[344]Bribery [345]ruling in [346]all [347]elections, and the [348]candidates making a most [349]dismal [350]confusion, after a long [351]interregnum, Pompey was made consul, without a [352]colleague, a thing [353]wholly new, and never heard of before; in which office he made a [354]severe [355]inquiry into all other [356]misdemeanors, as likewise into the death of Clodius, whom Milo [357]killed the same year, and for which he was [358]banished.
After the death of Cæsar, Antony the consul so [359]inflamed the people by [360]a seditious [361]harangue, that they [362]burnt his [363]body [364]publicly, and [365]threatened to set fire, and [366]pull down the houses of the [367]assassins. Octavius Cæsar, the son of Accia [368]Julius’s sister, was his [369]adopted son by [370]will. He being [371]slighted by M. Antony, [372]raised an army of [373]veteran soldiers, and [374]opposed his [375]tyrannical [376]proceedings. Antonius [377]extorted from the people by force the province of Gaul, but his [378]passage there was opposed by D. Brutus at Modena, where he was [379]besieged by Antony.
In the [380]consulship of [381]Hirtius and Pansa, in the year of the city 711, at the [382]instigation of Cicero Antony was [383]declared [384]enemy, and a war [385]undertaken against him; when Octavius [386]joined in [387]commission with the consuls, with the [388]power of proconsul, being then about the 20th year of his age. There was a [389]dreadful and [390]bloody [391]battle [392]fought near Modena, in which all Cæsar’s [393]life-guards were slain; but Antony was routed, and the [394]siege [395]raised, yet both the consuls were killed.
In Macedon, Brutus [396]took off C. Antonius, M. Antony’s brother, who was [397]intriguing against him, and [398]got together a [399]formidable army. Upon which the senate [400]resolved by [401]degrees to [402]take down Octavius, [403]for fear of his [404]growing too [405]powerful; which he being [406]apprehensive of, [407]he entered into an [408]association with Antony and Lepidus; and [409]consequently they were all three made [410]commissioners [411]for settling the [412]republic. They having [413]divided the whole [414]empire into three parts, [415]proscribed a great many of the Romans, and amongst the rest M. [416]Tully Cicero, who, whilst he was [417]endeavouring to [418]make his escape into Greece, was killed by Pompilius, a [419]captain, whose [420]cause he had [421]pleaded in a capital [422]action. There was a [423]dreadful [424]havoc made in this [425]proscription. The [426]Epitome of Livy speaks of no less than an hundred and thirty senators; the same year, [427]gave [428]beginning to one of the finest cities of France, [429]Lyons.
The year following, Octavius and Antony [430]fought a battle with M. Brutus and the [431]principal of the [432]conspirators, near the city of Philippi. The [433]right [434]wings were [435]victorious on both [436]sides, and on both sides the [437]camps were [438]plundered. But Cassius, who was in the wing that was [439]routed, [440]giving up all for lost, [441]slew himself. Brutus, being [442]defeated in another [443]engagement, likewise put an end to his own life, being then thirty-seven years of age, and none of Cæsar’s [444]assassins [445]lived above three years after, being all [446]taken off by a [447]violent death, as [448]Suetonius says; some too [449]killed themselves with the same [450]dagger with which they had slain Cæsar.
After the [451]victory, Antony [452]went to Asia, and Octavius to Italy; where he [453]was engaged in a war with L. Antony, the brother of the [454]triumvir, and his [455]wife Fulvia, a [456]woman of a [457]manly [458]spirit. He forced Lucius from the town; after which, being [459]declared an enemy, he [460]besieged him in Perusia, and obliged him to [461]surrender. In the mean time, the Parthians being [462]invited by Labienus, one of Pompey’s party, made an [463]irruption into Syria, whom Ventidius, after a very [464]signal [465]overthrow, in which the king was slain, [466]drove out again, and [467]recovered Syria.
S. Pompey, Cneius’s son, having a [468]fleet at his [469]command, [470]infested the seas. Cæsar made with him a peace, which was [471]soon [472]broken. [473]An engagement [474]followed, wherein Pompey was [475]worsted, and [476]forced to [477]fly. He was soon after [478]put to death by [479]order of M. Antony, under whose [480]protection he had put himself. About this time Antony made an [481]attempt upon the Parthians, by whom he was most [482]shamefully [483]beaten. At last Antony being [484]entirely [485]devoted to his Cleopatra, [486]divorced Octavia, Cæsar’s sister, and [487]declared war against him, in which he was at last defeated by sea near [488]Actium, a [489]promontory of [490]Epirus. Cæsar had upwards of 400 [491]ships, and Antony about 200, but so [492]prodigiously [493]large, that they [494]looked like [495]castles and cities [496]moving through the sea. The [497]flight of Cleopatra [498]turned the [499]fate of a [500]dubious [501]engagement into the [502]ruin of Antony; he followed her into Egypt, and being [503]besieged in Alexandria, he [504]slew himself, and Cleopatra soon [505]followed his [506]example.
FOOTNOTES
[1] benchè
[2] affievolito