CHAPTER XV
THE PASSING OF THE REPUBLIC: 44–27 B. C.
I. The Rise of Octavian
The political situation after Caesar’s death. Caesar had made no arrangements for a successor, and his death produced the greatest consternation in Rome. The conspirators had made no plans to seize the reins of power, and instead of finding their act greeted with an outburst of popular approval, they were left face to face with the fact that although Caesar was dead the Caesarian party lived on in his veterans and the city populace, led by the consul Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Caesar’s master of the horse. The Senate met on 17 March, and it was evident that a majority of its members supported the assassins, but they were afraid of the legion which Lepidus had under his orders and the Caesarian veterans in the city. Antony, who had obtained possession of Caesar’s papers and money, took the lead of the Caesarian party and came to terms with their opponents. It was agreed that the conspirators should go unpunished, but that the acts of Caesar should be ratified, even those which had not yet been carried into effect, that his will should be approved, and that he should receive a public funeral.
The reading of Caesar’s will revealed that he had left his gardens on the right bank of the Tiber as a public park, had bequeathed a donation of three hundred sesterces (about fifteen dollars) to each Roman citizen and had adopted his grand-nephew Caius Octavius as his son and heir to three-fourths of his fortune. By a speech delivered to the people on the day of Caesar’s funeral Antony skilfully enflamed popular sentiment against Caesar’s murderers. The mob seized the dictator’s corpse, burned it in the forum and buried the ashes there. The chief conspirators did not dare to remain in the city; Decimus Brutus went to his province of Cisalpine Gaul, Marcus Brutus and Cassius lingered in the neighborhood of Rome. Antony was master of the situation in the capital and overawed opposition [pg 186]by his bodyguard of 6000 veterans. He held in check Lepidus and other Caesarians who called for vengeance upon the conspirators. Lepidus was won over by his election to the position of Pontifex Maximus to succeed Caesar and was induced to leave the city for his province of Hither Spain to check the progress of Sextus Pompey, who had reappeared in Farther Spain and defeated the Caesarian governor. It was hoped that Sextus would be satisfied with permission to return to Rome and compensation for his father’s property. Caesar’s arrangements for the provincial governorships had assigned Macedonia to Antony and Syria to Dolabella, who became Antony’s colleague in the consulate at Caesar’s death. This assignment Antony altered by a law which granted him Cisalpine Gaul and the Transalpine district outside the Narbonese province for a term of six years in violation of a law of Caesar’s, which limited proconsular commands to two years. Dolabella was to have Syria for a like period and Decimus Brutus was given Macedonia in exchange for Cisalpine Gaul. The consuls were to occupy their provinces at once. To Brutus and Cassius were assigned for the next year the provinces of Crete and Cyrene; while for the present they were given a special commission to collect grain in Sicily and Asia. The two left Italy for the East with the intention of seizing the provinces there before the arrival of Dolabella. They hoped to raise a force which would enable them to check Antony’s career, for it was evident that Antony regarded himself as Caesar’s political heir and was planning to follow the latter’s path to absolute power.
Caius Octavius. But he found an unexpected rival in the person of Caesar’s adopted son, Caius Octavius, a youth of eighteen years, who at the time of Caesar’s death was at Apollonia in Illyricum with the army that was being assembled for the Parthian War. Against the advice of his parents he returned to Rome and claimed his inheritance. His presence was unwelcome to Antony, who had expended Caesar’s money, and refused to refund it. Thereupon Octavius raised funds by selling his own properties and borrowing, and began to pay off the legacies of Caesar. By this means he soon acquired popularity with the Caesarians. The formalities of his adoption were not completed until the following year, but from this time on he took the name of Caesar.[13]
Antony underestimated the capacities of this rather sickly youth and continued to refuse him recognition, but was soon made aware of his mistake. He himself was anxious to occupy his province of Cisalpine Gaul, and since Decimus Brutus refused to evacuate it, Antony determined to drive him out and obtained permission to recall for that purpose the four legions from Macedonia. Before their arrival Octavian raised a force among Caesar’s veterans in Campania, and on the march from Brundisium to Rome two of the four Macedonian legions deserted to him. The Caesarians were now divided into two parties, and Octavian began to coöperate with the republicans in the Senate. The latter were thus encouraged to oppose Antony with whom reconciliation was impossible. Cicero, who had not been among the conspirators but who had subsequently approved Caesar’s murder, was about to leave Italy to join Brutus when he heard of the changed situation in Rome and returned to assume the leadership of the republican party. Antony left Rome for the Cisalpine province early in December, 44 B. C., and Cicero induced the Senate to enter into a coalition with Octavian against him. In his Philippic Orations he gave full vent to his bitter hatred of Antony and so aroused the latter’s undying enmity.