Though deeply moved by this story Octavian did not allow his feelings to betray him into taking any false or hasty step. Satis celeriter quod satis bene was his motto now as in after life.[77] He went on to Brundisium, having ascertained that it was not occupied by enemies, and there received letters from his mother and stepfather confirming what he had already heard. His mother begged him to join her at once, to avoid the jealousies roused by his adoption. Philippus advised him to accept neither inheritance nor name, and to hold aloof from public business. The advice was, no doubt, prompted by affection, and was natural in the circumstances. But though Octavian never blustered, neither did he easily turn aside: he wrote back declaring his determination to accept. His own friends henceforth addressed him as “Cæsar,” his full name now being Gaius Iulius Cæsar Octavianus.[78] The adoption indeed was not complete without the formal passing of a lex curiata; but though that was delayed for more than a year, the new name was assumed at once. He complied with his mother’s wish that he should visit her first, and he soon had the satisfaction of feeling that though Philippus was still opposed, her heart was with him in the manly resolve to sustain the great part which Cæsar’s affection had assigned to him. Cicero mentions in a letter of April 11th that Octavius had arrived in Italy, and on the 18th that he had reached Naples. On the 19th Balbus—the Dictator’s friend and agent—called on him and learned from his own lips his resolve to accept the inheritance. On the 22nd Cicero met him at his stepfather’s villa near Puteoli, and anxiously watched for any indication of his political aims. He was only partly satisfied.
“Octavius here treats me with great respect and friendliness. His own people addressed him as ‘Cæsar,’ but as Philippus did not do so, I did not do it either. I declare it is impossible for him to be a good citizen! He is surrounded by such a number of people who actually threaten our friends with death. He says the present state of things is intolerable.”[79]
It was not Octavian’s cue as yet to break openly with the aristocrats. The first struggles for his rights were likely to be with Antony, in which the aid of Cicero and his party would be useful. At the same time he was too cautious and self-controlled to commit himself or betray his real intentions, which remained an enigma to the emotional orator, who hardly ever spoke without doing so. Cicero consoled himself by the reflection that at any rate Octavian’s claims must cause a quarrel with Antony. Yet he was indignant that this stripling could go to Rome without risk, while Brutus and Cassius and the other “heroes” of the dagger could not. Octavian’s journey to Rome was for the twofold purpose of giving formal notice to the prætor urbanus that he accepted the inheritance, and of making a statement of his intentions as administrator of the will at a public assembly. For the latter he needed to be introduced to the meeting by a tribune. For this service he relied on Lucius Antonius. All three brothers were in office this year—Marcus consul, Gaius prætor, Lucius tribune; and as supporters of the late Cæsar they could not in decency refuse him this opportunity of declaring his sentiments.
Octavian and M. Antonius.
Octavian reached Rome in the first week of May, duly accepted the inheritance, and was introduced to a contio by Lucius Antonius about the 10th of that month.[80] The speech was not satisfactory to the Ciceronian party. He declared his intention to carry out his “father’s” will as to the legacy to the people, and to celebrate the games at the dedication of the temple of Venus promised by Cæsar. Preparations for them were begun at once, two of the Dictator’s friends, Matius and Postumius, being selected to superintend them.[81] But though confining himself to expressions of veneration for his “father’s” memory, and uttering no threats against any one, Octavian had not given up for a moment his resolve to punish the murderers. The amnesty voted in the Senate he regarded as a temporary expedient. All that was needed was an accuser, and he did not mean that such a person should be long wanting. But meanwhile his first business was to secure his own position and the possession of Cæsar’s property. This at once brought him into collision with Antony.
The money at the temple of Ops.
The financial arrangements of the late Dictator were to a great degree to blame for this. He seems to have introduced the system of the fiscus, though without the name known in later times: that is, large sums of money were deposited in the temple of Ops to his order, separate from the public ærarium of the temple of Saturnus, and not clearly distinguished from his own private property. It was as though a Chancellor of the Exchequer paid portions of the revenue to his private banking account, and were to die suddenly without leaving any means of distinguishing between public and private property.[82] Cicero says that this money (700,000,000 sesterces, or about five and a half millions sterling) was the proceeds of the sale of confiscated properties,[83] and there was, it seems, much other property in lands and houses from the same source. The claim by an heir of Cæsar would be met by a double opposition—from the government, which would regard the whole as public; and from the owners or their representatives, who might have hopes of recovering parts of it. For at Rome confiscation did not bar claims under marriage settlements, or for debts secured on properties. The large sum at the temple of Ops had been taken over entirely by Antony the Consul, nominally as being public money, really—as Cicero affirms—to liquidate his own enormous debts. It is very likely that Antony shared the spoil with others, perhaps with his colleague Dolabella, and they may have satisfied their consciences with some partial use of it for public purposes.[84] At any rate it was not forthcoming when Octavian put in his claim. Even in regard to such property as was handed over to him he was constantly harassed by lawsuits. Claimants were instigated, as he believed, by one or other of the Antonies; while Gaius Antonius, acting prætor urbanus for Brutus, would often preside in the court. He was resolved, however, to carry out Cæsar’s will, even if he had to sell his own paternal estate and draw upon his mother’s resources. But it seems, after all, that the property of Cæsar which he did manage to get, or his own wealth, was so ample, that he was able to do this without crippling himself. Pinarius and Pedius got their shares, but handed them over to him, perhaps as being too heavily weighted with legacies to be of much value to them, or thinking that his great future made it a good investment. At any rate the legacies were paid, the games given, and when some months later he proceeded to enroll two legions of veterans he was able to pay each man a bounty amounting to something like £20 of our money.[85] At no time in his career does he seem to have had serious money difficulties. No doubt his resources were always large, but he must also have had the valuable faculty of husbanding them in small matters, while always having enough for large outlays.
Difficulties about Octavian’s adoption.
But it was not only in regard to money that Octavian found himself thwarted by Antony and his brothers. A tribune, probably Lucius Antonius himself, prevented the formal passing of the lex curiata for his adoption, with a view of weakening his claims upon the inheritance. When he wished to be elected tribune in the place of Cinna, who had fallen a victim to the mob in mistake for L. Cinna, a prætor who had spoken against Cæsar, he was prevented by the partisans of Antony.[86] There was indeed a legal obstacle in the fact that he was now a patrician,[87] was under age, and had not held the quæstorship, though this last was a breach of custom rather than of law. Lastly, Antony treated him with studied disrespect, keeping him waiting in his ante-room; while Lucius Antonius and the other tribunes forbade him to place Cæsar’s gilded chair in the Circus at his games.[88]
Octavian and the Optimates. After the meeting of the Senate in June.