A Smaller History of Rome / from the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Empire

by William Smith; Eugene Lawrence

As soon as the Triumvirs had made their secret arrangements they marched toward Rome. Hitherto they had published the names of only 17 of the Proscribed; but the city was in a state of the utmost alarm, and it was with difficulty that Pedius could preserve the peace. So great were his anxiety and fatigue that he died the night before the entry of the Triumvirs into the city. They marched into Rome at the head of their legions, and filled all the public places with their soldiery. No attempt at resistance was made. A law was proposed and carried conferring upon the Triumvirs the title and powers they had assumed. The work of butchery then commenced. Lists after lists of the Proscribed were then published, each more numerous than the former. The soldiers hunted after the victims, cut off their heads, and brought them to the authorities to prove their claims to the blood-money. Slaves were rewarded for betraying their masters, and whoever harbored any of the Proscribed was punished with death. Terror reigned throughout Italy. No one knew whose turn would come next.

Cicero was included in the first 17 victims of the Proscription. He was residing in his Tusculan villa with his brother Quintus, who urged him to escape to Brutus in Macedonia. They reached Astura, a small island off Antium, when Quintus ventured to Rome to obtain a supply of money, of which they were in need. Here he was apprehended, together with his son, and both were put to death. The orator again embarked, and coasted along to Formiæ, where he landed at his villa, resolving no longer to fly from his fate. After spending a night in his own house, his attendants, hearing that the soldiers were close at hand, forced him to enter a litter, and hurried him through the woods toward the shore, distant a mile from his house. As they were passing onward they were overtaken by their pursuers, and were preparing to defend their master with their lives; but Cicero commanded them to desist, and, stretching his head out of the litter, called upon his executioners to strike. They instantly cut off his head and hands, which were carried to Rome. Fulvia, the widow of Clodius and now the wife of Antony, gloated her eyes with the sight, and even thrust a hair-pin through his tongue. Antony ordered the head to be nailed to the Rostra, which had so often witnessed the triumphs of the orator. Thus died Cicero, in the 64th year of his age. He had not sufficient firmness of character to cope with the turbulent times in which his lot was cast, but as a man he deserves our admiration and love. In the midst of almost universal corruption he remained uncontaminated. He was an affectionate father, a faithful friend, and a kind master.

Many of the Proscribed escaped from Italy, and took refuge with Sextus Pompey in Sicily, and with Brutus and Cassius in the East. After the death of Cæsar, the Senate appointed Sextus Pompey to the command of the Republican fleet. He had become master of Sicily; his fleet commanded the Mediterranean; and Rome began to suffer from want of its usual supplies of corn. It was arranged that Octavian should attempt the conquest of Sicily, while Antony was preparing for the campaign in the East. A fleet under Salvidienus Rufus was sent against Pompey, but was defeated by the latter in the Straits of Sicily, in sight of Octavian. But the war against Brutus and Cassius was more urgent, and accordingly Octavian and Antony sailed shortly afterward to the East, leaving Pompey undisputed master of the sea.

On quitting Italy, Brutus had first gone to Athens. The remains of the Pompeian legions, which continued in Greece after the battle of Pharsalia, gathered round him; Hortensius, the governor of Macedonia, acknowledged him as his successor; and C. Antonius, whom his brother had sent over to take the command of the province, was obliged to surrender to Brutus.

His colleague had been equally fortunate in Syria. Dolabella, to whom Antony had given this province, was besieged in Laodicea by Cassius, and put an end to his own life.

These events took place in B.C. 43. Brutus and Cassius were now masters of the Roman world east of the Adriatic. It was evident that their enemies before long would cross over into Greece; but, instead of concentrating their forces in that country, they began to plunder the cities of Asia Minor, in order to obtain money for their troops. Brutus pillaged Lycia, and Cassius Rhodes. The inhabitants of the Lycian town of Xanthus refused to submit to the exactions of Brutus, made an heroic defense when they were attacked, and preferred to perish in the flames of their city rather than to yield. Brutus and Cassius were thus engaged when the news of the Triumvirate and the Proscription reached them; but they continued some time longer plundering in the East, and it was not till the spring of B.C. 42 that the Republican chiefs at length assembled their forces at Sardis, and prepared to march into Europe. So much time, however, had now been lost, that Antony and Octavian landed upon the coast of Greece, and had already commenced their march toward Macedonia before Brutus and Cassius had quitted Asia.

Brutus seems to have had dark forebodings of the approaching struggle. He continued his studious habits during the campaign, and limited his sleep to a very short time. On the night before his army crossed over into Europe he was sitting in his tent, the lamp burning dim, and the whole camp in deep silence, when he saw a gigantic and terrible figure standing by him. He had the courage to ask, "Who art thou, and for what purpose dost thou come?" The phantom replied, "I am thy evil genius, Brutus; we shall meet again at Philippi!" and vanished.

Brutus and Cassius marched through Thrace and Macedonia to Philippi, where they met the army of the Triumvirs. The Republican leaders took up their positions on two heights distant a mile from each other, Brutus pitching his camp on the northern, and Cassius on the southern, near the sea. The camps, though separate, were inclosed with a common intrenchment, and midway between them was the pass which led like a gate from Europe to Asia. The Triumvirs were on the lower ground, in a less favorable position—Octavian opposite Brutus, and Antony opposite Cassius. Their troops began to suffer from want of provisions, and they endeavored to force the Republican leaders to an engagement. Cassius was unwilling to quit his strong position, and recommended that they should wait for their fleet; but Brutus was anxious to put an end to this state of suspense, and persuaded the council to risk an immediate battle. Brutus himself defeated the army opposite to him, and penetrated into the camp of Octavian, who was lying ill, unable to take part in the battle. His litter was seized, and brought forth covered with blood, and a report spread that he had been killed. Meantime, on the other side of the field, Antony had driven back Cassius, and taken his camp. Cassius had retired to a neighboring hill with some of his men, when he saw a large body of cavalry approaching. Thinking that they belonged to the enemy and that every thing was lost, he ordered one of his freedmen to put an end to his life. But the cavalry had been sent by Brutus to obtain news of Cassius; and when he heard of the death of his colleague, he wept over him as "the last of the Romans," a eulogy which Cassius had done nothing to deserve.

Twenty days after the first battle Brutus again led out his forces; but this time he was completely defeated, and with difficulty escaped from the field. He withdrew into a wood, and in the night-time fell upon his sword, which Strato, who had been his teacher in rhetoric, held for him. His wife Porcia, the daughter of Cato, resolved not to survive her husband; and, being closely watched by her relations, she put an end to her life by thrusting burning charcoal into her mouth. Brutus was doubtless a sincere Republican, but he was a man of weak judgment, deficient in knowledge of mankind, and more fitted for a life of study than the command of armies and the government of men.