Civil Wars

However, Octavius postponed his expedition against [*](Y.R. 718) Pompeius till the following year. On account of the Parthian war Antony was not able to wait. Nevertheless, they made an exchange with each other, Antony giving to Octavius 120 ships, which he sent at once and delivered at Tarentum, in return for which Octavius promised to send him 20,000 Italian legionaries. Octavia, begging the favor from Antony, made her brother a present of ten three-banked phaseli -- a combination of war-ship and merchant vessel -- and Octavius gave her in return 1000 picked men as a body-guard, to be selected by Antony. As the term of the triumvirate voted to them was about expiring, they renewed it for five years without again asking the people. And so they separated, Antony proceeding straightway to Syria and leaving Octavia with her brother, and also a daughter already born to them.

But Menodorus, -- either because he was an habitual traitor, or because he feared the former threat of Antony, who had said that he would punish him as a rebellious slave, or because he had received less consideration than he had expected, or because the other freedmen of Pompeius were continually reproaching him for unfaithfulness to his master and urging him to return, -- now that Menecrates was dead, asked forgiveness, and, having obtained it, deserted to Pompeius with seven ships, without the knowledge of Octavius' admiral, Calvisius. For this reason Octavius dismissed the latter from his command and appointed Agrippa in his place. When the fleet was ready, Octavius performed a lustration for it in the following manner. Altars were erected on the margin of the sea, and the multitude were ranged around them in ships, observing the most profound silence. The priests who performed the ceremony offered the sacrifice while standing at the water's edge, and carried the expiatory offerings in skiffs three times around the fleet, the general sailing with them, beseeching the gods to turn the bad omens against the victims instead of the fleet. Then, dividing the entrails, they cast a part of them into the sea, and put the remainder on the altars and burned them, while the multitude chanted in unison. In this way the Romans perform lustrations of the fleet.

It was intended that Octavius should set sail from Puteoli, Lepidus from Africa, and Taurus from Tarentum, to Sicily, in order to surround the enemy at once, from the east, the west, and the south. The day of Octavius' sailing had been previously communicated to all. It was the tenth day after the summer solstice. This, in the Roman calendar, was the calends of the month which, in honor of the first Cæsar, they call July instead of Quintilis. Octavius fixed on this day, perhaps because he considered it propitious on account of his father, who was always victorious. Pompeius stationed Plennius at Lilybæum with one legion and a considerable body of light-armed troops, to oppose Lepidus. He guarded the whole coast of Sicily, both east and west, and especially the islands of Lipara and Cossyra, lest they should become convenient harbors and naval stations for Octavius and Lepidus against Sicily. The best part of his naval force he kept together at Messana watching its chances. In this way they made their preparations on either side.

When the calends came they all set sail at daybreak, Lepidus from Africa with 1000 ships of burden, seventy war vessels, twelve legions of soldiers, 500 Numidian horse, and a great quantity of apparatus; Taurus from Tarentum with only 102 of the 130 ships that Antony had left, since the oarsmen of the remainder had perished during the winter. Octavius sailed from Puteoli, offering sacrifices and pouring out libations from the admiral's ship into the water to the propitious winds, and to Neptune, the guardian, and to the tranquil sea, that they should be his assistants against his father's enemies. Certain ships sent in advance made examination of the bays, and Appius with a large squadron followed as a rear guard. On the third day after their departure a south wind blew with violence and capsized a large number of ships of burden belonging to Lepidus. Nevertheless, he reached the Sicilian coast, laid siege to Plennius in Lilybæum, and got possession of some towns by persuasion and others by force. When the wind began to blow Taurus returned to Tarentum. While Appius was doubling the promontory of Minerva, some of his ships were shattered against the rocks, others ran with violence on the shoals, and the rest were dispersed, not without injury. At the beginning of the storm, Octavius took refuge in the sheltered bay of Elea, except one six-banked ship, which was wrecked on the promontory. The south wind was succeeded by a southwester, which threw the bay into commotion, as it opened toward the west. It was impossible to sail out of the bay with the wind still ahead, nor could the ships be held by oars or anchors. They crashed against each other or against the rocks, and the confusion became worse confounded by night.

When the tempest had subsided, Octavius buried the dead, cared for the wounded, clothed those who had swum ashore and furnished them with new weapons, and repaired his whole fleet with the means at his command. Six of his heavy ships, twenty-six lighter ones, and a still larger number of liburnicas had been destroyed. He was likely to consume nearly thirty days in these repairs; and now the end of summer was approaching, for which reason he deemed it best to postpone the war till the following summer, but as the people were suffering from scarcity he drew his ships upon the land and made his preparations rapidly, and sent the crews of the ships that he had lost to fill the empty ones in the fleet of Taurus. In anticipation of more serious misfortune he sent Mæcenas to Rome on account of those who were still under the spell of the memory of Pompey the Great, for the fame of that man had not yet lost its influence over them. Octavius himself visited the new colonies throughout Italy and dispelled their fears, which had been excited by the recent events. He also went to Tarentum and inspected the naval force under Taurus. Thence he proceeded to Vibo, where he encouraged his infantry and hastened the preparations of his fleet, the time for his second invasion of Sicily being near at hand.

Pompeius did not deign to seize the fine opportunity presented to him by so many shipwrecks. He merely offered sacrifice to the sea and to Neptune, assuming to call himself their son, and persuading himself that it was not without the special act of Providence that his enemies had been twice overwhelmed in this way in the summer months. It is said that he was so much puffed up by these circumstances that he exchanged the purple cloak customary to Roman commanders for a dark blue one, to signify that he was the adopted son of Neptune. He hoped that Octavius would now desist from his undertaking, but when he learned that the latter was building ships and was about to renew the expedition against him that summer, he became alarmed at finding himself at war with a man of such indomitable spirit and such formidable preparations. He sent Menodorus, with the seven ships he had brought, to reconnoitre the dockyards of Octavius and to do whatever damage he could. Menodorus had been vexed for some time past because the naval command had not been given to him, and he now perceived that he was intrusted with only the ships that he had brought, because he was under suspicion. So he plotted a new desertion.

Conceiving that, however matters might turn out, he should first signalize himself by some act of valor, he distributed among his companions all the gold he had, and sailed, by rowing three days, accomplishing a distance of 1500 stades, and fell like a thunderbolt, unperceived, on the vessels that were guarding Octavius' shipyards, and darted away to an unseen place carrying off the guard-ships by twos and threes. He also sunk, or captured, or burned some merchant vessels, laden with corn, that were moored there or sailing along the coast. Everything was thrown into confusion by this raid of Menodorus, both Octavius and Agrippa being absent. The latter had gone away to procure timber. In a spirit of bravado Menodorus ran his ship upon the soft ground, voluntarily and contemptuously, and pretended to be stuck in the mud, until his enemies dashed down from the mountains as to a certain prey, when he backed away, laughing, and left the soldiers of Octavius the victims of both chagrin and astonishment. When he had sufficiently shown what he was capable of, as enemy or friend, he dismissed a senator whom he had taken prisoner, named Rebillus, having a view already to the future.