OCTAVIAN AND MARK ANTONY AFTER CAESAR’S DEATH

ANTHONY AND OCTAVIAN AFTER CAESAR'S DEATH


Marc Antony and Octavian

The first to take advantage of the confusion which followed Caesar’s death was Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius) . With the aid of Lepidus he got possession of Caesar’s will and other papers, and seized his treasury. He influenced the senate to confirm all of Caesar’s acts, and obtained permission to speak at his public funeral. He made a strong appeal to the populace to avenge the death of their great friend; and read the will of Caesar, which left his palace and gardens to the people, and a legacy to every citizen. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

Excited to fury by the eloquence of Antony, the people seized firebrands from the burning funeral pile, and rushed through the streets swearing vengeance to the so-called liberators. The liberators were obliged to flee from the city; and Antony was for the time supreme. As the senate had confirmed Caesar’s acts, and as Antony had Caesar’s papers, which were supposed to contain these acts, he assumed the role of Caesar’s executor and did what he pleased. The chief liberators hastened to the provinces to which they had previously been assigned by Caesar—Cassius to Syria, Marcus Brutus to Macedonia, and Decimus Brutus to Cisalpine Gaul.

Antony’s dream of power was disturbed when the young Octavian, Caesar’s grand-nephew and adopted son, appeared on scene. After Caesar's assassination in 44 B.C., Octavian's connection to Caesar boosted him on the political scene. At that time Octavian (Augustus) was seen as a “deceptively, malleable-seeming” 18-year-old. “He is wholey devoted to me," Cicero boasted, not long before the youth cut a deal to have him murdered.

Although a young man—only nineteen— Octavian was a born politician, and soon became Antony’s greatest rival. He assumed his adopted name, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, and claimed his inheritance and the treasures which had fallen into Antony’s hands. But Antony said that these were public moneys, and that they had been spent in the interests of the Roman state. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

Octavian for the first time showed that adroit skill for which he was always distinguished. Antony had raised the false hopes of the people by reading Caesar’s will, which promised a legacy to every citizen. The people had heard the will; but they had not yet received the promised legacies. To humiliate Antony and to insure his own popularity, the young Octavian sold his own estates, borrowed money of his friends, and paid the legacies which Caesar had promised to the people. By this act Octavian displaced Antony as the people’s friend. The young heir grew so rapidly in popular favor that his influence was sought both by Cicero, who represented the senate, and by Antony, who represented himself. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

Websites on Ancient Rome: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history; Perseus Project - Tufts University; perseus.tufts.edu ; Lacus Curtius penelope.uchicago.edu; The Internet Classics Archive classics.mit.edu ; Bryn Mawr Classical Review bmcr.brynmawr.edu; Cambridge Classics External Gateway to Humanities Resources web.archive.org; Ancient Rome resources for students from the Courtenay Middle School Library web.archive.org ; History of ancient Rome OpenCourseWare from the University of Notre Dame web.archive.org ; United Nations of Roma Victrix (UNRV) History unrv.com

Octavian (Augustus)


Octavian

Octavian (Octavian) was born Gaius Octavianus on September 23, 63 B.C. He was Caesar's grand nephew and adopted son, and was named by Julius Caesar as his heir. He was 18 and in Illyria across the Adriatic when Caesar was murdered. His mother told him he should escape to Greece but instead he came to Rome. Later when became the Emperor of Rome he adopted the name Augustus. It has been said that Caesar's campaign ended Republican Rome and created an empire with Augustus at the throne. The four emperors that followed Augustus were also descendants of Caesar.

Augustus was only five-foot-five and rather frail. He was regarded as a hypochondriac and suffered throughout his life from a variety of infirmities, including gallstones and dirty teeth. The authority which Octavian possessed had two main bases. One was the charisma he enjoyed as the heir of Julius Caesar, reinforced by a personal oath of loyalty taken by the cities of Italy, Gaul, Spain, Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia to himself and his descendants (late 33 or early 32 B.C.). The other was the consulship; Octavian took up his third consulship (Jan. 1, 31 B.C.) in the year of Actium, and until his sixth consulship (28 B.C.) he had all 24 lictors attend himself, leaving none for his colleague. [Source: J. A. S. Evans, New Catholic Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia.com]

David Silverman of Reed College wrote: “C. Octavian was the son of Atia, the daughter of J. Caesar's sister Julia. At the time of Caesar's death, the nineteen year old Octavian had been in Illyria (or Epirus) waiting to join his grand-uncle on the Parthian venture. Octavian hurried back to Rome, having learned that he had been named Caesar's chief heir in the will of the late dictator. Suddenly one of the richest men in Rome, he set about paying off Caesar's bequests and ingratiating himself with Caesar's former associates. It was natural at this point for Octavian, now calling himself C. Iulius Caesar Octavianus, to be aligned with Antony (as both were adherents of Caesar). [Source: David Silverman, Reed College, Classics 373 ~ History 393 Class ^*^

This changed when Antony went to Cisalpine Gaul to dislodge Decimus Brutus. This Brutus (not to be confused with M. Brutus) was the highest ranking Caesarian to have taken part in the assassination; now in the fall of 44 he refused to evacuate his province and found himself besieged by the consul Antony at Mutina. At Rome, Octavian took advantage of Antony's absence and began to raise an army, playing on the cachet of the name of his adoptive father much as Pompey the Great had done in 84 and 83. Octavian's power grew rapidly. The question was, to what end would it be used? On the one hand, he was determined to avenge the murder of Caesar; on the other, his clearest rival for power was Antony, at this time engaged in attacking one of Caesar's murderers.” ^*^

Marc Antony


Marc Antony coin

Marcus Antonius (83–30 B.C.), commonly known as Marc or Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of Rome from a constitutional republic into the autocratic Roman Empire. Antony was a relative and supporter of Julius Caesar, and he served as one of his generals during the conquest of Gaul and Caesar's civil war. After Caesar’s death he first united with Octavian (the future Emperor Augustus) and then fought with him over who would be the sole leader over the fast-growing Roman Empire.

After Caesar's death Marc Antony and his ally Lepidus ultimately prevailed in their war with Cassius and Brutus for control of Rome and divided the Roman Empire among themselves, with Antony getting the East and Lepidus getting the West. In 41 B.C., while on tour of his empire to make alliances and secure funds for attack on the Parthians in Iran, Antony met Cleopatra.

At that time, Anthony was handsome and had thick curly hair. He claimed he was a descendent of Hercules and sometimes identified himself with Dionysus. Plutarch described Antony as mellow and generous but a bit of slob. Cicero called him a "a kind of butcher or prizefighter" and said his all-night orgies made him "odius." He also had a reputation for getting so drunk at all-male parties that he threw up into his own toga.

Even though women and soldiers loved him, Antony's biographer Adrian Goldsworthy dismisses him as a “not an especially good general” and wrote: “There is no real trace of any long-held beliefs or causes on Antony's part” beyond “glory and profit,"

Book: “Cleopatra and Antony” by Diana Preston, well-written and engaging rehashing of the story. “Antony and Cleopatra” by Adrian Goldsworthy (Yale, 2010) emphasizes the military side of their relationship.

Antony Versus Octavian

David Silverman of Reed College wrote: “As Cicero saw the situation, Antony was the more dangerous of the two (cf. the exchange between Cicero and Antony enclosed with ad Att. 14.13). He began to attack Antony in a series of speeches. These are magnificent examples of invective which he titled "Philippics" after Demosthenes' attacks on the Macedonian king. The central themes were that Antony was aiming for a dictatorship (though the title of dictator had been abolished by law at Antony's insistence), and (at least by the time of the 3rd Philippic, which was delivered on Dec. 20, 44) that the Optimates should rally behind Octavian. To this they eventually agreed, and Octavian was coopted into the Senate and granted a propraetor's imperium, while Antony came dangerously close to being declared a public enemy (App. BC 3. 8. 50-61). Legally this made Octavian subordinate to the consuls of 43, A. Hirtius and C. Vibius Pansa, whom he allowed to lead his legions to relieve Decimus Brutus at Mutina in the spring of 43. Notice what an unnatural position this was for Caesar's heir; for the moment he had the legal backing of the Senate, but his troops were being used to save one of Caesar's murderers. [Source: David Silverman, Reed College, Classics 373 ~ History 393 Class ^*^]

“Antony was defeated at Mutina, but managed to escape to Transalpine Gaul. The consul Hirtius had been killed in battle, and Pansa died soon after; this is significant because it left Octavian in sole command of the victorious legions by default (they refused to serve under Decimus Brutus). As a reward Octavian demanded the consulship, and at the same time he made it clear to the senate that he still considered Decimus Brutus, as well as M. Brutus (in Macedonia) and Cassius (in Syria) guilty as murderers, while Sextus Pompey (in Africa) would always be his enemy. For what followed this impasse Octavian himself deserves most of the blame, the low point in his career (it is not a coincidence that Livy waited until after the death of Augustus to publish books 121-140 of the Ab Urbe Condita, dealing with the years after 43 BC); Cicero and the senate were guilty only of continuing to underestimate him (cf. Cic. Ad Att. 16.14, of late November 44: Sed in isto iuvene, quamquam animi satis, auctoritatis parum est - there is in the boy, I admit, enough spirit — but not enough authority). [Source: David Silverman, Reed College, Classics 373 ~ History 393 Class ^*^]

“They took steps to return the senatorial oligarchy to power, notably with the granting of maius imperium (overall command) to Brutus and Cassius in the east. Perhaps more annoying, from Octavian's point of view, was the attempt (much of it at the urging of Cicero) to rehabilitate Sextus Pompey, who had escaped unharmed from the battles of Thapsus and Munda and continued to harass the Caesarians. The sources make much of the fact that a triumph for Mutina was awarded to Decimus Brutus (and denied to Octavian); if anything, this bit of pettiness only proves how shortsighted the senate had become, quibbling over the sort of triumph which should never have been even contemplated, much less awarded to the commander who had watched as others rescued him from Antony's encirclement. The noble tradition had been too long sullied by the celebration of victories over Roman enemies. In any case, Octavian would not wait; he marched on Rome and had himself elected consul for 42 BC (the first of 13). At 19 he was the youngest consul in the history of Rome. ^*^

Triumvirate of Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus (43 B.C.)

Octavian and Antony joined with Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate (“Group of Three”) in 43 B.C.. Octavian was able get Caesar's old soldiers behind him and win the support of the Senate. The First Triumvirate was formed by Pompey, Caesar and Crassus in 60 B.C. Octavian had broken with the senate, and had obtained a complete victory. But he was not yet ready to break with Antony, who was supported by Lepidus, especially as the two chief liberators, Brutus and Cassius, were still in control of the eastern provinces. If he had had the military genius of Caesar, he might have destroyed all their armies in detail. But the young Octavian was not inclined to overrate his military abilities. He saw that it would be for his interest to make friends with Antony and Lepidus. A coalition was therefore formed between the three leaders, usually called the “second triumvirate.” They agreed to divide the western provinces among themselves, and then to make a new division after they had driven Brutus and Cassius from the eastern provinces. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901)\~]


Second Triumvirate with Antony, Octavian and Lepidus


On how the Triumvirate was formed, Nina C. Coppolino wrote: “A feud soon developed between Octavian and Antony, Caesar's colleague as consul, who intended to gain hold of Caesar's Gallic provinces and was luring Caesar's veterans to his side. Octavian raised an army on his own. Under the terms of Caesar's will, Octavian was required to pay a legacy to the urban plebs, but Antony refused to hand over the necessary cash which Caesar's widow had given to him. In 43 B.C. at Mutina Antony was defeated by Octavian with armies given to him by the senate. Octavian was elected consul that year for the first time at the unusually young age of nineteen; he had refused to fight unless he got the consulship because he was convinced that the senate would discard him after they had used him to get rid of Antony. Finally in 43 B.C. at Bononia, Octavian made terms with Antony and Lepidus, who had alternately supported Caesar, Antony, and the senate. Together the three men formed the triumvirate, which had been initially granted absolute powers for five years. They ruthlessly proscribed 120 senators and many equestrian whose property and money were confiscated to pay troops. [Source: Nina C. Coppolino, Roman Emperors]

On the same topic, David Silverman of Reed College wrote: “Antony was able to gather his strength, drawing support from former Caesarian governors in Gaul and Spain. He descended upon Decimus Brutus a second time and destroyed him without even having to fight a battle (Decimus' troops, like those of the western provincial armies, tended to be loyal to Caesar's name). The extent to which resistance to Octavian in the senate had collapsed may be gauged by the fact that now it was the turn of Brutus and Cassius to be outlawed (App. 3. 14. 95). This was Rome as the Republic crumbled: one month you were granted a major command, the next you were public enemy number one. Octavian's next move was to meet Antony and Lepidus. The idea that the three had already struck some sort of deal is belied by the fact that all brought their legions to the meeting, which took place on a small island, i.e. a place where an ambush was impossible. [Source: David Silverman, Reed College, Classics 373 ~ History 393 Class ^*^]

“But despite the climate of mutual suspicion an agreement was made (the Second Triumvirate), soon after ratified by the popular assembly at Rome: Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus styled themselves triumviri rei publicae constituendae, or the "Board of Three for Repairing the State". Thus they borrowed part of one of Caesar's titles, while avoiding the word dictator. Of the three, Antony at this point probably had the weakest position (though many would say it was Octavian). Octavian's strength at this point is shown by the disposition. The plan was for Lepidus to have the consulship in 42 B.C., in which year Octavian would make for Greece with Antony at his side, to punish the men whose amnesty Antony himself had arranged in 44 B.C. Moreover, for the present Antony and Lepidus took up commands in Gaul, while Octavian (though nominally the proconsular governor of Africa and Sicily) was to manage things in the capital. At the beginning of 42 B.C. the Senate passed a decree declaring that Caesar had been a god, which measure certainly was in Octavian's favour, as he could and did now call himself divi filius. ^*^

“The triumvirs needed money to pay their legions, which now collectively numbered 43-45 (roughly a quarter of a million men, a legion being 5000-6000), and as always land upon which to settle them. At the same time there were potential political enemies to be got rid of. Both aims could be accomplished at once by means of proscriptions and confiscations, which were now carried out (SB I 115 = App. BC 4.2.5). The wealthy equites were the hardest hit, but the names of some 300 senators also graced the list. Among those proscribed (at Antony's insistence) was M. Tullius Cicero. ^*^

Cicero’s Attack on Antony Leads to the Second Triumvirate


Cicero’s attempt to defeat Antony by the aid of Octavian was not a successful piece of diplomacy. It resulted not only in alienating the Octavian; but worse than that, it brought about the very coalition — the Second Triumvirate — - which Cicero was trying to prevent. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

Cicero thought that everything should be done to weaken the power of Antony, and to prevent any possible coalition between him and the young Octavian. The hostility between Cicero and Antony grew to be bitter and relentless; and they were pitted against each other on the floor of the senate. But in a war of words Antony was no match for Cicero. By a series of famous speeches known as the “Philippics,” the popularity of Antony was crushed; and he retired from Rome to seek for victory upon other fields. He claimed Cisalpine Gaul as his province. But this province was still held by Decimus Brutus, one of the liberators to whom the senate looked for military support \~.

When Antony attempted to gain possession of this territory, Cicero thought he saw an opportunity to use Octavian in the interests of the senate. Accordingly Antony was declared a public enemy; Octavian was made a senator with the rank of a consul, and was authorized to conduct the war against Antony. In this war—the so-called war of Mutina (44-43 B.C. ) — Octavian was successful. As a reward for his victory he demanded of the senate that he receive a triumph and the consulship. Cicero had intended Decimus Brutus for this office, and the request of Octavian was refused. But the young heir, then twenty years of age, following the example of Caesar, enforced his claims with the sword; he took possession of the city, and obtained his election to the consulship. Octavian thus became the ruling man in Rome.

Rome Under the Second Triumvirate

The Triumvirate battled Cassius and Brutus for control of Rome during five years of civil war. After defeating the armies of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Phillipi in 42 B.C., Lepidus was stripped of his power and Octavian and Marc Antony divided the empire, with Octavian getting Italy and the west and Antony getting the east.

The Second Triumvirate was regarded as despotic and self-serving. The leaders — Octavian, Marc Antony and Lepidus — assumed the consular power for five years, with the right of appointing all magistrates. Their decrees were to have the force of law without the sanction of either the senate or the people. It is to the eternal disgrace of these men who professed to espouse the cause of Caesar, that they abandoned the humane policy of their great exemplar, and turned to the infamous policy of Marius and Sulla. Antony especially desired a proscription, as he was surrounded by thousands of personal enemies, chief among whom was Cicero, the author of the “Philippics.” Octavian was reconciled to the horrible work as a matter of policy; and Lepidus acquiesced in it as a matter of indifference. It is said that three hundred senators and two thousand equites were outlawed, and their property confiscated. The triumvirs justified their atrocious acts as a retaliation for the murder of Caesar. Many of the proscribed escaped from Italy and found a refuge with Brutus and Cassius in the East. But a large number of persons were slain. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]


death of Cicero

Plutarch wrote in “Lives”: “This triumvirate was very hateful to the Romans, and Antony most of all bore the blame, because he was older than Caesar (Octavian), and had greater authority than Lepidus, and withal he was no sooner settled in his affairs, but he turned to his luxurious and dissolute way of living. Besides the ill reputation he gained by his general behaviour, it was some considerable disadvantage to him his living in the house of Pompey the Great, who had been as much admired for his temperance and his sober, citizen-like habits of life, as ever he was for having triumphed three times. [Source: Plutarch (A.D. c.46-c.120): Life of Anthony (82-30 B.C.) For “Lives,” written A.D. 75, translated by John Dryden MIT]

“They could not without anger see the doors of that house shut against magistrates, officers, and envoys, who were shamefully refused admittance, while it was filled inside with players, jugglers, and drunken flatterers, upon whom were spent the greatest part of the wealth which violence and cruelty procured. For they did not limit themselves to the forfeiture of the estates of such as were proscribed, defrauding the widows and families, nor were they contented with laying on every possible kind of tax and imposition; but hearing that several sums of money were, as well by strangers as citizens of Rome, deposited in the hands of the vestal virgins, they went and took the money away by force. When it was manifest that nothing would ever be enough for Antony, Caesar at last called for a division of property. The army was also divided between them, upon their march into Macedonia to make war with Brutus and Cassius, Lepidus being left with the command of the city.

Suetonius wrote: “Then, forming a league with Antonius and Lepidus;” Octavian “finished the war of Philippi [42 B.C.] also in two battles, although weakened by illness, being driven from his camp in the first battle and barely making his escape by fleeing to Antonius' division. He did not use his victory with moderation, but after sending Brutus' head to Rome, to be cast at the feet of Caesar's statue, he vented his spleen upon the most distinguished of his captives, not even sparing them insulting language. For instance, to one man who begged humbly for burial, he is said to have replied: "The birds will soon settle that question." When two others, father and son, begged for their lives, he is said to have bidden them cast lots or play mora [a game still common in Italy, in which the contestants thrust out their fingers, the one naming correctly the number thrust out by his opponent being the winner], to decide which should be spared, and then to have looked on while both died, since the father was executed because he offered to die for his son, and the latter thereupon took his own life. Because of this the rest, including Marcus Favonius, the well-known imitator of Cato, saluted Antonius respectfully as Imperator when they were led out in chains, but lashed Augustus to his face with the foulest abuse. When the duties of administration were divided after the victory, Antonius undertaking to restore order in the East, and Augustus to lead the veterans back to Italy and assign them lands in the municipalities, he could neither satisfy the veterans nor the landowners, since the latter complained that they were driven from their homes, and the former that they were not being treated as their services had led them to hope. [Source: Suetonius (c.69-after 122 A.D.): “De Vita Caesarum--Divus Augustus” (“The Lives of the Caesars--The Deified Augustus”), written A.D. c. 110, “Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum,” 2 Vols., trans. J. C. Rolfe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1920), pp. 123-287]

“When Lucius Antonius at this juncture [41 B.C.] attempted a revolution, relying on his position as consul and his brother's power, he forced him to take refuge in Perusia, and starved him into surrender, not, however, without great personal danger both before and during the war. For at an exhibition of games, when he had given orders that a common soldier who was sitting in the fourteen rows be put out by an attendant, the report was spread by his detractors that he had had the man killed later and tortured as well; whereupon he all but lost his life in a furious mob of soldiers, owing his escape to the sudden appearance of the missing man safe and sound. Again, when he was sacrificing near the walls of Perusia, he was well nigh cut off by a band of gladiators, who had made a sally from the town.

“After the capture of Perusia [40 B.C.] he took vengeance on many, meeting all attempts to beg for pardon or to make excuses with the one reply, "You must die." Some write that three hundred men of both orders were selected from the prisoners of war and sacrificed on the Ides of March like so many victims at the altar raised to the Deified Julius. Some have written that he took up arms of a set purpose, to unmask his secret opponents and those whom fear rather than good-will kept faithful to him, by giving them the chance to follow the lead of Lucius Antonius; and then by vanquishing them and confiscating their estates to pay the rewards promised to his veterans.”

Murder of Cicero

Cicero had a bit of a swan song after Caesar assassination when he placed himself at the head of the Republican party and denounced Marc Antony in a series of famous speech called the “Philippics." When Antony became leader he had Cicero executed for these speeches. According to Plutarch Cicero was taken by a death squad as he attempted to flee to Macedonia. His head and hands were cut off displayed in the Forum, where Antony's wife Fulvia — who Cicero said Antony married for her money — used her hairpins to pierce the tongue of the man who so caustically denounced her husband.

José Miguel Baños wrote in National Geographic History: Cicero was at his villa in Tusculum with his brother Quintus when he found out that they were both on the “hit list.” Fearing for their lives, they left for the villa in Astura, from there intending to sail to Macedonia and be reunited with Marcus Brutus. But at one point, Quintus retraced his steps in order to pick up provisions for the journey. Betrayed by his slaves, Quintus was killed a few days later along with his son. [Source José Miguel Baños, National Geographic History, February 26, 2019]

Too hesitant. Too late. Realizing that Antony’s soldiers were about to catch up with him, Cicero headed through the forest toward the port of Gaeta from where he hoped to escape. The soldiers, led by Herennius, a centurion, and Popilius, a tribune, who had once been prosecuted for parricide and defended by Cicero, found his villa already abandoned but a slave called Philologus showed them which way Cicero had gone. They had no trouble catching up with him and performing their murderous deed.

The second-century A.D. historian Appian wrote: As he leaned out of the litter and offered his neck unmoved, his head was cut off. Nor did this satisfy the senseless cruelty of the soldiers. They cut off his hands, also, for the offense of having written something against Antony. Thus, the head was brought to Antony and placed by his order between the two hands on the rostra, where, often as consul, often as a consular, and, that very year against Antony, he had been heard with admiration of his eloquence, the like of which no other human voice ever uttered.”


Marc Antony gives Cicero's head to Fulvia


Civil Wars After Caesar’s Death

Suetonius wrote: “ The civil wars which he waged were five, called by the names of Mutina, Philippi, Perusia, Sicily, and Actium; the first and last of these were against Marcus Antonius, the second against Brutus and Cassius, the third against Lucius Antonius, brother of the triumvir, and the fourth against Sextus Pompeius, son of Gnaeus. [Source: Suetonius (c.69-after 122 A.D.): “De Vita Caesarum — Divus Augustus” (“The Lives of the Caesars — The Deified Augustus”), written A.D. c. 110, “Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum,” 2 Vols., trans. J. C. Rolfe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1920), pp. 123-287]

“The initial reason for all these wars was this: since he considered nothing more incumbent on him than to avenge his uncle's death and maintain the validity of his enactments, immediately on returning from A pollonia he resolved to surprise Brutus and Cassius by taking up arms against them; and when they foresaw the danger and fled, to resort to law and prosecute them for murder in their absence. Furthermore, since those who had been appointed to celebrate Caesar's victory by games did not dare to do so, he gave them himself. To be able to carry out his other plans with more authority, he announced his candidature for the position of one of the tribunes of the people, who happened to die; though he was a patrician, and not yet a senator [Since the time of Sulla only senators were eligible for the position of tribune]. But when his designs were opposed by Marcus Antonius, who was then consul, and on whose help he had especially counted, and Antonius would not allow him even common and ordinary justice without the promise of a heavy bribe, he went over to the aristocrats, who he knew detested Antonius, especially because he was besieging Decimus Brutus at Mutina, and trying to drive him by force of arms from the province given him by Caesar and ratified by the Senate. Accordingly, at the advice of certain men, he hired assassins to kill Antonius, and when the plot was discovered, fearing retaliation he mustered veterans, by the use of all the money he could command, both for his own protection and that of the State. Put in command of the army which he had raised, with the rank of propraetor, and bidden to join with Hirtius and Pansa, who had become consuls, in lending aid to Decimus Brutus, he finished the war which had been entrusted to him within three months in two battles. In the former of these, so Antonius writes, he took to flight and was not seen again until the next day, when he returned without his cloak and his horse; but in that which followed all agree that he played the part not only of a leader, but of a soldier as well, and that, in the thick of the fight, when the eagle-bearer of his legion was sorely wounded, he shouldered the eagle and carried it for some time.

“As Hirtius lost his life in battle during this war, and Pansa shortly afterwards from a wound, the rumor spread that he had caused the death of both, in order that after Antonius had been put to flight and the state bereft of its consuls, he might gain sole control of the victorious armies. The circumstances of Pansa's death in particular were so suspicious, that the physician Glyco was imprisoned on the charge of having applied poison to his wound. Aquilius Niger adds to this that Augustus himself slew the other consul Hirtius amid the confusion of the battle.

“But when he learned that Antonius after his flight had found a protector in Marcus Lepidus, and that the rest of the leaders and armies were coming to terms with them, he abandoned the cause of the nobles without hesitation, alleging as a pretext for his change of allegiance the words and acts of certain of their number, asserting that some had called him a boy, while others had openly said that he ought to be honoured and got rid of, to escape the necessity of making suitable recompense to him or to his veterans. To show more plainly that he regretted his connection with the former party, he imposed a heavy fine on the people of Nursia and banished them from their city when they were unable to pay it, because they had at public expense erected a monument to their citizens who were slain in the battles at Mutina and inscribed upon it: "they fell for liberty."

Battle of Philippi (42 B.C.): Defeat of Brutus and Cassius


Battle of Philippi

The Triumvirate battled Cassius and Brutus, the murderers of Caesar, for control of Rome during a of civil war. In 42 B.C. Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius, in two battles at Philippi in Macedonia; the credit went to Antony because Octavian was ill during the fighting. On the ostensibly Republican side, only Sextus Pompey survived with a fleet, and Domitius Ahenobarbus with the fleet of Brutus and Cassius. After the Battle of Phillipi Lepidus was stripped of his power and Octavian and Marc Antony divided the empire, with Octavian getting Italy and the west and Antony getting the east.

After Cicero and other enemies were murdered at home, the triumvirs set their sights on were now prepared to crush their enemies abroad. There were three of these enemies whom they were obliged to meet—Brutus and Cassius, who had united their forces in the East; and Sextus Pompeius, who had got possession of the island of Sicily, and had under his command a powerful fleet. While Lepidus remained at Rome, Antony and Octavian invaded Greece with an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men. Against them the two liberators, Brutus and Cassius, collected an army of eighty thousand men. The hostile forces met near Philippi (42 B.C.), a town in Macedonia on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea. Octavian was opposed to Brutus, and Antony to Cassius. Octavian was driven back by Brutus, while Antony, more fortunate, drove back the wing commanded by Cassius. As Cassius saw his flying legions, he thought that all was lost, and stabbed himself with the same dagger, it is said, with which he struck Caesar. This left Brutus in sole command of the opposing army; but he also was defeated in a second battle, and, following the example of Cassius, committed suicide. The double battle at Philippi decided the fate of the republic. As Cicero was its last political champion, Brutus and Cassius were its last military defenders; and with their death we may say that the republic was at an end. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

David Silverman of Reed College wrote: “In Asia Brutus and Cassius had joined up, using the force of their erstwhile imperium to extort money from the provinces, and (after they were outlawed) declaring themselves a sort of government in exile (marked by their minting of coins). In 42 Antony and Octavian met Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in Macedonia; in the first battle, Antony defeated Cassius while Octavian's wing suffered at the hands of Brutus; but a few weeks later Brutus too was rolled up. [Source: David Silverman, Reed College, Classics 373 ~ History 393 Class ^*^]

“Antony was able to gather his strength, drawing support from former Caesarian governors in Gaul and Spain. He descended upon Decimus Brutus a second time and destroyed him without even having to fight a battle (Decimus' troops, like those of the western provincial armies, tended to be loyal to Caesar's name). The extent to which resistance to Octavian in the senate had collapsed may be gauged by the fact that now it was the turn of Brutus and Cassius to be outlawed (App. 3. 14. 95). This was Rome as the Republic crumbled: one month you were granted a major command, the next you were public enemy number one. Octavian's next move was to meet Antony and Lepidus. The idea that the three had already struck some sort of deal is belied by the fact that all brought their legions to the meeting, which took place on a small island, i.e. a place where an ambush was impossible. ^*^


Mark Antony and Octavia coin

Plutarch wrote in “Lives”: “However, after they had crossed the sea and engaged in operations of war, encamping in front of the enemy, Antony opposite Cassius, and Caesar opposite Brutus, Caesar did nothing worth relating, and all the success and victory were Antony's. In the first battle, Caesar was completely routed by Brutus, his camp taken, he himself very narrowly escaping by flight. As he himself writes in his Memoirs, he retired before the battle, on account of a dream which one of his friends had. But Antony, on the other hand, defeated Cassius; though some have written that he was not actually present in the engagement, and only joined afterwards in the pursuit. Cassius was killed, at his own entreaty and order, by one of his most trusted freedmen, Pindarus, not being aware of Brutus's victory. [Source: Plutarch (A.D. c.46-c.120): Life of Anthony (82-30 B.C.) For “Lives,” written A.D. 75, translated by John Dryden MIT]

“After a few days' interval, they fought another battle, in which Brutus lost the day, and slew himself; and Caesar being sick, Antony had almost all the honour of the victory. Standing over Brutus's dead body, he uttered a few words of reproach upon him for the death of his brother Caius, who had been executed by Brutus's order in Macedonia in revenge of Cicero; but, saying presently that Hortensius was most to blame for it, he gave order for his being slain upon his brother's tomb, and, throwing his own scarlet mantle, which was of great value, upon the body of Brutus, he gave charge to one of his own freedmen to take care of his funeral. This man, as Antony came to understand, did not leave the mantle with the corpse, but kept both it and a good part of the money that should have been spent in the funeral for himself; for which he had him put to death.

After the Battle of Philippi:Division of the Provinces Between Antony and Octavian

After defeating the armies of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Phillipi in 42 B.C., Lepidus was stripped of his power and Octavian and Marc Antony divided the empire, with Octavian getting Italy and the west (though formally his province was Spain, Sardinia, and Africa) and Antony getting the east (though formally Gaul continued to be his province) . Mark Anthony and Octavian, shared power for ten years until Octavian declared war on Antony's lover's Cleopatra.

After the republic was overthrown in 42 B.C., the main question was who would be the master of the new empire, Antony or Octavian. Lepidus, although ambitious, was too weak and vacillating to be dangerous. The triumvirs were growing to be envious of each other; but they contrived to smother their jealousy, and made a new division of the empire. Lepidus was accused of giving aid to the only remaining enemy of the triumvirs, that is, Sextus Pompeius. If he could prove himself innocent of the charge, he was to be given the small province of Africa. The real work of the triumvirate was to be done by Antony and Octavian. Antony was to take control of the eastern provinces, and to push the Roman conquests if possible into Parthia. Octavian was to preserve the peace of Italy and the western provinces, and to destroy the fleet of Sextus Pompeius, which was seriously interfering with Roman commerce. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

David Silverman of Reed College wrote: “Now the need for land became acute, since Octavian and Antony had disbanded all but 11 of their legions after Philippi. To keep them under arms, of course, would have been prohibitively expensive. As the representative of the triumvirs at Rome it fell to Octavian to handle this task. Did Antony choose wisely? On the one hand, leaving Octavian at Rome meant that he, Antony, could not exercise close control of the Senate and risked becoming yet again a public enemy; also, those veterans who received allotments of land would tend for the future to be loyal to the one who provided the allotment. On the other hand, Antony knew that to settle a hundred thousand veterans many would have to be displaced, which could do much to undermine Octavian's popularity; also, as the fundraising success of Cassius and Brutus had recently demonstrated, the eastern provinces offered the best opportunity for accumulating vast amounts of cash. [Source: David Silverman, Reed College, Classics 373 ~ History 393 Class ^*^]

“Some sense of the helplessness felt by the dispossessed farmers of Italy may be had from Virgil's first Eclogue, where the farmer Meliboeus laments:
Tityrus, you hymn the sylvan Muse on your slender reed-pipe,
reclining in the shade of a spreading beech-wood tree,
but I am leaving my sweet fields and the borders of the fatherland. (1-3)
Some impious soldier shall have these new-ploughed fields,
so carefully cultivated, and some foreigner shall have my crops.
Look, to such a pass civil discord has brought us, wretches!
For these men we sowed our fields. (70-73) ^*^

“Nor was the discontent confined to poets such as Virgil (who managed to find a wealthy patron and became an admirer of Augustus). In 41 B.C. Octavian had to put down an uprising in Italy fueled by hatred for the new measures, and led by L. Antonius and Fulvia, respectively the brother and wife of Antony. The outcome, in which Octavian slaughtered the leading citizens of Perusia (where the rebels were besieged), left an indelible stain on his record, especially since his clementia was a major plank in his political propaganda


Octavian's west


Octavian in the West

Octavian proceeded to secure his position in the West by means of force and craft. He first put down an insurrection incited by the partisans of Antony. The young conqueror won the affections of the people, and tried to show them that peace and prosperity could come only through his influence. The next thing was to dispose of Sextus Pompeius and his hostile fleet. With the help of his friend and able general, Agrippa, and with the aid of a hundred ships lent him by Antony, Octavian destroyed the forces of Pompeius. The defeated general fled to the East, and was killed by the soldiers of Antony. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]

Octavian was then called upon to deal with a treacherous friend. This was the weak and ambitious Lepidus, who with twenty legions thought that he could defeat Octavian and become the chief man of Rome. But Octavian did not think the emergency grave enough to declare war. He defeated Lepidus without a battle. Unarmed and almost unattended he entered his rival’s camp, and made an eloquent appeal to the soldiers. The whole army of Lepidus deserted to Octavian. Lepidus was deposed from his position as triumvir, but was generously allowed to retain the office of pontifex maximus on condition of remaining quiet. By the use of force and diplomacy Octavian thus baffled all his foes in the West, and he and Antony were now the undisputed rulers of the Roman world.

Nina C. Coppolino wrote: “In the division of provinces and duties after Philippi, Antony got the potential wealth and glory of the East, and Octavian got the difficult task of settling veterans in Italy by confiscating property, since there was no money yet to buy it. He faced protest at home and the starvation of Rome by Sextus Pompey, who was blockading grain ships in Sicily. In 40 Antony married Octavian's sister Octavia. In that year at Perusia Octavian fought and defeated Antony's brother, Lucius, who had objected to Octavian's receiving credit for settling troops in Italy before Antony returned from the East. Though Lucius was pardoned, others of Octavian's enemies and the town council of Perusia were executed. Octavian tried to win the support of Sextus Pompey and his fleet by marrying Pompey's aunt, Scribonia, in what was now Octavian's third and penultimate match, producing his only daughter, Julia. Pompey, however, sided with Antony who was vexed at the Perusine episode and since 42 was spending winters in Egypt with Cleopatra. In the autumn of 40 at Brundisium, Octavian confronted Antony and the combined fleets of Pompey and Ahenobarbus, but instead of hostilities they agreed to a pact; they declared Antony's the Greek-speaking provinces east of Macedonia, and Octavian's the Latin-speaking provinces west of Illyricum, while Lepidus remained in Africa, and Pompey initially got nothing and continued to blockade Italy. [Source: Nina C. Coppolino, Roman Emperors ]

Antony in the East

While everything in the West was turning in favor of Octavian, all things in the East were also contributing to his success. But this was due not so much to his own skill as to the weakness and folly of Antony. Octavian had tried to cement the league of the triumvirs by giving his sister Octavia to Antony in marriage. But Antony soon grew tired of Octavia, and became fascinated by Cleopatra, the “Serpent of the Nile.” His time was divided between campaigns in Parthia and dissipations in Egypt. His Parthian wars turned out to be failures; and his Egyptian entanglements resulted in his ruin. He aspired to the position of an Oriental monarch. He divided the Roman provinces with Cleopatra, who was called “the queen of kings.” The Roman people were shocked when he desired his disgraceful acts to be confirmed by the senate. They could not help contrasting this weak and infatuated slave of Cleopatra with their own Octavian, the strong and prudent governor of the West. While Octavian was growing in popularity, Antony was thus becoming more and more an object of detestation. [Source: “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) \~]


Marc Antony's east


David Silverman of Reed College wrote: “In 40 Antony returned from the East, where his main accomplishment had been to allow himself to be seduced by Cleopatra. Further conflict between him and Octavian in Italy was narrowly averted through the intervention of Maecenas (Virgil's patron) and Asinius Pollio; from Horace we have an account of the trip to Brundisium, where the mediation took place (Hor. Serm. 1.5). Octavian and Antony reaffirmed their alliance and cemented it with the marriage of Antony to Octavia, sister of the future princeps. For a brief period in 39 it appeared that Sextus Pompey, who was in command of the remnants of the resistance to J. Caesar, and whose power was based in a large fleet dominating the western Mediterranean, would be coopted into the alliance. Lepidus and (to a lesser extent) Antony probably supported his claim, and Octavian at first pretended to go along, though he still clung to the principle that any enemy of Caesar was an enemy of his. Octavian soon found a pretext to attack Sextus Pompey, and although he suffered substantial losses at sea, he and his admiral M. Vipsanius Agrippa finally beat Sextus in 36. Lepidus took the opportunity to make a power grab, but his men were unwilling to fight for him, and Octavian now finally eased Lepidus out of the triumvirate. [Source: David Silverman, Reed College, Classics 373 ~ History 393 Class ^*^]

Rupture Between Octavian and Antony

Suetonius wrote: At Octavian he broke off his alliance with Marcus Antonius, which was always doubtful and uncertain, and with difficulty kept alive by various reconciliations; and the better to show that his rival had fallen away from conduct becoming a citizen, he had the will which Antonius had left in Rome, naming his children by Cleopatra among his heirs, opened and read before the people. But when Antonius was declared a public enemy, he sent back to him all his kinsfolk and friends, among others Gaius Sosius and Titus Domitius, who were still consuls at the time. He also excused the community of Bononia from joining in the rally of all Italy to his standards, since they had been from ancient days dependents of the Antonii. Not long afterwards [31 B.C.] he won the sea-fight at Actium, where the contest continued to so late an hour that the victor passed the night on board. Having gone into winter quarters at Samos after Actium, he was disturbed by the news of a mutiny of the troops that he had selected from every division of his army and sent on to Brundisium after the victory, who demanded their rewards and discharge; and on his way back to Italy he twice encountered storms at sea, first between the headlands of the Peloponnesus and Aetolia, and again off the Ceraunian mountains. In both places a part of his galleys were sunk, while the rigging of the ship in which he was sailing was carried away and its rudder broken. He delayed at Brundisium only twenty-seven days — just long enough to satisfy all the demands of the soldiers — and then went to Egypt by a roundabout way through Asia and Syria, laid siege to Alexandria, where Antonius had taken refuge with Cleopatra, and soon took the city. [Source: Suetonius (c.69-after 122 A.D.): “De Vita Caesarum — Divus Augustus” (“The Lives of the Caesars — The Deified Augustus”), written A.D. c. 110, “Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum,” 2 Vols., trans. J. C. Rolfe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1920), pp. 123-287]

“Although Antonius tried to make terms at the eleventh hour, Augustus forced him to commit suicide, and viewed his corpse. He greatly desired to save Cleopatra alive for his triumph, and even had Psylli brought to her, to suck the poison from her wound, since it was thought that she died from the bite of an asp. He allowed them both the honour of burial, and in the same tomb, giving orders that the mausoleum which they had begun should be finished. The young Antonius, the elder of Fulvia's two sons, he dragged from the image of the Deified Julius, to which he had fled after many vain entreaties, and slew him. Caesarion, too, whom Cleopatra fathered on Caesar, he overtook in his flight, brought back, and put to death. But he spared the rest of the offspring of Antonius and Cleopatra, and afterwards maintained and reared them according to their several positions, as carefully as if they were his own kin.

“About this time he had the sarcophagus and body of Alexander the Great brought forth from its shrine, and after gazing on it, showed his respect by placing upon it a golden crown and strewing it with flowers; and being then asked whether he wished to see the tomb of the Ptolemies as well, he replied, "My wish was to see a king, not corpses." He reduced Egypt to the form of a province, and then to make it more fruitful and better adapted to supply the city with grain, he set his soldiers at work cleaning out all the canals into which the Nile overflows, which in the course of many years had become choked with mud. To extend the fame of his victory at Actium and perpetuate its memory, he founded a city called Nicopolis near Actium, and provided for the celebration of games there every five years; enlarged the ancient temple of Apollo; and after adorning the site of the camp which he had occupied with naval trophies, consecrated it to Neptune and Mars.

“After this he nipped in the bud at various times several outbreaks, attempts at revolution, and conspiracies, which were betrayed before they became formidable. The ringleaders were, first the young Lepidus, then Varro Murena and Fannius Caepio, later Marcus Egnatius, next Plautius Rufus and Lucius Paulus, husband of the emperor's granddaughter, and besides these Lucius Audasius, who had been charged with forgery, and was moreover old and feeble; alsoAsinius Epicadus, a half-breed of Parthian descent, and finally Telephus, slave and page [the nomenclator was a slave whose duty it was to remind his master, or mistress, of the names of persons] of a woman; for even men of the lowest condition conspired against him and imperilled his safety. Audasius and Epicadus had planned to take his daughter Julia and his grandson Agrippa by force to the armies from the islands where they were confined, Telephus to set upon both Augustus and the Senate, under the delusion that he himself was destined for empire. Even a soldier's servant from the army in Illyricum, who had escaped the vigilance of the door-keepers, was caught at night near the emperor's bed-room, armed with a hunting knife; but whether the fellow was crazy or feigned madness is a question, since nothing could be wrung from him by torture.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) ; “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932); BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history/ ; Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, The New Yorker, Wikipedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia.com and various other books, websites and publications.

Last updated October 2024


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