was born in B. C. 63. He was the son of Lucius, and was de scended
from a very obscure family. At the age of twenty he studied at Apollonia in Illyria, together
with young Octavius, afterwards Octavianus and Augustus. After the murder of J. Caesar in
B. C. 44, Agrippa was one of those intimate friends of Octavius, who
advised him to proceed immediately to Rome. Octavius took Agrippa with him, and charged him to
receive the oath of fidelity from several legions which had declared in his favour. Having
been chosen consul in B. C. 43, Octavius gave to his friend Agrippa
the delicate commission of prosecuting C. Cassius, one of the murderers of J.
Caesar. At the outbreak of the Perusinian war between Octavius, now Octavianus, and L.
Antonius, in B. C. 41, Agrippa, who was then praetor, commanded part
of the forces of Octavianus, and after distinguishing himself by skilful manoeuvres, besieged
L. Antonius in Perusia. He took the town in B. C. 40, and towards the
end of the same year retook Sipontum, which had fallen into the hands of M. Antonius. In B. C. 38, Agrippa obtained fresh success in Gaul, where he quelled a
revolt of the native chiefs; he also penetrated into Germany as far as the country of the
Catti, and transplanted the Ubii to the left bank of the Rhine; whereupon he turned his arms
against the revolted Aquitani, whom he soon brought to obedience. His victories, especially
those in Aquitania, contributed much to securing the power of Octavianus, and he was recalled
by him to undertake the command of the war against Sex. Pompeius, which was on the point of
breaking out, B. C. 37. Octavianus offered him a triumph, which
Agrippa declined, but accepted the consulship, to which he was promoted by Octavianus in B. C. 37. Dio Cassius (48.49) seems to say that he was consul when he went
to Gaul, but the words ὑπάτευε δὲ μετὰ Λουκίου
Γάλλου seem to be suspicious, unless they are to be inserted a little higher,
after the passage, τῷ δʼ Ἀγρίππᾳ τὴν τοῦ ναυτικοῦ
παρασκευὴν ἐγχειρίσας, which refer to an event which took place during the
consulship of Agrippa. For, immediately after his promotion to this dignity, he was charged by
Octavianus with the construction of a fleet, which was the more necessary, as Sextus Pompey
was master of the sea.
Agrippa, in whom thoughts and deeds were never separated (Vell.
2.79), executed this order with prompt energy. The Lucrine lake near Baiae was
transformed by him into a safe harbour, which he called the Julian port in honour of
Octavianus, and where he exercised his sailors and mariners till they were able to encounter
the experienced sailors of Pompey. In B. C. 36, Agrippa defeated Sex.
Pompey first at Mylae, and afterwards at Naulochus on the coast of Sicily, and the latter of
these victories broke the naval supremacy of Pompey. He received in consequence the honour of
a naval crown, which was first conferred upon him; though, according to other authorities, M.
Varro was the first who obtained it from Pompey the Great. (Vell.
2.81; Liv. Epit. 129; D. C.
49.14; Plin. Nat. 16.3. s. 4; Verg. A. 8.684.)
In B. C. 35, Agrippa had the command of the war in Illyria, and
afterwards served under Octavianus, when the latter had proceeded to that country. On his
return, he voluntarily accepted the aedileship in B. C. 33, although
he had been consul, and expended immense sums of money upon great public works. He restored
the Appian, Marcian, and Anienian aqueducts, constructed a new one, fifteen miles in length,
from the Tepula to Rome, to which he gave the name of the Julian, in honour of Octavianus, and
had an immense number of smaller water-works made, to distribute the water within the town. He
also had the large cloaca of Tarquinius Priscus entirely cleansed. His various works were
adorned with statues by the first artists of Rome. These splendid buildings he augmented in
B. C. 27, during his third consulship, by several others, and among
these was the Pantheon, on which we still read the inscription: " M. Agrippa: L. F. Cos.
Tertium fecit." (D. C. 49.43, 53.27;
Plin. Nat. 36.15, s. 24 § 3; Strab. v. p.235; Frontin. De Aquaed. 9.)
When the war broke out between Octavianus and M. Antonius, Agrippa was appointed
comnander-in-chief of the fleet, B. C. 32. He took Methone in the
Peloponnesus, Leucas, Patrae, and Corinth; and in the battle of Actium (B.
C. 31) where he commanded, the victory was mainly owing to his skill. On his return to
Rome in B. C. 30, Octavianus, now Augustus, rewarded him with a "
vexillum caeruleum," or sea-green flag.
In B. C. 28, Agrippa became consul for the second time with
Augustus, and about this time married Marcella, the niece of Augustus, and the daughter of his
sister Octavia. His former wife, Pomponia, the daughter of T. Pomponins Atticus, was either
dead or divorced. In the following year, B. C. 27, he was again
consul the third time with Augustus.
In B. C. 25, Agrippa accompanied Augustus to the war against the
Cantabrians. About this time jealousy arose between him and his brother-in-law Marcellus, the
nephew of Augustus, and who seemed to be destined as his successor. Augustus, anxious to
prevent differences that might have had serious consequences for him, sent Agrippa as
proconsul to Syria. Agrippa of course left Rome, but he stopped at Mitylene in the island of
Lesbos, leaving the government of Syria to his legate. The apprehensions of Augustus were
removed by the death of Marcellus in B. C. 23, and Agrippa
immediately returned to Rome, where he was the more anxiously expected, as troubles had broken
out during the election of the consuls in B. C. 21. Augustus resolved
to receive his faithful friend into his own family, and accordingly induced him to divorce his
wife Marcella, and marry Julia, the widow of Marcellus and the daughter of Augustus by his
third wife, Scribonia. (B. C. 21.)
In B. C. 19, Agrippa went into Gaul. He pacified the turbulent
natives, and constructed four great public roads and a splendid aqueduct at Nemausus
(Nîmes). From thence he proceeded to Spain and subdued the Cantabrians after a short but
bloody and obstinate struggle; but, in accordance with his usual prudence, he neither
announced his victories in pompous letters to the senate, nor did he accept a triumph which
Augustus offered him. In B. C. 18, he was invested with the
tribunician power for five years together with Augustus; and in the following year (B. C. 17), his two sons, Caius and Lucius, were adopted by Augustus. At
the close of the year, he accepted an invitation of Herod the Great, and went to Jerusalem. He
founded the military colony of Berytus (Beyrut), thence he proceeded in B.
C. 16 to the Pontus Euxinus, and compelled the Bosporani to accept Polemo for their
king and to restore the Roman eagles which had been taken by Mithridates. On his return he
stayed some time in Ionia, where he granted privileges to the Jews whose cause was pleaded by
Herod (J. AJ 16.2), and then proceeded to Rome, where he arrived
in B. C. 13. After his tribunician power had been prolonged for five
years, he went to Pannonia to restore tranquillity to that province. He returned in B. C. 12, after having been successful as usual, and retired to Campania.
There he died unexpectedly, in the month of March, B. C. 12, in his 51st year. His body was carried to Rome, and was buried in the mausoleum of
Augustus, who himself pronounced a funeral oration over it.
Dio Cassius tells us (52.1, &c.), that in the year B. C. 29
Augustus assembled his friends and counsellors Agrippa and Maecenas, demanding opinion as to
whether it would be advisable for him to usurp monarchical power, or to restore to the nation
its former republican government. This is corroborated by Suetonius (Octav. 28), who says that Augustus twice deliberated upon that subject. The speeches
which Agrippa and Maecenas delivered on this occasion are given by Dio Cassius; but the
artificial character of them makes them suspicious. However it does not seem likely from the
general character of Dio Cassius as a historian that these speeches are invented by him; and
it is not improbable, and such a supposition suits entirely the character of Augustus, that
those speeches were really pronounced, though preconcerted between Augustus and his
counsellors to make the Roman nation believe that the fate of the republic was still a matter
of discussion, and that Augustus would not assume monarchical power till he had been convinced
that it was necessary for the welfare of the nation. Besides, Agrippa, who according to Dio
Cassius, advised Augustus to restore the republic, was a man whose political opinions had
evidently a monarchical tendency.
Agrippa was one of the most distinguished and important men of the age of Augustus. He must
be considered as a chief support of the rising monarchical constitution, and without Agrippa
Augustus could scarcely have succeeded in making himself the absolute master of the Roman
empire. Dio Cassius (54.29, &c.), Velleius Paterculus (2.79), Seneca (Ep. 94), and Horace (Od. 1.6), speak with equal
admiration of his merits.
Pliny constantly refers to the
Commentarii of Agrippa as an
authority (Elenchus, iii. iv. v. vi, comp. 3.2), which may indicate certain official lists
drawn up by him in the measurement of the Roman world under Augustus [AETHICUS HISTER], in which he may have taken part.
Agrippa left several children. By his first wife Pomponia, he had Vipsania, who was married
to Tiberius Caesar, the successor of Augustus. By his second wife, Marcella, he had several
children who are not mentioned; and by his third wife, Julia, he had two daughters, Julia,
married to L. Aemilius Paullus, and Agrippina married to Germanicus, and three sons, Caius [C.
CAESAR], Lucius [L. CAESAR], and AGRIPPAPOSTUMUS. (Dio Cass. lib. 45-54; Liv. Epit.
117-136 ; Appian, Bell. Civ. lib.
5; Suet. Octav.; Frandsen, M. Vipsanius Agrippa, eine
historische Untersuchung über dessen Leben und Wirken, Altona, 1836.)
There are several medals of Agrippa: in the one figured below, he is represented with a
naval crown; on the reverse is Neptune indicating his success by sea.