Civil Wars

Mindful chiefly of these facts Brutus and Cassius protracted the war. Antony, fearful of the same, resolved to force them to an engagement. He formed a plan of effecting a passage through the marsh secretly, if possible, in order to get in the enemy's rear without their knowledge, and cut off their avenue of supply from Thasos. So he arrayed his forces for battle with all the standards set each day, so that it might seem that his entire army was drawn up, while a part of his force was really working night and day cutting a narrow passage in the marsh, cutting down reeds, throwing up a causeway and flanking it with stone so that the earth should not fall away, and bridging the deeper parts with piles, all in the profoundest silence. The reeds, which were still growing around his passage-way, prevented the enemy from seeing his work. After working ten days in this manner he sent a column of troops by night suddenly, who occupied all the strong positions inside and built several redoubts at the same time. Cassius was amazed at the ingenuity as well as the secrecy of this work, and he formed the counter design of cutting Antony off from his redoubts. He carried a transverse wall across the whole marsh from his camp to the sea, cutting and bridging in the same manner as Antony had done, and laying a solid foundation for his rampart, thus intercepting the passage sage made by Antony, so that those inside could not escape to him, nor he render assistance to them.

When Antony saw this about noon, instantly, with rage and fury, he turned his own army, which was facing in another direction, and led it against the fortification of Cassius which lay between his camp and the marsh. He carried tools and ladders intending to take it by storm and force his way into Cassius' camp. While he was making this audacious charge, obliquely and up hill, across the space that separated the two armies, the soldiers of Brutus were provoked at the insolence of the enemy in dashing boldly athwart their front while they stood there armed. So they charged of their own volition, without any order from their officers, took them in flank, and killed as many as they could reach. The battle once begun they charged upon the army of Octavius, also, which was drawn up opposite, put it to flight, pursued it to the camp which Antony and Octavius had in common, and captured it. Octavius himself was not there, having been warned in a dream to beware of that day, as he has himself written in his Memoirs.[*](w(s au)to\s e)n toi=s u(pomnh/masin e)/grayen. Plutarch used the same words with a single variation, substituting i(storei= (relates) for e)/grayen (has written). This identity of language would indicate that they drew from the same source, yet their accounts of the beginning of the battle differ from each other. Plutarch says that at a council of war held by Brutus and Cassius it was resolved to give battle on the following day, although Cassius favored delay; that after the resolution was taken Cassius was in good spirits, and expressed his confidence in victory; and that on the following morning the scarlet robe, which was the Roman signal of battle, was hung out in the camps of both Brutus and Cassius. Still, the two accounts are not necessarily conflicting, since one tells what took place in the republican camp, and the other what occurred in that of the triumvirs. Plutarch's authority is Messala Corvinus, who commanded a legion under Brutus, and who was probably present at the council of war, since he relates a conversation that he had with Cassius immediately after it. (Life of Brutus, 39, 40.))

When Antony saw that battle was joined he was delighted because he had forced it, for he had been in trouble about his supplies. He judged it inadvisable to turn again toward the plain, lest in making the evolution his ranks should be thrown into disorder. So he continued his charge, as he had begun it, on the run, and advanced under a shower of missiles, and forced his way till he struck a body of Cassius' troops, which had not moved from its assigned position and which was amazed at this unexpected audacity. He courageously broke this advance guard and dashed against the fortification that ran between the marsh and the camp, demolished the palisade, filled up the ditch, undermined the works, and killed the men at the gates, disregarding the missiles hurled from the wall, until he had forced an entrance through the gates, and others had made breaches in the fortification, and still others had climbed up on the debris. All this was done so swiftly that those who had just now captured the fortification met Cassius' men, who had been at work in the marsh, coming to the assistance of their friends, and, with a powerful charge, put them to flight, drove them into the marsh, and then at once wheeled against the camp of Cassius itself. These were only the men who had scaled the fortification with Antony, the remainder being engaged in conflict with the enemy on the other side of the wall.

As the camp was in a strong position it was guarded by only a few men, for which reason Antony easily overcame them. Cassius' soldiers outside the camp were already worsted, and when they saw that the camp was taken they scattered in disorderly flight. The victory was complete and alike on either side, Brutus defeating the enemy's left wing and taking their camp, while Antony overcame Cassius and ravaged his camp with irresistible courage. There was great slaughter on both sides, but by reason of the extent of the plain and the clouds of dust they were ignorant of each other's fate. When they learned the facts they recalled their scattered forces. Those who returned resembled porters rather than soldiers, and did not at once perceive each other nor see anything clearly. Otherwise either party would have flung down their burdens and fiercely attacked the others carrying off plunder in this disorderly fashion. According to conjecture the number of killed on the side of Cassius, including slave shield-bearers, was about 8000 and on the side of Octavius double that number.[*](Messala is the authority for this estimate of the losses. Plutarch says: "The losses of Brutus and Cassius were 8000, including the military servants, whom Brutus called Brigas. Messala says that he thinks those of the enemy were more than twice as great," evidently a a very wild guess, like most of our statistics of the casualties of battles in ancient times. (Life of Brutus, 45.))