B.C. Y.R. 711 for his own, and that then he would join forces with 43 Octavius. - to cross 97. Such were the letters which they exchanged with each other. While pursuing Decimus, Antony was joined by Asinius Pollio with two legions. Asinius also brought about an arrangement with Plancus, by virtue of which the latter passed over to Antony with three legions, so that Antony now had much the strongest force. Decimus had ten legions, of whom four, the most experienced in war, had suffered severely from famine and were still enfeebled. The other six were new levies, still untrained and unaccustomed to their labors. As he despaired of fighting, he decided to flee to Marcus Brutus in Macedonia. He retreated not by the higher Alps, but toward Ravenna and Aquileia. Since Cæsar had travelled by this route, Decimus proposed another longer and more difficult one the Rhine and traverse the wild country of barbarian tribes. Thereupon the new levies, bewildered and fatigued, were the first to desert him and join Octavius. After them the four older legions joined Antony, and the auxiliaries did the same, except a body-guard of Gallic horse. Then Decimus allowed those who wished to do so to return to their own homes, and, after distributing among them the gold he had with him, proceeded toward the Rhine with 300 followers, the only ones who remained. As it was difficult to cross the river with so few, he was now abandoned by all the others except ten. He put on Gallic clothing, and, as he was acquainted with the language, he proceeded on his journey with these, passing himself off as a Gaul. He no longer followed the longer route, but went toward Aquileia, thinking that he should escape notice by reason of the smallness of his force.1 98. Having been captured by robbers and bound, he asked them who was the chief of this Gallic tribe. He was informed that it was Camillus, a man to whom he had done many favors. So he told them to bring him to Camillus. When the latter saw him led in, he greeted him in a friendly way in public, and scolded those who had bound him, for putting an indignity on so great a man through ignorance; 1 Appian's geography is much in need of amendment. It is impossible to trace the route taken by Decimus from this description. Y.R. 711 B. C. but he sent word to Antony secretly. Antony was some- 43 what touched by this change of fortune, and was not willing to see Decimus, but he ordered Camillus to kill him and send his head to himself.1 When he saw the head he ordered his attendants to bury it. Such was the end of Decimus, who had been Cæsar's præfect of horse and had governed Farther Gaul under him and had been designated by him for the consulship the coming year and for the governorship of Hither Gaul. He was the next of the murderers after Trebonius to meet punishment, within a year and a half of the assassination. About the same time Minucius Basilus, another of Cæsar's murderers, was killed by his slaves, some of whom he was castrating by way of punishment. APPENDIX Antony to Hirtius and Octavius [From the 13th Philippic of Cicero] WHEN I heard of the death of Trebonius I was both glad and sorry. It rejoiced me to know that a wretch had paid the penalty due to the ashes and bones of the most illustrious of men, and that the vengeance of the gods had overtaken him within the term of the revolving year, and that punishment for the parricidal act is either accomplished or impending. I mourn that Dolabella was voted an enemy 1 Velleius (ii. 64) gives a somewhat different account of the death of Decimus. "Decimus Brutus," he says, "deserted first by Plancus and afterwards plotted against by him, seeing his army melting away, took to flight and accepted the hospitality of a nobleman named Camelus, in whose house he was found by Antony's emissaries and slain." The Epitome of Livy (cxx.) says that Decimus was put to death by Capenas Sequanus by order of Antony, into whose hands he had fallen. 2 Tŷs maλaiâs KeλTIS; “older Gaul," which, as Appian himself tells us in iv. 2, infra, means that part of Transalpine Gaul which was held by the Romans before Caesar's conquests. Yet we know from ii. 111, supra, that the whole of Transalpine Gaul was placed in charge of Decimus Brutus by Cæsar just before he embarked for Africa. These facts make it almost certain that the original text was Tepalas instead οἱ παλαιᾶς. VOL. II-U Y.R. B. C. 711 as soon as he had put the assassin to death, and that the 43 son of a buffoon should seem dearer to the Roman people than Gaius Cæsar, the father of his country. Most grievous is it that you, Aulus Hirtius, loaded as you are with Cæsar's benefactions, and left by him in a condition that must be a surprise to yourself, and you, O boy, who owe everything to his name, should so conduct yourselves that Dolabella should be condemned by law, and this pest [Decimus Brutus] delivered from siege, and Brutus and Cassius strengthened as much as possible. You look upon the present state of things too much as you have viewed the past. You call Pompey's camp the Senate. You have taken the vanquished Cicero for a leader. You are strengthening Macedonia with armies. You have placed Africa in charge of Varus, who was twice taken prisoner. You have sent Cassius into Syria. You have allowed Casca to hold the tribuneship. You have taken away the revenues of the Luperci assigned to them by Cæsar. You have abolished the colonies of veterans established by law and senatus consultum. You promise to restore to the Massilians what was taken from them by the law of war. Do you forget that under the law of Hirtius no Pompeian who lives can hold office? You have supplied Brutus with the money of Apuleius. You applauded the execution of Pætus and Menedemus, Cæsar's hosts, who had been given the citizenship by him. You took no notice of Theopompus when he was stripped and driven out by Trebonius and fled to Alexandria. You tolerate Servius Galba in your camp girded with the same dagger [with which he stabbed Cæsar]. You have enlisted my soldiers and the veterans under pretence of exterminating those who killed Cæsar, and have hurled them, in ignorance of what they were doing, against their quæstor, their general, their comrades. In short, what have you not approved of, what have you not done, that Pompey himself would do if he could come to life, or his son if he were at home? Finally, you say that peace is not possible unless I let Brutus go free or supply him with corn. What? Is this the opinion of those veterans who can still choose their own course? Since you have sold yourselves for adulation and poisoned gifts, But you say you are bringing aid to beleaguered soldiers. will not hinder them from escaping and going where they I Y.R. B. C. 711 please if they will let that man perish who has deserved to 43 perish. You write me that mention has been made of peace in the Senate, and of five ambassadors of consular rank. It is hard to believe that those who drove me headlong when I offered the fairest conditions, and was even thinking of abating some part of them, can contemplate any moderate or humane act. It is hardly probable that those who voted Dolabella an enemy for his most righteous deed could spare me, who hold the same sentiments with him. Wherefore you ought rather to reflect whether it is more fitting, and more useful to our party, to avenge the death of Trebonius or that of Cæsar, and whether it is more equitable for us to compete with each other in bringing to life the cause of Pompey that has so often had its throat cut, or to combine, so that we be not a laughing-stock to our enemies, who will be the gainers whichever of us shall fall. Fortune itself has thus far shunned that spectacle, that it might not behold two armies belonging to one body fighting each other, with Cicero for trainer, who is a happy man in so far as he can deceive you with the same compliments with which he boasted that he deceived Cæsar. I am resolved to endure no affront either to myself or to my friends, nor to desert the party that Pompey hated, nor to allow the veterans to be moved from their settlements or be put to the torture one by one; nor shall I come short of the faith I pledged to Dolabella, nor violate my alliance with Lepidus, that most conscientious man, nor betray Plancus, the partner of my counsels. If the immortal gods aid me, as I hope, in my righteous course, I shall be glad to live; but if another fate awaits me I shall enjoy your punishment in advance, for if the Pompeians are so insolent when vanquished, what they will be when victorious you will learn by experience rather than myself. Finally, the sum and substance of my decision is this, I can bear the injuries that my friends have done me if they are willing to forget that they have done them, or if they are ready to join me in avenging Cæsar's death. I do not believe that ambassadors are coming to the theatre of war. they demand.1 When they do come I shall know what 1 Cicero said that the only answer made by Hirtius and Octavius to this letter was to move nearer to Antony's works. (Phil. xiii. 20.) Y.R. BOOK IV THE CIVIL WARS (CONTINUED) CHAPTER I Reconciliation of Octavius and Antony - The New Triumvirate of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus - Plunder of Italy promised to Soldiers Fearful Prodigies at Rome B.C. 711 I. THUS was punishment visited upon two of Cæsar's 43 murderers, who were conquered in their own provinces, Trebonius in Asia and Decimus Brutus in Gaul. How vengeance overtook Cassius and Marcus Brutus, who were the principal leaders in the conspiracy against Cæsar, and who controlled the territory from Syria to Macedonia, and had large forces of cavalry and sailors, and more than twenty legions of infantry, together with ships and money, this fourth book of the Civil Wars will show. During the progress of these events came the pursuit and capture of the proscribed in Rome and the sufferings consequent thereon, the like of which cannot be recalled among the civil commotions or wars of the Greeks, or those of the Romans themselves save only in the time of Sulla, who was the first to put his enemies on a proscription list. Marius searched for his and punished those whom he found, but Sulla proclaimed large rewards to persons who should kill the proscribed and severe punishment to those who should conceal them. But what took place in the time of Marius and Sulla I have previously narrated in the history relating to them. The following events came next in order. 2. Octavius and Antony composed their differences on a small, gradually sloping islet in the river Lavinius, near the city of Mutina. Each had five legions of soldiers whom they stationed opposite each other, after which each proceeded with 300 men to the bridges over the river. Lepidus 292 |