Battle of Forum Gallorum, April 15th, B.C. 43.
Pansa was expected to reach the seat of war about the 16th of April. A detachment, consisting of the Martia and two prætorian cohorts, was sent out to conduct him and his four new legions into camp. In order to intercept this force Antony concealed two legions in Forum Gallorum, only allowing his cavalry and light armed to be seen. On the 14th Pansa encamped near Bononia, and next morning started to join Hirtius in his camp near Mutina, along with the troops sent out to meet him. The main force marched over the open country; the two prætorian cohorts kept to the via Æmilia. Near Forum Gallorum there was some marshy and difficult ground. The Martia got through this first, and suddenly sighted Antony’s cavalry. The men could not be held back: enraged at the recollection of their comrades executed at Brundisium, they broke into a charge. Pansa, unable to stop them, tried to bring up two new legions to their support. But Antony was too quick for him. He suddenly led out his legions from the village, and Pansa, in danger of being surrounded, had to retire upon his camp of the previous night, having himself received two wounds, while the prætorian cohorts on the Æmilian road were cut to pieces. Antony seemed to have won the day. But he attempted too much. He pushed on towards Bononia, hoping to storm the camp, but was beaten off and forced to retire to his own quarters near Mutina. He was, however, many hours’ march from them. His men were tired, and when they reached Forum Gallorum again they were met by Hirtius, who, having heard of Pansa’s disaster, had come out with twenty veteran cohorts. Antony’s wearied men were utterly routed almost on the ground of their morning’s victory, and he had to escape with his cavalry to his camp near Mutina, which he did not reach till long after sunset. Hirtius had no cavalry to pursue him, and accordingly went on to visit the wounded Pansa.
Though the prætorian cohorts which had suffered so severely on the road were Octavian’s, he was not leading them, nor does he seem to have been engaged in either of the battles. But it appears that some of Antony’s men had threatened the camp in charge of which he had been left, and that his success in repelling this attack was sufficiently marked for his soldiers to greet him with the title of Imperator as well as Hirtius and Pansa.[125]
Antony’s second defeat at Mutina, 21 April.
The news of this victory reached Rome on the 20th, and the extravagant exultation of the Ciceronians may be gathered from the Fourteenth Philippic. But Antony was still investing Mutina, and though he had lost heavily, so also had his opponents, especially the Martia and Octavian’s prætorian cohorts. Pansa, disabled by his wounds, had been carried to Bononia, and for some days nothing of importance was attempted. But on the 21st Hirtius and Octavian moved to the west of Mutina, where the lines of investment were less complete, with the hope of relieving the town on that side. Antony sent out his cavalry to intercept them, and, after some skirmishing, two legions to support it. Octavian attacked and drove them back to their camp, into which Hirtius forced his way, but was killed within the vallum. Octavian got possession of the body, but had presently to evacuate the camp. Still Antony’s losses in these two battles had been so severe that he feared being himself invested by Octavian, who would in that case, he felt sure, be joined by Lepidus and Plancus. Whatever might then be the fate of Decimus Brutus, he at any rate would be paralysed. He resolved to make a dash for the Transalpine province, hoping there to be joined not only by Pollio, Lepidus, and Plancus, but by Ventidius also. He accordingly raised the siege, and with a strong body of cavalry marched along the via Æmilia. At Dertona he left the road, and made the difficult pass of Aquæ Statiellæ, leading to the coast at Vada Sabatia. There he was joined by Ventidius, and proceeded along the Riviera into the province. Decimus Brutus did not start in pursuit till the third day, partly owing to the exhausted state of his men after their long investment, partly because he wished to induce Octavian to join him.
The exultant Ciceronians slight Octavian.
The news of Antony’s retirement reached Rome on the 26th. The exultant Ciceronians regarded the war as at an end, and next day, under Cicero’s influence, Antony and his adherents were declared hostes in the Senate.[126] He was believed to be utterly ruined, and the Senate was regarded as once more supreme. Decimus Brutus would of course cut to pieces the poor remains of Antony’s troops; Lepidus and Plancus would hold their provinces in obedience to the Senate. Octavian was no longer necessary, and was immediately made to feel it. Not only were scandalous rumours spread abroad, charging him with causing the death of Hirtius, and suborning his physician to poison the wounds of Pansa,[127] but in the vote of thanks to the army no mention was made of him. The vote also was so framed as to introduce divisions in the army itself by naming certain cohorts for honour and passing over others; while the legates conveying these thanks and honours were instructed to communicate directly with the men, not through Octavian as their commander. The legions of Pansa were transferred to Decimus Brutus, even the Martia and Quarta, formerly commended for joining Octavian. At the same time, all those most likely to be hostile to him were promoted. Sext. Pompeius was declared head of the naval forces of the republic; Brutus and Cassius were confirmed in their provinces and given special powers in all other provinces east of the Adriatic; a commission of ten was appointed to revise the acta of Antony’s consulship, in which Octavian had no place.[128] Lastly, his claim to a triumph and to be a candidate for one of the vacant consulships was rejected, though as a kind of sop he was granted consularia ornamenta,[129] and Cicero appears to have proposed his having an ovation.[130] But it was about the same time that Cicero’s unlucky epigram as to “distinguishing and extinguishing” him was reported to Octavian.[131] If Cicero, who was in constant correspondence with him, and was even discussing the possibilities of their holding the consulship as colleagues,[132] could thus speak, what was he to think of the rest? No doubt all these circumstances contributed to fix Octavian’s resolve. He at once declined to co-operate with Decimus Brutus, or to surrender his legions to him. Although those under Hirtius and Pansa had been assigned bodily by the Senate to Brutus, the Martia and Quarta refused to obey the order, and declared their loyalty to Octavian. Their example was followed by the other veterans, who refused to serve under an assassin of their old imperator. Thus fortified, Octavian adopted a line of conduct which partly alarmed and partly puzzled the other commanders of troops. He established secret communications with Antony, releasing prisoners taken from his army, and allowing certain officers to rejoin him; while he himself, remaining inactive for some months, was privately preparing to enforce his claim on the consulship. The departure of Decimus Brutus left him in undisturbed command of the greater part of Cisalpine Gaul, and there were no military forces between him and Rome, now that Ventidius had accomplished his rapid march from Potentia to the western coast at Vada.
Revulsion of feeling at Rome.
The gradual disillusionment of the Ciceronians as to the victory over Antony; the perplexity caused by the inactivity of Octavian; the delays and helplessness of Decimus Brutus—all these are faithfully reflected in the Cicero correspondence of this period. At first everything is couleur-de-rose. On the 21st of April, on the receipt of the news of the battle of Forum Gallorum, he writes:—
“In the youthful Cæsar there is a wonderful natural strain of virtue. Pray heaven we may govern him in the flush of honours and popularity as easily as we have held him up to this time! This is certainly a more difficult thing, but nevertheless I have no mistrust. For the young man has been convinced, and chiefly by my arguments, that our safety is his work, and that, at any rate, if he had not diverted Antony from the city, all would have been lost.”[133]