Civil Wars

Lucius, the father-in-law of Asinius, who was then consul, fled by sea, but, as he could not endure the anguish of the tempest, he leaped overboard. Sisinius fled from his pursuers, exclaiming that he was not proscribed, but that they had conspired against him on account of his money. They brought him to the proscription list and told him to read his name on it, and while he was reading killed him. Æmilius, not knowing that he was proscribed and seeing another man pursued, asked the pursuing centurion who the proscribed man was. The centurion, recognizing Æmilius, replied, "You and he," and killed them both. Cilo and Decius were going out of the senate-house when they learned that their names were on the list of the proscribed, but no one had yet gone in pursuit of them. They fled incontinently through the city gates, and their running betrayed them to the centurions whom they met on the road. Icilius, who was one of the judges in the trial of Brutus and Cassius when Octavius presided over the tribunal with his army, and who, when all the other judges deposited secret ballots of condemnation, alone publicly deposited one of acquittal, now unmindful of his former magnanimity and independence put his shoulder under a dead body that was being conveyed to burial, and took a place among the carriers of the bier. The guards at the city gates noticed that the number of corpse-bearers was greater by one man than usual, but they did not suspect the bearers. They only searched the bier to make sure that it was not somebody counterfeiting a corpse, but, as the bearers fell into a dispute with Icilius as not being a member of their trade, he was recognized by the murderers and killed.[*](See iii. 95 supra, where mention is made of the trial of Brutus and Cassius in absentia, where one judge only voted for acquittal and was afterwards put on the list of the proscribed. Dion Cassius (xlvii. 49) refers to this man and gives him the name of Sicilius Coronas, which the French editors of that author (MM. Gros and Boissee) change to Icilius Coronas both on grounds of palæography and on the authority of Appian. Plutarch refers to one Publicus Silicius, who was observed to shed tears when the condemnation of Brutus was announced, and who was afterwards put on the list of the proscribed for that reason. (Life of Brutus, 27.))

Varus, who was betrayed by a freedman, ran away, and after wandering from mountain to mountain came to a marsh at Minturnæ, where he stopped to take rest. The inhabitants of Minturnæ were mounting guard over this marsh in search of robbers, and the agitation of the reeds revealed the hiding-place of Varus. He was captured and said that he was a robber. He was condemned to death and resigned himself to his fate, but as they were preparing to subject him to torture to compel him to reveal his accomplices, he could not bear such an indignity. "I forbid you, citizens of Minturnæ," he said, "either to torture or to kill one who has been a consul and -- what is more important in the eyes of our present rulers -- also proscribed! If it is not permitted me to escape, I prefer to suffer at the hands of my equals." The Minturnians did not believe him. They discredited his story until a centurion, who was scouting in that neighborhood, recognized him, and cut off his head, leaving the remainder of his body to the Minturnians. Largus was captured in the fields by soldiers who were pursuing another man. They took pity on him because he had been captured when they were not seeking him, and allowed him to escape in the forest. Being pursued by others, he ran back to his first captors, saying, "I would rather that you, who had compassion on me, should kill me, so that you may have the reward instead of those men." Thus he recompensed them with his death for their kindness to him.

Rufus possessed a handsome house near that of Fulvia, the wife of Antony, which she had wanted to buy, but he would not sell it, and although he now offered it to her as a free gift, he was proscribed. His head was brought to Antony, who said it did not concern him and sent it to his wife.[*](Valerius Maximus (ix. 5. 4) says that the head of Cæsetius Rufus, a senator, was brought to Antony while he was sitting at a banquet, and that all the others turned away their faces. "Antony ordered that it be brought nearer, and, after looking at it carefully for some time, and while all were waiting to hear what he would say, he remarked: 'I have never known this man.'") She ordered that it be fastened to the front of his own house instead of the rostra. Another man had a very handsome and well-shaded country-place in which was a beautiful and deep grotto, on account of which probably he was proscribed. He was taking the air in this grotto when the murderers were observed by a slave, as they were coming toward him, but still some distance off. The slave conveyed him to the innermost recess of the grotto, dressed himself in his master's short tunic, pretended that he was the man and simulated alarm, and would have been killed on the spot had not one of his fellow-slaves exposed the trick. In this way the master was killed, but the people were so indignant that they gave the triumvirs no rest until they had obtained from them the crucifixion of the slave who had betrayed his master, and the freedom of the one who had tried to save him. A slave revealed the hiding-place of Aterius and obtained his freedom in consequence. He had the impudence to bid against the sons at the sale of the dead man's property, and insulted them grossly. They followed him everywhere with silent tears till the people became exasperated, and the triumvirs made him again the slave of the sons of the proscript, for doing more than was needful. Such were the evils that befell the men.

The calamity extended to orphan children on account of their wealth. One of these, who was going to school, was killed, together with the attendant, who threw his arms around the boy and would not give him up. Atilius, who was just assuming the virile toga, went, as was customary, with a procession of friends to sacrifice in the temples. His name being put on the proscription list unexpectedly, his friends and servants ran away. Left alone, and bereft of his brilliant escort, he went to his mother. She was afraid to receive him. As he did not consider it safe to ask help from anybody else after his mother had failed him, he fled to a mountain. Hunger drove him down to the plain, where he was captured by a robber and committed to a workhouse. The delicate boy, unable to endure the toil, escaped to the high road with his fetters, revealed himself to some passing centurions, and was killed.

While these events were taking place Lepidus enjoyed a triumph for his exploits in Spain, and an edict was displayed in the following terms: "In God's name, let it be proclaimed to all men and women that they celebrate this day with sacrifices and feasting. Whoever shall fail to do so shall be put on the list of the proscribed." Lepidus led the triumphal procession to the Capitol, accompanied by all the citizens, who showed the external appearance of joy, but were sad at heart. The houses of the proscribed were gutted, but there were not many buyers of their lands. Some were ashamed to add to the burdens of the unfortunate. Others thought that such property would bring them bad luck, or that it would not be quite safe for them to be seen with gold and silver in their possession, or that, as they were not free from danger with their present holdings, it would be extra-hazardous to increase them. Only the boldest spirits came forward and purchased at the lowest prices, because they were the only buyers. Thus it came to pass that the triumvirs, who had hoped to realize a sufficient sum for their preparations, were short 20,000,000 of drachmas.