Histoire de la Vie de Jules Cæsar, par M. de Bury, Paris, 1758, 2 vols. 8vo.
† Life of C. Julius Cæsar, by A. G. Meissner, continued by J. Ch. L. Haken, 1811, 4 parts. At present the best.
Caius Julius Cæsar, from original sources, by Professor Söltl. A short biography, judiciously executed.
Amnesty declared; but not approved by Antony and Lepidus.
39. Notwithstanding the amnesty at first declared, the funeral obsequies of Cæsar soon showed, that peace was of all things the least desired by his generals, M. Antony and M. Lepidus, now become the head of his party; and the arrival of Cæsar's nephew, C. Octavius (afterwards Cæsar Octavianus), whom he had adopted in his will, rendered affairs still more complicated, as every one strove for himself; Antony's particular object being to raise himself into Cæsar's place. However earnestly they sought to gain the people, it was in fact the legions who decided, and the command of them depended, for the most part, upon the possession of the provinces. We cannot therefore wonder, that while they sought to revenge the murder of Cæsar, this became the chief cause of the struggle, and in a few months led to a civil war.
At the time of Cæsar's death, M. Antonius was actual consul, and Dolabella consul-elect; M. Lepidus magister equitum (master of the horse); M. Brutus and Cassius, prætors (the first, prætor urbanus). Cæsar had given to the former the province of Macedonia, and to the latter that of Syria, which had been confirmed to them by the senate. M. Lepidus had been nominated to Transalpine, and D. Brutus to Cisalpine Gaul. But soon after the murder of Cæsar, Antony obtained, by a decree of the people, Macedonia for himself, and Syria for his colleague Dolabella, with whom he had formed a close connection; instead of which the senate decreed to Cassius Cyrene, and to Brutus, who now had the important charge of supplying Rome with provisions, Crete. But soon after (June 1, 44), Antony desired, by a new change, to obtain Cisalpine Gaul for himself, and Macedonia for his brother C. Antony, both of which he procured from the people.
Antony endeavours to establish himself in Cisalpine Gaul.
40. As M. Antony sought by force to establish himself in Cisalpine Gaul, and D. Brutus refused to give it up to him, and retired into Mutina, a short, indeed, but very bloody civil war arose, (bellum mutinense.) The eloquence of Cicero had caused Antony to be declared an enemy of the republic; and the two new consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, together with Cæsar Octavianus, were sent against him. The defeat of Antony compelled him to seek refuge beyond the Alps with Lepidus; but the two consuls being slain, Octavianus at the head of his legions was too importunate to be refused the consulship, and soon convinced the defenceless senate, how impossible it was to reestablish the commonwealth by their powerless decrees. The employment, moreover, of the magistratus suffecti, which soon after arose, was in itself a sufficient proof that it was now no more than the shadow of what it had formerly been.
The Mutine war begins in December, 44, and closes with the defeat of Antony at Mutina, April 14, 43. Octavius obtains the consulate, Sept. 22.
Formation of a triumvirate by C. Octavianus, M. Antony, and Lepidus.