Civil Wars

Now famine began to afflict Rome, the supplies by sea being cut off by Pompeius, and Italian agriculture ruined by the wars. Whatever food was produced was consumed by the troops. Many robberies were committed by night in the city. There were acts of violence worse than robbery which went unpunished, and which were supposed to have been committed by soldiers. The people closed their shops and drove the magistrates from their places as though there were no need of courts of justice, or of the useful arts in a city oppressed by hunger and infested with brigands.

Lucius Antonius, who was a republican and ill affected toward the triumvirate, which seemed not likely to come to an end at the appointed time, fell into controversy, and even graver differences, with Octavius. He alone received kindly, and promised aid to, the agriculturists who had been deprived of their lands and who were now the suppliants of every man of importance; and they promised to carry out his orders. Antony's soldiers, and Octavius also, blamed him for working against Antony's interests, and Fulvia blamed him for stirring up war at an inopportune time, until Manius maliciously changed her mind by telling her that as long as Italy remained at peace Antony would stay with Cleopatra, but that if war should break out there he would come back speedily. Then Fulvia, moved by a woman's jealousy, incited Lucius to discord. While Octavius was leading out the last of the colonies she sent the children of Antony, together with Lucius, to follow him, so that he should not acquire too great eclat with the army by being seen alone. A body of Octavius' cavalry made an expedition to the coast of Bruttium, which Pompeius was ravaging, and Lucius either thought or pretended to think that it had been sent against himself and Antony's children. Accordingly, he betook himself to the Antonian colonies to collect a body-guard, and accused Octavius to the soldiers as being treacherous to Antony. Octavius replied that everything was on a friendly and harmonius footing between himself and Antony, and that Lucius was trying to stir up a war between them for another reason, in that he was working against the triumvirate, by virtue of which the soldiers had a firm hold upon their colonies, and that the cavalry were now in Bruttium executing the triumvirate's orders.

When the officers of the army learned these facts, they arbitrated between Lucius and Octavius at Teanum and brought them to an agreement on the following terms: That the consuls should exercise their office in the manner of the fathers and not be hindered by the triumvirs; that the land should be assigned only to those who fought at Philippi; that of the money derived from confiscated property, and of the value of that which was still to be sold, Antony's soldiers in Italy should have an equal share; that neither Antony nor Octavius should draw soldiers from Italy by conscription hereafter; that two of Antony's legions should serve with Octavius in the campaign against Pompeius; that the passes of the Alps should be opened to the forces sent by Octavius into Spain, and that Asinius Pollio should not further interfere with them; that Lucius should be satisfied with those conditions, should dispense with his body-guard, and administer his office fearlessly. Such was the agreement which they made with each other through the influence of the officers of the army. Of these only the two last were carried into effect, and Salvidienus crossed the Alps unhindered.[*](kai\ *salbidihno\s a)/kwn au)tw=| sumperih=lqe ta\s )/*alpeis. The Latin version of Geslen rendered this passage: "Salvidienus crossed the Alps in spite of the forces guarding them," which is certainly a forced interpretation. Schweighäuser pointed out that it was contrary to the agreement just made, viz., that the passes of the Alps should be opened to the forces of Octavius. He accordingly considered the passage corrupt and put a lacuna after the word au)tw|. Mendelssohn changes the words a)/kwn au)tw=| to a)kolu/tws (unhindered), a correction which removes all difficulties.)

As the other conditions were not carried into effect, or were delayed, Lucius departed to Præneste, saying that he was in fear of Octavius, who, by virtue of his office, had a guard, while he (Lucius) was unprotected. Fulvia went there to meet Lucius, saying now that she had fears for her children on account of Lepidus. She used him for a pretext this time instead of Octavius. Both of them wrote these things to Antony, and friends were sent to him with the letters, who were to give him particulars about each complaint. Although I have searched, I have not been able to find any clear account of what Antony wrote in reply. The officers of the armies bound themselves by an oath to act as umpires again between their magistrates, to decide what was right, and to coerce whichever should refuse to obey the decision; and they summoned Lucius and his friends to attend for this purpose. These refused to come, and Octavius reproached them in invidious terms to the officers of the army and in the presence of the optimates of Rome. The latter hastened to Lucius and implored him to have pity on the city and on Italy, torn by the civil wars, and to accept the arbitration of themselves, or of the officers, whatever the decision might be.[*](According to Dion Cassius (xlviii. 4-10), Fulvia was the life and soul of this uprising. "She girded herself with a sword, gave the watchwords to the soldiers, and often harangued them." Velleius (ii. 74) says: " Lucius Antonius, a partaker of his brother's vices, but destitute of the virtues that the latter sometimes showed, by accusing Octavius before the veterans, and by calling to arms those who had lost their fields in the prescribed distribution of the lands and the naming of the colonies, had collected a large army. On the other hand Fulvia, the wife of Antony, who was a woman in nothing but her form, took part in the contest, and threw everything into armed strife and tumult. She had first fixed the seat of war at Præneste." Plutarch says that when Antony had left Alexandria to make an expedition against the Parthians, and had gone as far as Phœnicia, he received dolorous letters from Fulvia, which caused him to turn about and set sail for Italy with two hundred ships. "While making the voyage he learned from friends who were fleeing that Fulvia had been the cause of the war, being by nature restless and headstrong, and hoping to tear Antony away from Cleopatra by stirring up commotion in Italy." (Life of Antony, 30.))

Although Lucius had respect for the speakers and for what they said, Manius boldly declared that while Antony was doing nothing but collecting money from foreigners, Octavius was, by his favors, preoccupying the affections of the army and the desirable places in Italy; that in fraud of Antony he had freed Cisalpine Gaul, which had previously been given to Antony; that he had assigned to the soldiers almost the whole of Italy instead of the eighteen cities; that, instead of the twenty-eight legions that had participated in the battle, he had admitted thirty-four to a share of the lands and also of the money from the temples, which he had collected on the pretext of fighting Pompeius, against whom he had done nothing as yet, although the city was oppressed by famine; that he had distributed this money in order to curry favor with the soldiers, to the prejudice of Antony, and that the property of the proscribed had been not so much sold as given to the soldiers outright; and, finally, that if he really wanted peace he should give his reasons for what he had already done, and for the future do only what should be agreed upon in common. Thus arrogantly did Manius proclaim his views, implying that Octavius could not do anything by his own authority and that his agreement with Antony was of no validity, although it provided that each should have absolute power over the affairs committed to him, and that each should ratify what was done by the other. When Octavius saw that they were everywhere preparing for war, he made similar preparations on his own side.

Two legions of the army which had been colonized at Ancona and which had served under the elder Cæsar and under Antony, hearing of their respective preparations for war, and being moved by friendship for each of them, sent ambassadors to Rome to beseech them both to come to an agreement. Octavius replied that he was not making war against Antony, but that Lucius was making war against him. The ambassadors then united with the officers of this army in a common embassy to Lucius asking him to submit his controversy with Octavius to a tribunal; and they made it plain what they would do if he should not accept the decision. Lucius and his friends accepted the proposal, and fixed the place for the trial at Gabii, a city midway between Rome and Præneste. A council-chamber was prepared for the arbiters, and two platforms for the speakers in the centre, as in a regular trial. Octavius, who arrived first, sent some horsemen along the road by which Lucius was to come, in order to find out whether any stratagem was discoverable. These met certain horsemen of Lucius, either his advance guard or men spying like the others, and as the two parties came into collision some of them were killed. Lucius retreated, saying that he was afraid of being entrapped, and, although recalled by the officers of the army, who promised to escort him, he could not be persuaded to come again.