Cassius Dio
Roman History
Return to www.BrainFly.Net
Book XLVIII
The following is contained in the Forty-eighth of Dio's Rome:—
1. How Caesar contended with Fulvia and Lucius Antonius (chaps. 1-15).
2. How Sextus Pompey occupied Sicily (chaps. 16-20).
3. How the Parthians occupied the country up to the Hellespont (chaps.
24-26).
4. How Caesar and Antony reached an agreement with Sextus (chaps.
27-31, 36-38).
5. How Publius Ventidius conquered the Parthians and acquired Asia
(chaps. 39-41).
6. How Caesar began to make war upon Sextus (chaps. 45-49).
7. About Baiae (chaps. 50-51).
Duration of time, five years, in which there were the magistrates
(consuls) here enumerated:—
B.C.
41
L. Antonius M. F. Pietas, P. Servilius P. F.
Isauricus (II).
40
Cn. Domitius M. F. Calvinus (II), C. Asinius Cn. F.
Pollio.
39
L. Marcius L. F. Censorinus, C. Calvisius C. F.
Sabinus.
38
Appius Claudius C. F. Pulcher, C. Norbanus C. F.
Flaccus.
37
M. Vipsanius L. F. Agrippa, L. Caninius L. F. Gallus
Thus Brutus and Cassius perished, slain by the swords with which they
had murdered Caesar; and also the others who had shared in the plot
against him were all, except a very few, destroyed, some before this,
some at this time, and some subsequently. For justice and the Divine
Will seem to have led to suffer death themselves men who had killed
their benefactor, one who had attained such eminence in both virtue and
good fortune. As for Caesar and Antony, on the other hand, they secured
an advantage over Lepidus for the moment, because he had not shared the
voyZZZ with them; yet they were destined ere long to turn against each
other. For it is a difficult matter for three men, or even two, who are
equal in rank and as a result of war have gained control over such vast
interests, to be of one accord. Hence, whatever they for a time had
gained while acting in harmony for the purpose of overthrowing their
adversaries, all this they now began to set up as prized to be won by
rivalry with each other. Thus, they immediately redistributed the
empire, so that Spain and Numidia fell to Caesar, Gaul and Africa to
Antony; and they further agreed that, in case Lepidus showed any
vexation at this, they should give up Africa to him. This was all they
allotted between them, since Sextus was still occupying Sardinia and
Sicily, and the other regions outside of Italy were still in a state of
turmoil. About Italy itself I need say nothing, of course, as it was
always excluded from such allotments; for they never even talked as if
they were struggling to obtain it, but as if they were defending it. So
they left Italy and the places held by Sextus to be common property,
and Antony undertook to reduce those who had fought against them and to
collect the money necessary to pay what had been promised to the
soldiers; and Caesar undertook to curtail the power of Lepidus, in case
he should make any hostile move, to conduct the war against Sextus, and
to assign to those of their troops who had passed the age-limit the
land which they had promised them; and these they forthwith discharged.
Furthermore, he sent with Antony two legions of his followers, and
Antony promised to give him in return an equal number of those
stationed at the time in Italy. After making these agreements by
themselves, putting them in writing, and sealing them, they exchanged
copies of the documents, to the end that, if any transgression were
committed, it might be proved by these records. Thereupon Antony set
out for Asia and Caesar for Italy.
Caesar was so prostrated by his sickness on the journey and during the
voyage as to cause event people in Rome to look for his death. They did
not believe, however, that he was lingering so much by reason of ill
health as because he was devising so mischief, and consequently they
expected to suffer every possible injury. Yet they not only voted to
the conquerors many honours for their victory, such as would have been
given, of course, to their opponents, had they conquered (for on such
occasions everybody always spurns the loser and honours the city), but
they also decided, though against their will, to celebrate a
thanksgiving during practically the entire year; for Caesar ordered
them outright to do this in recognition of the vengeance taken upon the
assassins. During this delay of Caesar's all sorts of stories were
current and all sorts of feelings resulted from them. For example, some
spread a report that he was dead and caused pleasure to many people;
others said he was planning some evil and filled numerous persons with
fear. Therefore some proceeded to hide their property and to protect
themselves, and others considered in what way they might possibly make
their escape. Others, and they were the majority, being unable even to
devise a plan by reason of their excessive fear, prepared to meet a
certain doom. The courageous element was insignificant and exceedingly
small; for in the light of the former great and manifold destruction of
both lives and property they expected that anything whatever of a like
character or worse might happen, inasmuch as they now had been utterly
vanquished. Therefore Caesar, fearing that they might begin a revolt,
especially since Lepidus was there, forwarded a letter to the senate
urging its members to be of good cheer, and promising, further, that he
would do everything in a mild and humane way, after the manner of his
father.
This was what took place then. The following year Publius Servilius and
Lucius Antonius nominally became consuls, but in reality it was
Antonius and Fulvia. She, the mother-in-law of Caesar and wife of
Antony, had no respect for Lepidus because of his slothfulness, and
managed affairs herself, so that neither the senate nor the people
transacted any business contrary to her pleasure. At any rate, when
Lucius urged that he be allowed to celebrate a triumph over certain
peoples dwelling in the Alps, on the ground that he had conquered them,
Fulvia for a time opposed him and no one was for granting it, but when
her favour was courted and she gave permission, they voted for the
measure unanimously; therefore, though it was nominally Antonius who
.... and celebrated a triumph over the people whom he claimed to have
vanquished (in reality he had done nothing deserving a triumph and had
held no command at all in those regions), yet it was actually Fulvia
.... At all events, she assumed a far prouder bearing over the affair
than he did, because she had a truer cause; for to give any one
authority to hold a triumph was a greater thing than to celebrate one
which had been received at another's hands. Except that Lucius donned
the triumphal garb, mounted the chariot, and performed the other rites
customary in such cases, it was Fulvia herself who seemed to be giving
the spectacle, employing him as her assistant. It took place on the
first day of the year, and Lucius plumed himself as much as Marius had
done on the circumstance that he held it on the first day of the month
in which he began his consulship. Moreover, he exulted even more than
Marius, claiming that he had voluntarily laid aside the trappings of
the procession and had assembled the senate in his civilian dress,
whereas Marius had done so unwillingly. And he added that scarcely a
single crown had been given to Marius, whereas he himself had obtained
many, and particularly from the people, tribe by tribe, an honour which
had been conferred upon no former victor — in his case owing to the
influence of Fulvia and to the money which he had secretly lavished
upon various persons.
It was in this year that Caesar arrived in Rome; and after he had taken
the usual steps to celebrate his victory, he turned his attention to
the administration and despatch of the affairs of state. Lepidus, it
seems, did not resort to revolutionary measures, partly because he
feared Caesar and partly because he was lacking in resolution; and as
for Lucius and Fulvia, they kept quiet at first, because they counted
upon their kinship with Caesar and upon their being partners in his
supremacy. But as time went on, they quarrelled, Lucius and Fulvia,
because when the lands were apportioned they did not secure a share in
the portion which belonged to Antony, and Caesar, because he did not
get back from the others his troops. Hence their kinship by marriage
was dissolved and they were brought to open warfare. For Caesar could
not endure the difficult temper of his mother-in-law, and choosing the
appear to be at odds with her rather than with Antony, he sent back her
daughter, with the remark that she was still a virgin,— a statement
which he confirmed by an oath,— indifferent whether it should be
thought that the woman had remained a virgin in his house so long a
time for other reasons, or whether it should seem that he had so
planned it long in advance by way of preparing for the future. After
this had happened there was no longer any friendship between them, but
Lucius together with Fulvia attempted to get control of affairs,
pretending to be doing this on behalf of Antony, and would yield to
Caesar on no point (in fact because of his devotion to his brother he
took the cognomen Pietas); while Caesar on his part made no open charge
against Antony, fearing to make him an enemy while he was in charge of
the provinces in Asia, but he accused the other two and took measures
to thwart them, on the ground that they were acting in all respects
contrary to Antony's desire and were aiming at their own supremacy.
Both sides placed the greatest hope of power in the allotment of land,
and consequently the beginning of their quarrel was concerned with
that. For Caesar wished to act by himself in distributing the territory
to all those who had made the campaign with himself and Antony,
according to the compact made with them after the victory, in order to
win their good-will, while Lucius and Fulvia claimed the right to
assign to their troops the lands that fell to them and to colonize the
cities, in order to appropriate to themselves the influence of these
colonies. For it seemed to both sides to be the simplest method to give
to the troops which had fought with them the possessions of the
unarmed. But, contrary to their expectation, great disturbance resulted
and the matter began to tend toward war. For at first Caesar proceeded
to take from the possessors and to give to the veterans all Italy
(except what some old campaigner might have received as a gift or
bought from the government and was then holding), together with the
slaves and the entire equipment of the estates; consequently the
persons who were being deprived of their property were terribly enraged
against him. Thereupon Fulvia and the consul changed their plan, since
they hoped to gain more power in the cause of the oppressed, and
consequently neglected those who were to receive the estates and turned
their attention to the other class, which was more numerous and was
animated by a righteous indignation at the despoliation they were
suffering. Next they espoused the cause of these persons individually,
aiding and uniting them, so that the men who previously had been afraid
of Caesar became courageous now that they had found champions, and
would no longer give up any of their property; for they supposed that
Marcus, too, approved of the consul's policy. Lucius and Fulvia,
accordingly, were winning over this class and at the same time were not
clashing with the adherents of Caesar. For instead of pretending that
there was no need for the soldiers to receive allotments, they tried to
show that the possessions of those who had fought against them were
sufficient for the soldiers, particularly by pointing out lots of land
and articles of furniture, some still available and some already sold,
of which, they declared, the former ought to be given to the men
outright and the price of the latter 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, inasmuch as he was forcibly taking away the property of those
who possessed anything and was causing troubles and dangers on account
of it to all alike, gave offence to both parties; whereas the other
two, since they were taking nothing from anybody and were showing those
who were to receive the gifts how the promises made to them could be
fulfilled without a conflict by drawing upon the resources lying ready
at hand, won over each of the two classes. In consequence of this and
of the famine, which was grievously oppressing them at this time,
inasmuch as the sea off Sicily was controlled by Sextus and the Ionian
Gulf by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Caesar found himself in dire
straits. For Domitius was one of Caesar's murderers, and having escaped
from the battle at Philippi, he had got together a small fleet, had
made himself for a time master of the Gulf, and was doing the greatest
harm to the cause of his opponents.
Now all this troubled Caesar greatly, and likewise the fact that in the
disputes which had arisen between the veterans and the senators and the
landholding class in general — and these disputes were coming up in
great numbers, since they were struggling for the greatest prizes — he
could not attach himself to either side without danger. It was
impossible, of course, for him to please both; for the one side wished
to run riot, the other to be unharmed, the one side to get the property
of others, the other to hold what was their own. And 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 other; and he
did not meet with so much gratitude for the favours he conferred as
anger for the concession he refused to make. For the one class took as
their due all that was given them and regarded it as no kindness, while
the other was indignant on the ground that they were being robbed of
their own belongings. And as a result he continued to offend either the
one group or the other, and to be reproached, now with being a friend
of the people, and now with being a friend of the army. Consequently he
was making no headway, and he furthermore learned by actual experience
that arms had no power to make the injured feel friendly toward him,
and that, while all those who would not submit might perish by arms,
yet it was out of the question for any one to be compelled to love a
person whom he does not wish to love. Thereupon he reluctantly yielded,
and not only desisted from depriving the senators of their property
(for previously he used to think it right to distribute anything that
was theirs, asking them: "From what other source, then, are we to pay
the veterans their prize money?" — as if anyone had commanded him to
wage war or to make his large promises to the soldiers), but also kept
his hands off other private property, such as the objects of value
which women had acquired for their marriage portions or the property
possessed by other persons, when it was of less value than the
allotment of land given to the individual veteran.
When this was done the senate and the others who were having nothing
taken from them became fairly meek in their attitude toward him, but
the veterans were indignant, feeling that Caesar's sparing of the
others' property and the honour shown them were at the expense of their
own honour and profit, since they would receive less. They killed many
of the centurions and of the others who were friendly to Caesar and
were trying to retrain them from rioting, and they came very near
slaying Caesar himself, making any excuse suffice for their anger. And
they did not cease from their irritation until their own relatives and
also the fathers and sons of those who had fallen in battle had had
restored to them all the land that any of them had possessed. As a
result of this the soldiers became more friendly toward him once more,
while for that very reason the populace was again indignant. They
repeatedly came to blows and there was continual fighting between them,
so that many were wounded and killed on both sides alike. The one party
was superior by reason of the arms with which it was equipped and of
its experience in the wars, and the other by its largest numbers and by
their tactics in hurling missiles upon their opponents from the roofs.
Consequently many houses were burned down, and the rent of those who
dwelt in the city was entirely remitted up to a maximum of two thousand
sesterces, while for those who lived in the rest of Italy it was
reduced to a fourth for one year. For the fighting went on in all the
cities alike, wherever the two parties fell in with each other.
When these things kept occurring, and soldiers sent ahead by Caesar
into Spain made an uprising at Placentia and were not quieted until
they had received money from the people there, and when, furthermore,
they were hindered from crossing the Alps year Calenus and Ventidius,
who held Transalpine Gaul, Caesar became afraid that he might meet with
sm disaster and began to wish to be reconciled with Fulvia and the
consul. And when he could not accomplish anything by making overtures
to them personally and on his own responsibility, he had recourse to
the veterans and through them attempted to effect a reconciliation. The
others were elated at this, and since they were winning over those who
had lost their land, Lucius went about in every direction organizing
them and detaching them from Caesar, while Fulvia occupied Praeneste,
and with senators and knights for her associates was wont to conduct
all her deliberations with their help, even sending orders to whatever
points required it. And why should anyone be surprised at this, when
she would gird herself with a sword, give out the watchword to the
soldiers, and in many instances harangue them, all of which gave
additional offence to Caesar? He, however, had no way of overthrowing
his opponents, being far inferior to them not only in troops, but also
as regards the good-will of the citizens; for he was causing distress
to many, whereas they were filling everyone with hope. Accordingly he
often proposed reconciliation to them personally through friends, and
when he accomplished nothing, he sent to them envoys from the veterans.
For he expected by these means, if possible, to obtain his request,
adjust his present difficulties, and gain a strength equal to theirs
for the future; but in case he should fail of these aims, he believed
that, at any rate, they and not he would bear the responsibility for
the quarrel. And this actually happened. For when he effected nothing
even through the soldiers, he sent senators, showing them the compact
which Antony had made with him and appointing them arbitrators of their
"differences," as he expressed it. But even than nothing was
accomplished, since his opponents in the first place made many
counter-proposals, demands which Caesar was sure not to comply with,
and then claimed to be doing everything that they did by the order of
Mark Antony; thereupon Caesar betook himself once more to the veterans.
After this the veterans assembled in Rome in great numbers, giving out
that they intended to make some communication to the people and the
senate. But instead of troubling themselves about this errand, they
assembled on the Capitol, and after commanding that the compact which
Antony and Caesar had made should be read to them, they ratified these
agreements and voted that they themselves should be made arbitrators of
the differences between them. After recording this action on tablets
and sealing them, they delivered them to the Vestal Virgins to keep;
and they gave command to Caesar, who was present, and to the other
party through an embassy, to present themselves for the trial at Gabii
on a stated day. Caesar showed his readiness to submit to arbitration,
and the others promised to be there but did not go, either because they
were afraid or because they thought it beneath them; at any rate, they
were wont to make fun of the veterans, calling them among other names
senatus caligatus, on account of the military boots they wore. So the
veterans condemned Lucius and Fulvia as guilty of wrong-doing and
espoused the cause of Caesar; and then, after many further
deliberations, they took up the war once more and proceeded vigorously
with their preparations for it. In particular they collected money from
all sources, even from the temples; for they took away all the votive
offerings that could be converted into money, 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 district of Italy in order
that no one else, under the plea of ruling that province, should keep
soldiers south of the Alps.
Both Caesar was making his preparations, then, and Fulvia and Lucius
were gathering their supplies and assembling their forces. Meanwhile
both sides in turn sent embassies and despatched soldiers and officers
in every direction, and each managed to seize some places first, though
repulsed from others. The most of these operations, especially those
involving no great or memorable achievement, I will pass over, but will
relate briefly the points which are most worthy of mention.
Caesar made an expedition against Nursia, among the Sabines, and routed
the Sabines, 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. For
Lucius meanwhile had sent soldiers at first to his friends in Rome on
one excuse and another, and then had suddenly marched against the city
himself, conquered the cavalry force that met him, hurled the infantry
back within the walls, and after that had taken the city, since his
soldiers who had already arrived there joined in attacking the
defenders inside, and since neither Lepidus, who had been entrusted
with the guarding of the place, offered any resistance by reason of his
inherent slothfulness, nor did Servilius, the consul, who was too
easy-going. So on ascertaining this Caesar left Quintus Salvidienus
Rufus to look after the people of Sentinum, and himself set out for
Rome. Now when Lucius learned of this, he withdrew before Caesar's
arrival, having had a vote passed authorizing him to leave the city in
order to begin a war; indeed, he delivered an address before the people
in military uniform, which no one else had done. Thus Caesar was
received into the capital without striking a blow, and when he pursued
Lucius and failed to capture him, he returned and kept a more careful
watch over the city. Meanwhile, as soon as Caesar had left Sentinum and
Gaius Furnius, the defender of the walls, had issued forth and pursued
him a long distance, Rufus unexpectedly attacked the citizens inside,
and capturing the town, plundered and burned it. The inhabitants of
Nursia came to terms without having suffered any ill treatment; when,
however, after burying those who had fallen in the battle they had had
with Caesar, they inscribed on their tombs that they had died
contending for their liberty, they were punished by an enormous fine,
so that they abandoned their city and at the same time all their
territory.
While they were thus engaged, Lucius withdrew from Rome as I have
stated and set out for Gaul; be finding his way blocked, he turned
aside to Perusia, and Etruscan city. There he was intercepted first by
the lieutenants of Caesar and later by Caesar himself, and was
besieged. The investment proved a long operation; for the place is
naturally a strong one and had been amply stocked with provisions; and
horsemen sent by Lucius before he was entirely hemmed in greatly
harassed the besieger, while many others besides came speedily to his
defence from various quarters. Many attacks were made upon these
reinforcements separately and many engagements were fought close to the
walls, until the followers of Lucius, even though they were generally
successful, nevertheless were forced by hunger to capitulate. 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 an ordinary form, but were led to the altar consecrated
to the former Caesar and were there sacrificed — three hundred knights
and many senators, among them Tiberius Cannutius, who previously during
his tribuneship had assembled the populace for Caesar Octavianus. Of
the people of Perusia and the others who were captured there the
majority lost their lives, and the city itself, except the temple of
Vulcan and the statue of Juno, was entirely destroyed by fire. This
statue, which was preserved by some chance, was brought to Rome, in
accordance with a vision that Caesar saw in a dream, and it secured for
the city the privilege of being peopled again by any who desired to
settle there, though they did not acquire anything of its territory
beyond the first mile.
After the capture of Perusia in the consulship of Gnaeus Calvinus (who
was serving for the second time) and Asinius Pollio, the other places
in Italy also went over to Caesar, partly as the result of force and
partly of their own accord. For this reason Fulvia fled with her
children to her husband, and many of the foremost men made their way
partly to him and partly 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
proposals of friendship to him and taking along envoys. In this
company, which at that time departed from Italy and took refuge with
Antony, was Tiberius Claudius Nero. He had been in charge of a garrison
in Campania, and when Caesar's party got the upper hand, he withdrew
with his wife Livia Drusilla and with his son Tiberius Claudius Nero.
This, again, was one of the strangest whims of fate; for this Livia,
who then fled from Caesar, later on was married to him, and this
Tiberius, who then took flight with his parents, succeeded Caesar in
the office of emperor.
This, however, occurred later. At the time in question the citizens of
Rome resumed the garb of peace, which they had laid aside without any
decree, under compulsion from the people; they gave themselves up to
merry-making, conveyed Caesar in his triumphal dress into the city and
honoured him with a laurel crown, giving him also the right to wear it
on every occasion on which it was the custom of those celebrating
triumphs to use it. And after Italy had been subdued and the Ionian
Gulf cleared (for Domitius, despairing of ever again being able to
dominate it unsupported, had sailed away to Antony), Caesar proceeded
to make preparations to set out against Sextus. When, however, he
learned the power of this foe and that he had been in communication
with Antony through Antony's mother and through envoys, he feared that
he might become embroiled with both at once; therefore, since he
preferred Sextus as more trustworthy, or perhaps as stronger, than
Antony, he sent him his mother Mucia and married the side of Sextus'
father-in-law, Lucius Scribonius Libo, in the hope that by this favour
and by this relationship he might make him a friend.
Sextus, it should be explained, after leaving Spain at the time already
referred to in accordance with his compact with Lepidus, had been
appointed admiral a little later; and although he had been removed from
his office by Caesar, he nevertheless held on to his fleet and made
bold to sail to Italy. But when Caesar's adherents had now secured
control of the country and he learned that he had been convicted as one
of the assassins of Caesar's father, he kept away from the mainland,
but sailed about among the islands, maintaining a sharp watch on was
going on and supplying himself with food without resort to crimes; for
inasmuch as he had not taken part in the murder, he expected to be
restored by Caesar himself. When, however, his name actually was posted
on the tablet and he knew that the edict of proscription was in force
against him also, he despaired of being restored by Caesar and made
ready for war. He proceeded to build triremes, receive the deserters,
win the support of the pirates, and take the exiles under his
protection. By these means he soon grew powerful and became master of
the sea off Italy, so that he made descents upon its harbours, towed
away the vessels, and engaged in pillage. As matters went well with him
and his activity supplied him with soldiers and money, he sailed to
Sicily and seized Mylae and Tyndaris without effort, though he was
repulsed from Messana by Pompeius Bithynicus, than governor of Sicily.
Nevertheless he did not retire altogether from the island, but overran
the country, prevented the importation of provisions, and won over
those who brought help to the Sicilians by filling some with fear of
suffering similar fate and by laying ambushes for others and injuring
them; he also attached to himself the quaestor, securing the funds he
had, and finally got possession of Messana and also Bithynicus under an
agreement that the latter should enjoy equal authority with him.
Bithynicus he did not harm at the time; but from the citizens he took
away their arms and money. His next step was to win over Syracuse and
some other cities, from which he gathered more soldiers and got
together a very strong fleet. Quintus Cornificius also sent him a
considerable force from Africa.
While Sextus was thus growing stronger, Caesar for a time took no
notice of him, both because he despised him and because the business in
hand kept him occupied. But when, owing to the famine, many deaths
occurred in the city, and Sextus made an attempt on Italy also, Caesar
at last began to have a fleet equipped and sent Salvidienus Rufus ahead
with along force to Rhegium. Rufus managed to repel Sextus from Italy,
and when Sextus retired to Sicily, undertook to manufacture boats of
leather, similar to those used on the ocean. He made a framework of
light rods for the interior and stretched over them an uncured ox-hide
after the manner of a circular shield. When he got himself laughed at
decided that it would be dangerous for him to try to use them in
crossing the strait, he abandoned them and ventured to undertake the
passage with the fleet that had been got ready and had since arrived;
but it proved impossible for him to do so, since the superior number
and size of his ships were far from being a match for the skill and
daring of the enemy. Now Caesar was an eye-witness of the battles,
inasmuch as these events took place when he was setting out on his
expedition into Macedonia, and he was filled with chagrin, particularly
because this was the first time he had been defeated in any encounter.
For this reason, although the major part of his fleet had been
preserved, he did not again venture to cross over by main force, but he
made many attempts to do so secretly, feeling that if he could once set
foot on the island he would certainly be decidedly superior with his
infantry. After a time, however, finding that he was accomplishing
nothing because of the vigilant guard maintained on every side, he
ordered others to keep a watch on Sicily and himself went to meet
Antony at Brundisium, whence, reinforced by his main fleet, he crossed
the Ionian Gulf.
After this Sextus occupied the whole of the island and put Bithynicus
to death on the charge that he had plotted against him. He also
produced triumphal spectacles and held a naval battle of the captives
in the strait close to Rhegium itself,— so that his opponents could
look on,— causing small wooden boats to contend with others of leather
in mockery of Rufus. After this he built more ships and dominated the
sea round about; and he assumed a certain additional glory and pride by
representing himself to be the son of Neptune, since his father had
once ruled the whole sea. Thus he fared as long as the forces of
Cassius and Brutus held together; but when those men had perished,
Lucius Staius and others took refuge with him. He was at first glad to
receive him, for he brought with him the force he commanded; but later,
observing that he was an active and high-spirited man, he put him to
death on a charge of treachery. Thus reinforced by the fleet of Staius
and also by the multitude of slaves who kept arriving from Italy, he
gained tremendous strength; in fact, so many persons deserted that the
Vestal Virgins prayed over the sacrifices that their desertions might
be checked.
For these reasons, and because Sextus was harbouring the exiles,
cultivating the friendship of Antony, and plundering a great portion of
Italy, Caesar desired to become reconciled with him; but when he failed
of that, he ordered Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa to wage war against him,
and himself set out for Gaul. However, when Sextus learned of this, he
waited until Agrippa was busy with the Ludi Apollinares; for he was
praetor at the time, and was not only giving himself airs in various
other ways on the strength of his being an intimate friend of Caesar,
but also in particular he gave two-days' celebration of the Circensian
games and prided himself upon his production of the game called "Troy,"
which was performed by the boys of the nobility. Now while he was thus
occupied, Sextus crossed over into Italy and remained there, carrying
on marauding expeditions, until Agrippa arrived; then he left a
garrison at certain points and sailed back again. As for Caesar, he had
formerly tried, as I have related, to get possession of Gaul through
various agents, but had been unable on account of Calenus and the
others who supported Antony's cause; but now he occupied it in person,
when he discovered that Calenus had fallen ill and died, and when he
had acquired his army without difficulty. Meanwhile, seeing that
Lepidus was vexed at being deprived of the province that belonged to
him, he sent him to Africa, desiring that he should receive the
province as a gift from himself alone, and not from Antony also, and
should thus become more closely attached to him.
The Romans had two provinces in that part of Africa, as I have
remarked; the governors, before the league of the triumvirs, were Titus
Sextius over the Numidian country and Cornificius with Decimus Laelius
over the other, the first-named being friendly to Antony and the other
two to Caesar. For a time Sextius waited, expecting that the others,
who had a far larger force, would invade his domain, and he was
preparing to withstand them there. But when they delayed he began to
despise them; and he was further elated when a cow spoke with a human
voice, as they say, and bade him lay hold of the task before him, and
when he had 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
pole, intimating that by this means he should conquer. Without
hesitation, then, especially when he found the bull at the place where
the dream said it was, he took the initiative by invading Africa. At
the outset he occupied Hadrumetum and some few other places, which were
taken by surprise at his sudden assault; but later, while off his guard
because of this very success, he was ambushed by the quaestor of
Cornificius, lost a large portion of his army, and withdrew into
Numidia. And since he chanced to meet with this reverse when he was
without the bull's head, he ascribed his defeat to that fact and made
preparations to take the field again. with his opponents anticipated
him by invading his province, and while the others were besieging
Cirta, the quaestor of Cornificius, with the cavalry, proceeded against
him, overcame him in a few cavalry battles, and won over Sextius'
quaestor. After these experiences Sextius 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 was intending to come to
the defence of his colleague, making him believe that Laelius had been
captured, and after thus throwing him into a state of dejection
defeated him; and he not only slew Cornificius in the battle, but also
Laelius, who made a sally with the intention of taking his enemy in the
rear.
After this achievement Sextius occupied Africa and governed both
provinces in security, until Caesar, according to the compact made by
him with Antony and Lepidus, took over the command of these provinces
and put Gaius Fuficius Fango in charge of them; then, indeed, Sextius
voluntarily gave up the provinces. When, however, the battle with
Brutus and Cassius had been fought, and Caesar and Antony had
redistributed the world, Caesar taking Numidia for his share of Libya,
and Antony Africa,— for Lepidus, as I have stated, ruled with them only
in name, and often was not recorded in the documents even to this
extent,— when, I say, this had occurred, Fulvia bade Sextius resume his
rule of Africa. He was at this time still lingering in Libya, making
the winter season his plea, but in reality knowing full well that there
would be some kind of revolution. As he could not persuade Fango to
retire from the country, he associated himself with the natives, who
detested Fango; for he had served in the mercenary force — many of
whose members, as has been stated in my narrative, had actually been
elected to the senate — and was ruling the natives badly. At this turn
of affairs Fango retired into Numidia, where he ill-treated the people
of Cirta because they despised him in view of the present
circumstances. He also expelled from his kingdom a certain Arabio, a
prince among the neighbouring barbarians, who had first helped Laelius
and had later attached himself to Sextius; this he did because Arabio
refused to make an alliance with him. When the prince fled to Sextius,
Fango demanded his surrender, and upon being refused he grew angry,
invaded Africa, and ravaged a part of the country; but when Sextius
took the field against him, he was defeated in slight but numerous
engagements and consequently retired again into Numidia. Sextius went
after him and had hopes of soon vanquishing him, especially with the
aid of Arabio's horse, but he became suspicious of Arabio and
treacherously murdered him, after which he accomplished nothing further
at that time, for the cavalry, enraged at Arabio's death, left Sextius
in the lurch and most of them took the side of Fango. For the time
being Sextius and Fango concluded an alliance, agreeing that the cause
for war between them had been removed; later, however, Fango waited
until Sextius was feeling secure on account of the truce and then
invaded Africa. Thereupon they joined battle with each other, and at
first both sides were victorious and also beaten; for Fango was
superior in his Numidian cavalry and Sextius in his citizen infantry,
so that they plundered each other's camps without the men on either
side knowing what fate had befallen their comrades. Then when they
retired and perceived what had happened, they came to blows again, the
Numidians were routed, and Fango escaped for the moment into the
mountains; but during the night some hartbeestes ran past, and,
thinking that the enemy's cavalry were at hand, he committed suicide.
Thus Sextius gained possession of all the other districts without
trouble, and subdued by famine Zama, which held out for a long time.
Thereafter he governed both the provinces again until Lepidus was sent.
Against him he took no measures, either because he thought this policy
had the approval of Antony, or because he was by no means so strong as
Lepidus in troops; instead, he remained quiet, acting as if the
inevitable were a favour on his own part to Lepidus. In this way
Lepidus gained possession of both provinces.
So much for these events. During this same period, following the battle
at Philippi, Mark Antony came to the mainland of Asia, where he levied
contributions upon the cities and sold the positions of authority; some
of the districts he visited in person and to others he sent agents.
Meanwhile he fell in love with Cleopatra, whom he had seen in Cilicia,
and thereafter gave not a thought to honour but became the Egyptian
woman's slave and devoted his time to his passion for her. This caused
him to do many outrageous things, and in particular to drag her
brothers from the temple of Artemis at Ephesus and put them to death.
And finally he left Plancus in the province of Asia and Saxa in Syria
and departed for Egypt. This action was chiefly responsible for many
disturbances: the inhabitants of the island of Arados paid no heed to
the agents sent them by him to secure money, and even went so far as to
kill some of them, and the Parthians, who had previously been active,
now assailed the Romans more than ever. Their leaders were Labienus and
Pacorus, the latter being a son of King Orodes and the former a son of
Titus Labienus. The manner of Labienus' coming among the Parthians, and
what he did in conjunction with Pacorus, was as follows. He was an ally
of Brutus and Cassius, and having before the battle been sent to Orodes
to secure some reinforcements, was detained by him a long time while
the king was waiting the turn of events and hesitating to join forces
with him, yet fearing to refuse. Later, when the news of the defeat
reached him, and it appeared to be the intention of the victors to
spare none who had resisted them, Labienus remained among the
barbarians, choosing to live with them rather than to perish at home.
Now as soon as Labienus was aware of Antony's demoralization, of his
passion, and of his departure for Egypt, he persuaded the Parthian king
to make an attack upon the Romans. For he declared their armies were
either destroyed utterly or impaired, while the remainder of the troops
were in a state of mutiny and would again be at war; and he accordingly
advised the king to subjugate Syria and the adjoining districts, while
Caesar was busy in Italy with Sextus and Antony was indulging his
passion in Egypt. He promised to assume command in the war, and assured
Orodes that if allowed to follow this course he would detach many of
the provinces, inasmuch as they were already estranged from the Romans
through the constant ill-treatment they had experienced.
By these agreements persuaded Orodes to wage war and was entrusted by
him with a large force and with the king's son Pacorus. With them he
invaded Phoenicia, and advancing against Apamea, he was repulsed from
its walls but won the garrisons in the country to his side without
resistance. For these garrisons consisted of troops that had served
with 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 all these men, since they were
well acquainted with him, with the exception of Saxa, their leader at
the time, who was brother of the general Saxa as well as quaestor and
therefore refused to go over to the other side, being the only one who
did; and Saxa the general he conquered in a pitched battle through the
superior numbers and ability of his own cavalry, and when the other
later on made a dash by night from his intrenchments, he pursued them.
The reason why Saxa fled was that he feared his associates would take
up with the cause of Labienus, who was trying to lure them away by
means of pamphlets which he kept shooting into Saxa's camp. Now when
Labienus overtook the fugitives, he slew most of them, and then, when
Saxa made his escape to Antioch, he captured Apamea, which no longer
resisted, since the inhabitants believed that Saxa was dead; and
subsequently he brought Antioch also to terms, now that Saxa had
abandoned it, and finally, after pursuing the fugitive into Cilicia, he
seized Saxa himself and put him to death. After the death of Saxa,
Pacorus made himself master of Syria and subjugated all of it except
Tyre; but that city had already been occupied by the Romans who
survived and by the natives who were in sympathy with them, and neither
persuasion could prevail against them nor force, since Pacorus had no
fleet. They accordingly continued to be proof against capture, but
Pacorus secured all the rest of Syria. He then invaded Palestine and
deposed Hyrcanus, who was at the moment in charge of affairs there,
having been appointed by the Romans, and in his stead set up his
brother Aristobulus as a ruler because of the enmity existing between
them. In the meantime Labienus had occupied Cilicia and had obtained
the allegiance of the cities of the mainland except Stratonicea, since
Plancus, in fear of him, had crossed over to the islands; most of the
places he took without conflict, but for Mylasa and Alabanda he had to
fight. For although these cities had accepted garrisons from him, they
murdered them on the occasion of a festival and revolted; and because
of this he punished the people of Alabanda when he had captured it, and
razed to the ground the town of Mylasa after it had been abandoned. As
for Stratonicea, he besieged it for a long time, but was unable to
capture it in any way.
Now in consequence of these successes Labienus proceeded to levy money
and to rob the temples; and he styled himself imperator and Parthicus,
in the latter respect acting directly contrary to the Roman custom, in
that he took his title from those whom he was leading against the
Romans, as if it were the Parthians and not his fellow-citizens that he
was defeating. As for Antony, although he kept himself informed of all
these operations, as no doubt he did in the case of what was going on
in Italy also (for he was ignorant of none of them whatsoever), yet he
failed in both instances to take defensive measures in time; instead,
he was so under the sway of his passion and of his drunkenness that he
gave not a thought either to his allies or to his enemies. It is indeed
true that he had earnestly devoted himself to his duties so long as he
had been in a subordinate station and had been aiming at the highest
prizes, but now that he had got into power, he no longer paid strict
attention to any of these things, but joined Cleopatra and the
Egyptians in general in their life of luxurious ease until he was
entirely demoralized. So when at last he was forced to bestir himself,
he sailed to Tyre with the intention of aiding it, but on seeing that
the rest of Syria had already been occupied before his coming, he left
the inhabitants to their fate, on the pretext that he had to wage war
against Sextus; and yet he excused his dilatoriness with regard to the
latter by alleging his business with the Parthians. And thus on account
of Sextus, as he pretended, he gave no assistance to his allies, and
none to Italy on account of his allies, but coasted along the mainland
as far as Asia and crossed to Greece. There, after meeting his mother
and wife, he made Caesar his enemy and made an alliance with Sextus.
After this he went over to Italy, got possession of Sipontum, and
proceeded to besiege Brundisium, which had refused to come to terms
with him.
While he was thus engaged, Caesar, who had already arrived from Gaul,
had collected his forces and had sent Publius Servilius Rullus to
Brundisium and Agrippa against Sipontum. Agrippa took the city by
storm, but Servius was suddenly attacked by Antony, who destroyed many
of his men and won many over. The two leaders thus broke out into open
war and were sending messages to the various cities and to the
veterans, wherever they thought they could get any aid; and all Italy
was again thrown into turmoil, especially Rome, and some were already
choosing one side or the other, and others were hesitating. While the
leaders themselves and those who were to assist them in the war were in
a state of suspense, Fulvia died in Sicyon, where she had been staying.
And although Antony was held responsible for her death because of his
passion for Cleopatra and her wantonness, nevertheless, when this news
was announced, both sides laid down their arms and effected a
reconciliation, either because Fulvia had really been the cause of
their variance hitherto or because they chose to make her death and
excuse, in view of the fear which each inspired in the other, inasmuch
as the forces which they had, as well as their ambitions, were equally
matched. By the arrangement then made Caesar received Sardinia,
Dalmatia, Spain, and Gaul, and Antony all the districts that belonged
to the Romans across the Ionian Sea, both in Europe and Asia; as for
the provinces in Africa, they were of course still held by Lepidus, and
Sicily by Sextus.
They accordingly divided the empire anew in this way and undertook in
common the war against Sextus, although Antony through messengers had
taken oaths by which he had bound himself to Sextus against Caesar. And
it was chiefly for this reason that Caesar brought himself to receive,
under a general amnesty, all those who had gone over to Antony in the
war with Lucius, Antony's brother,— among them being Domitius and some
of the other assassins of Caesar,— as well as all those whose names had
been posted on the tablets or had in any way coöperated with
Brutus and Cassius and had later embraced the cause of Antony. So
great, indeed, is the perversity that reigns in factional strife and
war; for men in power take no account of justice, but determine on
friend and foe according as their own interests and advantage at the
time dictate, and accordingly they regard the same men, now as their
enemies, now as their friends, according to the occasion.
When they had reached this agreement in their camps at Brundisium, they
entertained each other at banquets, Caesar in military and Roman
fashion and Antony in Asiatic and Egyptian style. And now that they had
become reconciled, as it appeared, the soldiers who were at that time
with Caesar surrounded Antony and demanded of him the money which the
two had promised them before the battle of Philippi; and, indeed, it
was for this that he had been send into Asia, in order 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
inspiring them somehow with new hopes. After this experience, in order
to guard against further unruliness, they sent the superannuated
soldiers to the colonies, and then took up the war. For Sextus had come
to Italy in accordance with the agreement he had made with Antony,
intending, with Antony's help, to wage war against Caesar; but when he
learned of their agreement he himself went back to Sicily, and ordered
Menas, a freedman of his to whom he was altogether devoted, to coast
about a portion of the fleet and injure the property of his opponents.
Menas, accordingly, ravaged many parts of Etruria and captured Marcus
Titius, the son of Titius who was one of the proscribed and was then on
the side of Sextus; this son had got together some ships in the
interest of his own supremacy and had taken up his station off the
province of Narbonensis. This Titius suffered no harm, for on his
father's account, and because his soldiers carried the name of Sextus
on their shields, his life was spared; yet he did not recompense his
benefactor fairly, but on the contrary, defeated him in battle and
finally slew him, so that his conduct in this matter is remembered
among the most notable examples of its kind. Now after Menas had
accomplished all this as described, he sailed to Sardinia and engaged
in 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 his attack and turned the tables upon Lurius by winning an
unexpected victory over him. Thereupon Lurius abandoned the island and
Menas occupied it, taking all the places by capitulation, except
Caralis, which he took by siege; for many fugitives from the battle had
taken refuge there. He released without ransom several of the captives,
including Helenus, a freedman of Caesar, who stood in high favour with
his master, thus laying up for himself with Caesar a store of kindness
against some future time and preparing a refuge for himself, if he
should ever need anything at Caesar's hands.
Menas, then, was so employed; but as for the people in Rome, they would
no longer hold their peace, inasmuch as Sardinia was in hostile hands,
the coast was being pillaged, and they had had their corn supply cut
off, while the famine, the great number of taxes of all sorts which
were being imposed, and in addition contributions assessed upon such as
possessed slaves, all irritated them greatly. Much as they were pleased
with the reconciliation of Antony and Caesar,— for they thought that
harmony between these men meant peace for themselves,— they were
equally or even more displeased at the war which the two men were
carrying on against Sextus. But a short time before they had brought
the two rulers into the city mounted on horses as if at a triumph, had
bestowed upon them the triumphal dress just as upon those who
celebrated triumphs, had allowed them to view the festivals seated upon
their chairs of state, and had espoused to Antony Caesar's sister,
Octavia, now that her husband was dead, though she was pregnant; at the
present time, however, they changed their behaviour to a remarkable
degree. At first, when they met at various gathering or came together
to witness a spectacle, they would urge Antony and Caesar to secure
peace, and at this they raised loud shuts of approval; and when these
leaders would not heed them, they were alienated from them and favoured
Sextus. They not only kept up a general talk to foster his interests,
but also at the games in the Circus honoured by loud applause the
statue of Neptune carried in the procession, thus expressing their
great delight in him. And when on certain days it was not brought out,
they took stones and drove the magistrates from the Forum, threw down
the statues of Caesar and Antony, and finally, when they could not
accomplish anything even in this way, they rushed violently upon those
men as if to kill them. Caesar, although his followers were wounded,
rent his garments and betook himself to supplicating them, whereas
Antony bore himself with more violence toward them; and when, chiefly
because of this, the people became angered and it was feared that they
would even commit some act of violence in consequence, the two were
forced against their will to make overtures to Sextus.
Meanwhile Caesar and Antony removed the praetors and the consuls,
although it was now near the close of the year, and appointed others
instead, caring little that these would remain in office but a few
days. One of those who at this time became consuls was Lucius Cornelius
Balbus, of Gades, who so far surpassed the men of his generation in
wealth and munificence that at his death he left a bequest of one
hundred sesterces to each Roman citizen. They not only did this, but
when an aedile died on the last day of the year, they chose another fo
till out the remaining hours. It was at this same time that the Aqua
Iulia, as it was called, was brought into Rome and the festival that
had been vowed for the completion of the war against the assassins of
Caesar was celebrated by the consuls. The duties belonging to the
college called the Septemviri were performed by the pontifices, since
no member of the calling was present; this was also done on many other
occasions afterwards.
Besides these events which took place that year Caesar gave a public
funeral to Sphaerus, who had been his attendant in childhood and had
been given his freedom. Also he put to death Salvidienus Rufus, whom he
suspected of having plotted against him. This man was of most obscure
origin, and once while he was tending his flocks a flame had issued
from his head; but he had been so greatly advanced by Caesar as to be
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, after a
bridge had been constructed for this very purpose. But nothing in the
life of man is lasting, and he was finally accused in the senate by
Caesar himself and slain as an enemy both of him 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." In the year preceding this,
men belonging to the order of knights had slaughtered wild beasts at
the games in the Circus on the occasion of the Ludi Apollinares, and an
intercalary day had been inserted, contrary to the rule, in order that
the first day of the succeeding year should not coincide with the
market held every nine days — a clash which had always been strictly
guarded against 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 domains of Attalus and
of Deiotarus, who had both died in Galatia, were given to a certain
Castor. Also the law which went by the name of the Lex Falcidia, a law
which is in full force even to-day in the matter of the succession to
inheritances, was enacted by Publius Falcidius while tribune; its terms
are, that if an heir feels burdened in any way, he may secure a fourth
of the property bequeathed him by surrendering the rest.
These were the events of the two years; the next year, when Lucius
Marcius and Gaius Sabinus held the consulship, the acts of the
triumvirs from the time they had formed their oligarchy received
ratification at the hands of the senate, and certain further taxes were
imposed by them, because the expenditures proved far greater than the
budget made in the time of the former Caesar. For though they were
expending vast sums for themselves and especially upon the soldiers,
the only thing they were ashamed of was that the expenditures they were
making were contrary to precedent. For example, when Caesar now for the
first time shaved off his beard, he held a magnificent entertainment
himself besides granting all the other citizens a festival at public
expense. He also kept his chin smooth afterwards, like the rest; for he
was already beginning to be enamoured of Livia also, and for this
reason divorced Scribonia the very day she bore him a daughter. Since
the expenditures, then, were growing far greater than before, and the
revenues, which were in any case insufficient, came in at this time in
even smaller amounts by reason of the factional discord, they
introduced certain new taxes; and they enrolled ever so many men in the
senate, not only from among the allies, or else soldiers, or sons
offreedmen, but even slaves. At any rate, one Maximus, when about to
become quaestor, was recognized by his master and haled away; and while
in his case immunity was granted him for having dared to stand for
office, yet another slave who was detected while serving as a praetor
was hurled down the rocks of the Capitol, having first been freed, that
his punishment might take on the proper dignity.
The expedition which Antony was preparing against the Parthians
afforded them some excuse for the large number of new senators. On this
same plea they also appointed various magistrates for a number of years
ahead, including the consuls for eight full years, thus regarding some
of those who had coöperated with them and winning the favour of
others. And they did not choose two annual consuls only, as had been
the custom, but now for the first time chose several, and these on the
very day of the elections. Even before this time, to be sure, some had
held office after others who had neither died nor been removed because
of disfranchisement or any other reason, but all such persons had
become officials presumably in accordance with the decision of the
magistrates who had been chosen to office for the entire year, whereas
now nobody was chosen to served for a year, but various sets of
officials were appointed for the different portions of the entire
period. And the men first to enter upon the office of consul secured
the name of consuls for the whole year, as is even now the case; the
others were accorded the same title, it is true, by those who lived in
the city or in the rest of Italy during the period of each one's
office, as, indeed, is the case to-day, but the other citizens of the
empire knew few or none of them and therefore called them "lesser
consuls."
These were the acts of Caesar and Antony at home with Sextus they first
reached an understanding through their associates as to how and on what
terms they could effect a reconciliation, and later they themselves
conferred with him near Misenum. The two took their station on the land
and Sextus not far from where they were on a mound that had been
constructed in the sea, with water all around it, for the purpose of
securing his safety. There was present also the whole fleet of Sextus
and the whole infantry of the other two; and not merely that, but the
forces on the one side had been drawn up on the shore and those of the
other side on the ships, both fully armed, so that it was perfectly
evident to all from this very circumstance that it was from fear of
each other's military strength and from necessity that they were making
peace, the two because of the people and Sextus because of his
adherents. The compact was made upon these conditions, that the slaves
who had deserted should be free and that all those who had been
banished should be restored, except Caesar's assassins. They merely
pretended, of course, to exclude the last-named, since in reality some
of them were about to be restored; indeed, Sextus himself was reputed
to have been one of them. But at any rate it was recorded that all the
rest except those should be permitted to return in safety 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 appointed
augur, should obtain seventy million sesterces from his father's
estate, and should govern Sicily, Sardinia and Achaia for five years;
that he should not receive deserters or acquire more ships or keep any
garrisons in Italy, but should devote his efforts to securing peace for
the peninsula from the side of the sea, and should send a stated amount
of grain to the people in the city. They limited him to this period of
time because they wished it to appear that they also were holding a
temporary and not a permanent authority.
After drafting these compacts and reducing them to writing they
deposited the documents with the Vestal Virgins, and then exchanged
pledges and embraced one another. Upon this a great and mighty shout
arose from the mainland and from the ships at the same moment. For many
soldiers and many civilians who were present suddenly cried out all
together, being terribly tired of the war and strongly desirous of
peace, so that even the mountains resounded; and thereupon great panic
and alarm came upon them, and many died of no other cause, while many
others perished by being trampled under foot or suffocated. Those who
were in the small boats did not wait to reach the land itself, but
jumped out into the sea, and those on land rushed out into the water.
Meanwhile they embraced one another while swimming and threw their arms
around one another's necks as they dived, making a spectacle of varied
sights and sounds. Some knew that their relatives and associates were
living, and seeing them now present, gave way to unrestrained joy.
Others, supposing that those dear to them had already died, saw them
now unexpectedly and for a long time were at a loss what to do, and
were rendered speechless, at once distrusting the sight they saw and
praying that it might be true, and they would not accept the
recognition as true until they had called their names and had heard
their voices in answer; then, indeed, they rejoiced as if their friends
had been brought back to life again, but as they must yield perforce to
a flood of joy, they could not refrain from tears. Again, some who were
unaware that their dearest ones had perished and thought they were
alive and present, went about seeking for them and asking every one
they met regarding them. As long as they could learn nothing definite
they were like madmen and were reduced to despair, both hoping to find
them and fearing that they were dead, unable either to give up hope in
view of their longing or to give up to grief in view of their hope. But
when at last they learned the truth, they would tear their hair and
rend their garments, calling upon the lost by name as if their voices
could reach them and giving way to grief as if their friends had just
then died and were lying there before their eyes. And even if any had
no such cause themselves for joy or grief, they were at least affected
by the experiences of the rest; for they either rejoiced with him that
was glad or grieved with him that mourned, and so, even if they were
free from an experience of their own, yet they could not remain
indifferent on account of their comradeship with the rest. Accordingly
they became neither sated with joy nor ashamed of grief, 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 these demonstrations.
After this the leaders as well as the rest received and entertained
each other, first Sextus on his ship and then Caesar and Antony on the
shore; for Sextus so far surpassed them in military strength that he
would not disembark to meet them on the mainland until they had gone
aboard his ship. And although, by this arrangement, he might have
murdered them both while they were in the small boat with only a few
followers, as Menas, in fact, advised, he was unwilling to do so.
Indeed to Antony, who had possession of his father's house in the
Carinae (the name of a region in the city of Rome), he uttered a jest
in the happiest manner, saying that he was entertaining them in the
Carinae; for this is also the name for the keels of ships.
Nevertheless, he did not act toward them in any way as if he recalled
the past with bitterness, and on the following day he was not only
feasted in turn but also betrothed his daughter to Marcus Marcellus,
Caesar's nephew.
This war, then, had been deferred; and 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 long time, satisfying his
desires and injuring the cities, so that they should be in the weakest
possible condition when delivered up to Sextus. He lived during this
time in many respects contrary to the customs of his country, calling
himself, for example, the young Dionysus and insisting on being so
called by others; and when the Athenians, in view of this and his
general behaviour, betrothed Athena to him, he declared that he
accepted the marriage and exacted from them a dowry of four million
sesterces. While he was occupied with these matters he sent Publius
Ventidius before him into Asia. This officer came upon Labienus before
his coming and terrified him by the suddenness of his approach and by
his legions; for Labienus was without his Parthians and had with him
only the soldiers from the neighbourhood. Ventidius found he would not
even risk a conflict with him and so thrust him forthwith out of that
country and pursued him into Syria, taking the lightest part of his
army with him. He overtook him near the Taurus range and allowed him to
proceed no farther, but they encamped there for several days and made
no move, for Labienus was awaiting the Parthians and Ventidius his
heavy-armed troops. These reinforcements, however, arrived during the
same days on both sides, and though 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 been
victorious once before, despised their opponents and rode up to the
hill at dawn, without even waiting to join forces with Labienus; and
when nobody came out to meet them, they actually charged straight up
the incline. When they were at length on the slope, the Romans rushed
down upon them and easily hurled them down-hill. Many of the Parthians
were killed in hand-to-hand conflict, but still more caused disaster to
one another in the retreat, as some had already turned to flight and
others were still coming up; and the survivors fled, not to Labienus,
but into Cilicia. Ventidius pursued them as far as the camp, but
stopped when he saw Labienus there. The latter marshalled his forces as
if to offer him battle, but perceiving that his soldiers were dejected
by reason of the flight of the barbarians, he ventured no opposition at
the time, although when night came he attempted to escape somewhere.
Nevertheless, Ventidius learned his plan beforehand from deserters, and
by setting ambushes killed many in the retreat and gained over all the
rest, after they had been abandoned by Labienus. The latter by changing
his dress gained safety at the time and escaped detection for awhile in
Cilicia, but was afterwards captured by Demetrius, a freedman of the
former Caesar, who had at this time been assigned to Cyprus by Antony;
for Demetrius, learning that Labienus was in hiding, made a search for
him and arrested him.
After this Ventidius recovered Cilicia and attended to the
administration of this district himself, but sent ahead Pompaedius Silo
with cavalry to the Amanus. This mountain is on the border between
Cilicia and Syria, and has 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, was unable to occupy it and actually came near perishing
at the hands of Pharnapates, a lieutenant of Pacorus in charge of the
garrison at the pass. This would certainly have been his fate, had not
Ventidius by chance come upon him when he was fighting and succoured
him. For Ventidius fell upon the barbarians when they were not
expecting him and were at the same time in smaller force, and slew
Pharnapates and many others. In this way he took over Syria without a
battle, now that it was deserted by the Parthians, with the exception
of the Aradii, and left occupied Palestine without trouble, after he
had frightened the king, Antigonus, out of the country. Besides
accomplishing all this he exacted large sums of money from the rest
individually, and large sums also from Antigonus and Antiochus and
Malchus the Nabataean, because they had given help to Pacorus.
Ventidius himself received no reward for these achievements from the
senate, since he was not acting with independent authority but as
lieutenant to another; but Antony was honoured with eulogies and
thanksgivings. As for the Aradii, they were afraid they would have to
pay the penalty for their boldness against Antony, and so would not
come to terms with him, though they were captured by others after much
difficulty.
About this time an uprising took place among the Parthine Illyrians,
but it was put down by Pollio after a few battles. There was another on
the part of the Cerretani in Spain, and they were subjugated by
Calvinus after he had met with a preliminary success and also a
reverse,— the latter through his lieutenant, who was ambushed by the
barbarians and deserted by his soldiers. Calvinus undertook no
operation against the enemy until he had punished these deserters;
calling them together as if for some other purpose, he made the rest of
the army surround them, and then put to death every tenth man in two
centuries and punished many of the centurions, including the one who
was serving in the primus pilus, as it is called. After doing this and
gaining, like Marcus Crassus, a reputation for his disciplining of his
army, he set out against his opponents and with no great difficulty
vanquished them. And he obtained a triumph in spite of the fact that
Spain had been assigned to Caesar; for those in power could grant the
honours at will to those who served as their lieutenants. The gold
customarily given by the cities for the triumph Calvinus took from the
Spanish towns alone, and of it he spent only a part on the festival,
but the greater portion on the Regia. This had been burned down, and he
now rebuilt and dedicated it, adorning it splendidly with various
objects and with statues in particular, which he asked Caesar to send
him, intimating that he would give them back. And when he 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." And thus Caesar, since he shrank from the sacrilege,
allowed them to remain as votive offerings.
This is what happened at that time. But 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 who helped them to collect the
money; and sixty-seven praetors one after another were appointed and
held office. One person was chosen to be quaestor while still accounted
a boy, and did not obtain the standing of a juvenis until the next day;
and another, who had been enrolled in the senate, desired to fight as a
gladiator. Not only was he prevented, however, from doing this, but an
act was also passed prohibiting any senator from fighting as a
gladiator, any slave from serving as a lictor, and any burning of dead
bodies from being carried on within two miles of the city.
Now many events of a portentous nature had occurred even before this,
such as the spouting of olive oil on the bank of the Tiber, and many
also at this time. Thus the hut of Romulus was burned as a result of
some ritual which the pontifices were performing in it; a statue of
Virtus, which stood before one of the gates, fell upon its face, and
certain persons, becoming inspired by the Mother of the Gods, declared
that the goddess was angry with them. For this reason the Sibylline
books were consulted, and they made the same declarations and
prescribed that the statue should be taken down to the sea and purified
in its waters. Now when the goddess was taken out a long distance from
the land into the deep water and remained there a good while, being
brought back only after a long time, this circumstance also caused the
Romans no little fear, and they did not recover their spirits until
palm trees, four in number, sprang up round about her temple and in the
Forum.
Besides these occurrences at that time, Caesar married Livia. She was
the daughter of Livius Drusus, who had been among those proscribed on
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. And it seems that she was in the sixth month with child by
him. At any rate, when Caesar was in doubt and enquired of the
pontifices whether it was permissible to wed her while pregnant, they
answered that it there was any doubt whether conception had taken place
the marriage should be put off, but if this was admitted, there was
nothing to prevent its taking place immediately. Perhaps they really
found this among the ordinances of the forefathers, but certainly they
would have said so, even had they not found it. Her husband himself
gave the woman in marriage just as a father would; and the following
incident occurred at the marriage feast. One of the prattling boys,
such as the women keep about them for their amusement, naked as a rule,
on seeing Livia reclining in one place with Caesar, and Nero in another
with a man, went up to her and said: "What are you doing here,
mistress? For your husband," pointing him out, "is reclining over
there." So much then, for this. Later, when the woman was now living
with Caesar, she gave birth to Claudius Drusus Nero. Caesar both
acknowledged him and sent him to his real father, making his entry in
his memoranda: "Caesar returned to its father Nero the child borne by
Livia, his wife." Nero died not long afterward and left Caesar himself
as guardian to the boy and to Tiberius. Now the populace gossiped a
great deal about this and said, among other things, "The lucky have
children in three months"; and this saying passed into a proverb.
During this sas time, while these events were occurring in the city,
Bogud the Moor sailed to Spain, acting either on instructions from
Antony or on his own initiative, and did much damage, receiving also
considerable injury in turn; meantime the people of his own land in the
neighbourhood of Tingis rose against him, and so he evacuated Spain,
but failed to win back his own domain. For the adherent 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, which was afterwards confirmed to him by
Caesar; and the people of Tingis were given citizenship.
At this time, or even earlier, war was begun between Sextus and Caesar
also; for since they had made their agreement, not of their own free
will or by choice, but under compulsion, they did not abide by it for
any time to speak of, but broke the truce at once and quarrelled. They
were bound, of course, to go to war in any case, even if they had found
no excuse; their 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 also
slandered to some extent by the people of his own rank, who envied him
his 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 been in
charge; but instead of obeying, he seized and killed the men sent to
him on this errand, and after first negotiating with Caesar,
surrendered to him the island, the fleet together with the army, and
himself. Caesar, on his part, was glad to see him, for he declared that
Sextus was harbouring deserters contrary to the treaty, was having
triremes built, and was keeping garrisons in Italy; and not only did he
fail to give up Menas on Sextus' demand, but even went farther and
treated him with great honour, decorated him with gold rings, and
enrolled him in the order of the knights. Now the matter of the gold
rings is as follows. Of the ancient Romans no one, not merely of those
who had once been slaves but even of those who had been brought up as
free, was allowed to wear gold rings, except the senators and the
knights, as has been stated; and for this reason they are given to such
freedmen as the ruler may choose, even though these men are already
wearing gold in other ways, as a mark of honour indicating that they
are superior to the status of freedmen and are eligible to become
knights.
So much for this matter. Sextus, now, blamed Caesar, not only for
harbouring Menas, but for the further reasons that Achaia had been
injured and the terms agreed upon were not being carried out either in
his case or in that of the restored exiles, and he accordingly sent to
Italy Menecrates, another freedman of his, and had him ravage Volturnum
and other parts of Campania. Now when Caesar learned of this, he took
the documents containing the treaty from the Vestal Virgins and sent
for Antony and Lepidus. Lepidus did not at once answer the summons, and
as for Antony, although he came to Brundisium (for he chanced to be
still in Greece), yet before he could meet Caesar, who was in Etruria,
he became alarmed because a wolf had entered his headquarters and
killed some soldiers, and so he sailed back to Greece again, making the
urgency of the Parthian situation his excuse. At this, Caesar, in spite
of his strong conviction that he had been left in the lurch by Antony
with the purpose of making him face the difficulties of the war alone,
nevertheless showed no anger openly. But Sextus, on his part, noised it
abroad the Antony did not think Caesar's conduct right and set himself
more zealously to the task in hand. Finally he sailed against Italy,
landed at various points, inflicted much injury, and suffered much in
turn. Meanwhile a naval battle occurred off Cumae between Menecrates
and Calvisius Sabinus, in which Caesar lost a larger number of ships,
since he was arrayed against expert seamen; but Menecrates attacked
Menas out of jealousy and perished, thus making the loss of Sextus
equally great. For this reason Sextus laid no claim to his victory and
Caesar consoled himself over his defeat. Now Caesar happened at this
time to be at Rhegium, and the followers of Sextus, fearing that he
would cross over into Sicily, and furthermore being somewhat
disheartened at the death of Menecrates, set sail from Cumae. Sabinus
pursued them as far as Scyllaeum, Italian promontory, without trouble;
but as he was rounding that point a great wind fell upon him, dashing
some of the ships against the promontory, sinking others out at sea,
and scattering all the rest. So when Sextus learned of this disaster he
sent his fleet against them, putting Apollophanes in command. This
commander discovered Caesar, as he was coasting along somewhere in
those parts with the intention of coasting into Sicily along with
Sabinus, and rushed upon him. Thereupon Caesar brought his ships to
anchor together, marshalled the heavy-armed soldiers on deck, and at
first beat off his assailants nobly; for the ships were drawn up with
their prows facing the foe and so offered him no safe point for attack,
but, being heavier and higher, did greater damage to those that
approached them, and his heavy-armed fighters, when they came to close
quarters with the enemy, proved far superior. Then Apollophanes by
backing water kept transferring the wounded, and those who were at the
time wearied by toil, to other ships assigned for the purpose and took
on board fresh men; he also made constant attacks and used fire-bearing
missiles, so that Caesar was at last routed, fled to the land, and came
to anchor. When even then the enemy pressed him hard, some of Caesar's
men suddenly cut loose their anchors and unexpectedly sailed out to
oppose the others. It was only this and the interruption of operations
by the coming of night that kept Apollophanes from burning some of the
ships and taking in tow all the rest.
After this event an extraordinary windstorm on the following day fell
upon Caesar and Sabinus as they were anchored together and made their
previous reverse seem a trifling matter. The fleet of Sabinus suffered
the less, for Menas, being an old hand on the sea, foresaw the storm
and immediately shifted his ships to the open sea and moored them
there, placing them at intervals with their anchor-lines slack, so that
the lines should not be stretched and break, and kept rowing directly
against the wind; in this way no rope was strained and he remained
constantly in the same position, recovering by the use of the oars all
the ground he lost by the force of the wind. But the other commanders,
since they had gone through a severe experience the day before, and had
as yet no accurate knowledge of nautical matters, were cast upon the
shore close by and lost many ships. Night, which had been of the
greatest aid to them before, was now the chief cause of disaster, for
the wind blew violently all night long, tearing the vessels from their
anchors and dashing them against the rocks. That was the end of them;
the sailors and marines likewise perished ingloriously, since the
darkness prevented them from seeing ahead and they could not hear a
word because of the uproar and of the reverberation from the mountains,
the more so as the wind drowned out other sounds. Because of this
disaster Caesar despaired of Sicily and was satisfied to guard the
coast of the mainland; but Sextus was still more elated, believing
himself in very truth to be the son of Neptune, and he put on a dark
blue robe and cast alive into the strait not only horses but also, as
some relate, men as well. He himself pillaged Italy and sent
Apollophanes to Africa. Apollophanes was pursued by Menas, who overtook
him and did him some damage; and when the inhabitants of the islands
off the coast of Sicily proceeded to go over to the side of Sextus,
Caesar thwarted the Liparaeans by removing them from their island and
taking them to Campania, where he forced them live in Neapolis as long
as the war should continue. Meanwhile he kept constructing vessels
throughout practical all Italy and collecting 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 plebeians. He also
levied heavy-armed troops and gathered money from all the citizens,
allies, and subjects, both in Italy and abroad.
This year and the following he spent in constructing ships and
gathering and training rowers. He himself supervised and managed all
this business and all other matters both in Italy and in Gaul, where
there was a slight uprising, but he entrusted to Agrippa the equipping
of the fleet. He had sent for his men, who had been fighting against
the insurgent Gauls, at the time when he had been the second of the
Romans to cross the Rhine for war, and after honouring him by the
bestowal of a triumph he bade him finish the work on the fleet and
train the men. Agrippa, who was consul with Lucius Gallus, did not
celebrate the triumph, considering it disgraceful for him to make a
display when Caesar had fared so poorly, but set to work with great
enthusiasm to fit out the fleet. All along the coasts of Italy vessels
were being built; but since no shore was found where it was safe for
them to come to anchor, inasmuch as most of the coast of Italy was even
at that time without harbours, he conceived and executed a magnificent
enterprise, which I shall describe at some length, giving an account of
the enterprise itself and of the general matters connected with it as
they are to-day.
At Cumae in Campania, between Misenum and Puteoli, there is a
crescent-shaped region, surrounded, except for brief gaps, by small,
bare mountains; and it contains a branch of the sea which is like a bay
and is divided into three parts. The first is outside, near the cities,
the second is separated from it by a narrow strip of land, and the
third, which is marshy in character, is seen at the very head of the
inlet. The last is called Avernus, and the middle one the Lucrine Lake;
the outer one is a part of the Tyrrhenian Sea and is classed with it
also by its designation. Now since the Lucrine lay between a sea on
either side, Agrippa cut narrow channels at this time, close to the
shore on both sides, through the strip of land that separated it from
the open sea, and thus produced excellent harbours for ships. While the
men were working, a statue overlooking Avernus, either of Calypso, to
whom this place, whither they say Ulysses also sailed, is dedicated, or
of some other heroine, was covered with sweat like a human body. 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
The mountains here, which lie close to the inner bodies of water, have
springs which send forth a great deal of fire mingled with water; and
neither of the two elements is found anywhere by itself (that is,
neither pure fire nor cold water alone is to be seen), but from their
association the water is heated and the fire moistened. The water on
its way down the foot-hills to the sea runs into reservoirs and the
inhabitants conduct the steam from it through pipes into upper rooms,
where they use the steam for vapour baths; for the higher it ascends
from the earth and from the water, the dryer it becomes. Costly
apparatus is in use for turning both the vapour and the water to
practical use, and they are very serviceable indeed for the uses of
daily life and also for effecting cures. Now besides these products
that mountain furnishes an earth, the peculiar nature of which I am
going to describe. Since the fire has not the power of burning, since
by its union with the water all its scorching qualities are
extinguished, yet is still able to separate and melt the substances
with which it comes in contact, it follows that the soft part of the
earth is melted out by it, whereas the hard and what might be called
the bony part of it is left. Hence the masses of earth necessarily
become porous and when exposed to the dry air crumble into dust, but
when mixed with water and lime become compact, and as long as they
remain in the liquid they harden and petrify. 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 moisture
is chilled, and so is wholly packed together on the inside and becomes
indissoluble. So much for the description of Baiae. Here Agrippa, as
soon as he had constructed the entrances, set about collecting his
ships, which he proceeded to equip with decks, and his oarsmen, whom he
trained to row on practice benches.
Now the population of Rome was being disturbed by signs also. Among the
numerous reports brought to them was one to the effect that many
dolphins had battled with one another and perished near Aspis, the
African city. And in the very vicinity of the city blood flowed from
heaven and was carried in all directions by the birds. And when at the
Ludi Romani not one of the senators gave a banquet on the Capitol, as
had been the custom, they took this, too, as a portent. Again, the
incident that happened to Livia, although it caused her pleasure,
inspired the rest with dread; a white bird carrying a prig of laurel
with the berries on it was thrown by an eagle into her lap. As this
seemed to be a sign of no small moment, she cared for the bird and
planted the laurel, which took root and grew, so that it long supplied
those who celebrated triumphs in after time; and Livia was destined to
hold in her lap even Caesar's power and to dominate him in everything.
However, the other people in the city were greatly disturbed not only
by this but also by the changes in the magistrates; for not only the
consuls and praetors but even the quaestors were continually succeeding
one another, and this lasted for some time. the reason was that all
were anxious, not so much to hold office for any considerable time at
home, as to be counted among the ex-officials and so secure the offices
and military forces outside of Italy. Accordingly, some of the
magistrates were no longer chosen for a specified period, but merely
for a time sufficient to assume the title of the office, and then to
resign from it whenever it seemed good to those in power; indeed, many
did both on the same day. But there were some who had to abandon hope
of office altogether because of poverty, to say nothing of those who
were at this time with Sextus, whose disfranchisement was in a manner
justified. Yet when a certain Marcus Oppius planned to resign the
aedileship because of poverty (for both he and his father had been
among the proscribed), the populace did not permit it, but contributed
money to meet the various necessities of his living and the expenses of
his office. And the story goes that some criminals, too, actually came
into the theatre in masks as if they were acting a play, and
contributed their money also. Thus was this man loved by the multitude
while in life, and at his death not much later he was carried to the
Campus Martius and there burned and buried. The senate, however,
feeling vexed at the utter devotion of the masses to him, took up his
bones, on the plea that it was impious for them to lie in that sacred
ground; they were persuaded by the pontifices to make this declaration,
although they buried many other men there both before and after this.
At this same period Antony came back to Italy 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 troops and
departed, stating that he was going to conduct a campaign against the
Parthians. Before he left, they presented to each other their mutual
grievances, at first through their friends and then personally; and
since they had as yet no leisure for war with each other, they became
reconciled in a way, chiefly through the instrumentality of Octavia.
And in order that they might be bound by still more ties of
relationship, Caesar betrothed his daughter to Antyllus, Antony's son,
and Antony betrothed to Domitius, though he had been one of Caesar's
murderers and one of those proscribed to die, his own daughter, borne
to him by Octavia. These agreements were merely pretences on both
sides; for they really had no intention of carrying out any of them,
but were acting a part in view of the exigencies of the moment. At all
events, Antony immediately sent back Octavia herself from Corcyra to
Italy, in order that, as he represented, she might not share his danger
while he was warring against the Parthians. Nevertheless, they made
these agreements at that time as stated and removed Sextus from his
priesthood as well as from the consulship to which he had been
appointed, and granted themselves the leadership for another five
years, since the first period had elapsed. After this Antony hastened
to Syria and Caesar entered upon the war. Nearly everything was going
as he wished; but Menas, who was naturally untrustworthy and always
cultivated the stronger side, and was furthermore vexed because he held
no command but had been made subordinate to Sabinus, deserted again to
Sextus.
Note:
The words translated to mean "olive oil" may mean olive oil or just any
"oil".
Return to www.BrainFly.Net