Civil Wars

Antony spoke thus of providing a donative for twenty-eight legions of infantry, whereas I think that they had forty-three legions when they came to their agreement at Mutina and made these promises, but the war had probably reduced them to this number. The Greeks, while he was still speaking, threw themselves upon the ground, declaring that they had been subjected to force and violence by Brutus and Cassius, and that they were deserving of pity, not of punishment; that they would willingly give to their benefactors, but that they had been stripped by their enemies, to whom they had delivered not only their money, but, in default of money, their plate and their ornaments, and who had coined these things into money in their presence. Finally, they prevailed by their entreaties that the amount should be reduced to nine years' taxes, payable in two years. It was ordered that the kings, princes, and free cities should make additional contributions according to their means, respectively.

While Antony was making the circuit of the provinces Lucius Cassius, the brother of Gaius, and some others, who feared for their own safety, when they heard of the pardon of Ephesus, presented themselves to him as suppliants. He released them all except those who had been privy to the murder of Cæsar. To these alone he was inexorable. He gave relief to the cities that had suffered most severely. He released the Lycians from taxes altogether, and urged the rebuilding of Xanthus. He gave to the Rhodians Andros, Tenos, Naxos, and Myndus,[*](Myndus was a town on the coast of Caria. Probably a small island lying in front of it is here referred to.) which were taken from them not long afterward because they ruled them harshly. He made Laodicea and Tarsus free cities and released them from taxes entirely, and those inhabitants of Tarsus who had been sold into slavery he liberated by an order. To the Athenians when they came to see him he gave Ægina in exchange for Tenos, and also Icos, Cea, Sciathos, and Peparethos. Proceeding onward to Phrygia, Mysia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Cœle-Syria, Palestine, Ituræa, and the other provinces of Syria, he imposed heavy contributions on all, and acted as arbiter between kings and cities, -- in Cappadocia, for example, between Ariarthes and Sisinna, awarding the kingdom to Sisinna on account of his mother, Glaphyra, who appeared to him to be a beautiful woman. In Syria he delivered the cities from tyrants one after another.

Cleopatra came to meet him in Cilicia, and he blamed her for not sharing their labors in avenging Cæsar. Instead of apologizing she enumerated to him the things she had done, saying that she had sent the four legions that had been left with her to Dolabella forthwith, and that she had another fleet in readiness, but had been prevented from sending it by adverse winds and by the misfortune of Dolabella, whose defeat came suddenly; that she did not lend assistance to Cassius, who had threatened her twice; that while the war was going on she had set sail for the Adriatic in person with a fleet to assist them, in defiance of Cassius, and disregarding Murcus, who was lying in wait for her; but that a tempest shattered the fleet and prostrated herself with illness, for which reason she was not able to put to sea again till they had already gained their victory. Antony was amazed at her wit as well as her good looks, and became her captive as though he were a young man, although he was forty years of age. It is said that he was always very susceptible in this way, and that he had been enamoured of her long ago when she was still a girl and he was serving as master of horse under Gabinius at Alexandria.

Straightway Antony's interest in public affairs began to dwindle. Whatever Cleopatra ordered was done, regardless of laws, human or divine. While her sister Arsinoe was a suppliant in the temple of Artemis Leucophryne at Miletus,[*](The temple of Artemis Leucophryne was at Magnesia, not Miletus. Strabo (xiv. i. 40) says that, although inferior in size to the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, it far surpassed the latter in beauty of design. Its remains were excavated in 1891-1893 for the German Archæological Institute. See note on this temple in Frazer's Pausanias, ii. 328.) Antony sent assassins thither and put her to death. Serapion, Cleopatra's prefect in Cyprus, who had assisted Cassius and was now a suppliant at Tyre, Antony ordered the Tyrians to deliver to her. He commanded the Aradians to deliver up another suppliant who, when Ptolemy, the brother of Cleopatra, disappeared at the battle with Cæsar on the Nile, said that he was Ptolemy, and whom the Aradians now held. He ordered the priest of Artemis at Ephesus, whom they called Megabyzus,[*](Strabo (xiv. i. 24) tells us that the generic name of the priests of the temple was "Megalobyzi," that they were eunuchs, that they were held in high honor, and that they were obliged to have virgins as their colleagues in the priesthood.) and who had once received Arsinoe as queen, to be brought before him, but in response to the supplications of the Ephesians, addressed to Cleopatra herself, released him. So swiftly was Antony transformed, and this passion was the beginning and the end of evils that befell him. When Cleopatra returned home Antony sent a cavalry force to Palmyra, situated not far from the Euphrates, to plunder it, bringing the trifling accusations against its inhabitants, that, being on the frontier between the Romans and the Parthians, they had avoided taking sides between them; for, being merchants, they bring the products of India and Arabia and dispose of them in the Roman territory. In fact, Antony's intention was to enrich his horsemen, but the Palmyreans were forewarned and they transported their property across the river, and, stationing themselves on the bank, prepared to shoot anybody who should attack them, for they were expert bowmen. The cavalry found nothing in the city. They turned around and came back, having met no foe, and empty-handed.

It seems that this course on Antony's part caused the outbreak of the Parthian war not long afterward, as many of the rulers expelled from Syria had taken refuge with the Parthians. Syria, until the reign of Antiochus Pius and his son, Antiochus, had been ruled by the descendants of Seleucus Nicator, as I have related in my Syrian history. Pompey added it to the Roman sway, and Scaurus was appointed prætor over it. After Scaurus the Senate sent others, including Gabinius, who made war against the Alexandrians, and after Gabinius, Crassus, who lost his life in the Parthian war, and after Crassus, Bibulus. At the time of Cæsar's death and the intestine strife which followed, tyrants got possession of the cities one by one, and they were assisted by the Parthians, who made an irruption into Syria after the disaster to Crassus and coöperated with the tyrants. Antony drove out the latter, who took refuge in Parthia. He then imposed very heavy tribute on the masses and committed the outrage already mentioned against the Palmyreans, and did not wait for the disturbed country to become quiet, but distributed his army in winter quarters in the provinces, and himself went to Egypt to join Cleopatra.

She gave him a magnificent reception, and he spent the winter there without the insignia of his office and with the habit and mode of life of a private person, either because he was in a foreign jurisdiction, in a city under royal sway, or because he regarded his wintering as a festal occasion. He laid aside the cares and duties of a general, and wore the square-cut garment of the Greeks instead of the costume of his own country, and the white Attic shoe of the Athenian and Alexandrian priests, which they call the phœcasium. He went out only to the temples, the schools, and the discussions of the learned, and spent his time with Greeks, out of deference to Cleopatra, to whom his sojourn in Alexandria was wholly devoted. Such was the state of affairs with Antony.