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.

As Octavius was journeying to Rome he became dangerously ill at Brundusium, and a rumor gained currency that he was dead. On his recovery he returned to the city and showed to Antony's friends the letters Antony had written. The Antonians directed Calenus to give Octavius the two legions, and wrote to Sextius in Africa to turn that province over to him. This was the course of the Antonians while, as it appeared that Lepidus had not been guilty of any serious wrong, Octavius transferred Africa to him in exchange for his former provinces. He also sold the remainder of the property confiscated under the conscriptions. The task of assigning the soldiers to their colonies and dividing the land was one of exceeding difficulty. The soldiers demanded the cities which had been selected for them before the war as prizes for their valor. The cities demanded that the whole of Italy should share the burden, or that the cities should cast lots with the other cities, and that those who gave the land should be paid the value of it; but there was no money. They came to Rome in crowds, young and old, women and children, to the forum and the temples, uttering lamentations, saying that they had done no wrong for which they, Italians, should be driven from their fields and their hearthstones, like people conquered in war. The Romans mourned and wept with them, especially when they reflected that the war had been waged, and the rewards of victory given, not in behalf of the commonwealth, but against themselves and for a change of the form of government; that the colonies were established so that democracy should never again lift its head, -- colonies composed of hirelings settled there by the rulers to be in readiness for whatever purpose they might be wanted.

Octavius explained to the cities the necessity of the case, but he knew that it would not satisfy them; and it did not. The soldiers encroached upon their neighbors in an insolent manner, seizing more than had been given to them and choosing the best lands; nor did they cease when Octavius rebuked them and made them numerous other presents. They were contemptuous in the knowledge that their rulers needed them to confirm their power, for the five years' term of the triumvirate was passing away, and army and rulers needed the services of each other for mutual security. The chiefs depended on the soldiers for the continuance of their government, while, for the control of what they had received, the soldiers depended on the permanence of the government of those who had given it. Believing that they could not keep a firm hold unless the givers had a strong government,[*](w(s ga\r au)tw=n ou) bebai/ws a)/rxoien oi( do/ntes. Schweighäuser detected a lacuna after the word bebai/ws, which he was enabled to fill by comparing the passage with a similar one in Book I., Sec. 96 supra, viz.: "As they [the soldiers] could not be secure in their own holdings unless all of Sulla's affairs were on a firm foundation, they were his stoutest champions," etc. He accordingly filled the gap with the words e)pikrath/sontes ei) mh\ bebai/ws.) they fought for them with good-will, necessarily. Octavius made many other gifts to the indigent soldiers, borrowing from the temples for that purpose, for which reason the affections of the army were turned toward him. The greater thanks were bestowed upon him both as the giver of the land, the cities, the money, and the houses, and as the object of denunciation on the part of the despoiled, and as one who bore this contumely for the army's sake.

Observing this, Lucius Antonius, the brother of Antony, who was then consul, and Fulvia, the wife of Antony, and Manius, his procurator during his absence, resorted to artifices to delay the settlement of the colonies till Antony should return home, in order that it might not seem to be wholly the work of Octavius, and that he might not reap the thanks alone, and Antony be bereft of the favor of the soldiers. As this could not be done, on account of the haste of the soldiers, they asked that Octavius should take the colony leaders of Antony's legions from Antony's own friends, although the agreement with Antony yielded the selection to Octavius exclusively. They made it a matter of complaint that Antony was not present.[*](e)pimemfo/menoi de\ w(s ou) paro/nti tw=| )*antwni/w| The meaning of these words, according to Schweighäuser, is that Antony's friends complained that Octavius was forestalling Antony in the affections of the soldiers during his absence. In his opinion, words should be inserted after w(s to express this idea. Suggestions for filling the gap have been made by both Bekker and Mendelssohn, but they did not change the text.) They brought Fulvia and Antony's children before the soldiers, and, in envious terms, besought them not to forget Antony or allow him to be deprived of the glory or the gratitude due to his service to them. The fame of Antony was then at its maximum, not only among the soldiers, but among all others. The victory of Philippi was considered wholly due to him, on account of Octavius' illness. Although Octavius was not ignorant that it was a violation of the agreement, he yielded as a matter of favor to Antony, and appointed friends of the latter as colony leaders for Antony's legions. These leaders, in order that they might appear more favorable to the soldiers than Octavius was, allowed them to commit still greater outrages. So there was another multitude from other communities, neighbors of the dispossessed ones, suffering many injuries at the hands of the soldiers, and crying out against Octavius, saying that the colonization was worse than the proscription, since the latter was directed against foes, while the former was against inoffensive persons.

Octavius knew that these citizens were suffering injustice, but he was without means to prevent it. There was no money to pay the value of the land to the cultivators,[*](Among the dispossessed were the poets, Vergil, Horace, Tibullus, and Propertius. Vergil's property was seized after the battle of Philippi, but was restored, as he relates in the first Eclogue. It was seized a second time after the siege of Perusia, and this time it was not restored, but he was compensated with land elsewhere. Horace's paternal estate was seized after, and in consequence of, the battle of Philippi, in which he took part on the republican side (Epistles, ii. 2. 50). It was not restored to him, but he was compensated for the loss in other ways by the influence of Mæcenas, to whom he was introduced by Vergil and Varius (Satires, i. 6. 55).) nor could the rewards to the soldiers be postponed, on account of the enemies who were still on foot. Pompeius ruled the sea and was reducing the city to famine by cutting off supplies. Ahenobarbus and Murcus were collecting a new fleet and army. The soldiers would be less zealous in the future if they were not paid for their former service. It was a matter of much importance that the five years' term of office was running out, and that the good-will of the soldiers was needed to renew it, for which reason he was willing to overlook for the time being their insolence and arrogance. Once in the theatre when he was present, a soldier, not finding his own seat, went and took one in the place reserved for the knights. The people pointed him out and Octavius had him removed. The soldiers were angry. They gathered around Octavius as he was going away from the theatre and demanded their comrade, for, as they did not see him, they thought that he had been put to death. When he was produced before them they supposed that he had been brought from prison, but he denied that he had been imprisoned and related what had taken place. They said that he had been instructed to tell a lie and reproached him for betraying their common interests. Such was the example of their insolence in the theatre.[*](Suetonius (Aug. 14) relates this incident in the theatre. He says that Octavius narrowly escaped with his life, and was saved only by the sudden appearance of the man safe and sound.)

Having been called, about that time, to the Campus Martius for a division of the land, they came in haste while it was still night, and they grew angry because Octavius delayed his coming. Nonius, a centurion, chided them with considerable freedom, urging decent treatment of the commander by the commanded, and saying that the cause of the delay was Octavius' illness, not his disregard of them. They first jeered at him as a sycophant. Then, as the excitement waxed hot on both sides, they reviled him, threw stones at him, and pursued him when he fled. Finally he plunged into the river and they pulled him out and killed him and threw his body into the road where Octavius was about to pass along. The friends of Octavius advised him not to go among them, but to keep out of the way of their mad career. But he went forward, thinking that their madness would be augmented if he did not come. When he saw the body of Nonius he turned aside. Then, assuming that the crime had been committed by a few, he chided them and advised them to exercise forbearance toward each other hereafter, and proceeded to divide the land. He allowed the meritorious ones to ask for rewards, and he gave to some who were not meritorious, contrary to their expectation. Finally the crowd were confounded. They repented and were ashamed of their importunity. They condemned themselves and asked him to search out and punish the slayers of Nonius. He replied that he knew them and would punish them only with their own guilty consciences and the condemnation of their comrades. The soldiers, thus honored with pardon, rewards, and gifts, changed at once to joyful acclamations.

Let these two instances serve as examples of the prevailing insubordination. The cause was that the generals, for the most part, as is usually the case in civil wars, were not regularly chosen; that their armies were not drawn from the enrolment according to the custom of the fathers, nor for the benefit of their country; that they did not serve the public so much as they did the individuals who brought them together; and that they served these not by the force of law, but by reason of private promises; not against the common enemy, but against private foes; not against foreigners, but against fellow-citizens, their equals in rank. All these things impaired military discipline, and the soldiers thought that they were not so much serving in the army as lending assistance, by their own favor and judgment, to leaders who needed them for their own personal ends. Desertion, which had formerly been unpardonable, was now rewarded with gifts, and whole armies resorted to it, including some illustrious men, who did not consider it desertion to change to a similar cause, for all parties were alike, since neither of them could be distinguished as battling against the common enemy of the Roman people. The common pretence of the generals that they were all striving for the good of the country made desertion easy in the thought that one could serve his country in any party. Understanding these facts the generals tolerated this behavior, for they knew that their authority over their armies depended on donatives rather than on law. Thus, everything was torn in factions, and the armies indulged in insubordination toward the leaders of the factions.