupiter, against Sextus also, for Sicily merely, and against this very
Antony, for Mutina merely, you carried on a similar struggle, so that
you came out victorious over both. And now will you show any less zeal
against a woman whose plots concern all your possessions, and against
her husband, who has distributed to her children all your property, and
against their noble associates and table companions whom they themselves
stigmatize as 'privy' councillors? Why should you? Because of their
number? But no number of persons can conquer valour. Because of their
race? But they have practiced carrying burdens rather than warfare.
Because of their experience? But they know better how to row than how
to fight at sea. I, for my part, am really ashamed that we are going to
contend with such creatures, by vanquishing whom we shall gain no glory,
whereas if we are defeated we shall be disgraced.

[-29-] "And surely you must not think that the size of their vessels or
the thickness of the timbers of their ships is a match for our valour.
What ship ever by itself either wounded or killed anybody? Will they not
by their very height and staunchness be more difficult for their rowers
to move and less obedient to their pilots? Of what use can they possibly
be to the fighting men on board of them, when these men can employ
neither frontal assault nor flank attack, manoeuvres which you know are
essential in naval contests? For surely they do not intend to employ
infantry tactics against us on the sea, nor on the other hand are they
prepared to shut themselves up as it were in wooden walls and undergo a
siege, since that would be decidedly to our advantage--I mean assaulting
wooden barriers. For if their ships remain in the same place, as if
fastened there, it will be possible for us to rip them open with our
beaks, it will be possible, too, to damage them with our engines from
a distance, and also possible to burn them to the water's edge with
incendiary missiles; and if they do venture to stir from their place,
they will not overtake anyone by pursuing nor escape by fleeing, since
they are so heavy that they are entirely too inert to inflict any damage,
and so huge that they are exceptionally liable to suffer it.

[-30-] "Indeed, what need is there to spend time in speaking further of
them, when we have already often made trial of them, not only off Leucas
but also here just the other day, and so far from proving inferior to
them, we have everywhere shown ourselves superior? Hence you should be
encouraged not so much by my words as by your own deeds, and should
desire to put an end forthwith to the whole war. For be well assured that
if we beat them to-day we shall have no further trouble. For in general
it is a natural characteristic of human nature everywhere, that whenever
a man fails in his first contests he becomes disheartened with respect to
what is to come; and as for us, we are so indisputably superior to them
on land that we could vanquish them even if they had never suffered any
injury. And they are themselves so conscious of this truth--for I am not
going to conceal from you what I have heard--that they are discouraged at
what has already happened and despair of saving their lives if they stay
where they are, and they are therefore endeavouring to make their escape
to some place or other, and are making this sally, not with the desire to
give battle, but in expectation of flight. In fact, they have placed in
their ships the best and most valuable of the possessions they have with
them, in order to escape with them if they can. Since, then, they admit
that they are weaker than we, and since they carry the prizes of victory
in their ships, let us not allows them to sail anywhere else, but let
us conquer them here on the spot and take all these treasures away from
them."

Such were Caesar's words. [-31-]After this he formed a plan to let them
slip by, intending to fall upon them from the rear: he himself by fast
sailing expected to capture them directly, and when the leaders had
plainly shown that they were attempting to run away he thought that the
remainder would make no contest about surrendering. He was restrained,
however, by Agrippa, who feared that they might not overtake the
fugitives, who would probably use sails, and he also felt some confidence
of conquering without much effort because meantime a squall of rain with
large quantities of spray had driven in the face of Antony's fleet alone
and had created disturbance all through it. Hence he abandoned this plan,
and after putting vast numbers of infantry aboard the ships himself
and placing all his associates into auxiliary boats for the purpose of
sailing about quickly, giving notice of requisite action to the warriors,
and reporting to him what he ought to know, he awaited the onset of the
foe. They weighed anchor to the sound of the trumpet and with ships
in close array drew up their line a little outside the narrows, not
advancing any farther: he in turn started out as if to come to close
quarters or even make them retire. When they neither made a corresponding
advance nor turned about, but remained in position and further made
their array extremely dense, he became doubtful what to do. Therefore he
ordered the sailors to let their oars rest in the water and waited for a
time: then suddenly at a given signal led forward both the wings and bent
around in the hope chiefly of surrounding the enemy, or otherwise of at
least breaking their formation. Antony was afraid of this movement of his
to wheel about and surround them, and hence adopted so far as he could
corresponding tactics, which brought him, though reluctantly, into close
combat. [-32-] So they attacked and began the conflict, both sides
uttering many exhortations in their own ranks as to both artifice and
zeal, and hearing many from the men on shore that shouted to them. The
struggle was not of a similar nature on the two sides, but Caesar's
followers having smaller and swifter ships went with a rush, and when
they rammed were fenced about on all sides to avoid being wounded. If
they sank any boat, well: if not, they would back water before a close
engagement could be begun, and would either ram the same vessels suddenly
again, or would let some go and turn their attention to others; and
having damaged them slightly, to whatever degree the limited time would
allow, they would proceed against others and then still others, in
order that their assault upon any vessel might be so far as possible
unexpected. Since they dreaded the defence of the enemy from a distance
and likewise the battle at close quarters, they delayed neither in the
approach nor in the encounter, but running up suddenly with the object of
arriving before the opposing archers could work, they would inflict some
wounds and cause a disturbance merely, so as to escape being held, and
then retire out of range. The enemy tried to strike the approaching
ships with many stones and arrows flying thick and fast, and to cast the
grapnels upon the assailants. And in case they could reach them, they got
the better of it, but if they missed, their boats would be pierced and
they begin to sink, or else in their endeavor to avoid this calamity they
would waste time and lay themselves open to attack on the part of some
others. For when two or three at once fell upon the same ship, part
would do all the damage they could and the rest suffer the brunt of the
injuries. On the one side the pilots and the rowers endured the most
annoyance and fatigue, and on the other the marines: and the one side
resembled cavalry, now making a charge, now withdrawing, on account of
the manoeuvres on their part in assaulting and backing water, and the
other was like heavy-armed men guarding against the approach of foes and
trying as much as possible to hold them. As a result they gained mutual
advantages: the one party fell unobserved upon the lines of oars
projecting from the ships and shattered the blades, whereas the other
party with rocks and engines from above tried to sink them. There
were also certain disadvantages: the one party could not injure those
approaching it, and the other party, if it failed to sink some vessels by
its ramming, was hemmed in and found no longer an equal contest.

[-33-] The battle was an even one for a long time and neither antagonist
could get the upper hand, but the outcome of it was finally like this.
Cleopatra, riding at anchor behind the warriors, could not endure the
long, obscure uncertainty and delay, but harassed with worry (which was
due to her being a woman and an Egyptian) at the struggle which for so
long continued doubtful, and at the fearful expectancy on both sides,
suddenly herself started to flee and raised the signal for the remainder
of her subjects. So, as they at once raised their sails and sped out to
sea, while a wind of some force had by chance arisen, Antony thought they
were fleeing not at the bidding of Cleopatra, but through fear because
they felt themselves vanquished, and followed them. When this took place
the rest of the soldiers became both discouraged and confused, and rather
wishing themselves to escape likewise kept raising their sails, and the
others kept throwing the towers and the furnishings into the sea in order
to lighten the vessels and make good their departure. While they were
occupied in this way their adversaries fell upon them, not pursuing the
fugitives, because they themselves were without sails and prepared only
for a naval battle, and many contended with one ship, both from afar
and alongside. Then on the part of both alike the conflict became most
diverse and fierce. Caesar's men damaged the lower parts of the ships all
around, crushed the oars, knocked off the rudders, and climbed on the
decks, where they took hold of some and pulled them down, pushed off
others, and fought with still others, since they were now equal to them
in numbers. Antony's soldiers pushed them back with boathooks, cut them
down with axes, threw down upon them rocks and other masses of material
made ready for just this purpose, repulsed those that tried to climb up,
and joined issue with such as came close enough.

And one viewing the business might have compared it, likening small
things to great, to walls or many thickset islands being besieged by sea.
Thus the one party strove to scale the boats like some land or fortress
and eagerly brought to bear everything that contributed to this result.
The others tried to repel them, devising every means that is commonly
used in such, a case.

[-34-] As the fight continued equal, Caesar, at a loss what he should do,
sent for fire from the camp. Previously he had wished to avoid using
it, in order to gain possession of the money. Now he saw that it was
impossible for him to win in any other way, and had recourse to this, as
the only thing that would assist him. Thus another form of battle was
brought about. The assailants would approach their victims from many
directions at once, shoot blazing missiles at them, and hurl torches
fastened to javelins from their hands, and with the aid of engines threw
pots full of charcoal and pitch upon some boats from a distance. The
defenders tried to ward these off individually and when any of them flew
past and caught the timbers and at once started a great flame, as must be
the case in a ship, they used first the drinking-water which they carried
on board and extinguished some conflagrations: when that was gone they
dipped up the sea-water. And in case they could use great quantities of
it at once, they would stop the fire by main force: but they were unable
to do this everywhere, for they did not have many buckets or large ones,
and in their confusion brought them up half full, so that far from doing
any service they only quickened the flame. For salt water poured on
a fire in small quantities makes it burn up brightly. As they found
themselves getting the worst of it in this, they heaped on the blaze
their thick mantles and the corpses. For a time these checked the fire
and it seemed to abate; later, especially as the wind came upon it in
great gusts, it shot up more brilliant than ever and was increased by the
fuel. While only a part of a ship was burning, others stood by it and the
men would leap into it and hew down some parts and carry away others.
These detached parts some threw into the sea and others upon their
opponents, in case they could do them any damage. Others were constantly
going to the sound portion of the vessel and now more than ever they used
the grappling irons and the long spears with the purpose of attaching
some hostile ship to theirs and transferring themselves to it; or, if
that was out of the question, they tried to set it on fire likewise.
[-35-] But the hostile fleet was guarding against this very attempt and
none of it came near enough; and as the fire spread to the encircling
walls and descended to the flooring, the most terrible of fates
confronted them. Some, and particularly the sailors, perished by the
smoke before the flame approached them, while others were roasted in the
midst of it as though in ovens. Others were cooked in their armor, which
became red-hot. There were still others, who, before suffering such a
death, or when they were half burned, threw off their armor and were
wounded by the men shooting from a distance, or again were choked by
leaping into the sea, or were struck by their opponents and drowned, or
were mangled by sea-monsters. The only ones to obtain an endurable death,
considering the sufferings round about, were such as killed one another
or themselves before any calamity befell them. These did not have to
submit to torture, and as corpses had the burning ships for their funeral
pyre. The Caesarians, who saw this, at first so long as any of the foe
were still able to defend themselves would not come near; but when the
fire began to consume the ships and the men so far from being able to do
any harm to an enemy could not even help themselves, they eagerly sailed
up to them to see if they could in any way gain possession of the money,
and they endeavored to extinguish the fire which they themselves had
caused. As a result many of them also perished in the course of their
plundering in the flame.




DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY

51

The following is contained in the Fifty-first of Dio's Rome:

How Caesar after his victory at Actium transacted business requiring
immediate attention (chapters 1-4).

About Antony and Cleopatra and their movements after the defeat (chapters
5-8).

How Antony, defeated in Egypt, killed himself (chapters 9-14).

How Caesar subdued Egypt (chapters 15-18).

How Caesar came to Rome and conducted a triumph (chapters 19-21).

How the Curia Julia was dedicated (chapter 22).

How Moesia was reduced (chapters 23-27).

Duration of time the remainder of the consulships of Caesar (3rd) and M.
Valerius Corvinus Messala, together with two additional years, in which
there were the following magistrates here enumerated:

Caesar (IV), M. Licinius M.F. Crassus. (B.C. 30 = a. u. 724.)

Caesar (V), Sextus Apuleius Sexti F. (B.C. 29 = a. u. 725.)

(_BOOK 51, BOISSEVAIN_.)

[B.C. 31 (_a. u_. 723)]

[-1-] Such was the naval battle which occurred between them on the second
of September. I have not elsewhere used a like expression, not being in
the habit of giving precise dates, but I do it here because then for
the first time Caesar alone held the entire power. Consequently the
enumeration of the years of his supremacy starts from precisely that day.
And before it had gone he set up as an offering to Apollo of Actium a
trireme, a four-banked ship, and so on up to one of ten banks, from the
captive vessels; and he built a larger temple. He also instituted a
quinquennial musical and gymnastic contest involving horseracing,--a
"sacred" festival, as they call all which include distribution of
food,--and entitled it Actia. Further, by gathering some settlers and
ousting others who dwelt nearby from their homes, he founded a city on
the site of the camp and named it Nicopolis.[67] On the spot where he
had had his tent he laid a foundation of square stones, and put there a
shrine of Apollo open to the sky, adorning it with the captured beaks.

But this was done later. At the time he despatched one division of the
ships to pursue Antony and Cleopatra; so these followed in their wake,
but as it seemed impossible to overtake the fugitives they returned. With
his remaining vessels he took the enemy's ramparts, where no one opposed
him because of small numbers, and then overtook and without a battle got
possession of the other army which was retreating into Macedonia. Various
important contingents had already made their escape, the Romans to Antony
and the rest of the allies to their homes. The latter moreover evinced
no further hostility to Caesar, but both they and all the peoples who had
formerly belonged to Rome remained quiet, and some at once and others
later made terms. Caesar now proceeded to teach the cities a lesson
by levying money and taking away the remnant of authority over their
citizens that they possessed in their assemblies. From all the potentates
and kings, save Amyntas and Archelaus, he took all the lands that they
had received from Antony. Philopator son of Tarcondimotus, Lycomedes
ruler in a portion of Cappadocian Pontus, and Alexander the brother of
Iamblichus he even removed from their principalities. The last named,
because he had secured his appointment as a reward for accusing the
conqueror, he placed in his triumphal procession and afterward killed.
The kingdom of Lycomedes he gave to one Medeus, because the latter had
previous to the naval engagement detached the Mysians in Asia from Antony
and with them had waged war upon such as followed Antony's fortunes. The
people of Cydonea and Lampea he set free, because they had rendered him
some assistance, and he helped the Lampeans found anew their city, from
which they had been uprooted. As for the senators and knights and other
prominent men who had been active in Antony's cause, he imposed fines
upon many of them, executed many of them, and some he spared entirely.
Among the last Sosius was a distinguished example: for though he had
often fought against Caesar and now fled and hid himself, but was
subsequently discovered, his life was nevertheless preserved. Likewise
one Marcus Scaurus, a half-brother of Sextus on the mother's side, had
been condemned to death, but was later released for the sake of his
mother Mucia. Of those who underwent the extreme punishment the Aquilii
Flori and Curio were the most noted. The latter met death because he was
a son of the former Curio who had once been of great assistance to the
former Caesar. And the Flori both perished because Octavius commanded that
one of them should draw the lot to be slain. They were father and
son, and when the latter, before any drawing took place, voluntarily
surrendered himself to the executioner the former felt such great grief
that he died also by his own hand.

[-3-] This, then, was the end of these persons. The mass of Antony's
soldiers was included in the ranks of Caesar's legions and later he sent
back to Italy the citizens over age of both forces, without giving any
of them anything, and the remainder he disbanded. They had shown an ugly
temper toward him in Sicily after the victory, and he feared they might
create a disturbance again. Hence he hastened before the least signs of
an uprising were manifested to discharge some entirely from the service
under arms and to scatter the great majority of the rest. As he was even
at this time suspicious of the freedmen, he remitted their one-quarter
contribution[68] which they were still owing of the money assessed upon
them. And they no longer bore him any malice for deprivations they had
endured, but rejoiced as if they had received as a gift what they had
not been obliged to contribute. The men still left in the rank and file
showed no disposition to rebel, partly because they were held in check
by their commanding officers, but mostly through hopes of the wealth of
Egypt. The men, however, who had helped Caesar to gain the victory and had
been dismissed from the service, were irritated at having obtained no
meed of valor, and not much later they began a revolutionary movement.
Caesar was suspicious of them, and fearing that they might despise
Maecenas, to whom at that time Rome and the remainder of Italy had been
entrusted, because he was a knight, he sent Agrippa to Italy as if on
some routine business. He also gave to Agrippa and to Maecenas so great
authority over everything that they might read beforehand the letters
which he often wrote to the senate and to various officials, and then
change whatever they wished in them. Therefore they received also from
him a ring, so that they should have the means of sealing the epistles.
He had had the seal which he used most at that time made double, with a
sphinx raised on both sides alike. Subsequently he had his own image made
in _intaglio_, and sealed everything with that. Later emperors likewise
employed it, except Galba. The latter gave his sanction with an ancestral
device which showed a dog bending forward from the prow of a ship. The
way that Octavius wrote both to these two magistrates and to the rest of
his intimate friends whenever there was need of forwarding information to
them secretly was to write in place of the proper letter in each word the
second one following.

[-4-] Octavius, with the idea that there would be no more danger from the
veterans, administered affairs in Greece and took part in the Mysteries
of the two goddesses. He then went over into Asia and settled matters
there, all the time keeping a sharp lookout for Antony's movements. For
he had not yet received any definite information regarding the course his
rival had followed in his escape, and so he kept making preparations
to proceed against him, if he should find out exactly. Meantime the
ex-soldiers made an open demonstration, because he was so far separated
from them, and he began to fear that if they got a leader they might do
some damage.

[B.C. 30 (_a. u._ 724)]

Consequently he assigned to others the task of searching for Antony, and
hurried to Italy himself, in the middle of the winter of the year that he
was holding office for the fourth time, with Marcus Crassus. The latter,
in spite of having been attached to the cause of Sextus and of Antony,
was then his fellow consul without having even passed through the
praetorship. Caesar came, then, to Brundusium but progressed no farther.
The senate on ascertaining that his boat was Hearing Italy went there
to meet him, save the tribunes and two praetors, who by decree stayed at
home; and the class of knights as well as the majority of the people
and still others, some represented by embassy and many as voluntary
followers, came together there, so that there was no further sign of
rebellion on the part of any one, so brilliant was his arrival, and so
enthusiastic over him were the masses. They, too, some through fear,
others through hopes, others obeying a summons, had come to Brundusium.
To certain of them Caesar gave money, but to the rest who had been the
constant companions of his campaigns, he assigned land also. By turning
the townspeople in Italy who had sided with Antony out of their homes he
was able to grant to his soldiers their cities and their farms. To most
of the outcasts from the settlements he granted permission in turn to
dwell in Dyrrachium, Philippi, and elsewhere. To the remainder he either
distributed or promised money for their land. Though he had now acquired
great sums by his victory, he was spending still more. For this reason
he advertised in the public market his own possessions and those of his
companions, in order that any one who desired to buy or claim any of them
might do so. Nothing was sold, however, and nothing repaid. Who, pray,
would have dared to undertake to do either? But he secured by this means
a reasonable excuse for a delay in carrying out his offers, and later he
discharged the debt out of the spoils of the Egyptians.

[-5-] He settled this and the rest of the urgent business, and gave to
such as had received a kind of semi-amnesty the right to live in Italy,
not before permitted. After this he forgave the populace left behind
in Rome for not having come to him, and on the thirtieth day after his
arrival set sail again for Greece. In the midst of winter he dragged his
ships across the isthmus of the Peloponnesus and got back to Asia
so quickly that Antony and Cleopatra received each piece of news
simultaneously,--that he had departed and that he had returned. They,
on fleeing from the naval battle, had gone as far as the Peloponnesus
together. From there they sent away some of their associates,--all, in
fact, whom they suspected,--while many withdrew against their will, and
Cleopatra hastened to Egypt, for fear that her subjects might perhaps
revolt, if they heard of the disaster before her coming. In order to
make her approach safe, at any rate, she crowned her prows, as a sign
of conquest, with garlands, and had some songs of victory sung by
flute-players. When she reached safety, she murdered many of the foremost
men, who had ever been restless under her rule and were now in a state
of excitement at her disaster. From their estates and from various
repositories hallowed and sacred she gathered a vast store of wealth,
sparing not even the most revered of consecrated treasures. She fitted
out her forces and looked about for possible alliances. The Armenian king
she killed and sent his head to the Median, who might be influenced by
this act, she thought, to aid them. As for Antony, he sailed to Pinarius
Scarpus in Libya, and to the army previously collected under him there
for the protection of Egypt. This general, however, would[69] not receive
him and also slew the first men that Antony sent, besides destroying some
of the soldiers under his command who showed displeasure at this act.
Then Antony, too, proceeded to Alexandria, having accomplished nothing.

[-6-] Now among the other preparations that they made for speedy warfare
they enrolled among the ephebi their sons, Cleopatra Caesarion and Antony
Antyllus, who was borne to him by Fulvia and was then with him. Their
purpose was to arouse interest among the Egyptians, who would feel that
they already had a man for king, and that the rest might recognize these
children as their lords, in case any untoward accident should happen to
the parents, and so continue the struggle. This proved the lads' undoing.
For Caesar, on the ground that they were men and held a certain form
of sovereignty, spared neither of them. But to return: the two were
preparing to wage war in Egypt with ships and infantry, and to this end
they called also upon the neighboring tribes and the kings that were
friendly to them. Nor did they relax their readiness also to sail to
Spain, if there should be urgent need, believing that they could alienate
the inhabitants of that land by their money if nothing more, and again
they thought of transferring the seat of the conflict to the Red Sea. To
the end that while engaged in these plans they might escape observation
for the longest possible time or deceive Caesar in some way or slay him by
treachery, they despatched men who carried letters to him in regard to
peace, but money for his followers. Meantime, also, unknown to Antony,
Cleopatra sent to him a golden scepter and a golden crown and the royal
throne, through which she signified that she delivered the government
to him. He might hate Antony, if he would only take pity on her. Caesar
accepted the gifts as a good omen, but made no answer to Antony. To
Cleopatra he forwarded publicly threatening messages and an announcement
that if she would renounce the use of arms and her sovereignty, he would
deliberate what ought to be done in her case. Secretly he sent word that,
if she would kill Antony, he would grant her pardon and leave her empire
unmolested.

[-7-] While these negotiations were going on, the Arabians, influenced by
Quintus Didius, the governor of Syria, burned the ships which had been
built in the Arabian Gulf for the voyage to the Red Sea, and all the
peoples and the potentates refused their assistance. And it occurs to me
to wonder that many others also, though they had received many gifts from
Antony and Cleopatra, now left them in the lurch. The men, however, of
lowest rank who were being supported for gladiatorial combats showed
the utmost zeal in their behalf and contended most bravely. These were
practicing in Cyzicus for the triumphal games which they were expecting
to hold in honor of Caesar's overthrow, and as soon as they were made
aware of what had taken place, they set out for Egypt with the intention
of aiding their superiors. Many were their contests with Amyntas in Gaul,
and many with the children of Tarcondimotus in Cilicia, who had been
their strongest friends but now in view of the changed circumstances
had gone over to the other side; and many were their struggles against
Didius, who hindered them while passing through. They proved unable,
after all, to make their way to Egypt. Yet even when they had been
encompassed on all sides, not even then would they accept any terms of
surrender, though Didius made them many promises. They sent for Antony,
feeling that they could fight with him better in Syria: then, when he
neither came himself nor sent them any message, they decided that he had
perished, and reluctantly made terms with the condition that they should
never take part in a gladiatorial show. They received from Didius Daphne,
the suburb of Antioch, to dwell in, until the matter was called to
Caesar's attention. Then they were tricked (somewhat later) by Messala and
were sent in different directions under the pretext that they were to be
enlisted in different legions and were in some convenient way destroyed.

[-8-] When Antony and Cleopatra heard from the envoys the commands which
Caesar issued regarding them, they sent to him again. The queen promised
that she would give him large amounts of money. Antony reminded him of
their friendship and kinship, and also made a defence of his association
with the Egyptian woman; he enumerated the occasions on which they had
helped each other gain the objects of their loves,[70] and all the wanton
pranks in which they two had shared as young men. Finally he surrendered
to him Publius Turullius, a senator, who had been an assassin of Caesar,
but was then living with him as a friend. He actually offered to commit
suicide, if in that way Cleopatra might be saved. Caesar put Turullius
to death; it happened that this man had cut wood for the fleet from the
forest of Asclepius in Cos, and by his punishment in the same place he
was thought to have paid the penalty to the god. But to Antony Caesar did
not even then answer a word. The latter consequently despatched a third
embassy, sending him his son Antyllus with considerable gold coin. His
rival accepted the money, but sent the boy back empty-handed and gave him
no answer. To Cleopatra, however, as the first time so the second and the
third time he sent many threats and promises alike. Yet he was afraid,
even so, that they might despair of in any way obtaining pardon from him
and so hold out, and that they would survive by their own efforts, or set
sail for Spain and Gaul, or destroy the money, the bulk of which he
heard was immense. Cleopatra had gathered it all in the monument she was
constructing in the palace; and she threatened to burn all of it with
her, in case she should miss the smallest of her demands. Octavius sent
therefore Thyrsus, a freedman of his, to speak to her kindly in every way
and to tell her further that it so happened that he was in love with her.
He hoped at least by this means, since she thought she had the power to
arouse passion in all mankind, that he might remove Antony from the scene
and keep her and her money intact. And so it proved.

[-9-] Before quite all this had occurred Antony learned that Cornelius
Gallus had taken charge of Scarpus's army and with the men had suddenly
marched upon Paxaetonium and occupied it. Hence, though he wished to set
out and follow the summons of the gladiators, he did not go into Syria.
He proceeded against Gallus, believing that he could certainly win over
his soldiers without effort; they had been with him on campaigns and were
well disposed. At any rate he could subdue them by main strength, since
he was leading a large force both of ships and of infantry upon them.
However, he found himself unable even to hold converse with them,
although he approached their wall and shouted and hallooed. For Gallus by
ordering his trumpeters to sound their instruments all together gave no
one a chance to hear a word. Antony further failed in a sudden assault
and subsequently met a reverse with his ships. Gallus by night had chains
stretched across the mouth of the harbor under water and took no open
measures to guard against them but quite disdainfully allowed them to
sail freely in. When, however, they were inside, he drew up the chains by
means of machines and encompassing his opponent's ships on all sides,--on
land, from the houses, and on the sea,--he burned some and sank others.
The next event was that Caesar took Pelusium, pretendedly by storm, but
really betrayed by Cleopatra. She saw that no one came to her aid and
perceived that Caesar was not to be withstood; most important of all,
she heard the message sent to her by Thyrsus, and believed that she was
really the object of affection. Her confidence was strengthened first
of all by her wish that it be true, and second by the fact that she had
enslaved his father and Antony alike. As a result she expected that she
should gain not only forgiveness and sovereignty over the Egyptians, but
empire over the Romans as well. At once she yielded Pelusium to him.
After this, when he marched against the city, she secretly prevented the
Alexandrians from making a sortie, though she pretended to urge them
strongly to do so.

[-10-] At the news about Pelusium Antony returned from Paraetonium and in
front of Alexandria met Caesar, who was exhausted from travel; he joined
battle with him, therefore, with his cavalry and was victorious. From
this success Antony gained courage, as also from his being able to shoot
arrows into his rival's camp carrying pamphlets which promised the men
fifteen hundred denarii; so he attacked also with his infantry and was
defeated. Caesar himself voluntarily read the pamphlets to his soldiers,
reproaching Antony the while, and led them to feel ashamed of treachery
and to acquire enthusiasm in his behalf. They gained by this in zeal,
both through indignation at being tempted and through their attempt to
show that they would not willingly gain a reputation for baseness. Antony
after his unexpected setback took refuge in his fleet and prepared to
have a combat on the water, or in any case to sail to Spain. Cleopatra
seeing this caused the ships to desert and she herself rushed suddenly
into the mausoleum pretending that she feared Caesar and desired by some
means to destroy herself before capture, but really as an invitation to
Antony to enter there also. He had an inkling that he was being betrayed,
but his infatuation would not allow him to believe it, and, as one might
say, he pitied her more than himself. Cleopatra was fully aware of this
and hoped that if he should be informed that she was dead, he would not
prolong his life but meet death at once. Accordingly, she hastened into
the monument with one eunuch and two female attendants and from there
sent a message to him to the effect that she had passed away. When he
heard it, he did not delay, but was seized with a desire to follow her in
death. Then first he asked one of the bystanders to slay him, but the
man drew a sword and despatched himself. Wishing to imitate his courage
Antony gave himself a wound and fell upon his face, causing the
bystanders to think that he was dead. An outcry was raised at his deed,
and Cleopatra hearing it leaned out over the top of the monument. By a
certain contrivance its doors once closed could not be opened again, but
above, near the ceiling, it had not yet been completed. That was where
they saw her leaning out and some began to utter shouts that reached the
ears of Antony. He, learning that she survived, stood up as if he had
still the power to live; but a great gush of blood from his wound made
him despair of rescue and he besought those present to carry him to the
monument and to hoist him by the ropes that were hanging there to elevate
stone blocks. This was done and he died there on Cleopatra's bosom.

[-11-] She now began to feel confidence in Caesar and immediately made him
aware of what had taken place, but did not feel altogether confident
that she would experience no harm. Hence she kept herself within the
structure, in order that if there should be no other motive for her
preservation, she might at least purchase pardon and her sovereignty
through fear about her money. Even then in such depths of calamity she
remembered that she was queen, and chose rather to die with the name and
dignities of a sovereign than to live as an ordinary person. It should
be stated that she kept fire on hand to use upon her money and asps and
other reptiles to use upon herself, and that she had tried the latter
on human beings to see in what way they killed in each case. Caesar was
anxious to make himself master of her treasures, to seize her alive, and
to take her back for his triumph. However, as he had given her a kind
of pledge, he did not wish to appear to have acted personally as an
impostor, since this would prevent him from treating her as a captive and
to a certain extent subdued against her will. He therefore sent to her
Gaius Proculeius, a knight, and Epaphroditus, a freedman, giving them
directions what they must say and do. So they obtained an audience with
Cleopatra and after some accusations of a mild type suddenly laid hold
of her before any decision was reached. Then they put out of her way
everything by which she could bring death upon herself and allowed her
to spend some days where she was, since the embalming of Antony's body
claimed her attention. After that they took her to the palace, but did
not remove any of her accustomed retinue or attendants, to the end that
she should still more hope to accomplish her wishes and do no harm to
herself. When she expressed a desire to appear before Caesar and converse
with him, it was granted; and to beguile her still more, he promised that
he would come to her himself.

[-12-] She accordingly prepared a luxurious apartment and costly couch,
and adorned herself further in a kind of careless fashion,--for her
mourning garb mightily became her,--and seated herself upon the couch;
beside her she had placed many images of his father, of all sorts, and in
her bosom she had put all the letters that his father had sent her. When,
after this, Caesar entered, she hastily arose, blushing, and said: "Hail,
master, Heaven has given joy to you and taken it from me. But you see
with your own eyes your father in the guise in which he often visited me,
and you may hear how he honored me in various ways and made me queen of
the Egyptians. That you may learn what were his own words about me, take
and read the missives which he sent me with his own hand."

As she spoke thus, she read aloud many endearing expressions of his. And
now she would lament and caress the letters and again fall before his
images and do them reverence. She kept turning her eyes toward Caesar, and
melodiously continued to bewail her fate. She spoke in melting tones,
saying at one time, "Of what avail, Caesar, are these your letters? ," and
at another, "But in the man before me you also are alive for me." Then
again, "Would that I had died before you! ," and still again, "But if I
have him, I have you!"

Some such diversity both of words and of gestures did she employ, at the
same time gazing at and murmuring to him sweetly. Caesar comprehended her
outbreak of passion and appeal for sympathy. Yet he did not pretend to do
so, but letting his eyes rest upon the ground, he said only this: "Be of
cheer, woman, and keep a good heart, for no harm shall befall you." She
was distressed that he would neither look at her nor breathe a word about
the kingdom or any sigh of love, and fell at his knees wailing: "Life for
me, Caesar, is neither desirable nor possible. This favor I beseech of you
in memory of your father,--that since Heaven gave me to Antony after him,
I may also die with my lord. Would that I had perished on the very instant
after Caesar's death! But since this present fate was my destiny, send me
to Antony: grudge me not burial with him, that as I die because of him, so
in Hades also I may dwell with him."

[-13-] Such words she uttered expecting to obtain commiseration: Caesar,
however, made no answer to it. Fearing, however, that she might make away
with herself he exhorted her again to be of good cheer, did not remove
any of her attendants, and kept a careful watch upon her, that she might
add brilliance to his triumph. Suspecting this, and regarding it as worse
than innumerable deaths, she began to desire really to die and begged
Caesar frequently that she might be allowed to perish in some way, and
devised many plans by herself. When she could accomplish nothing, she
feigned to change her mind and to repose great hope in him, as well as
great hope in Livia. She said she would sail voluntarily and made ready
many treasured adornments as gifts. In this way she hoped to inspire
confidence that she had no designs upon herself, and so be more free from
scrutiny and bring about her destruction. This also took place. The other
officials and Epaphroditus, to whom she had been committed, believed
that her state of mind was really as it seemed, and neglected to keep
a careful watch. She, meanwhile, was making preparations to die as
painlessly as possible. First she gave a sealed paper, in which she
begged Caesar to order that she be buried beside Antony, to Epaphroditus
himself to deliver, pretending that it contained some other matter.
Having by this excuse freed herself of his presence, she set to her task.
She put on her most beauteous apparel and after choosing a most becoming
pose, assumed all the royal robes and appurtenances, and so died.

[-14-] No one knows clearly in what manner she perished, for there were
found merely slight indentations on her arm. Some say that she applied
an asp which had been brought in to her in a water-jar or among some
flowers. Others declare that she had smeared a needle, with which she was
wont to braid her hair, with some poison possessed of such properties
that it would not injure the surface of the body at all, but if it
touched the least drop of blood it caused death very quickly and
painlessly. The supposition is, then, that previously it had been her
custom to wear it in her hair, and on this occasion after first making a
small scratch on her arm with some instrument, she dipped the needle in
the blood. In this or some very similar way she perished with her two
handmaidens. The eunuch, at the moment her body was taken up, presented
himself voluntarily to the serpents, and after being bitten by them
leaped into a coffin which had been prepared by him. Caesar on hearing of
her demise was shocked, and both viewed her body and applied drugs to
it and sent for Psylli,[71] in the hope that she might possibly revive.
These Psylli, who are male, for there is no woman born in their tribe,
have the power of sucking out before a person dies all the poison of
every reptile and are not harmed themselves when bitten by any such
creature. They are propagated from one another and they test their
offspring, the latter being thrown among serpents at once or having
serpents laid upon their swaddling-clothes. In such cases the poisonous
creatures do not harm the child and are benumbed by its clothing. This
is the nature of their function. But Caesar, when he could not in any way
resuscitate Cleopatra, felt admiration and pity for her and was himself
excessively grieved, as much as if he had been deprived of all the glory
of the victory.

[-15-] So Antony and Cleopatra, who had been the authors of many evils
to the Egyptians and to the Romans, thus fought and thus met death. They
were embalmed in the same fashion and buried in the same tomb. Their
spiritual qualities and the fortunes of their lives deserve a word of
comment.

Antony had no superior in comprehending his duty, yet he committed many
acts of folly. He was distinguished for his bravery in some cases, yet he
often failed through cowardice. He was characterized equally by greatness
of soul and a servile disposition of mind. He would plunder the property
of others, and still relinquish his own. He pitied many without cause and
chastised even a greater number unjustly.

Consequently, though he rose from weakness to great strength, and from
the depths of poverty to great riches, he drew no profit from either
circumstance, but whereas he had hoped to hold the Roman power alone, he
actually killed himself.

Cleopatra was of insatiable passion and insatiable avarice, was ambitious
for renown, and most scornfully bold. By the influence of love she won
dominion over the Egyptians, and hoped to attain a similar position over
the Romans, but being disappointed of this she destroyed herself also.
She captivated two of the men who were the greatest Romans of her day,
and because of the third she committed suicide.

Such were these two persons, and in this way did they pass from the
scene. Of their children Antyllus was slain immediately, though he was
betrothed to the daughter of Caesar, and had taken refuge in his father's
hero-shrine which Cleopatra had built. Caesarion was fleeing to Ethiopia,
but was overtaken on the road and murdered. Cleopatra was married to Juba
the son of Juba. To this man, who had been brought up in Italy and
had been with him on campaigns, Caesar gave the maid and her ancestral
kingdom, and he granted them the lives of Alexander and Ptolemy. To his
nieces, children of Antony by Octavia and reared by her, he assigned
money from their father's estate. He also ordered his freedmen to give at
once to Iullus, the child of Antony and Fulvia, everything which by law
they were obliged to bequeath him at their death. [-16-] As for the rest
who had until then been connected with Antony's cause, he punished some
and released others, either from personal motives or to oblige his
friends. And since there were found at the court many children of
potentates and kings who were being supported, some as hostages and
others for the display of wanton power, he sent some back to their homes,
joined others in marriage with one another, and kept possession of still
others. I shall omit most of these cases and mention only two. He freely
restored Iotape to the Median king, who had found an asylum with him
after the defeat, but refused the request of Artaxes that his brothers be
sent him, because this prince had put to death the Romans left behind in
Armenia. This was the disposition he made of such captives.

The Egyptians and Alexandrians were all spared, and Caesar did not injure
one of them. The truth was that he did not see fit to visit any extreme
vengeance upon so great a people, who might prove very useful to the
Romans in many ways. He nevertheless offered the pretext that he wished
to please their god Serapis, Alexander their founder, and, third, Areus
a citizen, who was a philosopher and enjoyed his society. The speech in
which he proclaimed to them his pardon he spoke in Greek, so that they
might understand him. After this he viewed the body of Alexander and also
touched it, at which a piece of the nose, it is said, was crushed. But he
would not go to see the remains of the Ptolemies, though the Alexandrians
were extremely anxious to show them, for he said: "I wanted to see a
king, and not corpses." For the same reason he would not enter the
presence of Apis, declaring that he was "accustomed to worship gods and
not cattle." [-17-] Soon after he made Egypt tributary and gave it in
charge of Cornelius Gallus. In view of the populousness of both cities
and country, and the facile, fickle character of the inhabitants, and the
importance of grain supplies and revenue, so far from daring to entrust
the land to any senator he would not even grant one permission to live in
it, unless he made the concession to some one _nominatim_. On the other
hand, he did not allow the Egyptians to be senators in Rome, but
after considering individual cases on their merits he commanded the
Alexandrians to conduct their government without senators; with such
capacity for revolution did he credit them. And of the system then
imposed upon them most details are rigorously preserved to the present
day, but there are senators in Alexandria, beginning first under the
emperor Severus, and they also may serve in Rome, having first been
enrolled in the senate in the reign of his son Antoninus.

Thus was Egypt enslaved. All of the inhabitants who resisted were subdued
after a time, as, indeed, Heaven very clearly indicated to them would
occur. For it rained not only water, where previously no drop had ever
fallen, but also blood. At the same time that this was falling from the
clouds glimpses were caught of armor. Elsewhere there was the clashing of
drums and cymbals and the notes of flutes and trumpets. A serpent of huge
size was suddenly seen and gave a hiss incredibly loud. Meanwhile comet
stars came frequently into view and ghosts of the dead took shape. The
statues frowned: Apis bellowed a lament and shed tears. Such was the
status of things in that respect.

In the palace quantities of money were found. Cleopatra had taken
practically all the offerings from even the holiest shrines and so helped
to swell the spoils of the Romans, while the latter on their own part
incurred no defilement. Large sums were also obtained from every man
under accusation. More than that, all the rest against whom no personal
complaint could be brought had two-thirds of their property demanded of
them. Out of this all the soldiers got what was still owing to them, and
those who were with Caesar at that time secured in addition two hundred
and fifty denarii apiece for not plundering the city. All was made good
to those who had previously loaned anything, and to both senators and
knights who had taken part in the war great sums were given. In fine, the
Roman empire was enriched and its temples adorned.

[-18-] After attending to the matters before mentioned Caesar founded
there also on the site of the battle a city and gave to it likewise a
name and dedicatory games, as in the previous instance. In regard to the
canals he cleared out some of them and dug others over again, and he also
settled important questions. Then he went through Syria into the province
of Asia and passed the winter there attending to the business of the
subject nations in detail and likewise to that of the Parthians. There
had been disputes among them and a certain Tiridates had risen against
Phraates; as long as Antony's opposition lasted, even after the naval
battle, Caesar had not only not attached himself to either side, though
they sought his alliance, but made no other answer than that he would
think it over. His excuse was that he was busy with Egypt, but in reality
he wanted them meantime to exhaust themselves by fighting against each
other. Now that Antony was dead and of the two combatants Tiridates,
defeated, had taken refuge in Syria, and Phraates, victorious, had sent
envoys, he negotiated with the latter in a friendly manner: and without
promising to aid Tiridates, he allowed him to live in Syria. He received
a son of Phraates as a mark of friendliness, and took the youth to Rome,
where he kept him as a hostage.

[-19-] Meanwhile, and still earlier, the Romans at home had passed many
resolutions respecting the victory at sea. They granted Caesar a triumph
(over Cleopatra) and granted him an arch bearing a trophy at Brundusium,
and another one in the Roman Forum. Moreover, the lower part of the
Julian hero-shrine was to be adorned with the beaks of the captive ships
and a festival every five years to be celebrated in his honor. There
should be a thanksgiving on his birthday and on the anniversary of the
announcement of the victory: when he entered the city the (vestal virgin)
priestesses, the senate and the people, with their wives and children,
were to meet him. It is quite superfluous to mention the prayers, the
images, the privileges of front seats, and everything else of the sort.
At the very first they both voted him these honors, and either tore down
or erased the memorials that had lent Antony distinction. They declared
the day on which the latter had been born accursed and forbade the
employment of the surname Marcus by any one of his kin. His death was
announced during a part of the year when Cicero, the son of Cicero, was
consul; and on ascertaining this some believed it had come to pass not
without divine direction, since the consul's father had owed his death
chiefly to Antony. Then they voted to Caesar additional crowns and many
thanksgivings, and granted him among other rights authority to conduct a
triumph over the Egyptians also. For neither previously nor at that time
did they mention by name Antony and the rest of the Romans who had
been vanquished with him, and so imply that it was proper to hold a
celebration over them. The day on which Alexandria was captured they
declared fortunate and directed that for the years to come it should be
taken as the starting-point of enumeration by the inhabitants of that
town.[72] Also Caesar was to hold the tribunician power for life, to have
the right to defend such as called upon him for help both within the
pomerium and outside to the distance of eight half-stadia (a privilege
possessed by none of the tribunes), as also to judge appealed cases; and
a vote of his, like the vote of Athena,[73] was to be cast in all the
courts. In the prayers in behalf of the people and the senate petitions
should be offered for him alike by the priests and by the priestesses.
They also ordered that at all banquets, not only public but private also,
all should pour a libation to him. These were the resolutions passed at
that time.

[B.C. 29 (_a. u._ 725)]

[-20-] When he was consul for the fifth time with Sextus Apuleius, they
ratified all his acts by oath on the very first day of January. And when
the letter came regarding the Parthians, they decreed that he should
have a place in hymns along with the gods, that a tribe should be named
"Julian" after him, that he should wear the triumphal crown during the
progress of all the festivals, that the senators who had participated in
his victory should take part in the procession wearing purple-bordered
togas, and that the day on which he should enter the city should be
glorified by sacrifices by the entire population and be held ever sacred.
They further agreed that he might choose priests beyond the specified
number, as many and as often as he should wish. This custom was handed
down from that decision and the numbers have increased till they are
boundless: hence I need go into no particulars about the multitude of
such officials. Caesar accepted most of the honors (save only a few):
but that all the population of the city should meet him he particularly
requested might not occur. Yet he was pleased most of all and more than
at all the other decrees by the fact that the senators closed the gates
of Janus, implying that all their wars had ceased,--and took the "augury
of health," [74] which had all this period been omitted for reasons I have
mentioned. For there were still under arms the Treveri, who had brought
the Celts to help them, the Cantabri, Vaccaei, and Astures. These last
were subjugated by Statilius Taurus, and those first mentioned by Nonius
Gallus. There were numerous other disturbances going on in the isolated
districts. Since, however, nothing of importance resulted from any of
them, the Romans of that time did not consider that war was in progress
and I have nothing notable to record about them. Caesar meanwhile was
giving his attention to various business, and granted permission that
precincts dedicated to Rome and to Caesar his father,--calling him "the
Julian hero,"--should be set apart in Ephesus and in Nicaea. These
cities had at that time attained chief place in Asia and in Bithynia
respectively. To these two divinities he ordered the Romans who dwelt
near them to pay honor. He allowed the foreigners (under the name of
"Hellenes") to establish a precinct to himself,--the Asians having
theirs in Pergamum and the Bithynians theirs in Nicomedea. This custom,
beginning with him, has continued in the case of other emperors, and
imperial precincts have been hallowed not only among Hellenic nations
but in all the rest which yield obedience to the Romans. In the capital
itself and in the rest of Italy there is no one, however, no matter how
great renown he has achieved, that has dared to do this. Still, even
there, after their death, honors as to gods are bestowed upon those who
have ruled uprightly, and hero-shrines are built.

[-21-] All this took place in the winter, during which the Pergamenians
also received authority to celebrate the so-called "Sacred" contest in
honor of his temple. In the course of the summer Caesar crossed over to
Greece and on to Italy. Among the others who offered sacrifice, as
has been mentioned, when he entered the City, was the consul Valerius
Potitus. Caesar was consul all the year, as the two previous, but Potitus
was the successor of Sextus. It was he who publicly and in person
sacrificed oxen in behalf of the senate and of the people at Caesar's
arrival, something that had never before been done in the case of any
single man. After this his newly returned colleague praised and honored
his lieutenants, as had been the custom. Among the many marks of favor by
which Caesar distinguished Agrippa was the dark blue symbol[75] of naval
supremacy. To his soldiers also he made certain presents: to the people
he distributed a hundred denarii each, first to those ranking as adults,
and afterward to the children as a mark of his affection for his nephew
Marcellus. Further let it be noted that he would not accept from the
cities of Italy the gold to be used for the crowns. Moreover he paid
everything which he himself owed to any one and, as has been said, he did
not exact what the others were owing to him. All this caused the Romans
to forget every unpleasantness, and they viewed his triumph with
pleasure, quite as if the defeated parties had all been foreigners. So
vast an amount of money circulated through all the city alike that the
price of goods rose and loans which had previously been in demand at
twelve per cent. were now made at one-third that rate. The celebration
on the first day was in honor of the wars against the Pannonians and
Dalmatians, Iapudia and adjoining territory, and a few Celts and Gauls.
Graius Carrinas had subdued the Morini and some others who had risen
against Roman dominion, and had repulsed the Suevi, who had crossed the
Rhine to wage war. Therefore he too held a triumph, in spite of the fact
that his father had been put to death by Sulla and he himself had once
been prevented from holding office with the rest of his peers. Caesar
also held one since the credit of this victory properly pertained to his
position as imperator.

These were the celebrations on the first day. On the second came the
commemoration of the naval victory at Actium; on the third that of the
subjugation of Egypt. All the processions proved notable by reason of the
spoils from this land,--so many had been gathered that they sufficed for
all the occasions,--but this Egyptian celebration was especially costly
and magnificent. Among other features a representation of Cleopatra upon
the bed of death was carried by, so that in a way she too was seen with
the other captives, and with Alexander, otherwise Helios, and Cleopatra,
otherwise Selene, her children, and helped to grace the triumph. Behind
them all Caesar came driving and did everything according to custom except
that he allowed his fellow-consul and the other magistrates, contrary
to custom, to follow him with the senators who had participated in the
victory. It had been usual for such dignitaries to lead and for only the
senators to follow.[76]

[-22-] After completing this, he dedicated the temple of Minerva, called
also the Chalcidicum, and the Julian senate-house, which had been built
in honor of his father.[77] In it he set up the statue of Victory which
is still in existence, probably signifying that it was from her that he
had received his dominion. It belonged to the Tarentini, and had been
brought from there to Rome, where it was placed in the senate-chamber and
decked with the spoils of Egypt. The spoils were also employed at this
time for adorning the Julian hero-shrine, when it was consecrated. Many
of them were placed as offerings in it and others were dedicated to
Capitoline Jupiter and Juno and Minerva, while all the votive gifts that
were thought to have previously reposed there or were still reposing were
now by decree taken down as defiled. Thus Cleopatra, although defeated
and captured, was nevertheless glorified, because her adornments repose
in our temples and she herself is seen in gold in the shrine of Venus.

At the consecration of the hero-shrine there were all sorts of contests,
and the children of the nobles performed the Troy equestrian exercise.
Men who were their peers also contended on chargers and pairs and
three-horse teams. A certain Quintus Vitellius, a senator, fought as a
gladiator. All kinds of wild beasts and kine were slain by the wholesale,
among them a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus, then seen for the first time
in Rome. Many have described the appearance of the hippo and it has been
seen by many more. As for the rhinoceros, it is in most respects like
an elephant, but has a projecting horn at the very tip of its nose and
through this fact has received its name. Besides the introduction of
these beasts Dacians and Suebi fought in throngs with each other. The
latter are Celts, the former a species of Scythian. The Suebi, to be
exact, dwell across the Rhine (though many cities elsewhere claim their
name), and the Dacians on both sides of the Ister. Such of them, however,
as live on this side of it and near the Triballic country are reckoned in
with the district of Moesia and are called Moesi save among those who
are in the very neighborhood. Such as are on the other side are called
Dacians, and are either a branch of the Getae or Thracians belonging to
the Dacian race that once inhabited Rhodope. Now these Dacians had before
this time sent envoys to Caesar: but when they obtained none of their
requests, they turned away to follow Antony. To him, however, they were
of no great assistance, owing to disputes among themselves. Some were
consequently captured and later set to fight the Suebi.

The whole spectacle lasted naturally a number of days. There was no
intermission in spite of a sickness of Caesar's, but it was carried on
in his absence, under the direction of others. During its course the
senators on one day severally held banquets in the entrance to their
homes. Of what moved them to this I have no knowledge, for it has not
been recorded. Such was the progress of the events of those days.

[-23-] While Caesar was yet in his fourth consulship Statilius Taurus had
both constructed at his own expense and dedicated with armed combat a
hunting-theatre of stone on the Campus Martius. On this account he was
permitted by the people to choose one of the praetors year after year.
During this same period Marcus Crassus was sent into Macedonia and Greece
and carried on war with the Dacians and Bastarnae. It has already been
stated who the former were and how they had been made hostile. The
Bastarnae are properly classed as Scythians and at this time had crossed
the Ister and subdued the part of Moesia opposite them, then the Triballi
who live near it, and the Dardani who inhabit the Triballian country.
While they were so engaged they had no trouble with the Romans. But when
they crossed the Haemus and overran the portion of Thrace belonging to the
Dentheleti who had a compact with Rome, then Crassus, partly to defend
Sitas king of the Dentheleti, who was blind, but chiefly because of fear
for Macedonia, came out to meet them. By his mere approach, he threw them
into a panic and drove them from the land without a conflict. Next he
pursued them, as they were retiring homeward, gained possession of the
district called Segetica, and invading Moesia damaged that territory. He
made an assault upon a strong fortification, also, and though his advance
line met with a rebuff,--the Moesians making a sally against it, because
they thought these were all of the enemy,--still, when he came to the
rescue with his whole remaining army he both cut his opponents down in
open fight and annihilated them by an ambuscade.

[-24-] While he was thus engaged, the Bastarnae ceased their flight and
remained near the Cedrus[78] river to watch what would take place. When,
after conquering the Moesians, the Roman general started against them,
they sent envoys forbidding him to pursue them, since they had done the
Romans no harm. Crassus detained them, saying he would give them their
answer the following day, and besides treating them kindly he made them
drunk, so that he learned all their plans. The whole Scythian race is
insatiable in the use of wine and quickly succumbs to its influence.
Crassus meanwhile, during the night, advanced to a wood, and after
stationing scouts in front of the forest made his army stop there.
Thereupon the Bastarnae, thinking the former were alone, made a charge
upon them, following them up also when the men retreated into the dense
forest, and many of the pursuers perished there as well as many others in
the flight which followed were obstructed by their wagons, which were
behind them, and owed their defeat further to their desire to save their
wives and children. Their king Deldo was slam by Crassus himself. The
armor stripped from the prince he would have dedicated as spolia opima
to Jupiter Feretrius, had he been a general acting on his own authority.
Such was the course of that engagement: of the remainder some took refuge
in a grove, which was set on fire all around, and others leaped into a
fort, where they were annihilated. Still others perished, either by being
driven into the Ister or after being scattered through the country. Some
survived even yet and occupied a strong post where Crassus besieged them
in vain for several days. Then with the aid of Roles, king of some of the
Getae, he destroyed them. Roles when he visited Caesar was treated as a
friend and ally for this assistance: the captives were distributed to the
soldiers.

[-25-] After accomplishing this Crassus turned his attention to the
Moesians; and partly by persuading some of them, partly by scaring them,
and partly by the application of force he subjugated all except a very
few, though with labor and danger. Temporarily, owing to the winter, he
retired into friendly territory after suffering greatly from the cold,
and still more at the hands of the Thracians, through whose country, as
friendly, he was returning. Hence he decided to be satisfied with what
he had effected. For sacrifices and a triumph had been voted not only to
Caesar but to him also, though, according at least to some accounts, he
did not secure the title of imperator, but Caesar alone might apply it to
himself. The Bastarnae, however, angry at their disasters, on learning
that he would make no further campaigns against them turned again upon
the Dentheleti and Sitas, whom they regarded as having been the chief
cause of their evils. Then Crassus, though reluctantly, took the field
and by forced marches fell upon them unexpectedly, conquered, and
thereafter imposed such terms as he pleased. Now that he had once taken
up arms again he conceived a desire to recompense the Thracians, who had
harassed him during his retreat from Moesia; for news was brought at this
time that they were fortifying positions and were spoiling for a fight.
And he did subdue them, though not without effort, by conquering in
battle the Merdi and the Serdi and cutting off the hands of the captives.
He overran the rest of the country except the land of the Odrysae. These
he spared because they are attached to the service of Dionysus, and had
come to meet him on this occasion without arms. Also he granted them the
piece of land in which they magnify the god, and took it away from the
Bessi, who were occupying it.

[-26-] While he was so occupied he received a summons from Roles, who had
become embroiled with Dapyx, himself also a king of the Getae. Crassus
went to help him and by hurling the horse of his opponents back upon
the infantry he thoroughly terrified the latter, so that he carried the
battle no further but caused a great slaughter of the fugitives of both
divisions. Next he cut off Dapyx, who had taken refuge in a fort, and
besieged him. During the investment some one from the walls saluted him
in Greek, and upon obtaining an audience arranged to betray the place.
The barbarians caught in this way turned upon one another, and Dapyx was
killed, besides many others. His brother, however, Crassus took alive and
not only did him no harm, but released him.

At the close of this exploit he led his army against the cave called
Keiri. The natives in great numbers had occupied this place, which is
extremely large and so very strong that the tradition obtains that the
Titans after the defeat administered to them by the gods took refuge
there. Here the people had brought together all their flocks and their
other principal valuables. Crassus after finding all its entrances, which
are crooked and hard to search out, walled them up, and in this way
subjugated the men by famine. Upon this success he did not keep his hands
from the rest of the Getae, though they had nothing to do with Dapyx. He
marched upon Genoucla, the most strongly defended fortress of the kingdom
of Zuraxes, because he heard that the standards which the Bastarnae had
taken from Gaius Antonius near the city of the Istriani were there. His
assault was made both with the infantry and upon the Ister,--the city
being near the water,--and in a short time, though with much labor in
spite of the absence of Zuraxes, he took the place. The king as soon as
he heard of the Roman's approach had set off with money to the Scythians
to seek an alliance, and did not return in time.

This he did among the Getae. Some of the Moesians who had been subdued
rose in revolt, and them he won back by the energy of others: [-27-] he
himself led a campaign against the Artacii and a few other tribes who
had never been captured and would not acknowledge his authority, priding
themselves greatly on this point and imbuing the rest with both anger and
a disposition to rebel. He brought them to terms partly by force, as
they did but little, and partly by the fear which the capture of some
inspired. This took a long time. I record the names, as the facts,
according to the tradition which has been handed down. Anciently Moesians
and Getae occupied all the land between the Haemus and the Ister. As time
went on some of them changed their names to something else. Since then
there have been included under the name of Moesia all the tribes which
the Savus by emptying into the Ister north of Dalmatia, Macedonia and
Thrace, separates from Pannonia. Two of the many nations found among
them are the Triballi, once so named, and the Dardani, who have the same
designation at present.


FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: The events, however, run over into the following year.]

[Footnote 2: Interesting to compare are three citations from an unknown
Byzantine writer (in Excerpta cod. Paris, suppl. Gr. 607 A, edited by M.
Treu, Ohlau, 1880, p. 29 ff.), who seems to have used Dio as a source:

a) The mother of Augustus just one day previous to her travail beheld in
a dream how her womb was snatched away and carried up into heaven.

b) And in the same night as Octavius was born his father thought that the
sun rose from his wife's entrails.

c) And a certain senator, Nigidius Figulus, who was an astrologer, asked
Octavius, the father of Augustus, why he was so slow in leaving his
house. The latter replied that a son had been born to him. Nigidius
thereupon exclaimed: "Ah, what hast thou done? Thou hast begotten a
master for us!" The other believing it and being disturbed wished to make
away with the child. But Nigidius said to him: "Thou hast not the power.
For it hath not been granted thee to do this."]

[Footnote 3: Suetonius in relating this anecdote (Life of Augustus,
chapter 5) says that the senate-meeting in question was called to
consider the conspiracy of Catiline. Since, however, Augustus is on all
hands admitted to have been born a. d. IX. Kal. Octobr. and mention of
Catiline's conspiracy was first made in the senate a. d. XII. Kal.
Nov. (Cicero, Against Catiline, I, 3, 7), the claim of coincidence is
evidently based on error.]

[Footnote 4: Compare again the same Byzantine writer quoted in footnote
to chapter 1,--two excerpts:

d) Again, while he was growing up in the country, an eagle swooping down
snatched from his hands the loaf of bread and again returning replaced it
in his hands.

e) Again, during his boyhood, Cicero saw in a dream Octavius himself
fastened to a golden chain and wielding a whip being let down from the
sky to the summit of the Capitol.]

[Footnote 5: Compare Suetonius, Life of Augustus, chapter 94]

[Footnote 6: See footnote to Book Forty-three, chapter 42.]

[Footnote 7: The senate-house already mentioned in Book Forty, chapter
50.]

[Footnote 8: This word is inserted by Boissevain on the authority of a
symbol in the manuscript's margin, indicating a gap.]


[Footnote 9: Inserting with Reimar [Greek: proihemenos], to complete the
sense.]

[Footnote 10: See Roscher I, col. 1458, on the Puperci Iulii. And compare
Suetonius, Life of Caesar, chapter 76.]

[Footnote 11: For further particulars about Sex. Clodius and the _ager
Leontinus_ (held to be the best in Sicily, Cicero, Against Verres, III,
46) see Suetonius, On Rhetoric, 5; Arnobuis, V, 18; Cicero, Philippics,
II, 4, 8; II, 17; II, 34, 84; II, 39, 101; III, 9, 22.]

[Footnote 12: Compare here (and particularly with, reference to the
plural _Spurii_) the passage in Cicero, Philippics, III, 44, 114:

Quod si se ipsos illi nostri liberatores e conspectu nostro abstulerunt,
at exemplum facti reliquerunt: illi, quod nemo fecerat, fecerunt:
Tarquinium Brutus bello est persecutus, qui tum rex fuit, cum esse Romae
licebat; Sp. Cassius, Sp. Maelius, M. Manlius propter suspitionem regni
appetendi sunt necati; hi primum cum gladiis non in regnum appetentem,
sed in regnum impetum fecerunt.]

[Footnote 13: For the figure, compare Aristophanes, The Acharnians, vv.
380-381 (about Cleon):

  [Greek: dieballe chai pseudae chateglottise mou
  chachychloborei chaplunen.]]


[Footnote 14: Dio has in this sentence imitated almost word for word the
utterance of Demosthenes, inveighing against Aischines, in the speech on
the crown (Demosthenes XVIII, 129).]

[Footnote 15: Compare Book Forty-five, chapter 30.]

[Footnote 16: There is a play on words here which can not be exactly
rendered. The Greek verb [Greek: _pheaegein_] means either "to flee" or
"to be exiled."]

[Footnote 17: Various diminutive endings, expressing contempt.]

[Footnote 18: The MS. reading is not wholly satisfactory here. Bekker, by
a slight change, would produce (after "Bambalio"): "nor by declaring war
because of," etc.]

[Footnote 19: The Greek word is [Greek: obolos] a coin which in the fifth
century B.C. would have amounted to considerably more than the Roman
_as_; but as time went on the value of the [Greek: obolos] diminished
indefinitely, so that glossaries eventually translate it as _as_ in
Latin.]

[Footnote 20: I. e., epilepsy.]

[Footnote 21: Sturz changes this reading of _sixty_ days to _fifty_,
comparing Appian, Civil Wars, Book Three, chapter 74. Between the two
authorities it is difficult to decide, and the only consideration that
would incline one to favor Appian is the fact that he says this period of
fifty days was unusually long ("more than the Romans had ever voted upon
vanquishing the Celtae or winning any war"). Boissevain remarks that Dio
is not very careful about such details.]

[Footnote 22: Adopting Reiske's reading, [Greek: _tinas_].]

[Footnote 23: Compare here Mommsen (_Staatsrecht_, 23, 644, 2 or 23,
663, 3), who says that since the only objection to be found with this
arrangement was that since the praetor urbanus could not himself conduct
the comitia, he ought not properly to have empowered others to do so.]

[Footnote 24: _M. Juventius Laterensis._]

[Footnote 25: This refers to the latter half of chapter 42, where Caesar
binds his soldiers by oath never to fight against any of their former
comrades.]

[Footnote 26: [Greek: _pragmaton_] here is somewhat uncertain and might
give the sense "as a result of the troubles in which they had been
involved, one with another." Sturz and Wagner appear to have viewed it in
that light: Boissee and friends consulted by the translator choose the
meaning found in the text above.]

[Footnote 27: The name of this freedman as given by Appian (Civil Wars,
IV, 44) is Philemon; but Suetonius (Life of Augustus, chapter 27) agrees
with Dio in writing Philopoemen.]

[Footnote 28: In B.C. 208 the Ludi Apollinares were set for July
thirteenth, but by the year B.C. 190 they occupied three days, and in
B.C. 42 the entire period of the sixth to the thirteenth of July was
allotted to their celebration. Now Caesar's birthday fell on July twelfth
and the day before that, July eleventh, would have conflicted quite as
much with the festival of Apollo. Hence this expression "the previous
day" must mean July fifth. (See Fowler's Roman Festivals, p. 174.)]

[Footnote 29: There seems to be an error here made either by Dio or by
some scribe in the course of the ages. For, according to many reliable
authorities (Plutarch, Life of Brutus, chapter 21; Appian, Civil Wars,
Book Three, chapter 23; Cicero, Philippics, II, 13, 31, and X, 3, 7; id.,
Letters to Atticus, Book Fifteen, letters 11 and 12), it was Brutus
and not Cassius who was praetor urbanus and had the games given in his
absence. Therefore the true account, though not necessarily the true
reading would say that "_Brutus_ was praetor urbanus," and (below) that he
"lingered in Campania with _Cassius_."

See also Cobet, Mnesmosyne, VII, p. 22.]

[Footnote 30: That this is the right form of the name is proved by the
evidence of coins, etc. In Caesar's Civil War, Book Three, chapter 4,
the same person is meant when it is said that _Tarcondarius Castor_ and
Dorylaus furnished Pompey with soldiers.]

[Footnote 31: See Book Thirty-six, chapter 2 (end).]

[Footnote 32: _Q. Marcius Crispus_. (The MSS. give the form _Marcus_, but
the identity of this commander is made certain by Cicero, Philippics, XI,
12, 30, and several other passages.)]

[Footnote 33: I. e., "The Springs,"--a primitive name for Philippi
itself.]

[Footnote 34: Iuppiter Latiaris was the protecting deity of Latium, and
his festival is practically identical with the _Feriae Latinae_. Roscher
(II, col. 688) thinks that Dio has here confused the praefectus urbi with
a special official (dictator feriarum Latinarum causa) appointed when
the consuls were unable to attend. Compare Book Thirty-nine, chapter 30,
where our historian does not commit himself to any definite name for this
magistrate.]

[Footnote 35: "While carrying a golden Victory slipped and fell" is the
phrase in the transcript of Zonaras.]

[Footnote 36: Reading [Greek: _aegchon_] (as Boissevain) in preference to
[Greek: _aegon_] or [Greek: _eilchon_].]

[Footnote 37: Accepting Reiske's interpretative insertion, [Greek:
telos].]

[Footnote 38: Among the Fragmenta Adespota in Nauck's _Fragmenta
Tragicorum Groecorum_ this is No. 374.]

[Footnote 39: The names within these parallel lines are wanting in the
MS., but were inserted by Reimar on the basis of chapter 34 of this book,
and slightly modified by Boissevain.]

[Footnote 40: Both MSS., the Mediceus and the Venetus, here exhibit a gap
of three lines.]

[Footnote 41: Owing to an inaccuracy of spelling in the MSS. this number
has often been corrupted to "four hundred". The occurrence of "three
hundred" in Suetonius's account of the affair (Life of Augustus, chapter
15) assures us, however, that this reading is correct.]

[Footnote 42: Compare Book Forty three, chapter 9 (Sec.4).]

[Footnote 43: Compare the first chapter of this Book.]

[Footnote 44: Compare Book Forty-three, chapter 47 (and see also XLVIII,
33, and LII, 41).]

[Footnote 45: This is an error either of Dio or of some copyist. The
person made king of the Jews at this time was in reality Antigonus the
son of Aristobulus and nephew of Hyrcanus. Compare chapter 41 of this
book, and Book Forty-nine, chapter 22.

In this same sentence I read _[Greek: echthos]_ (as Boissevain and the
MSS.) in place of _[Greek: ethos]_.]

[Footnote 46: Hurling from the Tarpeian rock was a punishment that might
be inflicted only upon freemen. Slaves would commonly be crucified or put
out of the way by some method involving similar disgrace.]

[Footnote 47: After "Menas advised it" Zonaras in his version of Dio has:
"bidding him cut the ship's cable, if he liked, and sail away."]

[Footnote 48: Suetonius (Life of Augustus, chapter 83) also mentions this
fashion.]

[Footnote 49: Verb suggested by Leunclavius.]

[Footnote 50: This is the well known Gnosos in Crete. For further
information in regard to the matter see Strabo X, 4, 9 (p. 477) and
Velleius Paterculus, II, 81, 2.]

[Footnote 51: There is at this point a gap of one line in the MSS.]

[Footnote 52: Using Naber's emendation [Greek: probeblaemenoi].]

[Footnote 53: The Latin word _testudo_, represented in Greek by the
precisely equivalent [Greek: chelonae] in Dio's narrative, means
"tortoise."]

[Footnote 54: The amount is not given in the MSS. The traditional sum,
incorporated in most editions to fill the gap and complete the sense, is
_thirty-five_. "One hundred" is a clever conjecture of Boissevain's.]

[Footnote 55: Probably in A.D. 227.]

[Footnote 56: Called _Colapis_ by Strabo and Pliny.]

[Footnote 57: A marginal note in Reimar's edition suggests amending the
rather abrupt [Greek: loipois] at this point to [Greek: Libournois]
("waged war with (i. e., against) thee Liburni"); and we might be tempted
to follow it, but for the fact that Appian uses language almost identical
with Dio's in his Illyrian Wars, chapter 27 ("He [Augustus] left
Statilius Taurus to finish the war").]

[Footnote 58: The gymnasiarch was an essentially Greek official, but
might be found outside of Hellas in such cities as had come under Greek
influence. In Athens he exercised complete supervision of the gymnasium,
paying for training and incidentals, arranging the details of contests,
and empowered to eject unsuitable persons from the enclosure. We have
comparatively little information about his duties and general standing
elsewhere, but probably they were nearly the same. The office was
commonly an annual one.

Antony did not limit to Alexandria his performance of the functions of
gymnasiarch. We read in Plutarch (Life of Antony, chapter 33) that at
Athens on one occasion he laid aside the insignia of a Roman general to
assume the purple mantle, white shoes, and the rods of this official; and
in Strabo (XIV, 5, 14) that he promised the people of Tarsos to preside
in a similar manner at some of their games, but the time came sent a
representative instead.--See Krause, _Gymnnastik und Agonistik der
Hellenen_, page 196.]

[Footnote 59: See Book Forty-eight, chapter 35.]

[Footnote 60: Chapter 4 of this book.]

[Footnote 61: Cp. Book Forty-seven, chapter 11.]

[Footnote 62: Sc. of denarii.]

[Footnote 63: _L. Tarius Rufus._]:

[Footnote 64: Dio in some unknown manner has at this point evidently
made a very striking mistake. Sosius was not killed in the encounter but
survived to be pardoned by Octavius after the latter's victory. And our
historian, who here says he perished, speaks in the next book (chapter 2)
of the amnesty accorded.]

[Footnote 65: Canopus was only fifteen miles distant from Alexandria
(hence its pertinence here) and was noted for its many festivals and bad
morals,--the latter being superinduced by the presence in the city of a
large floating population of foreigners and sailors. The atmosphere of
the town (to compare small things with great) was, in a word, that of
Corinth.]

[Footnote 66: The cordax was a dance peculiar to Greek comedy and of an
appropriately licentious character, resembling in some points certain of
the Oriental dances that survive to the present day.]

[Footnote 67: Nicopolis, i. e., "City of Victory." The same name was
given by Pompey to a town founded after his defeat of Mithridates. (See
Book Thirty-six, chapter 50.)]

[Footnote 68: An allusion to the second of the two taxes mentioned in
Book Fifty, chapter 10.]

[Footnote 69: Verb supplied by R. Stephanus.]

[Footnote 70: Cobet's interpretation (Mnemosyne X (N.S.), 1882).]

[Footnote 71: Compare Pliny, Natural History, XXI, 78.]

[Footnote 72: There is an ambiguous [Greek: aurtuv] here. Only Boissee,
however, takes it to mean the Romans. Leonieenus, Sturz and Wagner
translate is as "Alexandrians."]

[Footnote 73: A reminiscence of the _Eumenides_ of Aischylos.]

[Footnote 74: See Glossary (last volume) and also compare the beginning
of chapter 24 in Book Thirty-seven.]

[Footnote 75: Latin "vexillum caeruleum,"--a kind of flag or banner.]

[Footnote 76: The custom was that the magistrates should issue from the
town to meet the triumphator and then march ahead of him. Octavius by
putting them behind him symbolized his position as chief citizen of the
State.]

[Footnote 77: These buildings are mentioned together also in the
Monumentum Ancyranum (C:L., 1T:, part 2, pp. 780-781).]

[Footnote 78: The name of this river is also spelled _Cebrus_.]





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Dio's Rome, Vol. III, by Cassius Dio

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