I. The grandfather of Antonius was the orator Antonius,323
who belonged to the party of Sulla and was put to death
by Marius. His father was Antonius, surnamed Creticus,324
not a man of any great note or distinction in political
affairs, but of good judgment and integrity, and also liberal
in his donations, as one may know from a single instance.
He had no large property and for this reason he was
prevented by his wife from indulging his generous disposition.
On one occasion when an intimate friend came
to him who was in want of money, and Antonius had none,
he ordered a young slave to put some water into a silver
vessel and to bring it; and when it was brought, he
moistened his chin as if he were going to shave himself.
The slave being sent away on some other business, Antonius
gave the cup to his friend and bade him make use of it;
but as a strict inquiry was made among the slaves, and
Antonius saw that his wife was vexed and intended to
torture them one by one, he acknowledged what he had
done and begged her pardon.
II. His wife was Julia of the family of the Cæsars, a
woman who could compare with the noblest and most
virtuous of that day. She brought up her son Antonius,
having married after his father’s death Cornelius Lentulus,325
who was one of the conspirators with Catilina and was put
to death by Cicero. This appears to be the reason and the
foundation of the violent enmity between Antonius and
Cicero. Now Antonius says that even the corpse of
Lentulus was not given up to them until his mother begged
it of the wife of Cicero. But this is manifestly false, for
no one of those who were then punished by Cicero was
deprived of interment. Antonius was of distinguished
appearance in his youth, but his friendship and intimacy
with Curio326 fell upon him, as they say, like some pestilence,
for Curio himself was intemperate in his pleasures, and he
hurried Antonius, in order to make him more manageable,
into drinking and the company of women and extravagant
and licentious expenditure. All this brought on him a
heavy debt, and out of all bounds for his age, of two hundred
and fifty talents. Curio became security for all this,
and when his father heard of it he banished Antonius from
the house. Antonius for a short time mixed himself up
with the violence of Clodius, the most daring and scandalous
of the demagogues of the day, which was throwing every
thing into confusion; but becoming soon satiated with that
madness and being afraid of those who were combining
against Clodius, he left Italy for Greece and spent some
time there, exercising his body for military contests and
practising oratory. He adopted what was called the
Asiatic style of oratory, which flourished most at that time,
and bore a great resemblance to his mode of life, which
was boastful and swaggering and full of empty pride and
irregular aspiration after distinction.
III. When Gabinius,327 a man of consular rank, was sailing
for Syria, he endeavoured to persuade Antonius to join the
expedition. Antonius said that he would not go out with
him as a private individual, but on being appointed
commander of the cavalry, he did go with him. In the
first place he was sent against Aristobulus,328 who was stirring
the Jews to revolt, and he was the first man to mount
the largest of the fortifications; and he drove Aristobulus
from all of them. He next joined battle with him and
with the few men that he had put to flight the forces of
Aristobulus, which were much more numerous, and killed
all but a few; and Aristobulus was captured with his son.
After this Ptolemæus329 attempted to persuade Gabinius for
ten thousand talents to join him in an invasion of Egypt
and to recover the kingdom for him; but most of the
officers opposed the proposal, and Gabinius himself was
somewhat afraid of the war, though he was hugely taken
with the ten thousand talents; but Antonius, who was
eager after great exploits and wished to gratify the request
of Ptolemæus, persuaded Gabinius and urged him to the
expedition. They feared more than the war the march to
Pelusium, which was through deep sand where there was
no water along the Ecregma330 and the Serbonian marsh,
which the Egyptians call the blasts of Typhon331, but which
really appears to be left behind by the Red Sea332 and to be
caused by the filtration of the waters at the part where it
is separated by the narrowest part of the isthmus from
the internal sea. Antonius being sent with the cavalry
not only occupied the straits, but taking Pelusium also,
a large city, and the soldiers in it, he at the same time
made the road safe for the army and gave the general
sure hopes of victory. Even his enemies reaped advantage
from his love of distinction; for when Ptolemæus entered
Pelusium, and through his passion and hatred was moved
to massacre the Egyptians, Antonius stood in the way and
stopped him. And in the battles and the contests which
were great and frequent, he displayed many deeds of daring
and prudent generalship, but most signally in encircling
and surrounding the enemy in the rear, whereby he secured
the victory to those in front, and received the rewards of
courage and fitting honours. Nor did the many fail to
notice his humanity towards Archelaus333 after his death; for
Antonius, who had been his intimate and friend, fought
against him during his lifetime of necessity, but when he
found the body of Archelaus, who had fallen, he interred
it with all honours and in kingly fashion. He thus left
among the people of Alexandria the highest reputation,
and was judged by the Roman soldiers to be a most illustrious
man.
IV. With these advantages he possessed a noble dignity
of person; and his well-grown beard, his broad forehead
and hooked nose334 appeared to express the manly character
which is observed in the paintings and sculptures of Hercules.
And there was an old tradition that the Antonii
were Herakleidæ, being sprung from Anton, a son of Hercules.
This tradition Antonius thought that he strengthened
by the character of his person, as it has been observed,
and by his dress. For on all occasions, when he was going
to appear before a number of persons, he had his tunic
girded up to his thigh, and a large sword hung by his
side, and a thick cloak thrown round him. Besides, that
which appeared to others to be offensive, his great boasting
and jesting and display of his cups, and his sitting by the
soldiers when they were eating, and his eating himself as
he stood by the soldiers’ table—it is wonderful how much
affection and attachment for him it bred in the soldiers.
His amorous propensities, too, had in them something that
was not without a charm, but even by these he won the
favour of many, helping them in their love affairs and
submitting to be joked with good humour about his own
amours. His liberality and his habit of gratifying the
soldiers and his friends in nothing with a stinted or
sparing hand, both gave him a brilliant foundation for
power, and, when he had become great, raised his power
still higher, though it was in danger of being subverted
by ten thousand other faults. I will relate one instance
of his profusion. He ordered five-and-twenty ten thousands
to be given to one of his friends; this sum the
Romans express by Decies.335 But as his steward wondered
thereat, and to show him how much it was, placed the
money out, he asked as he was passing by, What that
was. The steward replying that this was what he had
ordered to be given, Antonius, who conjectured his
trickery, said, “I thought a Decies was more: this is
a small matter; and therefore add to it as much more.”
V. Now these things belong to a later period. But
when matters at Rome came to a split, the aristocratical
party joining Pompeius who was present, and the popular
party inviting Cæsar from Gaul, who was in arms, Curio,
the friend of Antonius,336 changing sides in favour of Cæsar,
brought Antonius over; and as he had great influence
among the many by his eloquence, and spent money
lavishly, which was supplied by Cæsar, he got Antonius
appointed tribune, and then one of the priests over the
birds, whom the Romans call Augurs. As soon as Antonius
entered on his office, he was of no small assistance
to those who were directing public affairs on Cæsar’s
behalf. In the first place, when Marcellus the consul
attempted to give to Pompeius the troops that were
already levied, and to empower him to raise others, Antonius
opposed him by proposing an order, that the collected
force should sail to Syria and assist Bibulus, who
was warring with the Parthians, and that the troops which
Pompeius was levying should not pay any regard to him:
and, in the second place, when the Senate would not receive
Cæsar’s letters, nor allow them to be read, Antonius, whose
office gave him power, did read them, and he changed the
disposition of many, who judged from Cæsar’s letters that
he only asked what was just and reasonable. Finally, when
two questions were proposed in the Senate, of which one
was, whether Pompeius should disband his troops, and the
other, whether Cæsar should do it, and there were a few
in favour of Pompeius laying down his arms, and all but
a few were for Cæsar doing so, Antonius arose and put the
question, Whether the Senate was of opinion that Pompeius
and Cæsar at the same time should lay down their
arms and disband their forces. All eagerly accepted this
proposal, and with shouts praising Antonius, they urged
to put the question to the vote. But as the consuls would
not consent, the friends of Cæsar again made other proposals,
which were considered reasonable, which Cato
resisted, and Lentulus, who was consul, ejected Antonius
from the Senate. Antonius went out uttering many imprecations
against them, and assuming the dress of a slave,
and in conjunction with Cassius Quintus337 hiring a chariot
he hurried to Cæsar; and as soon as they were in sight,
they called out that affairs at Rome were no longer in any
order, since even tribunes had no liberty of speech, but
every one was driven away and in danger who spoke on
the side of justice.
VI. Upon this Cæsar with his army entered Italy.
Accordingly Cicero, in his Philippica, said that Helen338 was
the beginning of the Trojan war, and Antonius of the civil
war, wherein he is manifestly stating a falsehood. For
Caius Cæsar was not such a light person, or so easy to be
moved from his sound judgment by passion, if he had not
long ago determined to do this, as to have made war on
his country all of a sudden, because he saw Antonius in a
mean dress and Cassius making their escape to him in a
hired chariot; but this gave a ground and specious reason
for the war to a man who had long been wanting a pretext.
He was led to war against the whole world, as Alexander
before him and Cyrus of old had been, by an insatiable
love of power and a frantic passion to be first and greatest:
and this he could not obtain, if Pompeius was not put down.
He came then and got possession of Rome, and drove Pompeius
out of Italy; and determining to turn first against
the forces of Pompeius in Iberia, and then, when he had
got ready a fleet, to cross over to attack Pompeius, he
entrusted Rome to Lepidus, who was prætor, and the forces
and Italy to Antonius, who was tribune. Antonius forthwith
gained the favour of the soldiers by taking his exercises
with them, and by generally living with them, and
making them presents out of his means; but to everybody
else he was odious. For owing to his carelessness he paid
no attention to those who were wronged, and listened with
ill-temper to those who addressed him, and had a bad
repute about other men’s wives. In fine, Cæsar’s friends
brought odium on Cæsar’s power, which, so far as concerned
Cæsar’s acts, appeared to be anything rather than
a tyranny: and of those friends Antonius, who had the
chief power and committed the greatest excesses, had most
of the blame.
VII. However, upon his return from Iberia, Cæsar339 overlooked
the charges against him, and employing him in
war because of his energy, his courage, and his military
skill, he was never disappointed in him. Now Cæsar,
after crossing the Ionian Gulf from Brundusium with a few
men, sent his ships back, with orders to Gabinius340 and
Antonius to put the troops on board and carry them over
quickly to Macedonia. Gabinius was afraid of the voyage,
which was hazardous in the winter season, and led his
army by land a long way about; but Antonius being
alarmed for Cæsar, who was hemmed in by many enemies,
repulsed Libo,341 who was blockading the mouth of the
harbour, by surrounding his gallies with many light boats,
and embarking in his vessels eight thousand legionary
soldiers he set sail. Being discovered by the enemy and
pursued, he escaped all danger from them in consequence
of a strong south wind bringing a great swell and
tempestuous sea upon his gallies; but as he was carried
in his ships towards precipices and cliffs with deep water
under them, he had no hope of safety. But all at once
there blew from the bay a violent south-west wind and
the swell ran from the land to the sea, and Antonius
getting off the land and sailing in gallant style saw the
shore full of wrecks. For thither the wind had cast up the
gallies that were in pursuit of him and no small number
of them was destroyed; and Antonius made many prisoners
and much booty, and he took Lissus, and he gave
Cæsar great confidence by coming at a critical time with so
great a force.
VIII. There were many and continuous fights, in all of
which Antonius was distinguished: and twice he met and
turned back the soldiers of Cæsar, who were flying in disorder,
and by compelling them to stand and to fight again
with their pursuers he gained the victory. There was
accordingly more talk of him in the camp than of any one
else after Cæsar. And Cæsar showed what opinion he had
of him; for when he was going to fight the last battle and
that which decided everything at Pharsalus,342 he had the
right wing himself, but he gave the command of the left
to Antonius as being the most skilful and bravest officer
that he had. After the battle Cæsar was proclaimed
dictator, and he set out in pursuit of Pompeius, but he
appointed Antonius master of the horse and sent him to
Rome: this is the second office in rank when the dictator is
present; but if he is not, it is the first and almost the only
one. For the tribuneship continues, but they put down
all the other functionaries when a dictator is chosen.
IX. However Dolabella,343 who was then a tribune, a young
man who aimed at change, introduced a measure for the
annulling of debts, and he persuaded Antonius,344 who was
a friend of his and always wished to please the many, to
work with him and to take a part in this political measure.
But Asinius and Trebellius gave him the contrary advice,
and it happened that a strong suspicion came on Antonius,
that he was wronged in the matter of his wife by
Dolabella. And as he was much annoyed thereat, he not
only drove his wife from his house, who was his cousin,
for she was the daughter of Caius Antonius who was
consul with Cicero, but he joined Asinius and resisted
Dolabella. Dolabella occupied the Forum with the design
of carrying the law by force, but Antonius, after the
Senate had declared by a vote that it was needful to oppose
Dolabella with arms, came upon him and joining battle
killed some of the men of Dolabella and lost some of his own.
This brought on Antonius the hatred of the many, and he
was not liked by the honest and sober on account of his
habits of life, as Cicero says, but was detested; for people
were disgusted at his drunkenness at unseasonable hours,
and his heavy expenditure, and his intercourse with women,
and his sleeping by day, and walking about with head
confused and loaded with drink, and by night his revellings
and theatres and his presence at the nuptials of mimi and
jesters. It is said indeed that after being present at the
entertainment on the marriage of Hippias the mime, and
drinking all night, when the people summoned him early
in the morning to the Forum, he came there still full of
food and vomited, and one of his friends placed his vest
under to serve him. Sergius the mime was one of those
who had the greatest influence over him, and Cytheris345 from
the same school, a woman whom he loved, and whom when
he visited the cities he took round with him in a litter;
and there were as many attendants to follow the litter as
that of his mother. People were also vexed at the sight
of golden cups carried about in his excursions as in processions,
and fixing of tents in the ways, and the laying
out of costly feasts near groves and rivers, and lions yoked
to chariots, and houses of orderly men and women used as
quarters for prostitutes and lute-players. For it was considered
past all endurance that, while Cæsar was lodging
in the open field out of Italy, clearing up the remnant of
war with great labour and danger, others, through means
of Cæsar’s power, were indulging in luxury and insulting
the citizens.
X. These things appear also to have increased the disorder
and to have given the soldiers licence to commit
shameful violence and robbery. Wherefore, when Cæsar
returned, he pardoned Dolabella; and being elected consul
for the third time he chose not Antonius, but Lepidus
for his colleague. Antonius bought the house of Pompeius
when it was sold, but he was vexed when he was asked
for the money; and he says himself that this was the
reason why he did not join Cæsar in his Libyan expedition,
having had no reward for his former successes. However
Cæsar is considered to have cured him of the chief
part of his folly and extravagance by not allowing his
excesses to pass unnoticed. For he gave up that course of
life and turned his thoughts to wedlock, taking for his
wife Fulvia, who had been the wife of the demagogue
Clodius, a woman who troubled herself not about domestic
industry or housekeeping, nor one who aspired to rule a
private man, but her wish was to rule a ruler and
command a general: so that Cleopatra was indebted to
Fulvia346 for training Antonius to woman-rule, inasmuch as
Cleopatra received him quite tamed and disciplined from
the commencement to obey women. However Antonius
attempted by sportive ways and youthful sallies to make
Fulvia somewhat merrier; as for example, on the occasion
when many went to meet Cæsar after his victory in Iberia,
Antonius also went; but as a report suddenly reached
Italy that Cæsar was dead and the enemy were advancing,
he returned to Rome, and taking a slave’s dress he came
to the house by night, and saying that he brought a letter
from Antonius to Fulvia, he was introduced to her wrapped
up in his dress. Fulvia, who was in a state of anxiety,
asked, before she took the letter, whether Antonius was
alive; but without speaking a word he held out the letter
to her, and when she was beginning to open and read it,
he embraced and kissed her. These few out of many
things I have produced by way of instance.
XI. When Cæsar was returning from Iberia347 all the
first people went several days’ journey to meet him; but
Antonius was specially honoured by Cæsar. For in his
passage through Italy he had Antonius in the chariot
with him, and behind him Brutus Albinus and Octavianus
the son of his niece, who was afterwards named Cæsar and
ruled the Romans for a very long time. When Cæsar was
appointed consul for the fifth time, he immediately chose
Antonius for his colleague, and it was his design to abdicate
the consulship and give it to Dolabella; and this
he proposed to the Senate. But as Antonius violently
opposed this, and vented much abuse of Dolabella and
received as much in return, Cæsar, being ashamed of these
unseemly proceedings, went away. Afterwards when he
came to proclaim Dolabella, upon Antonius calling out
that the birds were opposed to it, Cæsar yielded and gave
up Dolabella, who was much annoyed. But it appeared
that Cæsar abominated Dolabella as much as he did
Antonius; for it is said, that when some person was
endeavouring to excite his suspicions against both, Cæsar
said that he was not afraid of those fat and long-haired
fellows, but those pale and thin ones, meaning Brutus and
Cassius, who afterwards conspired against him and slew
him.
XII. And Antonius without designing it gave them a
most specious pretext. It was the feast of the Lykæa
among the Romans, which they call Lupercalia,348 and Cæsar
dressed in a triumphal robe and sitting on the Rostra in
the Forum viewed the runners. Now many youths of
noble birth run the race, and many of the magistrates,
anointed with oil, and with strips of hide they strike by
way of sport those whom they meet. Antonius running
among them paid no regard to the ancient usage, but
wrapping a crown of bay round a diadem he ran to the
Rostra, and being raised up by his companions in the race
he placed it on Cæsar’s head, intimating that he ought to
be King. But as Cæsar affected to refuse it and put his head
aside, the people were pleased and clapped their hands;
then Antonius again offered the crown, and Cæsar again
rejected it. This contest went on for some time, only a
few of the friends of Antonius encouraging him in his
pressing the offer, but all the people shouted and clapped
when Cæsar refused; which indeed was surprising, that
while in reality they submitted to be ruled over with
kingly power they eschewed the name of King as if it were
the destruction of their freedom. Accordingly Cæsar rose
from the Rostra much annoyed, and taking the robe from
his neck called out that he offered his throat to any one
who would have it. The crown which was placed on one
of his statues certain tribunes tore off, and the people followed
them with loud expressions of goodwill and clapping
of hands; but Cæsar deprived them of their office.
XIII. This confirmed Brutus and Cassius, and when
they were enumerating the friends whom they could
trust in the undertaking, they deliberated about Antonius.
The rest were for adding Antonius to their number, but
Trebonius opposed it; for he said that at the time when
they went to meet Cæsar on his return from Iberia, and
Antonius was in the same tent with him and journeyed
with him, he tried his disposition in a quiet way and
with caution, and he said that Antonius understood him,
though he did not respond to the proposal, nor yet did he
report it to Cæsar, but faithfully kept the words secret.
Upon this they again deliberated whether they should
kill Antonius after they had killed Cæsar; but Brutus
opposed this, urging that the act which was adventured
in defence of the laws and of justice must be pure and
free from injustice. But as they were afraid of the
strength of Antonius and the credit that his office gave
him, they appointed some of the conspirators to look after
him in order that when Cæsar entered the Senate house
and the deed was going to be done, they might detain
him on the outside in conversation about some matter and
on the pretence of urgent business.
XIV. This being accomplished according as it was
planned and Cæsar having fallen in the Senate house,
Antonius immediately put on a slave’s attire and hid
himself. But when he learned that the men were not
attacking any one, but were assembled in the Capitol, he
persuaded them to come down after giving them his son
as a hostage; and he entertained Cassius at supper, and
Brutus entertained Lepidus. Antonius having summoned
the Senate spoke about an amnesty and a distribution of
provinces among Brutus and Cassius and their partizans,
and the Senate ratified these proposals, and decreed not to
alter anything that had been done by Cæsar.349 Antonius
went out of the Senate the most distinguished of men,
being considered to have prevented a civil war and to
have managed most prudently and in a most statesmanlike
manner circumstances which involved difficulties and no
ordinary causes of confusion. But from such considerations
as these he was soon disturbed by the opinion that
he derived from the multitude, that he would certainly be
the first man in Rome, if Brutus were put down. Now it
happened that when Cæsar’s corpse was carried forth, as
the custom was, he pronounced an oration over it in the
Forum;350 and seeing that the people were powerfully led
and affected, he mingled with the praises of Cæsar commiseration
and mighty passion over the sad event, and at
the close of his speech, shaking the garments of the dead,
which were blood-stained and hacked with the swords,
and calling those who had done these things villains and
murderers, he inspired so much indignation in the men
that they burnt the body of Cæsar in the Forum, heaping
together the benches and the tables; and snatching burning
faggots from the pile they ran to the houses of the
assassins and assaulted them.
XV. For this reason Brutus and his party left the city,
and the friends of Cæsar joined Antonius; and Cæsar’s
wife Calpurnia trusting to him had the chief part of the
treasures transferred to Antonius from her house, to the
amount in all of four thousand talents. He received also
the writings of Cæsar, in which there were entries made
of what he had determined and decreed; and Antonius
inserting entries in them, named many to offices just as
he pleased, and many he named senators, and he restored
some who were in exile and released others who were in
prison, as if Cæsar had determined all this. Wherefore
the Romans by way of mockery named all these persons
Charonitæ,351 because when they were put to the proof they
had to take refuge in the memoranda of the deceased.
And Antonius managed everything else as if he had full
power, being consul himself, and having his brothers also
in office, Gaius as prætor and Lucius as tribune.
XVI. While affairs were in this state, young Cæsar352
arrived at Rome, being the son of the niece of the deceased,
as it has been told, and left the heir of his substance; and
he was staying in Apollonia at the time of Cæsar’s assassination.
He went forthwith to pay his respects to
Antonius, as being his father’s friend, and reminded him
of the money deposited with him; for he had to pay to
every Roman seventy-five drachmæ, which Cæsar had
given by his will. Antonius, at first despising his youth,
said that he was not in his senses, and that being destitute
of all sound reason and friends he was taking up the succession
of Cæsar, which was a burden too great for him
to bear; but as Cæsar did not yield to these arguments
and demanded the money, Antonius went on saying and
doing many things to insult him. For he opposed him in
seeking a tribuneship, and when he was preparing to set
up a golden chair of his father, as it had been voted by
the Senate, he threatened to carry him off to prison, if he
did not stop his attempts to win the popular favour. But
when the youth, by giving himself up to Cicero and the
rest who hated Antonius, by means of them made the
Senate his friends, and he himself got the favour of the
people and mustered the soldiers from the colonies,353 Antonius
being alarmed came to a conference with him in
the Capitol, and they were reconciled. Antonius in his
sleep that night had a strange dream; he thought that his
right hand was struck by lightning; and a few days after
a report reached him that Cæsar was plotting against him.
Cæsar indeed made an explanation, but he did not convince
Antonius; and their enmity was again in full activity,
and both of them roaming about Italy endeavoured to stir
up by large pay the soldiers who were planted in the
colonies, and to anticipate one another in gaining over
those who were still under arms.
XVII. Of those in the city Cicero had the greatest
influence; and by inciting everybody against Antonius
he finally persuaded the Senate to vote Antonius to be an
enemy, and to send Cæsar lictors and the insignia of a
prætor, and to despatch Pansa and Hirtius354 to drive Antonius
out of Italy. They were consuls for that year;
and engaging with Antonius near the city of Mutina, on
which occasion Cæsar was present and fought with them,
they defeated the enemy, but fell themselves. Many
great difficulties befell Antonius in his flight; but the
greatest was famine. But it was the nature of Antonius
to show his best qualities in difficulties, and in his misfortune
he was as like as may be to a good man; for it is
common to those who are hard pressed by straits to perceive
what virtue is, but all have not strength enough in
reverses to imitate what they admire and to avoid what
they do not approve; but some rather give way to their
habits through weakness and let their judgment be destroyed.
Now Antonius in these circumstances was a
powerful pattern to the soldiers, for though he was fresh
from the enjoyment of so much luxury and expense, he
drank foul water without complaining, and ate wild fruits
and roots. Bark too was eaten, as it was said, and in their
passage over the Alps they fed on animals that had never
been eaten before.
XVIII. His design was to fall in with the troops there
which Lepidus355 commanded, who was considered to be a
friend of Antonius and to have derived through him much
advantage from the friendship of Cæsar. Having arrived
there and encamped near, he found no friendly signs, on
which he resolved to try a bold stroke. Antonius had
neglected his hair and he had allowed his beard to grow
long immediately after his defeat; and putting on a dark
garment he approached the lines of Lepidus and began to
speak. As many of the soldiers were moved at the sight
and affected by his words, Lepidus in alarm ordered the
trumpets to sound all at once and so to prevent Antonius
from being heard. But the soldiers pitied the more, and
held communication with him by means of Lælius and
Clodius, whom they secretly sent to him in the dress of
women who followed the camp, and the messengers urged
Antonius boldly to attack the lines, for there were many,
they said, would undertake even to kill Lepidus, if he
wished. Antonius would not consent to their touching
Lepidus, but on the next day he began to cross the river
with his army. Antonius entered the river first and advanced
to the opposite bank, for he saw already many of
the soldiers of Lepidus stretching out their hands to him
and tearing down the ramparts. When he had entered
and made himself master of all, he approached Lepidus
with the greatest kindness, for he embraced him and
called him father; and in fact he was master of all, but
he continued to preserve to Lepidus the name and honour
of an Imperator. This caused also Plancus Munatius to
join him, for Plancus was at no great distance with a
large force. Being thus raised anew to great power he
crossed the Alps into Italy at the head of seventeen
legions of infantry and ten thousand cavalry; besides
this he left to guard Gaul six legions with Varius, one
of his intimates and boon companions, whom they called
Cotylon.356
XIX. Now Cæsar no longer cared for Cicero when he
saw that he clung to liberty, but he invited Antonius
through the mediation of his friends to come to terms.
The three met together in a small island357 in the middle of
a river and sat together for three days. All the rest was
easily agreed on, and they distributed the empire358 among
them as if it were a paternal inheritance, but the discussion
about the men who were destined to perish caused
them most trouble, each claiming to get rid of his enemies
and to save his relations. But at length surrendering to
their passion against those whom they hated both the
honour due to their kinsmen and their goodwill to their
friends, Cæsar surrendered Cicero to Antonius, and Antonius
surrendered to him Lucius Cæsar, who was his
uncle on the mother’s side; Lepidus also was allowed to
put to death his brother Paulus; but others say that
Lepidus gave up his brother to Cæsar and Antonius, who
required his death. I think nothing could be more cruel
or savage than this exchange; for by exchanging murder
for murder they equally destroyed those whom they surrendered
and those whom they put to death, but they
acted more unjustly to their friends, whom they caused to
die even without bearing them any hatred.
XX. After this settlement, the soldiers, who were
around them, required that Cæsar should strengthen
their friendship by marriage, and should take to wife
Clodia,359 the daughter of Fulvia, the wife of Antonius.
This also being agreed to, three hundred persons were
by proscription put to death by them.360 When Cicero was
murdered, Antonius ordered the head to be cut off and the
right hand, with which Cicero wrote the speeches against
him. When they were brought, Antonius looked on them
with delight and broke out a laughing several times
through joy; then being satiated with the sight he
ordered them to be placed above the Rostra in the Forum,
as if he were insulting the dead, and not showing his
own arrogance in his good fortune and abusing his power.
His uncle Cæsar being sought and pursued fled for refuge
to his sister, who, when the assassins were standing by
and trying to force their way into her chamber, fixing
herself at the door and spreading out her arms, called out
repeatedly, “You shall not kill Cæsar Lucius, unless you
kill me first, me the mother of the Imperator.” By such
her conduct she rescued and saved her brother.
XXI. The dominion of the three was in most respects
hateful to the Romans; but Antonius had most of the
blame, as he was older than Cæsar, and had more influence
than Lepidus, and threw himself without restraint into
his former luxurious and intemperate habits as soon as
he had shaken off all trouble about affairs. There
was added to his general bad repute the hatred against
him on account of the house that he inhabited, which had
been the house of Pompeius Magnus, a man no less admired
for his temperance and his orderly and citizenlike mode
of life than for his three triumphs. For they were vexed
to see his house generally closed to commanders, magistrates
and ambassadors, who were insolently thrust from
the doors, while it was filled with mimi and jugglers and
drunken flatterers, upon whom was expended most of the
money which was got by the most violent and harsh
means. For the three not only sold the substance of
those who were murdered, bringing false charges against
their kinsmen and wives, and tried all kinds of imposts;
but hearing that there were deposits361 with the Vestal
Virgins made both by strangers and citizens, they went
and seized them. Now as nothing was enough for
Antonius, Cæsar claimed to share the money with him;
and they also distributed the army between them, and
both went together into Macedonia to oppose Brutus
and Cassius; and they intrusted Rome to Lepidus.
XXII. Crossing over the sea they commenced the
campaign and encamped by the enemy, Antonius being
opposed to Cassius, and Cæsar to Brutus,362 wherein no great
deed was performed on the part of Cæsar, but it was
Antonius who gained all the victory and had all the success.
In the first battle, Cæsar, being completely routed by
Brutus, lost his camp and narrowly escaped from his
pursuers; but, as he says in his Memoirs, he retired before
the battle in consequence of one of his friends having had
a dream. But Antonius defeated Cassius; though some
have written that Antonius was not in the battle, but
came up after the battle to join in the pursuit. Pindarus,
one of the faithful freedmen of Cassius, killed him at his
request and order, for Cassius did not know that Brutus was
victorious. After an interval of a few days they fought a
second battle, in which Brutus being defeated killed
himself, and Antonius carried off the chief credit of the
victory, inasmuch as Cæsar was sick. Standing over the
corpse of Brutus he upbraided it gently for the death of
his brother Caius,363 for Brutus had put Caius to death
in Macedonia to revenge Cicero; but declaring that he
blamed Hortensius more than Brutus for the murder of
his brother, Antonius ordered him to be massacred on his
tomb; and he threw over the body of Brutus his own
purple cloak, which was of great value, and commanded
one of his freedmen to look after the interment. He
afterwards found out that this fellow did not burn the
cloak with the corpse and that he had purloined a large
part of the expenditure destined for the interment, whereon
he put him to death.
XXIII. After this Cæsar went back to Rome, and it
was supposed that he would not live long on account of
his illness. Antonius crossed over into Greece with a
large army, intending to levy money in all the eastern
provinces; for as they had promised to every soldier five
thousand drachmæ, they required more vigorous measures
for raising money and collecting contributions. Towards
the Greeks his conduct was neither unusual nor oppressive
at first, but his love of amusement led him to listen to
the discourses of the learned and to the sight of games
and religious solemnities; and in his decisions he was
equitable, and was delighted at being called a Philhellen,
but still more in being addressed as Philathenæus; and he
made rich gifts to the city. The people of Megara also
wishing to show him something fine, by way of rivalry
with Athens, and requesting him to see the Senate-house,
he went up and looked at it, and on their asking what he
thought of it: “Small, it is true,” he said, “and yet all in
decay.” He also caused the temple of the Pythian Apollo
to be surveyed, as if he intended to repair it; for he made
this promise to the Senate.
XXIV.364 Leaving Lucius Censorinus365 over the affairs of
Greece he crossed to Asia; and when he had touched the
wealth there, and kings used to come to his door, and
wives of kings vying with one another in their presents
and their beauty let themselves be corrupted in order to
win his favour, and while Cæsar at Rome was worn out
with civil commotions and war, he enjoying perfect leisure
and tranquillity was carried back by his passions to his
usual habits of life, and Anaxenor366 a lute-player and
Xuthus a piper and Metrodorus a dancer, and other such
rout of Asiatic theatrical folks who surpassed in impudence
and shamelessness the pests from Italy, had crept in and
managed his residence—it was past all bearing, for
everything was wasted on these extravagancies. For
all Asia, like that city in Sophocles,367 at the same time was
filled with incense burning,
“With pæans too ’twas filled and heavy groans.”
Thus, when he was entering Ephesus, women clothed
like Bacchæ, and men and boys equipped like Satyrs and
Pans led the way; and the city was filled with ivy and
thyrsi and psalteries and pipes and flutes, the people calling
him Dionysus, Giver of Joy and Beneficent. He was
this, it is true, to some; but to the many Omestes368 and
Agrionius. For he took their property from well-born
men and gave it to worthless men and flatterers; and
certain persons got the substance of many who were still
alive by asking for it as if they were dead. He gave the
house of a citizen of Magnesia to a cook, who, as it is said,
had distinguished himself by a single entertainment.
Finally, when he was imposing a second contribution on
the citizens, Hybreas369 was bold enough in speaking on
behalf of Asia to use these words, which were indeed such
as the common folks would have in their mouths, but were
not ill adapted to flatter370 the vanity of Antonius, “If thou
canst take contributions twice in one year, thou canst also
make for us summer twice and harvest-time twice;” but
he concluded with these practical and bold words, that
Asia had given twenty ten thousands of talents; and “if
thou hast not had them, demand them of those who have
received the money; but if thou hast received and hast
them not, we are undone.” By these words he made a
strong impression on Antonius, for he was ignorant of the
greater part of what was going on; and not so much
because he was indolent, as because in his simplicity he
trusted those about him. For there was in his character
simplicity and slow perception; but when he did perceive
his errors, there was strong repentance, and acknowledgment
to those who had been wronged, and excess both in
the restitution that he made and the punishment that he
inflicted. Yet he was considered to surpass the bounds of
moderation rather in conferring favours than in punishing.
His rudeness in mirth and bantering carried its own
remedy with it; for a man might return him as good as he
gave; and he took as much pleasure in being laughed at
as in laughing at others. And this did him mischief in
most things; for he could not believe that those who
spoke so freely in jest, could flatter him in earnest, and as
he was easily caught by praise, not knowing that some
persons by mingling freedom of expression, like a sharpish
sauce, with flattery, took away from flattery its nauseating
insipidity, by their boldness and babbling over their cups
striving to make their yielding in matters of business and
their assent appear, not the way of persons who keep
about a man merely to please him, but of those who are
overpowered by superior wisdom.
XXV. Such was the disposition of Antonius, upon which
a crowning evil the love for Cleopatra supervening, and
stirring up and maddening many of the passions that were
still concealed in him and lying quiet, caused to vanish
and utterly destroyed whatever of goodness and of a saving
nature still made resistance in him. And he was captured
in this fashion. When he was preparing for the Parthian
war, he sent her orders to meet him in Cilicia to give an
account of the charges made against her of supplying
Cassius with much money and contributions for the war.
Dellius,371 who was sent, observing her person and marking
her cleverness in speaking and her versatility, soon perceived
that Antonius would never even think of doing such
a woman any harm, but that she would have the greatest
influence with him; and he applied himself to paying his
court to her, and he encouraged the Egyptian, in the
words of Homer,372 to go to Cilicia bedecked in her best
fashion and not to be afraid of Antonius, who was the most
pleasant and kindest of generals. Being persuaded by
Dellius, and collecting from the proofs of her charms upon
Caius Cæsar and Cnæus the son of Pompeius, she had
hopes that she should more easily win over Antonius.
For they knew her when she was yet a girl and inexperienced
in affairs, but she was going to visit Antonius at
an age in which women have the most brilliant beauty and
their understanding has attained its perfection. Accordingly
she got together many presents and money and
ornaments, such as one might suppose that she could bring
from the greatness of her estate and the wealth of her
kingdom, but she went to Cilicia relying chiefly on herself
and the seductions and charms of her own person.
XXVI. Though Cleopatra373 received many letters of summons
both from Antonius374 and his friends, she so despised
and mocked the man, that she sailed up the Cydnus in a
vessel with a gilded stern, with purple sails spread, and
rowers working with silver oars to the sound of the flute
in harmony with pipes and lutes. Cleopatra reclined
under an awning spangled with gold, dressed as Venus is
painted, and youths representing the Cupids in pictures
stood on each side fanning her. In like manner the handsomest
of her female slaves in the dress of Nereids and
Graces, were stationed some at the rudders and others at
the ropes. And odours of wondrous kind from much incense
filled the banks. Some of the people accompanied her immediately
from the entrance of the river on both sides, and
others went down from the city to see the sight. As the
crowd from the Agora also poured forth, Antonius was
finally left on the tribunal sitting alone. A rumour went
abroad that Venus was coming to revel with Bacchus for
the good of Asia. Now Antonius sent to invite Cleopatra
to supper, but she on her part said that he should rather
come to her. Antonius accordingly, wishing to display
some good nature and kindness, obeyed and came. He
found a preparation greater than he expected, but he was
most surprised at the number of the lights: for it is said
that so many lights were hung down and shewn on all
sides at once and arranged and put together in such inclinations
and positions with respect to one another in the
form of squares and circles, that of the few things that are
beautiful and worthy of being seen this sight was one.
XXVII. On the following day when Antonius feasted
her in turn he was ambitious to surpass her splendour and
taste, but he was left behind and inferior in both, and in
these very things he was the first to scoff at the coarseness
and rusticity of his own entertainment. Cleopatra,
observing in the jests of Antonius much of the soldier and
the unpolished man, adopted the same manner towards
him freely and boldly. Now her beauty, as they say, was
not in itself altogether incomparable nor such as to strike
those who saw her; but familiarity with her had an irresistible
charm, and her form, combined with her persuasive
speech and with the peculiar character which in a manner
was diffused about her behaviour, produced a certain
piquancy. There was a sweetness also in the sound of
her voice when she spoke; and as she could easily turn
her tongue, like a many-stringed instrument, to any language
that she pleased, she had very seldom need of an
interpreter for her communication with barbarians, but
she answered most by herself, as Ethiopians,375 Troglodytes,
Hebrews, Arabs, Syrians, Medes, Parthians. She is said
also to have learned the language of many other peoples,
though the kings her predecessors had not even taken the
pains to learn the Egyptian language, and some of them
had even given up the Macedonian dialect.
XXVIII. Now she so captivated Antonius, that though
his wife Fulvia was carrying on war at Rome against
Cæsar on behalf of the interests of Antonius, and a
Parthian army was hovering about Mesopotamia, of which
the king’s generals had named Labienus376 Parthian
governor, and they were about to enter Syria, he allowed
himself to be carried off by her to Alexandria; and there
staying and amusing himself like a young man who had
leisure, he consumed and expended upon pleasure the most
costly of all things, as Antiphon said, Time. They had a
kind of company called Inimitable Livers; and they daily
feasted one another, making an incredible profusion in
their expenditure. Now Philotas of Amphissa,377 a physician,
used to relate to my grandfather Lamprias, that he
was then in Alexandria learning his profession, and having
got acquainted with one of the royal cooks, he was
persuaded by him, as was natural in a young man, to view
the costliness and the preparation for the table. Accordingly
he was introduced into the kitchen, where he saw
everything in great abundance, and eight wild boars
roasting, which made him wonder at the number of the
guests. Hereupon the cook laughed and said, the party
at supper was not large, only about twelve; but it was
necessary that everything which was served up should be
in perfection, which a moment of time would spoil. He
said it might happen that Antonius should wish to sup
immediately, and if it so happened, he might defer it by
asking for a cup or by falling into some conversation; and
accordingly, he continued, not one supper is prepared, but
many, for the exact time is difficult to conjecture. This
is what Philotas used to tell; and in the course of time,
as he related, he was among those who attended on the
eldest son of Antonius, whom he had by Fulvia, and he
supped with him with the rest of his companions, as a
general rule, when he did not sup with his father. On
one occasion there was a physician present who was bragging
greatly and much annoying the company at supper,
but Philotas stopped him by a sophism of this kind: “If
a man has fever in some degree, we must give him cold
water; but every man who has fever has fever in some
degree; we must therefore give cold water to every man
who has fever.” The man was confounded and put to
silence, whereat the youth being pleased, laughed and
said, “All this, Philotas, I give you,” pointing to a table
full of many large cups. Philotas acknowledged his intended
kindness, though he was far from thinking that a
boy of his age had authority to make such a present; but
after awhile one of the young slaves took hold of the cups
and bringing them in a vessel bade him put a seal on it.
As Philotas made objections and was afraid to take the
things. “Why, you fool,” said the man, “do you hesitate?
Don’t you know that the giver is the son of Antonius, and
that he has permission to give so many things of gold? If
however you take my advice, you will exchange the whole
with us for a sum of money; for perchance the youth’s
father might call for some of the vessels, which are old
and valued for their workmanship.” Such anecdotes as
these my grandfather used to say that Philotas would occasionally
tell.
XXIX. But Cleopatra, by distributing flattery not, as
Plato378 says, in four ways, but in many ways, and by
always adding some new pleasure and charm to whatever
was either serious or mirthful, completely ruled Antonius,
never leaving him by night nor by day. For she played
at dice with him, and drank with him, and hunted with
him, and was a spectator when he was exercising in arms,
and by night when he was standing at the doors and
windows of the common people and jesting with those
within, she accompanied him in his rambles and freaks,
in the dress of a female slave; for Antonius also used to
dress himself in this style. Accordingly he would return
home always well loaded with coarse abuse and sometimes
with blows. With the greater part he was in no good
credit; however the Alexandrines took delight in his
extravagances, and joined in his follies without any lack
of cleverness or humour, being pleased therewith and
saying that Antonius put on the tragic mask to the
Romans, but the comic mask to them. Now to relate the
greater part of his follies would be mere trifling. However
on one occasion when he was fishing and was vexed at
his bad sport, Cleopatra also being present, he ordered the
fisherman to dive under the water and secretly to fasten to
the hook some fishes that had been already caught; and he
pulled up two or three times, but not without being detected
by the Egyptian. Pretending to admire, she spoke to her
friends and invited them to come as spectators on the
following day. A number of them got into the fishing
boats, and when Antonius had let down his line, she
ordered one of her own men to anticipate him by diving to
the hook and to fasten to it a Pontic salted fish.379 Antonius
thinking that he had caught something pulled up, on
which there was, as was natural, great laughter, whereat
Cleopatra said, “Give up the fishing-rod, Imperator, to us
the kings of Pharos and Canopus; your sport is cities and
kings and continents.”
XXX.380 While Antonius was spending his time in such
trifles and extravagances, he was surprised by intelligence
from two different quarters; from Rome, that Lucius his
brother and Fulvia his wife, having first been at variance
with one another and then having warred with Cæsar,
were completely defeated and flying from Italy; the other
intelligence was in no wise more favourable, which was
that Labienus at the head of the Parthians had subdued
Asia from the Euphrates and Syria as far as Lydia and
Ionia. With difficulty then, like a man roused from sleep
and a drunken debauch, he set out to oppose the Parthians,
and advanced as far as Phœnice, but as Fulvia sent him
letters full of lamentations he turned towards Italy, with
two hundred ships. On this voyage he took up his friends
who had fled from Italy, and learned from them that
Fulvia had been the cause of the war, for she was naturally
a busy and bold woman; but her hope was to draw away
Antonius from Cleopatra, if their should be any disturbance
in Italy. It happened that Fulvia, who was
sailing to meet him, died at Sikyon of some disease, which
rendered a reconciliation with Cæsar more easy. For when
Antonius approached Italy, and Cæsar was evidently not
intending to make any charge against him, and Antonius
was ready to fix on Fulvia the blame of what he was
charged with, their friends would not let them come to
any explanation of these grounds, but brought them both
to terms and distributed the empire, making the Ionian
gulf the boundary, and giving the eastern parts to
Antonius and the western to Cæsar; Lepidus was allowed
to keep Libya; and it was settled that the friends of each
in turns should be consuls, when it did not please themselves
to be.
XXXI. This arrangement seemed to be good, but it
required a stronger security, and fortune offered one.
Octavia381 was a sister of Cæsar, older than Cæsar, but not by
the same mother; for she was the daughter of Ancharia,
but he was born afterwards of Atia. Cæsar was very
greatly attached to his sister, and it is said she was a most
admirable woman. Octavia was now a widow, for her
husband Caius Marcellus had not long been dead. As
Fulvia was dead, Antonius also was considered to be a
widower; he did not deny that he had Cleopatra, but he
did not admit that he had her as a wife, and he was still
struggling in his judgment on this point against his love
for the Egyptian. Everybody was proposing this marriage
in the hope that Octavia, who in addition to great beauty
possessed dignity of character and good sense, if she were
united to Antonius and were beloved by him, as it was
reasonable to suppose that such a woman must be, would
be the conservation and cause of union between them in all
respects. This being arranged between them, they went
up to Rome where the marriage of Octavia was celebrated,
though the law did not allow a woman to marry till ten
months after her husband’s decease, but the Senate in this
case remitted the time by a decree.
XXXII. As Sextus382 Pompeius was still in possession of
Sicily and was ravaging Italy, and with his numerous
piratical ships, of which Menas the pirate and Menekrates
were commanders, had rendered the sea unsafe to vessels,
and as he seemed to be in a friendly disposition towards
Antonius, for he had received his mother when she had
fled from Rome with Fulvia, it was resolved to come to
terms with him also. They met at the promontory of
Misenum and the mound, the fleet of Pompeius being
anchored close by them, while the forces of Antonius and
Cæsar were arranged by the side of them. Having agreed
that Pompeius should have Sardinia and Sicily on condition
of keeping the sea clear of pirates and sending to Rome a
certain quantity of grain, they invited one another to an
entertainment. They cast lots on the occasion, and it was
the lot of Pompeius to feast them first. Upon Antonius
asking him where they should sup, “There,” said he, pointing
to the commander’s ship of six banks of oars, “for this
is all the paternal residence that is left for Pompeius.”
This he said to reproach Antonius, who had the house that
had belonged to the father of Sextus. Fixing his ship at
anchor and making a kind of bridge from the promontory,
he received them with a hearty welcome. When the
banquet was at its height and jokes against Cleopatra and
Antonius were plentiful, Menas the pirate approaching
Pompeius said to him, so that the rest could not hear, “Will
you let me cut off the anchors of the ship and make you
master not of Sicily and Sardinia, but of the Roman empire?”
Pompeius, on hearing this, considered with himself
for a short time, and said, “You ought to have done
it, Menas, without mentioning it to me: but now let us be
satisfied with things as they are; perjury is not for me.”
Pompeius, after being feasted by Cæsar and Antonius in
turn, sailed back to Sicily.
XXXIII. After the settlement of affairs, Antonius sent
forward Ventidius383 into Asia to prevent the Parthians from
advancing further, and, in order to please Cæsar, he was
appointed priest of the former Cæsar; and everything else
that concerned public affairs they transacted in common
and in a friendly way. But their games of amusement
caused annoyance to Antonius, as he always carried off
therein less than Cæsar. Now there was with Antonius a
man skilled in divinations, an Egyptian, one of those who
cast nativities, who, whether it was to please Cleopatra,
or whether he said it in good faith, spoke freely to Antonius,
saying that his fortune, though most splendid and
great, was obscured by that of Cæsar, and he advised him
to remove as far as possible from the young man: “For
thy dæmon,” he said, “is afraid of the dæmon of Cæsar,
and though it is proud and erect when it is by itself, it is
humbled by his dæmon when it is near, and becomes
cowed.” And indeed the things which were happening
seemed to confirm the Egyptian; for it is said that when
they were casting lots by way of amusement, in whatever
they might happen to be engaged, and throwing dice,
Antonius came off with disadvantage. They frequently
matched cocks,384 and fighting quails, and those of Cæsar
were always victorious. Whereat Antonius being annoyed,
though he did not show it, and paying more regard to the
Egyptian, departed from Italy, leaving the management
of his affairs to Cæsar; and he took with him Octavia as
far as Greece, there having been a daughter born to them.
While he was spending the winter in Athens, he received
intelligence of the first successes of Ventidius, who had
defeated the Parthians in a battle, in which Labienus lost
his life and Pharnapates, the most skilful of the generals
of King Hyrodes.385 On the occasion of this victory Antonius
feasted the Greeks; and he acted as gymnasiarch for the
Athenians, and leaving at home the insignia of his rank,
he went forth with the rods of a gymnasiarch386 and the
dress and white shoes; and he took the youths by the neck
when he separated them.
XXXIV. As he was going to set out for the war, he
took a crown from the sacred olive,387 and in conformity to
a certain oracle, he filled a vessel with water from the
Clepsydra, and carried it with him. In the mean time
Pacorus,388 the king’s son, with a large Parthian army again
advanced against Syria, but Ventidius engaged with him
in Cyrrhestica and put his army to flight with great loss;
Pacorus himself fell among the first. This exploit, which
was one of the most celebrated, gave the Romans full
satisfaction for the defeat of Crassus, and again confined
the Parthians within Media and Mesopotamia, after being
defeated in three successive battles. Ventidius gave up
all intention of pursuing the Parthians further, because he
feared the jealousy of Antonius, but he visited those who
had revolted and brought them into subjection, and besieged
Antiochus of Commagene389 in the city Samosata.
The king proposed to pay a thousand talents and to obey
the order of Antonius, but Ventidius told him to send his
proposal to Antonius; for he had now advanced near, and
he would not allow Ventidius to make peace with Antiochus,
because he wished that this single exploit at least
should bear his name, and that everything should not be
accomplished by Ventidius. As, however, the siege was
protracted, and the citizens, after despairing of coming to
terms, betook themselves to a vigorous defence, Antonius,
who was making no progress, but was ashamed and repented
of his conduct, was glad to make peace with Antiochus
and to take three hundred talents; and after
settling some trifling matters in Syria, he returned to
Athens, and sent Ventidius to enjoy a triumph after bestowing
on him the suitable decorations. Ventidius is
the only Roman to the present time who has had a triumph
over the Parthians; and he was a man of obscure birth,
but the friendship of Antonius gave him the opportunity
of doing great deeds, of which he made the best use, and
so confirmed what was generally said of Antonius and
Cæsar, that they were more successful as generals through
others than of themselves. For Sossius390 also, a legatus of
Antonius, had great success in Syria; and Canidius,391 who
was left by Antonius in Armenia, defeated the Armenians
and the kings of the Iberians and Albanians, and advanced
as far as the Caucasus. All this success increased the
name and the fame of the power of Antonius among the
barbarians.
XXXV. Antonius being again irritated against Cæsar
by certain calumnies, sailed to Italy with three hundred
vessels; but as the people of Brundusium would not receive
his fleet, he sailed round and anchored at Tarentum.392
There he sent Octavia, for she accompanied him from
Greece, at her request, to her brother: she was then pregnant,
and had already borne him two daughters. She met
Cæsar on the way, and after gaining over his friends
Agrippa and Mæcenas,393 she prayed him with much urgency
and much entreaty not to let her become a most wretched
woman after being most happy. For now, she said, all
men turned their eyes upon her, who was the wife of one
Imperator and the sister of another; “but if the worse
should prevail,” she continued, “and there should be war,
it is uncertain which of you must be the victor and which
the vanquished; but I shall be unfortunate both ways.”
Cæsar, being moved by these words, came in a friendly
manner to Tarentum, and those who were present saw a
most noble spectacle, a large army on land tranquil, and
many ships quietly holding on the shore, and the meeting
and friendly salutations of the two Imperators and their
friends. Antonius gave an entertainment first, which
Cæsar consented to for his sister’s sake. It being agreed
that Cæsar should give Antonius two legions for the Parthian war,
and that Antonius should give Cæsar a hundred
brazen-beaked vessels. Octavia, independently of what had
been agreed, asked for her brother twenty light ships394
from her husband, and for her husband a thousand soldiers
from her brother. Accordingly, separating from one
another, the one immediately engaged in the war against
Pompeius,395 being desirous to get Sicily; and Antonius, entrusting
to Cæsar Octavia and his children by her and by
Fulvia, crossed over to Asia.
XXXVI. That great evil, which had long slept, the
passion for Cleopatra, which appeared to be put to rest
and to have been tranquillised by better considerations,
blazed forth again and recovered strength as Antonius
approached Syria. And finally (as Plato396 says of the stubborn
and ungovernable beast of the soul), kicking away
everything that was good and wholesome, he sent Fonteius
Capito to bring Cleopatra to Syria. On her arrival he
gave and added to her dominions nothing small or trifling,
but Phœnice, Cœle Syria, Cyprus, a large part of Cilicia,
and further, that part of Judæa which produces the balsam,
and all the part, of Arabia Nabathæa which was turned
towards the external sea.397 These donations caused the
Romans the greatest vexation; though he gave tetrarchies
and kingdoms of great nations to many private persons,
and took kingdoms from many, as for instance Antigonus398
the Jew, whom he brought out and beheaded, though no
king before had been punished in this way. But the
scandal of the thing was that which gave more offence
than all the honours conferred on Cleopatra. The evil
report was increased by his acknowledging his twin
children by Cleopatra, one of whom he called Alexander
and the other Cleopatra; and he gave to one the surname
of Sun, and the other of Moon. However, he had some
dexterity in putting a good face on bad things, for he
said that the greatness of the Roman power was shown
not in what they received, but in what they gave; and
that noble families were extended by a succession and
progeny of many kings. Thus, for instance, he said, that
his own ancestor was begotten by Hercules, who did not
deposit his successors in a single womb, nor did he fear
laws like Solon’s399 and penalties for conception, but gave
nature her course to leave many beginnings and foundations
of families.
XXXVII. When Phraates400 had killed his father Hyrodes
and got possession of the kingdom, other Parthians fled,
not few in number; and among them Monæses, a man of
illustrious rank and great power, fled to Antonius, who
likening the fortune of Monæses to that of Themistocles401
and comparing his own means and magnanimity to those
of the Persian kings, gave him three cities, Larissa and
Arethusa and Hierapolis, which was before called Bambyce.
Upon the Parthian king sending to Monæses a right hand,402
Antonius gladly despatched Monæses to him, having resolved
to deceive Phraates with a pretence of peace, but
claiming the restoration of the standards taken in the
time of Crassus and such of the prisoners as still survived.
Antonius having sent Cleopatra back to Egypt, marched
through Arabia403 and Armenia to a place where he reviewed
his army, which had assembled there, and also the troops
of the confederate kings; and they were many, but the
greatest of all was Artavasdes,404 king of Armenia, who
supplied six thousand horse and seven thousand foot
soldiers. There were of the Romans sixty thousand foot
soldiers, and the cavalry which was classed with the
Romans was ten thousand Iberians405 and Celts; and of the
other nations there were thirty thousand together with
cavalry and light-armed troops. Yet so great a preparation
and power, which alarmed even the Indians beyond
Bactria and shook all Asia, it is said, was made of no avail
to him by reason of Cleopatra. For through his eagerness
to spend the winter with her, he opened the campaign
before the fit time and conducted everything in a disorderly
way, not having the mastery over his own judgment,
but through the influence of some drugs or magic
always anxiously looking towards her, and thinking more
of his speedy return than of conquering the enemy.
XXXVIII. Now, in the first place, though it was his
business to winter there in Armenia and to give his army
rest, which was worn out by a march of eight thousand
stadia, and before the Parthians moved from their winter-quarters
in the commencement of spring, to occupy Media,
he did not wait for the time, but immediately led forward
his army, leaving Armenia on the left and touching on
Atropatene,406 which he ravaged. In the next place, the
engines which were necessary for sieges were carried along
with the army in three hundred waggons, and among
them was a ram eighty feet long; and it was not possible
for any one of them, if it was damaged, to be repaired
when it was wanted, because the upper country only
produced wood of insufficient length and hardness: accordingly
in his hurry he left all the engines behind as
encumbrances to his speed, after appointing a watch and
Statianus as commander over the waggons; and he commenced
the siege of Phraata,407 a large city, in which were
the children and wives of the king of Media. But the
difficulties soon proved what an error he had committed
in leaving behind the engines; and as he wished to come
to close quarters with the enemy, he commenced erecting
a mound against the city, which rose slowly and with
much labour. In the meantime Phraates came down with
a great force, hearing of the waggons being left behind
that carried the machines, and sent many horsemen
against them, by whom Statianus was hemmed in and
killed and ten thousand men with him. The barbarians
took possession of the engines and destroyed them. They
also took many prisoners, among whom was king Polemon.408
XXXIX. This misfortune greatly annoyed, as we may
suppose, all the soldiers of Antonius, who at the commencement
of the war had received this unexpected blow;
and the Armenian Artavasdes despairing of the success of
the Romans went off with his troops, though he had been
the chief cause of the war. The Parthians now showed
themselves to the besiegers in gallant array and insultingly
threatened them, on which Antonius, not wishing
to let despondency and dejection abide in his army by
their being quiet and to increase, took ten legions and
three prætorian cohorts of heavy-armed men and all the
cavalry, and led them out to forage in the hope that the
enemy would thus be drawn on, and that a regular battle
would ensue. After advancing one day’s march, he saw
that the Parthians were spreading themselves around him
and seeking to attack him on the march, on which he
hung out in the camp the sign of battle, but at the same
time he ordered the tents to be taken down, as if his intention
were not to fight but to lead off his troops; and
he passed along the line of the barbarians, which was in
the form of a crescent, having given orders, as soon as the
first ranks of the enemy should be within reach of the
heavy-armed soldiers, for the cavalry to ride at them. To
the Parthians who stood opposed to the Romans, their
discipline appeared to be something indescribable; and
they observed the Romans as they marched past at equal
intervals without disorder and in silence, brandishing
their spears. But when the standard was raised and the
cavalry facing about rushed upon the enemy, the Parthians
received their onset and repelled it, though the
Romans were all at once too close to allow them to use
their arrows; but when the heavy-armed soldiers joined
in the conflict at the same time with shouts and the clatter
of arms, the Parthian horses were frightened and gave
way and the Parthians fled before they came to close
quarters. Antonius pressed on the pursuit, and had great
hopes that he had finished the whole war or the chief part
in that battle. But when the infantry had followed up
the pursuit for fifty stadia and the cavalry for three times
that distance, looking at those of the enemy who had fallen
and were captured, they found only thirty captives and
eighty corpses, which caused dismay and despondency in
all the army, when they reflected that though victorious
they had killed so few, and that when defeated they must
sustain such a loss as they had near the waggons. On
the following day they broke up their encampment and
took the road towards Phraata and the camp. On their
march they fell in at first with a few of the enemy, and
then a greater number, and finally with all, who, as if
they were unvanquished and fresh, challenged them and
fell upon them from all sides, so that with difficulty and
much labour they got safe to their camp. As the Medes
made a sally against the mound and terrified those who
were defending it, Antonius being enraged put in practice
what is called decimation409 against the cowards; for he
divided the whole number into tens, and put to death one
out of each ten who was chosen by lot; and to the rest
he ordered barley to be measured out, instead of wheat.
XL. The war was attended with great hardship to both
sides, and the future was still more alarming, as Antonius
was expecting famine, for it was no longer possible to get
forage without many of the soldiers being wounded and
killed. Phraates knowing that the Parthians were able
to bear anything rather than to endure hardship in the
winter and to encamp in the open air, was afraid lest, if
the Romans held out and abided there, his troops would
leave him, as the atmosphere was beginning to grow heavy
after the autumnal equinox. Accordingly he planned
such a stratagem as this. The chiefs of the Parthians,410
both in the forages and on other occasions when they met
the Romans, made less vigorous resistance, both allowing
them to take some things and commending their valour in
that they were most courageous men, and were justly
admired by their king. After this, riding up nearer to
them, and quietly placing their horses near the Romans,
they would abuse Antonius, saying that though Phraates
wished to come to terms and to spare so many brave men,
Antonius would not give him the opportunity, but sat
there awaiting those dangerous and powerful enemies,
hunger and winter, from whom it would be difficult for
them to escape, even under convoy of the Parthians. Many
persons reported this to Antonius, and though he was softened
by hope, still he did not send heralds to the Parthians
until he inquired from the barbarians who assumed
this friendly demeanour, whether what they said really
expressed the king’s meaning. On their saying that it
was so, and urging him not to fear or distrust, he sent
some of his companions to demand back the standards and
the captives, that it might not be supposed that he was so
eager to make his escape and get away. The Parthian
told him not to trouble himself about that matter, but
promised him peace and security if he would depart forthwith;
whereupon in a few days Antonius got his baggage
together and broke up his camp. Though Antonius had
great powers of persuasion before a popular assembly, and
was skilled above every man of the age in leading an army
by his words, he was unable through shame and depression
of spirits to encourage the soldiers, and he bade Domitius
Ænobarbus411 do this. Some of the soldiers took this amiss,
considering it as a token of contempt towards them,
but the majority were affected by it, and perceived
the reason, and they thought that they ought on this
account the more to show their respect and obedience to
the commander.
XLI. As Antonius was intending to lead the troops
back by the same road, which was through a plain country
without trees, a man, by nation a Mardian,412 who was well
acquainted with the Parthian habits, and had already
shown himself faithful to the Romans in the battle at the
waggons, came up to Antonius and advised him in his
flight to keep to the mountains on his right, and not to
expose a force, in heavy armour and encumbered, to so numerous
a cavalry and to the arrows in bare and open
tracts, which was the very thing that Phraates designed
when he induced him by friendly terms to raise the siege;
and that he would lead them a shorter road, where he
would find a better supply of necessaries. Antonius on
hearing this deliberated; he did not wish to appear to distrust
the Parthians after the truce, yet as he approved of
the shorter road, and the line of march being along inhabited
villages, he asked the Mardian for a pledge of his
fidelity. The Mardian offered himself to be put in chains
until he should place the army in Armenia; and he was
put in chains, and he conducted them for two days without
their meeting with any opposition. On the third day,
when Antonius had completely ceased to think of the Parthians,
and was advancing in a careless way by reason of
his confidence, the Mardian observed that an embankment
against the overflowing of a river had been recently
broken, and that the stream was flowing in a great current
on the road by which they had to pass, and he knew
that the Parthians had done this with the intention of
making the river an obstacle to the Roman march by the
difficulty and delay that it would occasion; and he bade
Antonius look out and be on his guard, as the enemy was
near. Just while he was placing the heavy-armed men
in order, and taking measures for the javelin-men and
slingers to make an attack through their ranks upon the
enemy, the Parthians appeared and rode round them with
the design of encircling the Romans and putting them in
disorder on all sides. The light-armed troops made a sally
against them, and the Parthians, after inflicting some
wounds with their arrows and receiving as many from the
leaden bullets413 and javelins of the Romans, retreated. The
Parthians then commenced a second attack, which continued
until the Celtæ in a mass drove their horses against
them and dispersed them; and the Parthians showed themselves
no more on that day.
XLII. From this experience Antonius, learning what he
ought to do, covered not only the rear, but also both flanks
with many javelin men and slingers, and led his army in
the form of a quadrangle; and the cavalry received orders
to repel the attack of the enemy, but when they had
repulsed them, not to pursue far, in consequence of which
the Parthians during the four following days sustained as
much damage as they inflicted, and their ardour being
dulled they thought of retiring, as an excuse for which
they alleged the approach of winter. On the fifth day
Flavius Gallus, a man of military talent and great activity,
who held a command, came and asked Antonius for more
light-armed troops for the rear,414 and for some of the cavalry
from the van, in the expectation of having great success.
Antonius gave him the troops, and when the enemy made
his attack, he fell upon them, not as on former occasions,
at the same time withdrawing towards the heavy-armed
soldiers and retreating, but resisting them and engaging
with the enemy in a desperate way. The commanders of
the rear seeing that he was being separated from them,
sent and called him back, but he would not listen to them.
They say that Titius the quæstor, seizing the standards,
turned them round and abused Gallus for throwing away
the lives of many brave men. But as Gallus abused him
in turn, and urged those about him to remain, Titius
retreated. While Gallus was pushing forwards against
the enemy in front, a large body of those in the rear got
round him before he perceived it. Being now attacked on
all sides he sent for aid; but the commanders of the heavy-armed
troops, among whom was Canidius, a man who had
the greatest influence with Antonius, are considered to
have committed a great mistake. For when they ought
to have moved the whole line against the enemy, they
sent a few at a time to help against them; and again
when these were being worsted, they sent others, and thus
these came near filling the whole army with defeat and
flight before they were aware of it; but Antonius himself
quickly came with the heavy-armed men from the van to
meet the enemy, and the third legion quickly pushing
through the fugitives against the enemy stopped their
further pursuit.
XLIII. There fell no fewer than three thousand; and
there were carried to the tents five thousand wounded,
and among them Gallus, who was pierced with five arrows
in front. Gallus did not recover from his wounds; but
Antonius, going about, visited the rest of the wounded, and
he encouraged them with tears in his eyes and deep sympathy.
The men, cheerfully grasping his right hand, begged
him to go and take care of his health and not to trouble
himself about them, calling him Imperator, and saying that
they were all secure if he was only safe. For altogether
it seems that no Imperator of that age got together an army
more distinguished by courage or endurance or strength;
but the respect towards the commander himself, and the
obedience combined with affection, and the circumstance
that all alike, those of good reputation, those of bad,
commanders, private soldiers, preferred honour and favour
from Antonius to their own lives and safety, left nothing
even for the ancient Romans to surpass, and of this there
were several reasons, as we have said before; noble birth,
powerful eloquence, simplicity, generosity and munificence,
affability in his pleasures and conversation. On that
occasion, by the pains that he took and his sympathy with
the wounded, and by sharing with them whatever they
wanted, he made the sick and wounded more full of alacrity
than those who were whole.
XLIV. However the victory so elated the enemy, who
were already worn out and exhausted, and they despised
the Romans so much that they even passed the night415 close
to the camp, expecting that they should soon plunder the
deserted tents and the baggage of the Romans skulking
away. At daybreak the enemy crowded upon them in
still greater numbers, and there are said to have been not
fewer than forty thousand horseman, as the king had sent
even those who were always placed around himself, as to
certain and secure success; for the king himself was never
present in any battle. But Antonius, wishing to harangue
the soldiers, asked for a dark garment that he might appear
more piteous. But as his friends opposed him, he came
forward in the purple dress of a general and addressed the
troops, praising those who had been victorious, and upbraiding
those who had fled. The former exhorted him to
be of good cheer, and the others making their apology
offered themselves to him either to be decimated or to be
punished in any other way; only they prayed him to cease
being troubled and grieved. Hereupon, raising his hands,
he prayed to the gods, that if any reverse of fortune should
follow on account of his former prosperity, it might come
upon him, but that they would give safety and victory to
the rest of the army.
XLV. On the following day they advanced under better
protection; and when the Parthians made their attack, the
result was very contrary to their expectations. For they
expected to advance to plunder and booty, and not to battle;
but as they were assailed by many missiles, and saw that
the Romans were encouraged and fresh with alacrity, they
were again completely wearied of the contest. However
the Parthians again fell upon them as they were descending
some steep hills, and galled them with arrows as they were
slowly retreating, whereon the shield-bearers416 faced about
and placing the light-armed troops within their ranks,
dropped down on one knee and held their shields before
them; those behind held their shields before the front
rank, and those who were behind the second rank did the
same. This form, which very much resembles a roof,417
presents a theatrical appearance, and is the safest of bulwarks
against the arrows, which thus glance off. But the
Parthians, who thought that the Romans bending on one
knee was a sign of exhaustion and fatigue, laid aside their
bows, and grasping their spears by the middle, came to
close quarters. But the Romans with one shout all at once
sprang up, and pushing with their javelins which they held
in their hands, killed the foremost and put all the rest to
flight. This took place also on the following days, the
Romans making only small way. Famine also attacked
the army, which could get little grain and that with fighting,
and they had few implements for grinding; for the
greater part were left behind, owing to some of the beasts
dying, and others being employed in carrying the sick
and wounded. It is said that an Attic chœnix418 of wheat
was sold for fifty drachmæ; and they sold barley loaves
for their weight in silver. Then they betook themselves
to vegetables and roots; but they found few of the kind
that they were accustomed to, and being compelled to make
trial of what they had never tasted before, they ate of one
herb that caused madness and then death. For he who had
eaten of it recollected nothing, and understood nothing,
and busied himself about nothing except one sole thing,
which was to move and turn every stone, as if he were
doing something of great importance. The plain was full
of men stooping to the ground and digging round stones
and moving them; and finally they vomited bile and died,
for wine, which was the only remedy, failed them. As
many were dying and the Parthians did not desist from
their attack, they say that Antonius often cried out “O the
ten thousand!”419 whereby he expressed his admiration of
the ten thousand, that though they marched even a greater
distance, from Babylonia, and fought with many more
enemies, yet they made good their retreat.
XLVI. The Parthians, not being able to break through
the Roman army nor yet to separate their ranks, and being
already often defeated and put to flight, again mingled in a
friendly way with those who went out for grass or corn,
and pointing to the strings of their bows which were
unstrung, said, that they were going back and this was the
end of their attack; but that a few of the Medes would
follow still one or two days’ journey without annoying them
at all, and for the purpose of protecting the more distant
villages. To these words were added embraces and signs
of friendship, so that the Romans were again of good cheer;
and Antonius hearing this resolved to keep nearer to the
plains, as the road through the mountains was said to be
waterless. While he was intending to do this, there came
to the camp a man from the enemy, named Mithridates, a
cousin of Monæses, of him who had been with Antonius
and had received the three cities as a present. And he
asked for some one to come near to him who could speak
the Parthian or the Syrian language. Alexander of
Antioch came to him, and he was an intimate friend of
Antonius, whereupon Mithridates, saying who he was, and
intimating that they must thank Monæses for what he was
going to say, asked Alexander, if he saw in the distance a
continuous range of lofty mountains. On Alexander
saying that he saw them, he replied, “Under those
mountains the Parthians with all their forces lie in ambush
for you. For the great plains border on these mountains,
and they expect that you will be deceived by them and
will turn in that direction and leave the road through the
mountains. The way over the mountains is attended with
thirst and labour to which you are accustomed, but if
Antonius goes by the plain, let him be assured that the fate
of Crassus awaits him.”
XLVII. Having said this, he went away; and Antonius,
who was troubled at these words, called together his friends
and the Mardian who was their guide, and had exactly the
same opinion. For even if there were no enemy, he knew
that the want of roads in the plains and the mistakes in
the track which they might make there were matters of
hazard and difficulty; but he declared that the road over
the mountains presented no other risk than the want of
water for a single day. Accordingly Antonius turned
aside and led his army by this route by night, having given
orders to the men to take water with them. But the
greater part had no vessels, and accordingly they filled
their helmets with water and carried them, and others took
it in skins. As soon as Antonius began to advance, the
Parthians had intelligence of it, and contrary to their
custom they commenced the pursuit while it was still night.
Just as the sun was rising, they came up with the rear,
which was in weak condition through want of sleep and
fatigue: for they had accomplished two hundred and forty
stadia in the night; and the enemy coming upon them so
suddenly when they did not expect it, dispirited them.
The contest increased their thirst, for they still advanced
while they were defending themselves. Those who were
in the first ranks, as they were marching onwards, came to
a river,420 the water of which was cool and pellucid, but salt
and of a medicinal nature; and this water, when drank of
immoderately, caused pains with purging and augmentation
of the thirst: and though the Mardian had warned them
of this, the soldiers nevertheless forced away those who
tried to hinder them and drank of the water. Antonius
went round to the men and prayed them to hold out for a
short time, and he said there was another river not far off,
and besides this, the rest of the route was impracticable for
horses and rough, so that the enemy must certainly turn
back. At the same time he summoned those who were
engaged in the fight and gave the signal for pitching the
tents, that the soldiers might at least enjoy the shade a little.
XLVIII. While then the tents were being fixed and the
Parthians as usual were immediately retiring, Mithridates
came again, and upon Alexander going up to him, he advised
him to put the army in motion after it had rested a
little and to hasten to the river: for he said that the
Parthians would not cross it, but would follow up the
pursuit as far as the river. Alexander reported this to
Antonius, and then brought out from him numerous gold
cups and goblets, of which Mithridates taking as many as
he could hide in his dress, rode off. As it was still daylight,
they broke up their tents and advanced, without
being annoyed by the enemy; but they made that night
of all others the most painful and frightful to themselves.
For they killed and plundered those who had silver or
gold, and took the things that were carried by the beasts;
and finally falling upon the baggage of Antonius, they cut
in pieces and divided among them cups and costly tables,
there being great disturbance and confusion through the
whole army; for they thought that the enemy had fallen
upon them and that flight and dispersion had ensued,
Antonius called one of the freedmen, who was on his guard,
named Rhamnus, and bound him by oath when he gave
him the order, to push his sword through him and to cut off
his head, that he might neither be taken alive by the
enemy nor be recognised when dead. His friends broke
out in tears, but the Mardian encouraged Antonius by
telling him that the river was near; for a moist
breeze blowing and a cooler air meeting them made their
respiration more agreeable; and he said that the time they
had been on the march confirmed his estimate of the
distance, for what now remained of the night was not
much. At the same time others reported that the disorder
was owing to their own wrongful deeds and rapacity.
Accordingly Antonius, wishing to bring the army
into order from their state of disorder and confusion,
commanded the signal to be given for pitching the tents.
XLIX. Day was now dawning, and as the army was
beginning to get into certain order and tranquillity, the
arrows of the Parthians fell upon the rear, and the signal
for battle was given to the light-armed troops. The
heavy-armed troops again covering one another in like
manner as before with their shields, stood the assault of
the missiles, the enemy not venturing to come near. The
first ranks advancing slowly in this form, the river was
seen; and Antonius drawing up his cavalry on the banks
in face of the enemy, took across the weak first. Those
who were fighting were now relieved from apprehension,
and had the opportunity of drinking; for when the
Parthians saw the river, they unstrung their bows and
bade the Romans pass over in confidence, with great
encomiums on their valour. Accordingly, they crossed,
and recruited themselves quietly; and then they marched
forwards, but yet not with full confidence in the Parthians.
On the sixth day after the last battle they reached the
river Araxes,421 which is the boundary between Media and
Armenia. It appeared dangerous both for its depth and
roughness, and a rumour went through the army that the
enemy was in ambush there, and would fall on them as
they were crossing. When they had safely crossed and
had set foot in Armenia, as if they had just got sight of
that land from the sea, they saluted it and fell to shedding
of tears and embracing of one another for joy. In their
progress through a fertile country, during which they used
everything freely after having suffered great want, they
were subject to dropsical and bowel complaints.
L. Antonius there made a review of his men, and he
found that twenty thousand infantry and four thousand
cavalry had perished; not all by the enemy, but above
half by disease. They marched from Phraata twenty-seven
days, and they defeated the Parthians in eighteen
battles; but these victories brought neither strength nor
security, because their pursuits were short and ineffectual.
And this mainly showed that it was Artavasdes422 the
Armenian who had deprived Antonius of the means of
bringing that war to an end. For if the sixteen thousand
horsemen whom he drew out of Media had been present,
who were equipped like the Parthians, and were accustomed
to fight against them, and if, while the Romans put to
flight the fighting enemy, they had overtaken the
fugitives, it would not have been in their power after a
defeat to recover themselves and venture again so often.
All the army accordingly in passion endeavoured to incite
Antonius to punish the Armenian. But Antonius upon
considerations of prudence neither reproached him for his
treachery nor abated of his usual friendly behaviour and
respect towards him, being weak in numbers and in want
of supplies. Afterwards, however, when he again broke
into Armenia, and by many promises and invitations,
persuaded Artavasdes to come into his hands, he seized
him and took him in chains to Alexandria, where he was
led in triumph. And herein chiefly he offended the Romans,
by giving to the Egyptians for the sake of Cleopatra the
honourable and solemn ceremonial of his native country.
This however took place later.
LI. Antonius now pressed on his march, the winter
having already set in with severity, through incessant
snow-storms, in which he lost eight thousand men on the
route. Going down to the sea-coast with a very small
body of men, he waited for Cleopatra423 in a place between
Berytus and Sidon, called “White village”; and as she was
slow in coming, he became uneasy and restless, soon giving
himself up to drinking and intoxication, but yet being
unable to continue at table; for while his companions were
drinking he would rise and often spring up to look out,
till Cleopatra arrived there by sea bringing a quantify of
clothes and supplies for the soldiers. There are some who
say that Antonius received the clothes from her, but that
the money was his own, though he distributed it as if it
were a present to him from Cleopatra.
LII. A quarrel arose between the king of the Medes
and Phraortes424 the Parthian, which originated, as they say,
about the Roman spoils, but caused the Mede to have suspicions
and fear of being deprived of his dominions. For
this reason he sent to invite Antonius, and proffered to
join him in a war with his own forces. Antonius accordingly
being put in great hope—for the only thing as he
thought which had been the cause of his failing to subdue
the Parthians, his having gone against them without many
horsemen and bowmen, he now saw was offered to him in
such way that his part was rather to do a favour by
accepting than to ask for one—was preparing again to
march into the upper country through Armenia, and
after joining the Mede near the Araxes, then to recommence
the war.
LIII. At Rome Octavia425 was desirous of going to Antonius,
and Cæsar gave her permission; as the greater
part say, not with the design of pleasing her, but in order
that if she were greatly insulted and neglected, he might
have a specious pretext for the war. On reaching Athens
she received letters from Antonius, in which he told her
to stay there, and informed her of his intended expedition.
Though Octavia was annoyed, and saw that this was only
a pretext, she wrote to him to ask to what place he would
have the things sent which she was bringing to him.
And she was taking a great quantity of clothing for the
army, many beasts, and money and presents for his officers
and friends; and besides this, two thousand picked soldiers
equipped as prætorian cohorts, with splendid armour. A
certain Niger, a friend of Antonius, who was sent by
Octavia, reported this to him, and he added commendation
of Octavia such as she merited and was just. But Cleopatra,
seeing that Octavia was entering into a contest
with her, and fearing that if to the dignity of her behaviour
and the power of Cæsar she added the pleasure of social
intercourse and attention to Antonius, she would be invincible
and get complete mastery over her husband, pretended
to be desperately in love with Antonius, and she
wasted her body by spare diet; and she put on the expression
of strong passion when he approached her, and of
sorrow and depression when he went away. She also contrived
to be often seen in tears, which she would all at
once wipe away and affect to conceal, as if she did not wish
Antonius to observe it. She practised these arts while
Antonius was preparing for his expedition from Syria
against the Mede.426 Flatterers, too, who were busy in her
behalf, abused Antonius as a hard and unfeeling man, who
was causing the death of a woman who was devoted to him
alone. As to Octavia, she came to meet Antonius upon
business on her brother’s account, and enjoyed the name
of wife of Antonius; but Cleopatra, who was the queen of
so many people, was only called the beloved of Antonius,
and she did not shun nor disdain this name, so long as she
could see Antonius and live with him; but if she were
driven away from him, she would not survive. At last
they so melted and softened the man, that through fear
that Cleopatra might destroy herself, he returned to Alexandria,
and put off the Mede to the summer season, though
the affairs of Parthia were said to be in a state of anarchy.
However, he went up into the country, and brought over
the king to friendly terms, and after betrothing to one of
his sons by Cleopatra one of the daughters of the king,
who was still a young child, he returned, being now
engaged in preparing for the civil war.
LIV. When Octavia returned from Athens, as Cæsar
conceived her to have been insulted, he ordered her to
dwell in her own house. But she refused to leave her
husband’s house, and she advised her brother, if he had
not for other reasons determined to go to war with Antonius,
to let her affairs alone, for it was not even decent
to be said, that of the greatest Imperators, one through
love for a woman, and the other through jealousy, brought
the Romans to civil war. This she said, and she confirmed
what she said by her acts; for she lived in her
husband’s house, just as if he were at home, and she took
care of the children, both her own and those of Fulvia, in
an honourable and liberal way; she also received the
friends of Antonius who were sent to Rome to get offices
or on business, and assisted them in obtaining from Cæsar
what they wanted. She thus unintentionally damaged
Antonius, for he was hated for wronging such a woman.
He was also hated for the division which he made among
his children at Alexandria, which appeared to be tragical427
and arrogant, and to show hatred of the Romans. For he
filled the gymnasium with a crowd, and caused to be placed
on a tribunal of silver two thrones of gold, one for himself,
and the other for Cleopatra, and for the children other
thrones which were lower; and first of all he declared
Cleopatra Queen of Egypt and Cyprus and Libya and
Cœle Syria, with Cæsarion as co-regent, who was believed
to be the son of the former Cæsar, who left Cleopatra pregnant;
in the next place he proclaimed his sons and Cleopatra’s
to be Kings of Kings; and to Alexander he gave
Armenia, and Media, and Parthia, when he should have
subdued it, and to Ptolemæus he gave Phœnice and Syria
and Cilicia. At the same time also he led forth Alexander,
dressed in a Median vest with a tiara and cittaris428 upright,
and Ptolemæus in boots, and a chlamys, and a causia with
a diadem attached to it; for this was the dress of the kings
who followed Alexander, and the other was the dress of
the Medes and Armenians. After the children had embraced
their parents, a guard of Armenians was placed
around the one, and of Macedonians around the other.
Cleopatra, both on that occasion and on other occasions
when she went out before the people, used to put on a
dress sacred to Isis, different from her ordinary dress, and
she was called the new Isis.
LV. By bringing these matters before the Senate, and
often complaining of them before the people, Cæsar excited
the multitude against Antonius. Antonius also sent and
made recriminations against Cæsar. The chief charges
which Antonius made against him were, in the first place,
that though he had taken Sicily from Pompeius, he did not
give him a part of the island; second, that Cæsar had borrowed
ships from him for the war and had kept them;
third, that after ejecting his colleague Lepidus from his
authority and degrading him, Cæsar kept the army and
territory and revenues that were assigned to Lepidus;429
and, finally, that he had distributed nearly all Italy in
allotments among his own soldiers, and had left nothing
for the soldiers of Antonius. To these charges Cæsar
replied, that he had deprived Lepidus of his authority
because he was abusing it, and as to what he had acquired
in war, he would share it with Antonius, when Antonius
should share Armenia with him. He further said that the
soldiers of Antonius had no claim to any share of Italy,
for that they had Media and Parthia, which they had
added to the Roman possessions by their brave conduct in
war under their Imperator.
LVI. Antonius heard of this while he was tarrying in
Armenia; and he immediately gave orders to Canidius to
take sixteen legions and to go down to the sea. Himself
taking Cleopatra with him went to Ephesus. Here the
navy collected from all quarters, eight hundred ships,
including merchant vessels, of which Cleopatra furnished
two hundred, and twenty thousand talents and supplies
for the war for all the army. Antonius, being persuaded
by Domitius and some others, told Cleopatra to sail to
Egypt and there to wait the result of the war. But as
Cleopatra feared that there would again be a reconciliation
through Octavia, she persuaded Canidius by a large bribe
to speak to Antonius about her, and to say, that it was
neither just for a woman to be kept away from the war,
who supplied so many large contributions, nor was it to
the interest of Antonius to dispirit the Egyptians, who
composed a large part of the naval force; and besides this,
he did not see to which of the kings who joined the expedition
Cleopatra was inferior in understanding, she who
for a long time by herself had governed so large a kingdom,
and had long enjoyed his company, and had learned
to manage great affairs. These arguments prevailed, for
it was fated that all the power should come into Cæsar’s
hands; and after the forces had come together, they sailed
to Samos and enjoyed themselves there. For as orders
had been given to kings and rulers and tetrarchs and
nations and all the cities between Syria and the Mæotis
and Armenia and the Illyrians430 to send and bring their
supplies for the war, so all the persons who assisted at
theatrical entertainments were required to meet Antonius
at Samos; and while nearly all the world around was
lamenting and groaning, one island for many days resounded
with pipes and stringed instruments, and the
theatres were filled and the chori were vying with one
another. Every city also joined in the celebration by
sending an ox, and kings rivalled one another in giving
entertainments and presents. So that it went abroad and
was said, how will persons behave in the rejoicings after a
victory, who make such costly banquets to celebrate the
preparations for war?
LVII. After these amusements were over, Antonius
gave to the theatrical company Priene for their dwelling;
and sailing to Athens he again gave himself up to pleasure
and theatres. Cleopatra, who was jealous of the honours
that had been paid to Octavia in the city, for Octavia was
very much beloved by the Athenians, attempted to gain
the popular favour by many acts of liberality. The
Athenians after voting to her honorable distinctions, sent
a deputation to her residence to carry the record of the
vote, and Antonius was one of them, as being an Athenian
citizen; and coming before her he went through an
harangue on behalf of the city. He sent persons to Rome
to eject Octavia from his house; and it is said that when
she left it, she took all the children of Antonius with her
except the eldest of the children by Fulvia, for he was
with his father, and that she wept and lamented that she
too would be considered one of the causes of the war. And
the Romans pitied not her, but they pitied Antonius, and
those chiefly who had seen Cleopatra, a woman who had
not the advantage over Octavia either in beauty or in
youth.
LVIII. Cæsar was alarmed when he heard of the
rapidity and the greatness of the preparation431 of Antonius,
lest he should be compelled to come to a decisive battle
during that summer. For he was deficient in many
things, and the exaction of taxes vexed people; for the
free men, being compelled to contribute a fourth432 of their
income, and the class of freedmen to contribute an eighth
part of their property, cried out against Cæsar, and tumults
arising from these causes prevailed over all Italy. Accordingly
the delay in the war is reckoned among the
greatest faults of Antonius; for it gave time to Cæsar to
make preparation, and it put an end to the disturbances
among the people; for while the money was being exacted
from them they were irritated, but when it had been
exacted and they had paid it they remained quiet.433 Titius
and Plancus, friends of Antonius and men of consular
rank, being insulted by Cleopatra, for they made the most
opposition to her joining the expedition, escaped to Cæsar,
and they gave him information about the will of Antonius,
as they were acquainted with the contents of it. The will
was placed with the Vestal Virgins,434 and when Cæsar asked
for it, they would not give it to him, but they told him, if
he wished to have it, to come and take it himself. And
he did go and take it; and first of all he read it over by
himself, and marked certain passages which furnished
ready matter of accusation; in the next place he assembled
the Senate and read the will, to the dissatisfaction of the
greater part; for they considered it to be altogether
unusual and a hard matter for a man to be called to
account in his lifetime for what he wished to be done
after his death. Cæsar dwelt most on that part of the will
which related to the interment; for Antonius directed
that his body, even if he should die in Rome, should be
carried in procession through the Forum and sent to
Alexandria to Cleopatra. Calvisius, an intimate friend of
Cæsar, brought forward also these charges against Antonius
in reference to Cleopatra: that he had given her
the libraries435 from Pergamum, in which there were two
hundred thousand single books; and that at an entertainment
in the presence of many people he stood up and
rubbed her feet436 in compliance with a certain arrangement
and agreement; and that he allowed the Ephesians in his
presence to salute Cleopatra as mistress; and that frequently
when he was administering justice to tetrarchs
and kings on his tribunal, he would receive from her love-billets
written on onyx or crystal and read them. Furnius437
also, who was a man of distinction and the most powerful
orator among the Romans, said that Cleopatra was being
carried in a litter through the Forum, and that Antonius
when he saw her, sprung up and left the judgment-seat
and accompanied her hanging on the litter.
LIX. In most of these matters Calvisius438 was supposed
to be lying. But the friends of Antonius going about in
Rome entreated the people for his sake, and they sent
Geminius, one of their body, to entreat Antonius not to be
regardless about being deprived of his authority by a vote
and declared an enemy of the Romans. Geminius having
sailed to Greece became suspected by Cleopatra of acting on
the behalf of Octavia, and, though he was continually ridiculed
at supper and insulted by having unsuitable places
at the feast assigned to him, he submitted to this and
waited for an opportunity of an interview; and when he
was told at supper to say what he had come about, he
replied that all his communication was to be made when
he was sober, except one thing, which he knew whether
he was sober or drunk; and it was this, that all would be
well if Cleopatra would go off to Egypt. Antonius was
irritated at this, but Cleopatra said, “You have done well,
Geminius, in having confessed the truth without tortures.”
After a few days accordingly Geminius made his
escape to Rome. The flatterers of Cleopatra drove away
also many of the other friends of Antonius, who could not
endure their excesses over wine and their coarse behaviour;
and among these were Marcus Silanus and Dellius
the historian. Dellius says that he was also afraid of some
design from Cleopatra, of which he had been informed by
Glaucus the physician. He had offended Cleopatra at
supper by saying that they had to drink vinegar, while
Sarmentus439 at Rome was drinking Falernian. Now Sarmentus
was a youth, one of Cæsar’s favourites, such as the
Romans call Deliciæ.
LX. When Cæsar had made preparation sufficient, he
got a vote passed for war against Cleopatra440 and for depriving
Antonius of the authority which he had surrendered
to Cleopatra. Cæsar also said that Antonius, owing
to draughts that had been administered to him, was not in
his senses, and those whom the Romans had to fight
against were Mardion the eunuch, and Potheinus, and Iras
the tire-woman of Cleopatra, and Charmion, by whom all
the chief matters of administration were directed. These
signs, it is said, happened before the war. Pisaurum,441 a
city that had been colonised by Antonius, which was
situated near the Adriatic, was swallowed up by the opening
of chasms in the earth. From one of the stone statues
of Antonius at Alba sweat oozed for many days, and
it did not cease, though there were persons who wiped it
off. While he was staying at Patræ, the Herakleium was
destroyed by lightning; at Athens the Dionysius, one of
the figures in the Battle of the Giants,442 was blown down
by the winds and carried into the theatre. Now Antonius
claimed kinship with Hercules by descent and with Dionysius
by imitating his manner of life, as it has been said,
and he was called young Dionysius. The same tempest
also fell on the colossal statues of Eumenes and Attalus,
on which the name of Antonius had been inscribed, and
threw them down alone out of a large number. The
admiral’s ship of Cleopatra was called Antonias, and a bad
omen appeared as to it: some swallows had made their
nest under the stern, but other swallows attacked and
drove them out and destroyed the young.
LXI. They were now coming together for the war;
and the fighting ships of Antonius were not fewer than
five hundred, among which were many vessels of eight
and ten banks of oars fitted out in proud and pompous
style; of the land forces there were one hundred thousand,
and twelve thousand horsemen. There were on his side
of subject kings, Bocchus the king of the Libyans, and
Tarcondemus the king of Upper Cilicia, and Archelaus,
king of Cappadocia, and Philadelphus of Paphlagonia, and
Mithridates of Commagene, and Sadalas of Thrace. These
were with him. From Pontus Polemon sent a force, and
Malchus from Arabia, and Herodes, the Jew; and besides
these, Amyntas, the king of the Lycaonians and Galatians.443
There was also help sent from the king of the Medes.
Cæsar had two hundred and fifty ships of war, and eighty
thousand infantry, and about the same number of horsemen
as the enemy. The dominion of Antonius extended
over the country from the Euphrates to the Ionian sea
and the Illyrians; and that of Cæsar from the Illyrians
over the country that reached to the Western Ocean, and
over the country from the ocean to the Tuscan and Sicilian
sea. Of Libya Cæsar had the part which extended opposite
to Italy and Gaul and Iberia as far as the pillars of
Hercules; and Antonius had the part from Cyrene to
Ethiopia.
LXII. Antonius was so mere an appendage to Cleopatra
that though he had a great superiority in land forces, he
wished the decision of the affair to depend on the navy,
to please Cleopatra: and this, though he saw that through
want of a crew, men were being seized by the trierarchs
out of Greece, which had indeed suffered much, travellers,
ass-drivers, reapers, youths, and that even by these means
the ships were not manned, but the greater part were deficient
and were ill manœuvred. Cæsar’s navy consisted
of ships not built to a great height nor yet for the purpose
of making a show, but adapted for easy and quick movement
and well manned; and he kept his fleet together in
Tarentum and Brundusium, and sent to Antonius to ask
him not to waste the time, but to come with his forces, and
that he would provide his armament with naval stations
free from all hindrance, and harbours, and that he would
retreat with his land forces a day’s journey for a horseman
from the sea, until Antonius had safely landed and encamped.
Antonius replied in like strain to this bragging
language by challenging Cæsar to single combat, though
he was older than Cæsar; and if Cæsar declined this, he proposed
that they should decide the matter with their
armies at Pharsalus, as Cæsar and Pompeius had done
before. While Antonius was taking his station near
Actium,444 where Nicopolis is now built, Cæsar contrived to
cross the Ionian sea and to get possession of a place in
Epirus, called Torune; and as the friends of Antonius
were uneasy, because their land force had not yet come
up, Cleopatra, jesting, said, “What is the harm if Cæsar is
sitting by a torune?”445
LXIII. At daybreak the advance of the enemy’s fleet
alarmed Antonius, lest they should seize the ships which
were without crews, and accordingly he armed the rowers
and placed them on the decks to make a show, and raising
the ships’ oars and making them ready for plying, he
kept his ships on each side in the channel near Actium,
prow to prow, as if they were fit to be put in motion and
prepared to fight. Cæsar, being frustrated by this manœuvre,
retired. Antonius also by some well contrived
works shut in the water and deprived his enemies of it;
and the surrounding spots had only little water, and that
was bad. He behaved with magnanimity to Domitius
also, and contrary to the judgment of Cleopatra. Domitius,
who was already suffering from fever, got into a small
boat and went over to Cæsar, on which Antonius, though
much annoyed, sent him all his baggage together with his
friends and slaves. Domitius indeed, as if he were repenting
after the discovery of his faithlessness and treachery,
died immediately. There were also defections among the
kings, for Amyntas and Deiotarus went over to Cæsar.
Now as the navy was in all things unlucky and always
too late to give any help, Antonius was again compelled
to turn his thoughts to his land forces. Canidius also,
who commanded the land forces, changed his opinion at
the sight of the danger, and he advised Antonius to send
Cleopatra away, and to retreat to Thrace or Macedonia,
and then to decide the matter by a battle. For Dicomes,
the king of the Getæ, promised to help him with a large
force; and Canidius urged that there would be no disgrace,
if they should give up the sea to Cæsar, who had
been disciplined in the Sicilian war, but it would be a
strange thing if Antonius, who was excellently versed in
military operations, should not avail himself of his strength
and his resources of so many heavy-armed soldiers, and
should instead thereof distribute his troops among vessels
and fritter them away. Notwithstanding this the advice
of Cleopatra prevailed that the war should be decided by
a naval battle, though she was already contemplating
flight and making arrangements for her own position, not
with a view to contribute to the victory, but to have the
best place to retreat from if their cause should be ruined.
Now there were long lines which extended from the camp
to the naval station, and Antonius was accustomed to pass
without suspecting any danger; and as a slave of Cæsar
told him that it would be possible to seize Antonius as he
went down through the lines, Cæsar sent men to lie in
ambush for him. They came so near accomplishing their
purpose as this, that by rising up too soon they seized the
man who was advancing in front of Antonius; and
Antonius escaped with difficulty by running.
LXIV. When it had been resolved to make a sea fight,
Antonius burned all the Egyptian ships except sixty;
but he manned the best and largest, from three to ten
banks of oars, with twenty thousand heavy-armed soldiers
and two thousand bowmen. Hereupon it is said that one
of the centurions, who had already fought many battles
for Antonius and was covered with wounds, wept as
Antonius was passing by, and said; “Imperator, why do you
distrust these wounds or this sword and rest your hopes
in miserable logs of wood? Let Egyptians and Phœnicians
fight on sea, but give us land, on which we are accustomed
to stand and to die or to vanquish our enemies.” Without
making any reply, but merely by a motion of his hand
and the expression of his countenance encouraging the
man to be of good cheer, Antonius passed by, without
however having any good hopes himself, inasmuch as
when the masters of the vessels were desirous to leave the
sails behind, he ordered them to be put on board and taken
with them, observing that not a single fugitive of the
enemy should be allowed to escape.
LXV.446 Now on that day and the three following days
the sea was agitated by a strong wind which prevented
an engagement, but on the fifth, there being no wind and
the sea being quite calm, they came to an engagement.
Antonius and Publicola commanded the right wing,
and Cœlius the left; and in the centre were Marcus
Octavius and Marcus Insteius. Cæsar placed Agrippa on
the left, and reserved the right wing for himself. Canidius
drew up the army of Antonius, and Taurus that of Cæsar
on the shore, and remained without moving. As to the two
commanders-in-chief, Antonius visited all his vessels in a
row-boat and exhorted his soldiers to trust to the weight
of their ships and to fight as if they were on land, without
changing their position, and he urged the masters of the
ships to receive the shock of the enemy with their vessels
as if they were quietly at anchor, and to avoid the difficult
spots about the entrance of the bay: and Cæsar, it is said,
while it was still dark, left his tent, and as he was going
round to the ships, he met a man driving an ass, who
being asked his name and knowing Cæsar, replied, “My
name is Goodluck, and my ass’s name is Victor.” For
this reason when Cæsar afterwards ornamented the place
with the beaks of ships, he set up a bronze figure of an
ass and a man. After observing the arrangement of the
other part of his fleet, he went in a boat to the right wing
and was surprised to see the enemy resting quietly in the
straits; for the vessels had the appearance of being
moored at their anchors; and as he was for a long time
convinced of this, he kept his own ships at the distance of
eight stadia from the enemy. It was now the sixth hour,
and a wind beginning to rise from the sea, the soldiers of
Antonius were impatient at the delay, and, trusting to the
height and magnitude of their ships as making them unassailable,
they put the left wing in motion. Cæsar, delighted
to see this, ordered his right wing to row backwards
with the design of drawing the enemy still further
out of the gulf and the straits, and by surrounding them
with his own light vessels to come to close quarters with
the enemy’s ships, which, owing to their size and the
insufficiency of their crews, were cumbersome and slow.
LXVI. Though the two fleets were beginning to come
together, they did not drive the ships against, nor strive
to crush one another, for the ships of Antonius, owing to
their weight, were unable to move forwards with any
force, which mainly gives effect to the blows of the beaks,
and those of Cæsar not only avoided meeting front to
front the strong and rough brass work of the enemy, but
did not even venture to strike against them on the flank.
For the beaks would easily have been broken off by coming
in contact with the hulls447 of the enemy’s vessels, which
were protected by large square pieces of timber fastened
to one another with iron. The battle therefore was like
a land fight, or, to speak more exactly, like the assailing of
a fortress; for three and four of Cæsar’s ships at the same
time were engaged about one of the ships of Antonius, and
the men fought with light shields and spears and poles
and fiery missiles; the soldiers of Antonius assailed them
also with catapults from wooden towers. While Agrippa
was extending the left wing with a view to surround the
enemy, Publicola, being compelled to advance to meet him,
was separated from the centre, which fell into confusion,
and was also closely engaged with Arruntius. While the
sea fight was still undecided and equally favourable to
both sides, all at once the sixty ships of Cleopatra were
seen raising their sails for the purpose of making off, and
flying through the centre of the combatants; for they
were stationed behind the large vessels and they caused
confusion by making their way through them. The
enemy looked on with wonder, seeing them take advantage
of the wind and shape their course towards the Peloponnesus.
On this occasion Antonius clearly showed that he
was not governed by the considerations that befit either a
commander or a man, or even by his own judgment, but,
as some one observed in jest, that the soul of the lover
lives in another person’s body, so was he dragged along
by the woman as if he had grown to her and moved together
with her. For no sooner did he see her ship sailing
away, than, forgetting everything, and deserting and
skulking away from those who were fighting and dying
in his cause, he got into a five-oared galley with only
Alexas the Syrian and Skellius to attend him, and followed
after her who had already ruined him and was destined
to complete his ruin.
LXVII. Cleopatra, having recognised the vessel of
Antonius, raised a signal; and Antonius accordingly, coming
up to her and being taken into her ship, neither saw
Cleopatra nor was seen by her, but advancing close to the
prow he sat down by himself in silence holding his head
with both his hands. In the meantime there were seen
Liburnian ships448 from Cæsar’s fleet in pursuit; but Antonius,
by ordering his men to turn his vessel’s head towards them,
kept them all in check, except the ship of Eurykles, the
Lacedæmonian, who proudly pressed on, brandishing a spear
on the deck, as if to hurl it at Antonius. Standing on the
prow of his vessel Antonius asked who it was that was
pursuing Antonius? The reply was, “I am Eurykles, the
son of Lachares, and by the help of Cæsar’s fortune I am
avenging my father’s death.” Now Lachares had been
beheaded by Antonius in consequence of being involved in
a charge of robbery. However Eurykles did not fall upon
the ship of Antonius, but he dashed against the other of
the admiral-ships (for there were two) with the brazen
beak, and made it spin round, and as the ship fell off from
its course he took it, and also another ship which contained
costly vessels for table use. When this assailant had
retired, Antonius, again settling down in the same posture,
remained without moving, and, after spending three days
at the prow by himself, either because of his passion or that
he was ashamed to see Cleopatra, he put in at Tænarus.449
Here the women who were in attendance on Cleopatra
first of all brought them to speak to one another, and next
they persuaded them to sup and sleep together. And
already not a few of the transport ships and some of their
friends after the defeat began to collect around them; and
they brought intelligence of the destruction of the navy, but
they supposed that the army still kept together. Antonius
sent messengers to Canidius with orders for him to retreat
quickly through Macedonia with his army into Asia; and
as it was his intention to cross over from Tænarus to Libya,
he selected one of the store-ships which conveyed much
money and many royal utensils in silver and in gold of
great value, and gave them to his friends, telling them to
divide the things among them and to look after their safety.
As they refused and wept, he comforted them with much
affection and kindness, and by his entreaties induced them
to depart; and he wrote to Theophilus, his steward in
Corinth, to provide for the safety of the men and to conceal
them until they should be able to make their peace with
Cæsar. This Theophilus was the father of Hipparchus,
who had the greatest influence with Antonius, and was
the first of his freedmen who went over to Cæsar, and he
afterwards lived in Corinth.
LXVIII. Such was the condition of affairs with Antonius.
At Actium the naval force, after resisting Cæsar a
long time and being very greatly damaged by the heavy
sea that set against them ahead, hardly gave up the contest
at the tenth hour. The dead were said not to be more
than five thousand, but there were taken three hundred
ships, as Cæsar has recorded. There were not many who
knew that Antonius had fled, and those who heard of it
could not at first believe that he had gone and left them,
when he had nineteen legions of unvanquished soldiers and
twelve thousand horsemen; as if he had not often experienced
fortune both ways, and were not exercised in the
reverses of innumerable contests and wars. The soldiers
longed and expected to see him, hoping that he would soon
show himself from some quarter or other; and they displayed
so much fidelity and courage that, even when his
flight was well known, they kept together seven days and
paid no regard to Cæsar’s messages to them. But at last,
when their general Canidius had stolen away by night and
left the camp, being now deserted of all and betrayed by
their commanders, they went over to the conqueror. Upon
this Cæsar450 sailed to Athens, and having come to terms with
the Greeks, he distributed the grain that remained over
after the war among the cities, which were in a wretched
condition and stripped of money, slaves and beasts of
burden. Now my great-grandfather Nikarchus used to
relate that all the citizens451 were compelled to carry down
on their shoulders a certain quantity of wheat to the sea
at Antikyra, and that their speed was quickened by the
whip; they had carried, he said, one supply in this manner,
and had just measured out another and were about to set
out, when news came that Antonius was defeated, and this
saved the city; for the agents and soldiers of Antonius
immediately fled, and they divided the corn among themselves.
LXIX. When Antonius had reached the coast of Libya,
and had sent Cleopatra forwards to Egypt from Parætonium,452
he had his fill of solitude, wandering and rambling
about with two friends, one a Greek, Aristokrates, a rhetorician,
and the other a Roman, Lucilius,453 about whom I have
said elsewhere that at Philippi, in order that Brutus might
escape, he had surrendered to the pursuers, pretending that
he was Brutus, and his life being spared by Antonius on
that account, he remained faithful to him and firm to the
last critical times. When the general454 to whom he had
intrusted the troops in Libya had caused their defection,
Antonius made an effort to kill himself, but he was prevented
by his friends and conveyed to Alexandria, where
he found Cleopatra contemplating a hazardous and great
undertaking. The isthmus which separates the Red Sea
from the sea of Egypt455 and is considered to be the boundary
between Asia and Libya, in the part where it is most
contracted by the sea, and the width is least, is about three
hundred stadia across; and here Cleopatra undertook to raise
her ships out of the water and to drag them across the neck
of land, and so bringing her ships into the Arabian gulf
with much money and a large force, to settle beyond the
limits of Egypt and to escape from slavery and war. But
as the Arabs of Petra456 burnt the first ships which were
drawn up, and Antonius thought that the army at Actium
still kept together, Cleopatra desisted from her design
and guarded the approaches to Egypt. Antonius now
leaving the city and the company of his friends, built for
himself a dwelling in the sea, near the Pharos,457 by throwing
forward a mole into the water; and here he lived a fugitive
from men, and he said that he was content with Timon’s
life and admired it, considering himself in like plight with
Timon; for he too had been wronged by his friends and
had experienced their ingratitude, and that therefore he
distrusted and disliked all men.
LXX. Timon458 was an Athenian, who lived about the
time of the Peloponnesian war, as we may conclude from
the plays of Aristophanes and Plato; for he is brought
forward in them as peevish and misanthropical. Though
he avoided and rejected all intercourse with men, yet he
received in a friendly manner Alkibiades, who was a young
audacious fellow, and showed him great affection. And
when Apemantus wondered at this and asked the reason,
he said that he liked the young man because he knew that
he would be the cause of much ill to the Athenians. Apemantus
was the only person whom he sometimes allowed
to approach him, because he was like himself and imitated
his mode of life. On one occasion, during the festival
called Choes,459 when the two were feasting together, Apemantus
said, “How delightful the entertainment is,
Timon;” “Yes, if you were not here,” was the reply. It
is said that when the Athenians were in public assembly,
Timon ascended the bema and called for silence, which
raised great expectation on account of the unusual nature
of the circumstance: he then said, “I have a small plot
of building-ground, men of Athens, and there is a fig-tree
growing on it, on which many of the citizens have already
hanged themselves. Now as I intend to build on the
ground, I wished to give public notice that, if any of you
choose, they may hang themselves before the fig-tree is
cut down.” After his death he was buried at Halæ, near
the sea; but the shore in front of the place slipped down,
and the sea surrounding the tomb made it inaccessible and
unapproachable. The inscription on the tomb was:
Here from the load of life released I lie:
Ask not my name: but take my curse, and die.
And they say that he wrote this inscription during his
lifetime; but that which is commonly circulated as the
inscription is by Callimachus:
Timon misanthropist I am. Away!
Curse, an’ thou will’t, but only do not stay.
LXXI. These are a few things out of many about Timon.
Canidius himself brought intelligence to Antonius of the
loss of his forces at Actium, and he heard that Herodes,460
the Jew, who had certain legions and cohorts, had gone
over to Cæsar, and that the rest of the princes in like
manner were revolting, and that none of his troops out of
Egypt still kept together. However, none of these things
disturbed him; but, as if he gladly laid aside hope as he
did care, he left that dwelling on the sea, which he called
Timoneium, and being taken by Cleopatra into the palace,
he turned the city to feasting and drinking and distribution
of money, registering the son of Cleopatra and Cæsar
among the young men, and putting on Antyllus, his son by
Fulvia,461 the vest without the purple hem, which marked
the attainment of full age, on which occasion banquets
and revellings and feasts engaged Alexandria for many
days. They themselves put an end to that famed company
of the Inimitable Livers, and they formed another, not
at all inferior to that in refinement and luxury and expense,
which they called the company of those who would die
together. For the friends of Antonius registered themselves
as intending to die together, and they continued
enjoying themselves in a succession of banquets. Cleopatra
got together all kinds of deadly poisons, and she tried the
painless character of each by giving them to those who
were in prison under sentence of death. When she discovered
that the quick poisons brought on a speedy death
with pain, and the less painful were not quick, she made
trial of animals,462 which in her presence were set upon one
another. And she did this daily; and among nearly all
she found that the bite of the asp alone brought on without
spasms and groans a sleepy numbness and drowsiness, with
a gentle perspiration on the face, and dulling of the perceptive
faculties, which were softly deprived of their
power, and made resistance to all attempts to awake and
arouse them, as is the case with those who are in a deep
sleep.
LXXII. At the same time they sent also ambassadors
to Cæsar into Asia, Cleopatra requesting the dominion of
Egypt for her children, and Antonius asking to be allowed
to live as a private person at Athens, if he could not be
permitted to stay in Egypt. Through the want of friends
and their distrust owing to the desertions, Euphronius, the
instructor of the children, was sent on the embassy. For
Alexas,463 of Laodiceia, who at Rome had become known to
Antonius through Timagenes, and possessed most influence
of all the Greeks, who also had been the most active of the
instruments of Cleopatra against Antonius, and had overthrown
all the reflections which rose in his mind about
Octavia, had been sent to King Herodes to keep him from
changing; and having stayed there and betrayed Antonius,
he had the impudence to go into the presence of Cæsar,
relying on Herodes. But Herodes helped him not, but
being forthwith confined and carried in chains to his own
country, he was put to death there by order of Cæsar.
Such was the penalty for his infidelity that Alexas paid to
Antonius in his lifetime.
LXXIII. Cæsar would not listen to what was said on
behalf of Antonius; but as to Cleopatra, he replied that
she should not fail to obtain anything that was reasonable
if she would kill Antonius or drive him away. He also
sent with the ambassadors of Antonius and Cleopatra one
Thyrsus,464 a freedman of his, a man not devoid of judgment,
nor, as coming from a young general, one who would fail in
persuasive address to a haughty woman who was wonderfully
proud of her beauty. This man, having longer interviews
with Cleopatra than the rest, and being specially
honoured, caused Antonius to have suspicions, and he
seized and whipped him; and he then sent him back to
Cæsar with a letter to the effect that Thyrsus, by giving
himself airs and by his insolent behaviour, had irritated
him, who was easily irritated by reason of his misfortunes.
“But you,” he said, “if you do not like the thing, have
my freedman Hipparchus. Hang him up and whip him,
that we may be on equal terms.” Upon this Cleopatra,
with the view of doing away with his cause of complaint
and suspicions, paid more than usual court to Antonius:
she kept her own birthday in a mean manner and a way
suitable to her condition, but she celebrated the birthday
of Antonius with an excess of splendour and cost, so that
many of those who were invited to the feast came poor
and went away rich. Agrippa465 in the meantime called
Cæsar back, frequently writing to him from Rome, and
urging that affairs there required his presence.
LXXIV. Accordingly for the time the war was suspended;
but when the winter was over, Cæsar advanced
through Syria and his generals through Libya. Pelusium
was taken, and it was said that Seleukus gave it up, not
without the consent of Cleopatra. But Cleopatra surrendered
to Antonius the wife and children of Seleukus to
be put to death; and as she had a tomb and a monument
constructed of unusual beauty and height, which she had
built close to the temple of Isis, she collected there the
most precious of the royal treasures, gold, silver, emeralds,
pearls, ebony, ivory, and cinnamon, and also a great
quantity of fire-wood and tow; so that Cæsar, being afraid
about the money, lest Cleopatra becoming desperate should
destroy and burn the wealth, kept continually forwarding
to her hopes of friendly treatment while he was advancing
with his army against the city. When Cæsar had taken
his position near the hippodrome, Antonius sallied forth
and fought gallantly, and he put Cæsar’s cavalry to flight
and pursued them to the camp. Elated with his victory,
he entered the palace and embraced Cleopatra in his
armour, and presented to her one of the soldiers who had
fought most bravely. Cleopatra gave the soldier as a reward
of his courage a golden breastplate and a helmet.
The man took them, and in the night deserted to Cæsar.
LXXV. Again, Antonius sent to Cæsar and challenged
him to single combat. Cæsar replied that Antonius had
many ways of dying, on which Antonius, reflecting that
there was no better mode of death for him than in battle,
determined to try a land battle and a naval battle at the
same time. And at supper, it is said, he bade the slaves
to pour out and feast him cheerfully, for it was uncertain
whether they would do that on the morrow or would be
serving other masters, while he should lie a corpse and
should be a nothing. Seeing that his friends shed tears at
his words, he said that he would not lead them out to a
battle from which he would seek for himself a glorious
death rather than safety and victory. During this night,
it is said, about the middle thereof, while the city was
quiet and depressed through fear and expectation of the
future, all at once certain harmonious sounds from all
kinds of instruments were heard, and shouts of a crowd
with Evoes466 and satyric leapings, as if some company of
revellers not without noise were going out of the city;
and the course of the procession seemed to be through the
middle of the city to the gate leading outwards in the
direction of the enemy, and at this point the tumult made
its way out, being loudest there. And those who reflected
on the sign were of opinion that the god to whom Antonius
all along most likened himself and most claimed
kinship with was deserting him.
LXXVI.467 At daybreak Antonius posted his troops on the
hills in front of the city, and watched his ships, which were
put in motion and advancing against those of the enemy;
and as he expected to see something great done by them,
he remained quiet. But when the men of Antonius came
near, they saluted with their oars Cæsar’s men, and as
they returned the salute, the men of Antonius changed
sides, and the fleet becoming one by the junction of all the
ships, sailed with the vessels’ heads turned against the city.
As soon as Antonius saw this, he was deserted by the
cavalry, who changed sides, and being defeated with his
infantry he retired into the city, crying out that he was
betrayed by Cleopatra to those with whom he was warring
on her account. Cleopatra, fearing his anger and despair,
fled to the tomb and let down the folding doors which were
strengthened with bars and bolts; and she sent persons to
Antonius to inform him that she was dead. Antonius,
believing the intelligence, said to himself, “Why dost thou
still delay, Antonius? fortune has taken away the sole remaining
excuse for clinging to life.” He then entered his
chamber, and loosing his body armour and taking it in
pieces, he said: “Cleopatra, I am not grieved at being deprived
of thee, for I shall soon come to the same place with
thee; but I am grieved that I, such an Imperator, am shown
to be inferior to a woman in courage.” Now Antonius had
a faithful slave named Eros, whom he had long before exhorted,
if the necessity should arise, to kill him; and he
now claimed the performance of the promise. Eros drew
his sword and held it out as if he were going to strike his
master, but he turned away his face and killed himself.
As Eros fell at his master’s feet Antonius said, “Well done,
Eros, though you are not able to do this for me, you teach
me what I ought to do;” and piercing himself through the
belly he threw himself on the bed. But the wound was
not immediately mortal; and accordingly, as the flow of
blood ceased when he lay down, he came to himself and requested
the bystanders to finish him. But they fled from
the chamber while he was calling out and writhing in
pain, till Diomedes the secretary came from Cleopatra
with orders to convey him to her to the tomb.
LXXVII.468 When he learned that she was alive, he
eagerly commanded his slaves to take him up, and he was
carried in their arms to the doors of the chamber. Cleopatra
did not open the doors, but she appeared at a window,
from which she let down cords and ropes; and when the
slaves below had fastened Antonius to them, she drew him
up with the aid of the two women whom alone she had
admitted into the tomb with her. Those who were present
say that there never was a more piteous sight; for stained
with blood and struggling with death he was hauled up,
stretching out his hands to her, while he was suspended in
the air. For the labour was not light for women, and
Cleopatra with difficulty, holding with her hands and
straining the muscles of her face, pulled up the rope, while
those who were below encouraged her and shared in her
agony. When she had thus got him in and laid him down,
she rent her garments over him, and beating her breasts
and scratching them with her hands, and wiping the blood
off him with her face, she called him master and husband
and Imperator; and she almost forgot her own misfortunes
through pity for his. Antonius, stopping her
lamentations, asked for wine to drink, whether it was that
he was thirsty or that he expected to be released more
speedily. When he had drunk it, he advised her, if it
could be done with decency, to look after the preservation
of her own interests, and to trust to Procleius469 most of the
companions of Cæsar; and not to lament him for his last reverses,
but to think him happy for the good things that he
had obtained, having become the most illustrious of men
and had the greatest power, and now not ignobly a Roman
by a Roman vanquished.
LXXVIII. Just as Antonius died, Procleius came from
Cæsar;470 for after Antonius had wounded himself and was
carried to Cleopatra, Derketæus, one of his guards, taking
his dagger and concealing it, secretly made his way from
the palace, and running to Cæsar, was the first to report
the death of Antonius, and he showed the blood-stained
dagger. When Cæsar heard the news, he retired within
his tent and wept for a man who had been related to him
by marriage, and his colleague in command, and his companion
in many struggles and affairs. He then took the
letters that had passed between him and Antonius, and
calling his friends, read them, in order to show in what a
reasonable and fair tone he had written himself, and how
arrogant and insolent Antonius had always been in his
answers. Upon this he sent Procleius with orders, if possible,
above all things to secure Cleopatra alive; for he
was afraid about the money, and he thought it a great
thing for the glory of his triumph to lead her in the procession.
However Cleopatra would not put herself in the
hands of Procleius; but they talked together while he was
standing on the outside close to the building near a door
on a level with the ground, which was firmly secured, but
allowed a passage for the voice. In their conversation
Cleopatra entreated that her children might have the
kingdom, and Procleius bade her be of good cheer and trust
to Cæsar in all things.
LXXIX. After Procleius had inspected the place and
reported to Cæsar, Gallus471 was sent to have another interview
with her; and having come to the door he purposely
prolonged the conversation. In the meantime Procleius
applied a ladder and got through the window by which
the women took in Antonius; and he immediately went
down with two slaves to the door at which Cleopatra
stood with her attention directed to Gallus. One of the
women who were shut up with Cleopatra called out,
“Wretched Cleopatra, you are taken alive,” on which she
turned round, and seeing Procleius, attempted to stab herself,
for she happened to have by her side a dagger such
as robbers wear: but Procleius, quickly running up to
her and holding her with both his hands, said, “You
wrong yourself, Cleopatra, and Cæsar too by attempting
to deprive him of the opportunity of a noble display of
magnanimity and to fix on the mildest of commanders the
stigma of faithlessness and implacability.” At the same
time he took away her dagger and shook her dress to see
if she concealed any poison. There was also sent from
Cæsar one of his freedmen, Epaphroditus, whose orders
were to watch over her life with great care, but as to the
rest to give way in all things that would make her most
easy and be most agreeable to her.
LXXX. Cæsar entered the city talking with Areius the
philosopher, and he had given Areius472 his right hand, that
he might forthwith be conspicuous among the citizens and
be admired on account of the special respect that he received
from Cæsar. Entering the gymnasium and ascending
a tribunal that was made for him, the people the while
being terror-struck and falling down before him, he bade
them get up, and he said that he acquitted the people of
all blame, first on account of the founder Alexander, second
because he admired the beauty and magnitude of the city,
and third, to please his friend Areius. Such honour Areius
obtained from Cæsar, and he got the pardon of many others;
and among them was Philostratus,473 a man of all sophists
the most competent to speak on the sudden, but one who
claimed to be of the Academy without just grounds.
Wherefore Cæsar, who abominated his habits, would not
listen to his entreaties. But Philostratus, letting his white
beard grow and putting on a dark vest, followed behind
Areius, continually uttering this verse:
Wise save the wise, if wise indeed they be.
Cæsar hearing of this, pardoned Philostratus, wishing
rather to release Areius from odium than Philostratus from
fear.
LXXXI. Of the children of Antonius, Antyllus,474 the son
of Fulvia, was given up by his pædagogus Theodorus and
put to death; and when the soldiers had cut off his head,
the pædagogus took the most precious stone which he wore
about his neck and sewed it in his belt; and though he
denied the fact, he was convicted of it and crucified. The
children of Cleopatra were guarded together with those
who had charge of them, and they had a liberal treatment;
but as to Cæsarion, who was said to be Cleopatra’s son by
Cæsar, her mother sent him to India with much treasure
by way of Ethiopia; but another pædagogus like Theodorus,
named Rhodon, persuaded him to return, saying that
Cæsar invited him to take the kingdom. While Cæsar was
deliberating about Cæsarion, it is said that Areius observed:
“Tis no good thing, a multitude of Cæsars.”475
LXXXII. Now Cæsar put Cæsarion to death after the
death of Cleopatra. Though many asked for the body of
Antonius to bury it, both kings and commanders, Cæsar
did not take it from Cleopatra, but it was interred by her
own hands sumptuously and royally, and she received for
that purpose all that she wished. In consequence of so
much grief and pain, for her breasts were inflamed by the
blows that she had inflicted and were sore, and a fever
coming on, she gladly availed herself of this pretext for
abstaining from food and with the design of releasing
herself from life without hindrance. There was a physician
with whom she was familiar, Olympus, to whom she told
the truth, and she had him for her adviser and assistant in
accomplishing her death, as Olympus said in a history of
these transactions which he published. Cæsar suspecting
her design, plied her with threats and alarms about her
children, by which Cleopatra was thrown down as by
engines of war, and she gave up her body to be treated and
nourished as it was wished.
LXXXIII. Cæsar himself came a few days after to see
her and pacify her.476 Cleopatra happened to be lying on a
mattress meanly dressed, and as he entered she sprang up
in a single vest and fell at his feet with her head and face in
the greatest disorder, her voice trembling and her eyes
weakened by weeping. There were also visible many
marks of the blows inflicted on her breast; and in fine her
body seemed in no respect to be in better plight than her
mind. Yet that charm and that saucy confidence in her
beauty were not completely extinguished, but, though she
was in such a condition, shone forth from within and
showed themselves in the expression of her countenance.
When Cæsar had bid her lie down and had seated himself
near her, she began to touch upon a kind of justification,
and endeavoured to turn all that had happened upon
necessity and fear of Antonius; but as Cæsar on each
point met her with an answer, being confuted, she all at
once changed her manner to move him by pity and by
prayers, as a person would do who clung most closely to
life. Finally she handed to him a list of all the treasures
that she had; and when Seleukus, one of her stewards,
declared that she was hiding and secreting some things,
she sprang up and laying hold of his hair, belaboured him
with many blows on the face. As Cæsar smiled and stopped
her, she said, “But is it not scandalous, Cæsar, that you
have condescended to come to me and speak to me in my
wretched condition, and my slaves make it a matter of
charge against me if I have reserved some female ornaments,
not for myself forsooth, wretch that I am, but that
I may give a few things to Octavia and your wife Livia,
and so through their means make you more favourable to
me and more mild.” Cæsar was pleased with these words,
being fully assured that she wished to live. Accordingly,
after saying that he left these matters to her care and
that in everything else he would behave to her better than
she expected, he went away, thinking that he had deceived
her; but he had deceived himself.
LXXXIV. Now there was Cornelius Dolabella,477 a
youth of rank, and one of the companions478 of Cæsar. He
was not without a certain liking towards Cleopatra; and
now, in order to gratify her request, he secretly sent and
informed her that Cæsar himself was going to march with
his troops through Syria, and that he had determined to
send off her with her children on the third day. On hearing
this, Cleopatra first entreated Cæsar to permit her to
pour libations on the tomb of Antonius; and when Cæsar
permitted it, she went to the tomb, and embracing the coffin
in company with the women who were usually about her,
said, “Dear Antonius, I buried thee recently with hands
still free, but now I pour out libations as a captive and so
watched that I cannot either with blows or sorrow disfigure
this body of mine now made a slave and preserved
to form a part in the triumph over thee. But expect not
other honours or libations, for these are the last which
Cleopatra brings. Living, nothing kept us asunder, but
there is a risk of our changing places in death; thou a
Roman, lying buried here, and I, wretched woman, in Italy,
getting only as much of thy country as will make me a
grave. But if indeed there is any help and power in the
gods there (for the gods of this country have deserted us),
do not deliver thy wife up alive, and let not thyself be
triumphed over in me, but hide me here with thee and bury
thee with me; for though I have ten thousand ills, not one
of them is so great and grievous as this short time which
I have lived apart from thee!”
LXXXV. After making this lamentation and crowning
and embracing the coffin, she ordered a bath to be prepared
for her. After bathing, she lay down and enjoyed
a splendid banquet. And there came one from the country
bringing a basket; and on the guards asking what he
brought, the man opened it, and taking off the leaves
showed the vessel full of figs. The soldiers admiring
their beauty and size, the man smiled and told them to
take some, whereon, without having any suspicion, they
bade him carry them in. After feasting, Cleopatra took
a tablet, which was already written, and sent it sealed to
Cæsar, and, causing all the rest of her attendants to withdraw
except those two women, she closed the door. As
soon as Cæsar479 opened the tablet and found in it the prayers
and lamentations of Cleopatra, who begged him to bury her
with Antonius, he saw what had taken place. At first he
was for setting out himself to give help, but the next thing
that he did was to send persons with all speed to inquire.
But the tragedy had been speedy; for, though they ran
thither and found the guards quite ignorant of everything,
as soon as they opened the door they saw Cleopatra lying
dead on a golden couch in royal attire. Of her two women,
Eiras was dying at her feet, and Charmion, already staggering
and drooping her head, was arranging the diadem on
the forehead of Cleopatra. One of them saying in passion,
“A good deed this, Charmion;” “Yes, most goodly,” she
replied, “and befitting the descendant of so many kings.”
She spake not another word, but fell there by the side of
the couch.
LXXXVI. Now it is said that the asp was brought with
those figs and leaves, and was covered with them; for that
Cleopatra had so ordered, that the reptile might fasten on
her body without her being aware of it. But when she
had taken up some of the figs and saw it, she said, “Here
then it is,” and baring her arm, she offered it to the serpent
to bite. Others say that the asp was kept in a water-pitcher,
and that Cleopatra drew it out with a golden distaff
and irritated it till the reptile sprang upon her arm
and clung to it. But the real truth nobody knows; for it
was also said that she carried poison about her in a hollow
comb, which she concealed in her hair; however, no spots
broke out on her body, nor any other sign of poison. Nor
yet was the reptile seen within the palace; but some said
that they observed certain marks of its trail near the sea,
in that part towards which the chamber looked and the
windows were. Some also say that the arm of Cleopatra
was observed to have two small indistinct punctures; and
it seems that Cæsar believed this, for in the triumph a
figure of Cleopatra was carried with the asp clinging to
her. Such is the way in which these events are told.
Though Cæsar was vexed at the death of Cleopatra, he
admired her nobleness of mind, and he ordered the body
to be interred with that of Antonius in splendid and royal
style. The women of Cleopatra also received honourable
interment by his orders. Cleopatra at the time of her
death was forty years of age save one, and she had reigned
as queen two-and-twenty years, and governed together
with Antonius more than fourteen. Antonius, according
to some, was six years, according to others, three years
above fifty. Now the statues of Antonius were thrown
down, but those of Cleopatra remained standing, for
Archibius, one of her friends, gave Cæsar two thousand
talents that they might not share the same fate as those
of Antonius.
LXXXVII. Antonius by his three wives left seven
children, of whom Antyllus, the eldest, was the only one
who was put to death by Cæsar; the rest Octavia480 took
and brought them up with her own children. Cleopatra,
the daughter of Cleopatra, she married to Juba, the most
accomplished of kings; and Antonius, the son of Fulvia,
she raised so high that, while Agrippa held the first place
in Cæsar’s estimation, and the sons of Livia the second,
Antonius had and was considered to have the third. Octavia
had by Marcellus two daughters, and one son,
Marcellus, whom Cæsar made both his son and son-in-law,
and he gave one of the daughters to Agrippa. But as
Marcellus died very soon after his marriage, and it was
not easy for Cæsar to choose from the rest of his friends a
son-in-law whom he could trust, Octavia proposed to him
that Agrippa should take Cæsar’s daughter and put away
her daughter. Cæsar was first persuaded and then Agrippa,
whereupon Octavia took her own daughter back and
married her to Antonius; and Agrippa married Cæsar’s
daughter. There were two daughters of Antonius and
Octavia, of whom Domitius Ænobarbus took one to wife;
and the other, who was famed for her virtues and her
beauty, Antonia, was married to Drusus, the son of Livia,
and step-son of Cæsar. From the marriage of Drusus and
Antonia came Germanicus and Claudius, of whom Claudius
afterwards ruled; and of the children of Germanicus, Caius,
who ruled with distinction for no long time, was destroyed
together with his child and wife; and Agrippina, who had
by Ænobarbus a son, Lucius Domitius, married Claudius
Cæsar; and Claudius adopting her son, named him Nero
Germanicus. Nero, who ruled in my time, slew his
mother, and through his violence and madness came very
near subverting the supremacy of Rome, being the fifth
from Antonius in the order of succession.