Civil Wars

When the news of Octavius' approach reached the city there was immense confusion and alarm. People ran hither and thither, and some conveyed their wives and children and whatever they held most dear to the fields and to the fortified parts of the city, for it was not yet known that he aimed only at securing the consulship. Having heard that an army was advancing with hostile intentions, there was nothing that they did not fear. The Senate was struck with consternation since it had no military force in readiness. As is usual in cases of panic they blamed each other. Some were blamed because they had wrongfully deprived him of the command of the campaign against Antony, others because they had treated with contempt his demand for a triumph, a request which was not without justice; others because they had envied him the honor of distributing the money; others because he had not been made an additional member of the board of ten. Still others said that the army had become hostile because the gifts voted to them had not been quickly and fully paid. They complained especially because of the inopportune time for such a strife, while Brutus and Cassius were far away and their forces not yet organized, and on their own flank in a hostile attitude were Antony and Lepidus, who, they thought, might form an alliance with Octavius. Thus their fears were greatly augmented. Cicero, who had so long taken the lead, was nowhere to be seen.[*](In the month of July Cicero wrote a despairing letter to Brutus acquainting him with the demand made by Octavius for the consulship. " Octavius," he says, "who has hitherto been governed by my counsels and who has shown a most excellent disposition and an admirable firmness, has been pushed on by certain persons by most wicked letters and lying reports and messages to an absolutely certain hope of the consulship. As soon as I learned this I ceased not to admonish him by letters while absent, and to accuse his friends who are present, and who seem to support his claims, nor did I hesitate to expose in the Senate the source of these most wretched designs. Nor do I remember any affair in which the Senate or the magistrates have shown a better spirit. For it has never before happened when it was a question of conferring an extraordinary honor on a powerful man, or rather an all-powerful man (since power now resides in force and arms), that no one, whether tribune of the people or other magistrate or even a private person, would lift his voice in favor of it. Yet in the midst of this firmness and virtue the city was in a state of anxiety. We are made sport of, Brutus, by the whims of the soldiers and the insolence of the general. Each one demands as much power in the republic as he has the force to extort. Reason, moderation, law, custom, duty, count for nothing, nor is regard for the opinion of citizens, or shame for that of posterity, of any avail. It was because I foresaw all this long ago that I fled from Italy, at the time when the report of your proclamation recalled me." (Ad Brutum, 10.))

There was a sudden change on all hands. Instead of 2500 drachmas 5000 were given. Instead of two legions only, the entire eight were to be paid. Octavius was appointed to make the distribution instead of the ten commissioners, and he was allowed to be a candidate for the consulship while absent. Messengers were hastily despatched to tell him these things. Directly after they had left the city the Senate repented. It felt that it ought not to be so weakly terror-stricken, or accept a new tyranny without bloodshed, or accustom those seeking office to gain it by violence, or the soldiers to govern the country by the word of command. Rather should they arm themselves as far as possible and oppose the laws to the invaders, for there was some hope that, if the laws were opposed to them, not even they would bear arms against their country. If they should do so, it would be best to endure a siege until Decimus and Plancus should come to the rescue, and to defend themselves to the death rather than submit voluntarily to a slavery thenceforth without remedy. They recounted the high spirit and endurance in behalf of freedom of the Romans of old, who never yielded anything prejudicial to their liberty.

As the two legions sent for from Africa happened to arrive in the harbor on the same day, it seemed as though the gods were urging them to defend their freedom. Their regret for what they had done was confirmed; Cicero again made his appearance, and they repealed all of the decrees above mentioned. All who were of military age were called to arms, also the two legions from Africa, and 1000 horse with them, and another legion that Pansa had left behind, all these were assigned to their proper places. Some of them guarded the so-called hill of Janiculum, where the money was stored, others held the bridge over the Tiber, and the city prætors were put in command of the separate divisions. Others made ready small boats and ships in the harbor, together with money, in order to escape by sea in case they should be vanquished. While courageously making these hasty preparations they hoped to alarm Octavius in his turn, and induce him to seek the consulship from them instead of the army, or they hoped at least to defend themselves to the last extremity. They hoped also to change those of the opposite faction as soon as it became a contest for liberty. When they sought for the mother and sister of Octavius, and did not discover them either in any open or secret abode, they were again alarmed at finding themselves deprived of such important hostages, and as the Cæsarians showed no disposition to yield to them they concluded that these women had been carefully concealed by them.

While Octavius was still giving audience to the messengers, it was announced to him that the decrees had been rescinded. The messengers thereupon withdrew, covered with confusion. With his army still more exasperated Octavius hastened to the city, fearing lest some evil should befall his mother and sister. To the plebeians, who were in a state of consternation, he sent horsemen in advance to tell them to have no fear. While all were amazed he took a position just beyond the Quirinal hill, no one daring to fight or prevent him. Now another wonderful and sudden change took place. Patricians flocked out and saluted him. The common people ran also and admired the good order of the soldiers, which they considered a sign of peace. On the following day Octavius advanced toward the city, leaving his army where it was, and having with him only a sufficient guard. Here, again, crowds met him along the whole road and saluted him, omitting nothing that savored of friendliness and weak compliance. His mother and sister, who were in the temple of Vesta with the Vestal virgins, embraced him. The three legions, in spite of their generals, sent ambassadors and transferred themselves to him. One of the generals in command of them, Cornutus, killed himself. The others allied themselves with Octavius. When Cicero learned this he sought an interview with Octavius through friends. When it was granted he defended himself and dwelt much upon his proposing Octavius for the consulship, as he had done in the Senate on a former occasion. Octavius answered ironically that Cicero seemed to be the last of his friends to greet him.

The next night a rumor gained currency that two of Octavius' legions, the Martian and the Fourth, had gone over to the side of the republic, because they had been led against their country by deception. The prætors and the Senate put faith in this report heedlessly, although the army was very near, thinking that with the assistance of these two legions, as they were the bravest, it would be possible to hold out against the rest of Octavius' army until some force from elsewhere should come to the rescue. The same night they sent Manius Aquilius Crassus to Picenum to raise troops, and ordered one of the tribunes, named Apuleius, to run through the city and proclaim the good news to the people. The senators assembled by night in the senate-house, and Cicero received them at the door, but when the news was contradicted he took flight in a litter.

Octavius laughed at them and moved his army nearer to the city and stationed it in the Campus Martius. He did not then punish any of the prætors, not even Crassus who had rushed off to Picenum, although the latter was brought before him just as he was caught, in the disguise of a slave. He pardoned all in order to acquire a reputation for clemency. But not long afterward they were put on the list of the proscribed. He ordered that the public money on the Janiculum or elsewhere be brought to him, and that the amount that had been previously ordered to be paid on the motion of Cicero be distributed; that is, he divided 2500 drachmas per man and promised to give them the remainder. Then he took his departure from the city until the consuls should be chosen by the comitia. Having been elected, together with Quintus Pedius, whom he desired to have as his colleague, and who had given to him his own portion of his inheritance from Cæsar, he entered the city as consul. He offered the usual sacrifices, and twelve vultures were seen; the same number, they say, that appeared to Romulus when he laid the foundations of the city. After the sacrifices he caused his adoption by his father to be ratified again, according to the lex curiata, -- that is, by a popular vote, -- for the parts into which the tribes, or the common people, are divided are called curiœ, just as I suppose the similar divisions among the Greeks are called phratriœ. Among the Romans this was the method of adoption most in accordance with law in the case of orphans; and those who follow it have the same rights as real sons in respect of the relatives and the freedmen of the persons who adopt them. Among the other splendid accessories of Cæsar was a large number of freedmen, many of them rich, and this was perhaps the principal reason why Octavius wanted the adoption by a vote of the people in addition to the former adoption which came to him by Cæsar's will.[*](Suetonius says that Octavius obtained his first consulship in the month Sextilis and that he gave it his own name (August) in commemoration of the event (Aug. 31). Velleius says that he entered upon his consulship on the 22d of September and that this was the day before he became twenty years of age (ii. 65). The Epitome of Livy (cxix) says: "The Senate showed little gratitude to Octavius, the only survivor of the three leaders at Mutina. The honor of a triumph was decreed to Decimus Brutus, who was delivered from the siege of Mutina by Octavius. They did not make sufficiently grateful mention of Octavius and his soldiers, for which reason, after a reconciliation had been effected by him with Antony through Marcus Lepidus, he came to Rome with his army, struck terror into those who had treated him unjustly, and was created consul when he was nineteen years of age.")