make up his mind to leave Italy, and put to land at Circeii. After
further hesitation he again embarked, and again sought the Italian shore
near Formiae. For the night he stayed at his villa near that place, and
next morning would not move, exclaiming: "Let me die in my own
country--that country which I have so often saved." But his faithful
slaves forced him into a litter and carried him again toward the coast.
Scarcely were they gone when a band of Antony's bloodhounds reached his
villa, and were put upon the track of their victim by a young man who
owed everything to the Ciceros. The old orator from his litter saw the
pursuers coming up. His own followers were strong enough to have made
resistance, but he desired them to set the litter down. Then, raising
himself on his elbow, he calmly waited for the ruffians and offered his
neck to the sword. He was soon despatched. The chief of the band, by
Antony's express orders, hewed off the head and hands and carried them
to Rome. Fulvia, the widow of Clodius and now the wife of Antony, drove
her hairpin through the tongue which had denounced the iniquities of
both her husbands. The head which had given birth to the _Second
Philippic_, and the hands which had written it, were nailed to the
Rostra, the home of their eloquence. The sight and the associations
raised feelings of horror and pity in every heart. Cicero died in his
sixty-fourth year.
Brutus and Cassius left Italy in the autumn of B.C. 44 and repaired to
the provinces which had been allotted to them, though by Antony's
influence the senate had transferred Macedonia from Brutus to his own
brother Caius, and Syria from Cassius to Dolabella. C. Antonius was
already in possession of parts of Macedonia; but Brutus succeeded in
dislodging him. Meanwhile Cassius, already well known in Syria for his
successful conduct of the Parthian War, had established himself in that
province before he heard of the approach of Dolabella. This worthless
man left Italy about the same time as Brutus and Cassius, and at the
head of several legions marched without opposition through Macedonia
into Asia Minor. Here C. Trebonius had already arrived. But he was
unable to cope with Dolabella; and the latter surprised him and took him
prisoner at Smyrna. He was put to death with unseemly contumely in
Dolabella's presence. This was in February, 43; and thus two of Cæsar's
murderers, in less than a year's time, felt the blow of retributive
justice. When the news of this piece of butchery reached Rome, Cicero,
believing that Octavian was a puppet in his hands, was ruling Rome by
the eloquence of his _Philippics_. On his motion Dolabella was declared
a public enemy.[81] Cassius lost no time in marching his legions into
Asia, to execute the behest of the senate, though he had been
dispossessed of his province by the senate itself. Dolabella threw
himself into Laodicea, where he sought a voluntary death.
[Footnote 81: He had divorced Tullia, the orator's daughter, before he
left Italy.]
By the end of B.C. 43, therefore, the whole of the East was in the hands
of Brutus and Cassius. But instead of making preparations for war with
Antony, the two commanders spent the early part of the year 42 in
plundering the miserable cities of Asia Minor. Brutus demanded men and
money of the Lycians; and, when they refused, he laid siege to Xanthus,
their principal city. The Xanthians made the same brave resistance which
they had offered five hundred years before to the Persian invaders. They
burned their city and put themselves to death rather than submit. Brutus
wept over their fate and abstained from further exactions. But Cassius
showed less moderation; from the Rhodians alone, though they were allies
of Rome, he demanded all their precious metals. After this campaign of
plunder, the two chiefs met at Sardis and renewed the altercations which
Cicero had deplored in Italy. It is probable that war might have broken
out between them had not the preparations of the triumvirs waked them
from their dream of security. It was as he was passing over into Europe
that Brutus, who continued his studious habits amid all disquietudes,
and limited his time of sleep to a period too small for the requirements
of health, was dispirited by the vision which Shakespeare, after
Plutarch, has made famous. It was no doubt the result of a diseased
frame, though it was universally held to be a divine visitation. As he
sat in his tent in the dead of night, he thought a huge and shadowy form
stood by him; and when he calmly asked, "What and whence art thou?" it
answered, or seemed to answer: "I am thine evil genius, Brutus: we shall
meet again at Philippi."
Meantime Antony's lieutenants had crossed the Ionian Sea and penetrated
without opposition into Thrace. The republican leaders found them at
Philippi. The army of Brutus and Cassius amounted to at least eighty
thousand infantry, supported by twenty thousand horse; but they were
ill-supplied with experienced officers. For M. Valerius Messalla, a
young man of twenty-eight, held the chief command after Brutus and
Cassius; and Horace, who was but three-and-twenty, the son of a
freedman, and a youth of feeble constitution, was appointed a legionary
tribune. The forces opposed to them would have been at once overpowered
had not Antony himself opportunely arrived with the second corps of the
triumviral army. Octavian was detained by illness at Dyrrhachium, but he
ordered himself to be carried on a litter to join his legions. The army
of the triumvirs was now superior to the enemy; but their cavalry,
counting only thirteen thousand, was considerably weaker than the force
opposed to it. The republicans were strongly posted upon two hills, with
intrenchments between: the camp of Cassius upon the left next the sea,
that of Brutus inland on the right. The triumviral army lay upon the
open plain before them, in a position rendered unhealthy by marshes;
Antony, on the right, was opposed to Cassius; Octavian, on the left,
fronted Brutus. But they were ill-supplied with provisions and anxious
for a decisive battle. The republicans, however, kept to their
intrenchments, and the other party began to suffer severely from famine.
Determined to bring on an action, Antony began works for the purpose of
cutting off Cassius from the sea. Cassius had always opposed a general
action, but Brutus insisted on putting an end to the suspense, and his
colleague yielded. The day of the attack was probably in October. Brutus
attacked Octavian's army, while Cassius assaulted the working parties of
Antony. Cassius' assault was beaten back with loss, but he succeeded in
regaining his camp in safety. Meanwhile, Messalla, who commanded the
right wing of Brutus' army, had defeated the host of Octavian, who was
still too ill to appear on the field, and the republican soldiers
penetrated into the triumvirs' camp. Presently his litter was brought in
stained with blood, and the corpse of a young man found near it was
supposed to be Octavian's. But Brutus, not receiving any tidings of the
movements of Cassius, became so anxious for his fate that he sent off a
party of horse to make inquiries, and neglected to support the
successful assaults of Messalla.
Cassius, on his part, discouraged at his ill-success, was unable to
ascertain the progress of Brutus. When he saw the party of horse he
hastily concluded that they belonged to the enemy, and retired into his
tent with his freedman Pindarus. What passed there we know not for
certain. Cassius was found dead, with the head severed from the body.
Pindarus was never seen again. It was generally believed that Pindarus
slew his master in obedience to orders; but many thought that he had
dealt a felon blow. The intelligence of Cassius' death was a heavy blow
to Brutus. He forgot his own success, and pronounced the elegy of
Cassius in the well-known words, "There lies the last of the Romans."
The praise was ill-deserved. Except in his conduct of the war against
the Parthians, Cassius had never played a worthy part.
After the first battle of Philippi it would have still been politic in
Brutus to abstain from battle. The triumviral armies were in great
distress, and every day increased their losses. Reinforcements coming to
their aid by sea were intercepted--a proof of the neglect of the
republican leaders in not sooner bringing their fleet into action. Nor
did Brutus ever hear of this success. He was ill-fitted for the life of
the camp, and after the death of Cassius he only kept his men together
by largesse and promises of plunder. Twenty days after the first battle
he led them out again. Both armies faced one another. There was little
manoeuvring. The second battle was decided by numbers and force, not by
skill; and it was decided in favor of the triumvirs. Brutus retired with
four legions to a strong position in the rear, while the rest of his
broken army sought refuge in the camp. Octavian remained to watch them,
while Antony pursued the republican chief. Next day Brutus endeavored to
rouse his men to another effort; but they sullenly refused to fight; and
Brutus withdrew with a few friends into a neighboring wood. Here he took
them aside one by one, and prayed each to do him the last service that a
Roman could render to his friend. All refused with horror; till at
nightfall a trusty Greek freedman named Strato held the sword, and his
master threw himself upon it. Most of his friends followed the sad
example. The body of Brutus was sent by Antony to his mother. His wife
Portia, the daughter of Cato, refused all comfort; and being too closely
watched to be able to slay herself by ordinary means, she suffocated
herself by thrusting burning charcoal into her mouth. Massalla, with a
number of other fugitives, sought safety in the island of Thasos, and
soon after made submission to Antony.
The name of Brutus has, by Plutarch's beautiful narrative, sublimed by
Shakespeare, become a byword for self-devoted patriotism. This exalted
opinion is now generally confessed to be unjust. Brutus was not a
patriot, unless devotion to the party of the senate be patriotism.
Toward the provincials he was a true Roman, harsh and oppressive. He was
free from the sensuality and profligacy of his age, but for public life
he was unfit. His habits were those of a student. His application was
great, his memory remarkable. But he possessed little power of turning
his acquirements to account; and to the last he was rather a learned man
than a man improved by learning. In comparison with Cassius, he was
humane and generous; but in all respects his character is contrasted for
the worse with that of the great man from whom he accepted favors and
then became his murderer.
The battle of Philippi was in reality the closing scene of the
republican drama. But the rivalship of the triumvirs prolonged for
several years the divided state of the Roman world; and it was not till
after the crowning victory of Actium that the imperial government was
established in its unity. We shall, therefore, here add a rapid
narrative of the events which led to that consummation.
The hopeless state of the republican or rather the senatorial party was
such that almost all hastened to make submission to the conquerors:
those whose sturdy spirit still disdained submission resorted to Sext.
Pompeius in Sicily. Octavian, still suffering from ill-health, was
anxious to return to Italy; but before he parted from Antony, they
agreed to a second distribution of the provinces of the empire. Antony
was to have the Eastern world; Octavian the Western provinces. To
Lepidus, who was not consulted in this second division, Africa alone was
left. Sext. Pompeius remained in possession of Sicily.
Antony at once proceeded to make a tour through Western Asia, in order
to exact money from its unfortunate people. About midsummer (B.C. 41) he
arrived at Tarsus, and here he received a visit which determined the
future course of his life and influenced Roman history for the next ten
years.
Antony had visited Alexandria fourteen years before, and had been
smitten by the charms of Cleopatra, then a girl of fifteen. She became
Cæsar's paramour, and from the time of the dictator's death Antony had
never seen her. She now came to meet him in Cilicia. The galley which
carried her up the Cydnus was of more than oriental gorgeousness: the
sails of purple; oars of silver, moving to the sound of music; the
raised poop burnished with gold. There she lay upon a splendid couch,
shaded by a spangled canopy; her attire was that of Venus; around her
flitted attendant cupids and graces. At the news of her approach to
Tarsus, the triumvir found his tribunal deserted by the people. She
invited him to her ship, and he complied. From that moment he was her
slave. He accompanied her to Alexandria, exchanged the Roman garb for
the Graeco-Egyptian costume of the court, and lent his power to the
Queen to execute all her caprices.
Meanwhile Octavian was not without his difficulties. He was so ill at
Brundusium that his death was reported at Rome. The veterans, eager for
their promised rewards, were on the eve of mutiny. In a short time
Octavian was sufficiently recovered to show himself. But he could find
no other means of satisfying the greedy soldiery than by a confiscation
of lands more sweeping than that which followed the proscription of
Sylla. The towns of Cisalpine Gaul were accused of favoring Dec. Brutus,
and saw nearly all their lands handed over to new possessors. The young
poet, Vergil, lost his little patrimony, but was reinstated at the
instance of Pollio and Maecenas, and showed his gratitude in his _First
Eclogue_. Other parts of Italy also suffered: Apulia, for example, as we
learn from Horace's friend Ofellus, who became the tenant of the estate
which had formerly been his own.
But these violent measures deferred rather than obviated the difficulty.
The expulsion of so many persons threw thousands loose upon society,
ripe for any crime. Many of the veterans were ready to join any new
leader who promised them booty. Such a leader was at hand.
Fulvia, wife of Antony, was a woman of fierce passions and ambitious
spirit. She had not been invited to follow her husband to the East. She
saw that in his absence imperial power would fall into the hands of
Octavian. Lucius, brother of Mark Antony, was consul for the year, and
at her instigation he raised his standard at Præneste. But L. Antonius
knew not how to use his strength; and young Agrippa, to whom Octavian
intrusted the command, obliged Antonius and Fulvia to retire northward
and shut themselves up in Perusia. Their store of provisions was so
small that it sufficed only for the soldiery. Early in the next year
Perusia surrendered, on condition that the lives of the leaders should
be spared. The town was sacked; the conduct of L. Antonius alienated all
Italy from his brother.
While his wife, his brother, and his friends were quitting Italy in
confusion, the arms of Antony suffered a still heavier blow in the
Eastern provinces, which were under his special government. After the
battle of Philippi, Q. Labienus, son of Cæsar's old lieutenant Titus,
sought refuge at the court of Orodes, king of Parthia. Encouraged by the
proffered aid of a Roman officer, Pacorus (the King's son) led a
formidable army into Syria. Antony's lieutenant was entirely routed; and
while Pacorus with one army poured into Palestine and Phoenicia, Q.
Labienus with another broke into Cilicia. Here he found no opposition;
and, overrunning all Asia Minor even to the Ionian Sea, he assumed the
name of Parthicus, as if he had been a Roman conqueror of the people
whom he served.
These complicated disasters roused Antony from his lethargy. He sailed
to Tyre, intending to take the field against the Parthians; but the
season was too far advanced, and he therefore crossed the Ægean to
Athens, where he found Fulvia and his brother, accompanied by Pollio,
Plancus, and others, all discontented with Octavian's government.
Octavian was absent in Gaul, and their representation of the state of
Italy encouraged him to make another attempt. Late in the year (41)
Antony formed a league with Sext. Pompeius; and while that chief
blockaded Thurii and Consentia, Antony assailed Brundusium. Agrippa was
preparing to meet this new combination; and a fresh civil war was
imminent. But the soldiery was weary of war: both armies compelled their
leaders to make pacific overtures, and the new year was ushered in by a
general peace, which was rendered easier by the death of Fulvia. Antony
and Octavian renewed their professions of amity, and entered Rome
together in joint ovation to celebrate the restoration of peace. They
now made a third division of the provinces, by which Scodra (Scutari) in
Illyricum was fixed as the boundary of the West and East; Lepidus was
still left in possession of Africa. It was further agreed that Octavian
was to drive Sext. Pompeius, lately the ally of Antony, out of Sicily;
while Antony renewed his pledges to recover the standards of Crassus
from the Parthians. The new compact was sealed by the marriage of Antony
with Octavia, his colleague's sister, a virtuous and beautiful lady,
worthy of a better consort. These auspicious events were celebrated by
the lofty verse of Vergil's _Fourth Eclogue_.
Sext. Pompeius had reason to complain. By the peace of Brundusium he was
abandoned by his late friend to Octavian. He was not a man to brook
ungenerous treatment. Of late years his possession of Sicily had given
him command of the Roman corn market. During the winter which followed
the peace of Brundusium (B.C. 40-39), Sextus blockaded Italy so closely
that Rome was threatened with a positive dearth. Riots arose; the
triumvirs were pelted with stones in the Forum, and they deemed it
prudent to temporize by inviting Pompey to enter their league. He met
them at Misenum, and the two chiefs went on board his ship to settle the
terms of alliance. It is said that one of his chief officers, a Greek
named Menas or Menodorus, suggested to him the expediency of putting to
sea with the great prize, and then making his own terms. Sextus rejected
the advice with the characteristic words, "You should have done it
without asking me." It was agreed that Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica
should be given up to his absolute rule, and that Achaia should be added
to his portion; so that the Roman world was now partitioned among four:
Octavian, Antony, Lepidus, and Sext. Pompeius. On their return the
triumvirs were received with vociferous applause.
Before winter, Antony sailed for Athens in company with Octavia, who for
the time seems to have banished Cleopatra from his thoughts. But he
disgusted all true Romans by assuming the attributes of Grecian gods and
indulging in Grecian orgies.
He found the state of things in the East greatly changed since his
departure. He had commissioned P. Ventidius Bassus, an officer who had
followed Fulvia from Italy, to hold the Parthians in check till his
return. Ventidius was son of a Picenian nobleman of Asculum, who had
been brought to Rome as a captive in the Social War. In his youth he had
been a contractor to supply mules for the use of the Roman commissariat.
But in the civil wars which followed, men of military talent easily rose
to command; and such was the lot of Ventidius. While Antony was absent
in Italy, he drove Q. Labienus into the defiles of Taurus, and here that
adventurer was defeated and slain. The conqueror then marched rapidly
into Syria, and forced Pacorus also to withdraw to the eastern bank of
the Euphrates.
In the following year (38) he repelled a fresh invasion of the
Parthians, and defeated them in three battles. In the last of these
engagements Pacorus himself was slain on the fifteenth anniversary of
the death of Crassus. Antony found Ventidius laying siege to Samosata,
and displaced him, only to abandon the siege and return to Athens.
Ventidius repaired to Rome, where he was honored with a well-deserved
triumph. He had left it as a mule jobber; he returned with the laurel
round his brows. He was the first, and almost the last, Roman general
who could claim such a distinction for victory over the Parthians.
The alliance with Sext. Pompeius was not intended to last, and it did
not last. Antony refused to put him in possession of Achaia, and to
avenge himself for this breach of faith Pompeius again began to
intercept the Italian corn fleets. Fresh discontent appeared at Rome,
and Octavian equipped a second fleet to sail against the naval chief;
but after two battles of doubtful result, the fleet was destroyed by a
storm, and Sextus was again left in undisputed mastery of the sea.
Octavian, however, was never daunted by reverses, and he gave his
favorite Agrippa full powers to conduct the war against Pompeius. This
able commander set about his work with that resolution that marked a man
determined not to fail. As a harbor for his fleet, he executed a plan of
the great Cæsar; namely, to make a good and secure harbor on the coast
of Latium, which then, as now, offered no shelter to ships. For this
purpose he cut a passage through the narrow necks of land which
separated Lake Lucrinus from the sea, and Lake Avernus from Lake
Lucrinus, and faced the outer barrier with stone. This was the famous
Julian Port. In the whole of the two years B.C. 38 and 37 Agrippa was
occupied in this work and in preparing a sufficient force of ships.
Every dockyard in Italy was called into requisition. A large body of
slaves was set free that they might be trained to serve as rowers.
On the 1st of July, B.C. 36, the fleet put to sea. Octavian himself,
with one division, purposed to attack the northern coast of Sicily,
while a second squadron was assembled at Tarentum for the purpose of
assailing the eastern side. Lepidus, with a third fleet from Africa, was
to assault Lilybaeum. But the winds were again adverse; and, though
Lepidus effected a landing on the southern coast, Octavian's two fleets
were driven back to Italy with great damage. But the injured ships were
refitted, and Agrippa was sent westward toward Panormus, while Octavian
himself kept guard near Messana. Off Mylae, a place famous for having
witnessed the first naval victory of the Romans, Agrippa encountered the
fleet of Sext. Pompeius; but Sextus, with the larger portion of his
ships, gave Agrippa the slip, and sailing eastward fell suddenly upon
Octavian's squadron off Tauromenium. A desperate conflict followed,
which ended in the complete triumph of Sextus, and Octavian escaped to
Italy with a few ships only. But Agrippa was soon upon the traces of the
enemy. On the 3d of September Sextus was obliged once more to accept
battle near the Straits of Messana, and suffered an irretrievable
defeat. His troops on land were attacked and dispersed by an army which
had been landed on the eastern coast by the indefatigable Octavian; and
Sextus sailed off to Lesbos, where he had found refuge as a boy during
the campaign of Pharsalia, to seek protection from the jealousy of
Antony.
Lepidus had assisted in the campaign; but after the departure of Sextus
he openly declared himself independent of his brother triumvirs.
Octavian, with prompt and prudent boldness, entered the camp of Lepidus
in person with a few attendants. The soldiers deserted in crowds, and in
a few hours Lepidus was fain to sue for pardon, where he had hoped to
rule. He was treated with contemptuous indifference, Africa was taken
from him; but he was allowed to live and die at Rome in quiet enjoyment
of the chief pontificate.
It was fortunate for Octavian that during this campaign Antony was on
friendly terms with him. In B.C. 37 the ruler of the East again visited
Italy, and a meeting between the two chiefs was arranged at Tarentum.
The five years for which the triumvirs were originally appointed were
now fast expiring; and it was settled that their authority should be
renewed by the subservient senate and people for a second period of the
same duration. They parted good friends; and Octavian undertook his
campaign against Sext. Pompeius without fear from Antony. This was
proved by the fate of the fugitive. From Lesbos Sextus passed over to
Asia, where he was taken prisoner by Antony's lieutenants and put to
death.