MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 91-80067 MICROFILMED 1991 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the makmg of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material... Columbia University Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would mvolve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: BONDURANT, BERNARD CAMILLUS TITLE: DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS; PLACE: CHICAGO DA TE : 1907 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Master Negative # S\-S*00G7-'3 Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record ■» • j*-*^ ■ Restrictions on Use: Bondurant, Bernard Gamillus. ... Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus; a historical study ... Chicago, University of Cliicago press, 1907. 113 p. 24 J'-. Thesis (ph. d.)— University of Chicago. "Selected list of books, articles, and dissertations": p. 14-16. 1. Brutus, Decimtis Junius, sumamed Albinus, ca. b. c 85-43. Library of Congress O 7-28S62 TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: / / FILM SIZE: ^3nnrn IMAGE PLACEMENT: , IACIIA) IB IIB DATE FILMED: :5D'^]T| INITIALS FILMED BY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. CT nir.. . '^«*' D Association for infonnation and Imago Managemont 1 1 00 Wayne Avenue, Suite 11 00 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 4^ iu^>-^ v^ yAo.3 ^ Obe Tllnivctsttfi ol Cbtcaflo POVMDBD BV JOHM D. «OCKKrBU.»R DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS A HISTORICAL STUDY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS ANt) LITERATURE FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (nEPARTMKNT OF LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) BY BERNARD CAMILLUS BONDURANT CHICAGO THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 1907 COPTEIOHT 19W Bt The UNrvsBsiTX or Chicaqo Pablished January, 1907 CompoMd and Printed By The UniT«nity of Chlcaco Fnm, Chia*«o, illinois, U. 8. A. PREFACE Since M. Paulus published his dissertation De Decimo lunio Bruto Albino commentatio historica (Miinster, 1889), much light has been thrown on the period in which Decimus Brutus lived and played his part by the researches of Ganter, Gardthausen, Groebe, Holzapfel, Krueger, Schelle, Schmidt, Schwartz, Sternkopf, and other scholars. Aided by the results of their labors, I have prepared from the sources a new treatment of the life of Decimus and its setting, in which, as it will be seen, my interpretation of his motives and conduct differs essentially from that of Paulus. To Professor Frank Frost Abbott, under whose supervision this investigation was carried on, I am indebted for kindly encourage- ment and patient criticism. My thanks are also due to Dr. Edward A. Bechtel, of the University of Chicago, and Dr. Tenney Frank, of Bryn Mawr College, who read my manuscript and made many helpful suggestions for its improvement. B. C. B. Tallahassee, Fla. SUMMARY OF CONTENTS The Career of Decimus Brutus to the Year 45 b. c p- i? Date of Decimus' birth probably 85— His father, grandfather, and great-grand- father, the consuls of 77, 138, and 178 respectively— Loyalty of his great-grand- father, M. lunius Brutus, to the Optimate party— ffis services to the state- Opposition of Decimus' grandfather, Decimus Brutus Gallaecus, to democratic measures— His military achievements— Part in the murder of the adherents of Gains Gracchus— Father of Decimus, Decimus lunius Brutus, one of those who took up arms in 100 b. c. against the democratic leaders, Satuminus and Glaucia —A leader of the nobUitas and opposed to the democratic sedition of Lepidus— Victim of Verres' greed— Scholar and pleader— Sempronia, mother of Decimus Brutus, involved in the conspiracy of CatUine— Different from her husband in character and antecedents— Sallust's characterization of her unjust— Decimus adopted into the gens Postumia whose ancestors had prevented the return of the Tarquins to Rome— His adoptive father probably not the Aulus Postumius Albinus who was consul in 99— He takes service under Caesar in Gaul owing to his desire for military preferment— Commander of Caesar's fleet in the war with the Veneti— His brilliant victory in the Bay of Quiberon prepares the way for Caesar's invasion of Britain— In 52 Decimus accompanies Caesar across the . Cevennes Mountains into the country of the Arvemi— Later he probably leads Caesar's recruits to Agedincum— Thence he marches with Labienus to join Caesar and takes part in the siege of Alesia— He returns to Rome in 50 and marries Paula Valeria, soror Triari— In the CivU War Decimus, on personal grounds, sides with Caesar— The Civil War begins— Caesar acizes by violence the funds of the state— Decimus Brutus placed in charge of the fleet for the siege of Massilia —His first naval victory over the Massiliots of great advantage to Caesar— In a second battle he overwhelmingly defeats the Massiliots and closes the sea to them —Placed in command of Massilia, and made governor of Transalpine Gaul for 48, in which position he continues untU 45— Suppresses revolt of the Bellovaci in 46. II Decimus* Part in the Assassination of Caesar p- 36 Decimus returns from Gaul in the train of Caesar in 45— Is honored by the dictator and named as one of his substitute heirs— Mistakes of the Greek writers in regard to Caesar's will— Decimus is made praetor by Caesar in the latter part of 45, named governor of Cisalpine Gaul for 44, and designated consul for 42— These honors deserved by Decimus— In poUtics he was an Optimate by inheriUnce, adoption, and environment— His life hitherto a miUtary one and removed from the poUtical strife at Rome— His part in the Civil War no indication of his poUtical convictions— Probably cherished along with others the hope that Caesar would restore the free republic— Caesar's disregard of republican institutions arouses 5 5 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS hostiUty, as is seen in the letters of Cicero— Cicero hints that Caesar should be disposed of— Decimiis observes discontent at Rome— Extravagant flattery of Caesar by the senate— Caesar obtains full control of the machinery of government —His statue borne in the pompa circensis along with the images of the gods— He resents the conduct of Pontius Aquila— Makes promiscuous additions to the mem- bership of the senate— The senate decrees to him a golden statue on the rostra— People refuse to acknowledge Fabius Maximus as consul— Caninius Rebilus— Caesar's lack of wisdom and of self-restraint in his utterances— AddiUonal honors —Caesar punishes two tribunes of the people— Senate votes him further honors- Affair of the Lupercalia— At the consular election votes are cast for the two tribunes whom Caesar had deprived of office— Deification of Caesar— Helvius Cinna drafts a motion that Caesar may marry whomsoever he chooses— Caesar insults the senate— Responsibility for the extravagant honors that made Caesar an object of hatred not to be laid upon those who afterward effected his death— Origin of the conspiracy against Caesar— His unpopularity caused by the suspicion that he was ambitious to be king— Assassination and mob violence in certain cases justi- fied by the Romans— Historical precedents— Considerations that prompted Decimus Brutus to take part in the conspiracy— Political and social influences- Example of his ancestors— His motive not a selfish one— Time and place for the assassination decided on— Decimus present at a state dinner in honor of Caesar on evening before the Ides of March— Urges Caesar to attend meeting of the senate— Leads hun into the citrta, but is not present at the assassination— Caesar's friends in the senate make no attempt to defend him— FUght of the senators and people— Conspirators not alone responsible for the death of Caesar— They pro- ceed to the Forum and thence to the Capitol— Their progress not a flight— Con- duct of Cinna— Dolabella assumes the consulship— Conspirators summoned from the Capitol— Speeches of Brutus and Cassius— They return to the Capitol and deUberate with friends, who visit them, on a plan of acUon— Peace commission sent to Antonius and Lepidus, who delay their reply— Their fears— Decimus Brutus leaves his confederates on the evening of the 15th and goes out into the city to use his influence with the Caesarians and to observe the mood of the people— Lepidus occupies the Forum— Antonius refers the conspirators to the senate- Attitude of the various parties in the city— Conference of the Caesarians— Military display of Antonius and Lepidus causes a reaction against the conspirators- Failure of the conspirators to form a plan of action beforehand is proof that they were not prompted by ambition— Purposes of Antonius— Letter of Decimus Brutus to Marcus Brutus and Cassius— Meeting of the senate in the Temple of Tellus— Amnesty— Validity of Caesar's acts confirmed— Reconciliation— Will of Caesar— Public funeral — Oration of Antonius and fury of the populace. Ill Decimus' Administration of Cisalpine Gaul and the War with Antonius. . . p. 71 Decimus Brutus leaves Rome for his province during the period of quiet that fol- lowed the funeral of Caesar— Complaints of Marcus Brutus and Cassius against Decimus unjust— Antonius secures by violence the adoption of a lex giving him both Gauls for six years, including the year 44, and also obtains control of the Macedonian legions— Decimus Brutus wages war with the Inalpini, secures the SUMMARY OF CONTENTS 7 loyalty of his troops, and is saluted as imperatoTj which title he wishes the senate to confirm — Cicero's reply to the letter of Brutxis — Decimus encamps at Mutina in September — Friends of Antonius falsely accuse him of having hired a slave to assassinate the consul — Departure of Antonius for Brundisium — Activity of Octavianus — He sends emissaries to win over the Macedonian legions from Antonius — Consults Cicero and on his advice leads his army to Rome — Speaks against Antonius — Establishes his headquarters at Arretium — Antonius returns to Rome with soldiers — Holds a contio at Tibur — Meeting of the senate, November 28 — Martian and fourth legions desert to Octavianus, and Antonius hastily leaves Rome for Cisalpine Gaul — Strength of his army — Cicero and other senators write Decimus Brutus to hold his province against Antonius — Decimus asks for authori- zation of the senate — Cicero ui^es Decimus not to wait for the senate to act — Decimus' resistance to Antonius a counter-revolution — He issues an edict against Antonius — Senate, on December 20, approves the conduct of Decimus in holding his province against Antonius — Cicero's fourth Philippic and letter to Decimus — Decimus prepares to resist Antonius at Mutina — Antonius begins the siege of the town — Meeting of the senate, January i — Cicero opposes the sending of peace commissioners to Antonius, but urges that a tumultus be decreed and the senatus consuUutn uUimum be adopted — ^Various other motions — Senate refuses to decree a tumultus or to pass the senatus consultum uUimutn, but adopts the other pro- posals of Cicero in favor of Decimus Brutus, the young Caesar, Lepidus, and the veterans — Senate sends peace commissioners to Antonius and threatens war in case he refuses to accede to its commands — Hirtius leaves Rome to take command against Antonius — Letter of Cicero to Decimus Brutus — Seventh Philippic — Embassy to Antonius fails to accomplish its purpose — Antonius* counter-pro- posab — TumuUus and senatus consultum uUimum — Lepidus and Plancus sum- moned to Italy — Cicero's report of the military situation in the beginning of Feb- ruary too optimistic — Operations of Titus Munatius Plancus and activity of Decimus Brutus — Because of his anxiety for safety of Decimus, Cicero in the beginning of March agrees to become a member of a second peace embassy to Antoniiis, but afterward changes his mind, and in the twelfth Philippic shows the folly of another embassy — Antonius endeavors to arrange terms with Hirtius and Caesar — Their reply — Letter of Antonius — ^Hirtius and Caesar advance to within a few miles of Mutina, make known their presence to Decimus, and send him provisions — Desperate situation of Decimus — Delay of the consuls in going to his relief — His heroic persistence — Pansa leaves Rome with new levies — Battle of Fonun Gallorum — Serious state of affairs at Rome before news of the victory comes — Decrees of the senate in honor of the consuls and Octavianus — Appian's report of the battie of Mutina — Criticism of Dio's account — Part of Decimus Brutus in the battie — Decimus urges Caesar to intercept Ventidius — Pursuit of Antonius is necessarily delayed — Decimus rests his men at Regium Lepidi — News from Mutina reaches Rome — Decrees of the senate not unjust to young Caesar — ^Plans of Decimus — ^He fears Lepidus — Continues his pursuit of Antonixis — Underestimates the strength of the latter — Antonius, en route to join Lepidus, attempts to obstruct Decimus on his way to unite with Plancus — ^Deci- mus anticipates the cavalry of Antonius and occupies Pollentia — Movements of Plancus — ^He makes an agreement to co-operate with Lepidus in resisting Antonius — Marches to join Lepidus — Marcus Antonius arrives at Forum luli, May 15 — 8 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS Lepidus arrives at Forum Voconi— ffis loyalty to the repubUc called in question —Complaints at Rome against Decimus Brutus— Decimus has apprehensions m regard to the young Caesar— He learns of the concert of Plancus and Lepidus against Antonius— His delay in crossing the Alps occasioned by alarming rumors of the designs of Caesar— Decimus receives reassuring news from Rome— Cicero urges him to end the war with Antonius— Treachery of Lepidus and retreat of Plancus— Decimus leaves Eporedia— His route across the Alps— Writes a gloomy letter to Cicero on the receipt of the news about Lepidus- Unites with Plancus —Their pUns— Lepidus declared a hostis— Reasons for the inactivity of Decimus and Plancus— They call for reinforcements— Caesar obtains the consulship- Condemnation of the Hberaores—VhiiicvLs deserts Decimus and joins Antonius — FUght and death of Decimus Brutus— Criticism of the account of his death in Valerius Maximus. •««. DATES OF IMPORTANT EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS AFTER THE DEATH OF CAESAR 44 B. C. March 15 — 1. Caesar is assassinated between 11 a. m. and 12 m., and the liberatores proceed to the Forum, hold a contio, and then go up to the Capitol pp. 56 flf. 2. Slaves bear Caesar's body through the Forum to his house p. 59 3. Cinna appears in the Forum and lays aside the insignia of the praetor. . .p. 59 4. Dolabella assumes the consulship pp. 59 f • 5. M. Brutus and Cassius are summoned from the Capitol, address the people in the Forum, aiid then return to the Capitol pp. 60 f . 6. Dolabella, Cicero, and other prominent men go up to the Capitol in the evening and consult with the liberatores p. 61 7. The liberatores send certain consulares to Antonius and Lepidus to arrange terms of peace. Antonius and Lepidus defer their answer to the next day . . 8. Decimus Brutus leaves his confederates on the Capitol and goes down into the city pp. 62 flf. March 16 — 1. Before daylight Lepidus occupies the Forum with troops and at dawn holds a corttio p- 64 2. Antonius gives his reply to the representatives of the liberatores p. 64 3. Many flock to the standards of Antonius and Lepidus, who are in arms. Mes- sengers summon the veterans of Caesar settled in the towns near Rome to join the consul and the magister equitum pp. 65 f . 4. Conference of the Caesarians late in the afternoon pp. 65 f . 5. Antonius summons the senate for the 17th and takes measures to preserve order in the city during the night of the i6th-i7th, App. ii. 125 pp. 65 f, 68 6. Conference of Decimus Brutus with Hirtius in the evening. Decimus demands for himself and confederates a legatio libera pp. 62 f . March 17 — I. At daylight the senate assembles in the Temple of Tellus p. 68 9. Decimus Brutus writes Fam. xi, i. 1-5. After a second interview with Hirtius he writes Fam, xi. i. 6 and dispatches the whole letter probably before 9 A. M pp. 62 f, 68 3. Marcus Brutus addresses the people and the veterans on the Capitol and declares that the liberatores did not intend to invalidate the acts of Caesar P- 69 4. Senatus consuUa passed, conferring amnesty, confirming the acts of Caesar, and esp>ecially ratifying Caesar's grants of land to the veterans P* 69 5. The S. C. confirming Caesar's acts made a lex by vote of the i>eoplc p. 69 6. Public reconciliation effected between the liberatores and the consuls p- 69 March 18 — Senate decrees that Caesar's will be published and that he be given a state funeral pp. 69 f . 9 lO DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS 44 B. C. March 20 or 21 — Burial of Caesar. Laudatio funehris of Antonius P» 79 April 8 {abotU) — Decimus Brutus leaves Rome for his province p. 71 April 13 — Execution of the Pseudo-Marius p- 7* June {beginning) — ^The lex tribunicia de provinciis constdaribus and the lex de per- mutatione provinciarum give Antonius the two Gauls for six years, including the year 44. Antonius also secures control of the Macedonian legions pp. 72 f, June 8 — At a conference with Cicero at Antium, M. Brutus and Cassius find fault with the inactivity of Decimus Brutus pp- 7^ i- June, July, and August — Decimus Brutus wages war with the Inalpini p. 73 September — Decimus Brutus encamped at Mutina, writes Fam. xi. 4 requesting con- firmation of his title of imperator P- 73 End of September or beginning of October — Cicero' answers in Fam. xi. 6. i p- 74 October g — ^Antonius" leaves Rome for Bnmdisium to meet the four Macedonian legions P- 74 October {middle) — Cicero leaves Rome p- 74 October ^November $ — Octavianus collects an army of veterans in Campania and seeks advice from Cicero PP* 74 ^' November 9 — Octavianus holds a contio at Rome against Antonius p. 75 November {middle) — Antonius returns to Rome and calls a meeting of the senate for November 24 PP- 75 ^• November 24 — Antonius does not attend the meeting of the senate and adjourns it until November 28 P- 7^ Between November 24 and November 28 — Contio of Antonius at Tibur p. 76 November 28 — Meeting of the senate. Antonius learns of the desertion of the fourth legion. Hasty distribution of the praetorian provinces. Antonius leaves the dty by night and leads his army to Cisalpine Gaul p- 76 December 9 — Cicero returns to Rome and in Fam. xi. 5 urges Decimus Brutus to hold his province against Antonius P- 7^ Deumber 12 ( ?) — Cicero replies in Fam. xi. 7 to a lost letter of Decimus in which he had asked for a decree of the senate authorizing him to hold Cisalpine Gaul P- 77 December 15 — ^Decimus Brutus issues an edict refusing to surrender his province to Antonius P- 7^ « Cicero returned to Rome August 31 (Fam. xii. 25. 3). In the senate on September i Antonius threatened to pull Cicero's house down upon his head because Cicero did not attend the meeting {Phil, i . zs, V. 19). On September a Cicero delivrred Philippic i against Antonius who was absent (Phil. i. 16, T. 19; Fam. zii. a. i, 25. 3). Between September a and 19 Antonius spent several days at the villa of lletdhis at Tibor (Fam. xii. a. x; Phil. v. 19. ao). On September 19 Antonius harangued the senate against Qcero who, together with other prominent leaders, was absent owing to fear of violence from the armed men whom the consul had stationed about the building (Fam. z. a. i xii. a. i, 3; ^^*'- ^- ii3> v. ao). It was probably not until Octoba as that Cicero began to drculate privately his reply (Philippic n) to Antonius' tirade against him (AU. zv. 13. i). • In the beginning of October (before the 6th) Antonius erected a statue to Caesar on the Rostra {Fmm. xii. 3. 1). On October a he indicated to the people his intention to avenge the death of Caesar (Fam. xii. 3. a., a3. 3; VeU. u. 64. 3). About October 5 or 6 assassins who had been hired by OcUvianus made an ttntacccasful attempt on the Kie of Antooiut (Fam. xii. 33. a). DATES OF IMPORTANT EVENTS II 44 B. C. Deumber 20— Edict of Decimus Brutus published at Rome. The senate meets. Cicero delivers Philippic iii. The senate authorizes Decimus and the other governors to continue to hold their provinces until successors had been appointed. Cicero delivers Philippic iv to the people. Writes Fam. xi. 6. 2, 3 pp. 78 f. December 20 ( ?)— Antonius begins the siege of Mutina pp. 78, 80 43 B. C. January i— Meeting of the senate. Peace embassy to Antonius proposed. Cicero deUvers Philippic v pp. 80 f. January 3 — Senate praises Decimus Brutus, votes a statue to Lepidus, decrees honors to Octavianus, and rewards to the soldiers who had deserted Antonius. .pp. 80 f. January 4 — Senate decrees an embassy to Antonius. Philippic vi delivered to the people PP- ^^ ^• January 5 — Ambassadors to Antonius set out from Rome p. 82 Soon after January 5— Hirtius leaves with a small force for Cisalpine Gaul p. 82 January 24 — Cicero writes Fam. xi. 8 PP- 82 f. End of January — Cicero delivers Philippic vii p- 83 February 1 — Ambassadors return with counter-proposals from Antonius p. 83 February 2 — TumuUus decreed, the senatus consultum uUimum probably passed, and Lepidus and Plancus summoned to Italy P- 84 February ^—Philippic viii. Decree that soldiers who leave Antonius by March i be pardoned. Dispatch from Hirtius read in the senate p. 84 February 4 — Saga is assvimed P- 84 February {beginning)— Cicero delivers Philippic ix in eulogy of Servius Sulpicius, and, a few days later, PhUippic x PP- 83. 8$ February {end) — ^Titus Plancus forced out of Pollentia p. 85 March {beginning)— Ven^^us Bassus arrives at Ancona p. 85 March 5 ( t)— PhUippic xi P- 85 March 6 ( ?) — ^New embassy to Antonius voted p- 86 March 7 ( H)— PhUippic xii pp. 85 f. March 19 — Pansa leaves Rome with new levies P- 88 March 20— PhUippic xiii: Comment on the letter of Antonius to Hirtius and Caesar P- ^^ March {latter half)— ^r^yi& and Caesar advance to the river Scultenna near Mutina P- ^^' March (emi)— Decimus Brutus in desperate straits owing to lack of provisions, .p. 87 AprU 14 — Battle of Fonma Gallorum PP- 88 . j^p^ 18— Rxmiors in Rome of a victory of Antonius. His partisans create disorder P- ^ AprU 20 — Counter-demonstration in favor of Cicero. News of the victory of the republican generals P- 89 AprU 21 — PhUippic xiv. Supplicationes of fifty days in favor of the constils and Octavianus P- 89 r 13 DECIMUS JU NIU S BRUTUS ALBINUS 43B. C. . AprU 21— BatUe of Mutina pp. 89 ff. AprU 22— Antonius raises the siege of Mutina and begins his march toward the Alps. Dedmus Brutus has an interview with Caesar P- 93 AprU 23 — Decimus Brutus on his way to Bononia learns of the death of Pansa and returns to Mutina P* 93 AprU 24 — Decimus starts in pursuit of Antonius ?• 94 AprU 26— Decimus arrives at Regium Lepidi p. 94 AprU 26— Plancus crosses tl Rhone to march into Italy P- 99 AprU 26— News of the battle of Mutina reaches Rome. Senate declares Antonius a hosHs. Honors to Decimus Brutus, the dead consuls, and Octavianus p. 94 AprU 27 ^News of the release of Decimus Brutus from Mutina reaches Rome. Motion made by Cicero that Decimus' name be honored in the calendar is lost. Decimus intrusted with the army of the consuls and the conduct of the war with Antonius PP- 94 f- AprU 29— Decimus writes Fam. xi. 9; leaves Regium Lepidi p. 96 AprU 30— Decimus at Parma; Fam. xi. 13a. j^ay 3 — Antonius and Ventidius unite at Vada P- 95 j/ay 5— Decimus arrives at Dertona, learns of the union of Antonius with Ventidius, and writes Fam. xi. 10 PP- 95 ^• May 6— Decimus in the country of the Statiellenses secures memoranda of Antonius which show that his plan is to imite with Lepidus; writes Fam. xi. 11 p. 97 May 8 or 9 — ^L. Antonius arrives at Forum luli in the province of Lepidtis p. 99 May II ( ?) — Decimus Brutus prevents the cavahy of Antonius from seizing PoUen- tia. Writes Fam. xi. 13. 1-4 P* 9^ May 12 — Plancus crosses the Isfcre on his march to join Lepidus p. 99 jf^y 15— M. Antonius arrives at Forum luli PP- 99 ^• jfay ij—Dedmus learns from Planc\is that Lepidus will not receive Antonius. p. 102 May 17 (?) — Cicero writes Fam. xi. 12. Disappointment at Rome that Antonius has not been crushed PP- '^^ ^ May 18— Lepidus arrives at the Argenteus, twenty-four miles from Forum luli, where Antonius was encamped P- '°' 2iay 19— Cicero writes Fam. xi. 18 to quiet the apprehensions of Dedmus in regard to Octavianus p. 102 May 21 — Decimus Brutus, at Vercellae, sends a dispatch to the senate, and writes Fam. xi. 19 P- ^°3 j/ay 34— Dedmus has reached Eporedia. He writes Cicero in Fam. xi. 20 concerning the complaints of Octavianus and the veterans pp- 103 ^• j/ay 25— Decimus writes from Eporedia Fam. xi. 23; trusts in the loyalty of Lepidus and Plancus; is apprehensive of the young Caesar; will not leave Italy until he hears from Cicero P- ^^4 About May 27 — Dedmus leaves Eporedia and proceeds toward the Alps p. 106 May 29 — Antonius and his troops received into camp of Lepidus. Antonius marches against Plancus who retreats toward the Isire p- 105 DATES OF IMPORTANT EVENTS 13 43 B- C. May 30 — Lepidus endeavors to explain his treachery in a dispatch to the senate, and follows Antonius p. 105 June 3 — Decimus, on the march, learns of the treachery of Lepidus. Demands rein- forcements from the senate in Fam. xi. 26 p. 106 June 4 — Cicero writes Fam. xi. 21 in reply to Fam. xi. 20 pp. 104 f. June 4 — Plancus recrosses the Isfere p. 105 June 6 — Cicero writes Fam. xi. 24 in reply to Fam. xi. 2.^ p. 105 June 8 {probably) — Decimus Brutus arrives at Cularo. He and Plancus send a joint dispatch to the senate. Fam. xi. 13b p. 105 f June 18 — Cicero writes Fam. xi. 25 in reply to Fam. xi. 26. June 25 — Cicero writes Fam. xi. 15 on the receipt of the news of the union of Decimus and Plancus p. 107 June 30 — Lepidus declared a hostis by the senate p. 107 July 6— Cicero3 commends Appius Claudius to Decimus Brutus in Fam. xi. 22 . July 28 — Plancus explains the inactivity of himself and Decimus p. 107 August 19 — Octavianus and Q. Pedius chosen consuls p. 108 A little after Augusf 19. — Trial and condemnation of the liberatores p. 108 August {end) — Plancus deserts Decimus and joins Antonius. Flight of Decimus p. 108 September {middle) — Decimus Brutus slain by order of Antonius pp. 109 f . > The two remaining letters of commendation (Fam. xi. 16, 17) that Cicero wrote to Decimus have not been dated. They belong inx>bably to May or June and concern the candidacy of L. Lamia for the praetor&hip. SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND DISSERTATIONS O'Addozio, v. De M. Bruti vita et studiis doctrinae (Naples, 1895). Becher, F. Dc Ciceronis quae fenintur ad Brutum Epistulis scripsit (Harburg, 1876). "Uber die Sprache der Briefe ad Brutum," Rheinisches Museum fiir Phi' lologie, 1882. "Die sprachliche Eigenart der Briefe ad Brutum," Philologus, 1885, p. 471- BODEWiG, R. De proeliis apud Mutinam commissis (Dissertation, Barmen, 1886). BoissiER, G. Cicero and His Friends (translated by Jones; New York, 1897). BKt^GGEMANN, F. De Marci Aem. Lepidi vita et rebus gestis (Dissertation, MUnster, 1887). Bynum, E. Das Lebcn des M. lunius Brutus bis auf Caesars Ermordung (Disserta- tion, Halle, 1897). Cauer, F. Ciceros politisches Denken (Berlin, 1903). COBET, C. G. "Ad epistolas Ciceronis et Bruti," Mnemosyne, Vol. VII, 1879. FsdHLiCH, F. De rebus inde a Caesare occiso usque ad senatum liberalibus habitum gestis (Dissertation, Berlin, 1807). Ganter, L. " Chronologische Untersuchungen zu Ciceros Philippischen Reden," Jahrbuch filr Philologie, 1894. Gardthausen, V. Augustus und seine Zeit, I. i and II. i (Leipzig, 1891). Groebe, p. De legibus et senatus consultis anni 710 quaestiones chronologicae (Dissertation, Berlin, 1893). — Drumann, Geschichte Roms, Zweite Auflage, I, Anhang (Berlin, 1899). GtTRLiTT, L. "Briefwechsel zwischen Cicero und Dedmus Brutus," Jahrbuch fUr Philologie, 1880. "Die Briefe Ciceros ad M. Brutum auf ihre Echtheit geprtift," Philologus^ Supplementsband IV, 1883. "Drei Suasoriae in Briefform," Philologus, Supplementsband V, 1889. "Archctypus der Brutusbriefe," Jahrbuch fur Philologie, 1885 and 189a. Hagen, M. von. Quaestiones criticae de bello Mutinensi (Marburg, 1887). HiNZ, C. Zur Beurteilung Appians und Plutarchs in der Darstellung der Ereignisse von der Ermordung Caesars bis zum Tode des M. Brutus (Jena, 1891). HOLZAPPEL, L. "Zur Geschichte des Mutinensischen Krieges," Jahrbuch fUr Phi- lologie, 1894. JULLIEN, E. De L. Comelio Balbo Maiore (Dissertation, Paris, 1886). Le fondateur de Lyon: Histoire de L. Munatius Plancus (Paris, 1892). Krause, P. Appian als Quelle ftir die Zeit von der Verschworung gegen Caesar bis zum Tode des Dedmus Brutus (Programme, Rastenburg, 1880). 14 SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS AND ARTICLES IS Kruegeil De rebus inde a beUo Hispaniensi usque ad Caesaris necem gestis (Bonn 1895). ^ ^ ' Lange, L. Rdmische Alterthttmer, Vols. II, III (Berlin, 1879). Melber, J. "Der Bericht des Dio Cassius Uber die Seeschlacht des D. Brutus gegen die Veneter," CommenkUiones Woelfflinianae (Ldpzig, 1891). Meyer, P. Untersuchung tiber die Frage der Echtheit des Briefwechsels Cicero ad Brutum (Stuttgart, 1881). MGllemeister, p. Bemerkungen zur Strdtfrage uber die Echtheit der Brutus- bnefe, I. 16 and 17 (Programme, Emmerich, 1897). Mueller, R. De rebus iade a Caesaris nece usque ad funus Romae gestis (Mon- astern, 1884). ^ ^ Nake, B. "Der Briefwechsel zwischen Cicero und Dedmus Brutus," Jahrbuch fUr Philologie, 1875-76, Supplementsband VIII. Oman, C. Seven Roman Statesmen (London, 1902). Paulus, M. De Decimo lunio Bruto Albino commentatio historica (MUnster, 1889). Peter, H. Die Quellen Plutarchs in den Biographieen der Romer (Halle, 1865). RiBBECK. Senatores Romani qui fuerint Idibus Martiis anni A. U. C. 710 (Berlin 1899). ^ RISSE, K. De gestis Sexti Pompei (Dissertation, Miinster, 1882). RUETE, E. Die Correspondenz Ciceros in den Jahren 44 und 43 (Marburg, 1883). SCHELLE, E. Bdtrage zur Geschichte des Todeskampfes der romischen RepubUk (Dresden, 1891). *^ - Der neueste Angriflf auf die Echthdt der Briefe ad M. Brutum (Dresden, SCHIRMER, K. Uber die Sprache des M. Brutas (Metz, 1884). Schmidt, O. E. De epistulis et a Cassio et ad Cassium post Caesarem ocdsum datis (Leipzig, 1877). Die letzten Kimpfe der rSmischen RepubUk (Leipzig, 1884). - "Zur Chronologie der Correspondenz Ciceros seit Caesars Tode," Jahrbuch far Philologie, 1884. "M. lunius BmUis,*'VerhandlungenderGMitzerPhilologenversammlung, 1889. "M. Tullii Ciceronis epistularum ad M. Brutum Uber I," Philologus, 1890. "Bdtrage zur Kritik der Briefe Ciceros an M. Brutus und zur Geschichte des Mutinensischen Krieges," Jahrbuch fUr Philologie, 1890 — "Ventidius Bassus," Philologus, 1892 Der Briefwechsel des M. TuIUus Cicero (Leipzig, 1893). SCHMIOT, O. E. "Der Tag der Schlacht von Mutina," Jahrbuch fur Philologie, - "Studien zur Ciceros Briefen an Atticus," Rheinisches Museum fiir Philo- logte, 1900. Shuckburg, E. S. Augustus: Life and Times of the Founder of the Roman Empire (London, 1903). i6 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS Schwartz, E. "Die Vcrteilung der romischen Provinzcn nach Caesars Tod," Her- mes, 1898. "Appianus," Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopaedie, Vol. II. "Cassius Dio Cocceianus," Pauly-Wissowa, Vol. III. Seeck, O. Kaiser Augustus (Leipzig, 1902). Stehnkopp, W. "Ciceros Brief wechsel mit D. Brutus und die Senatssitzung vom 20. Dczember, 44," Philologus, 1901. VOGELER, L. Quae anno u. 710 post mortem C. lulii Caesaris acta sint in senatu Romano (Dissertation, Leipzig, 1877). Wegehaxjpt, W. p. Cornelius Dolabella (M. Gladbach, 1880). WiEGANDT, L. Caesar und die tribunische Gewalt (Dresden, 1890). WiLLENBtJCHER, H. Caesars Ermordung (Giitersloh, 1898). THE CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS TO THE YEAR 45 B. C. Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was probably born in the year 85 B. c. He was praetor in 45,* and Caesar, in preparing for his intended absence from Rome on the Parthian expedition, had desig- nated him consul for 42.^ If he was legally old enough to be praetor in 45, he would have reached the consular age in 42, and the year of his birth must have been not later than 85.* Of course, it is possible that Caesar disregarded the age requirement in designating him for the consulship, as he did in the case of Dolabella* and of Antonius.** But in the case of Decimus, that part of the law which required an interval of two years between the praetorship and the consulship was observed, and this favors the presumption that the provision in regard to the age requirement was also followed. On the other hand, it may be assumed that Decimus was not bom before 85 ; for it is likely that a man of his ability and influence would attain the magistracies at the earliest age allowed by the law. The fact that Caesar in the De Bello GcUlico ® as late as 51 ^ designates him as adolescens throws little light upon the question of his age at that time: Caesar could very well have called him adolescens to distinguish him from his father of the same name,® who may have been still living. The day that the news of Decimus* release from the siege of Mutina became known in Rome — that is, April 27® — was the anniversary of his birth. Hence April 27, 85 B. c, may be assumed as the date of his birth. He was the son of that Decimus Junius Brutus who was consul in jy}^ This is made evident by their identical praenomina, con- » Vide infra, p. 37. • Veil. ii. 60. 5; App. B. C. iii. 98; Dio xliv. 14. 4. « Cic. Phil. V, 49; Abbott, Roman Political Institutions, p. 169. 4 Dio xliii. 51. 8; xliv. aa. i, 53. i; Phil. ii. 80; App. ii. 129; iii. 88. s Antonius, consul in 44, was born in 82. Groebe's Drutnann, I. Anhang. p. 401. •iii. II. s; vii. 9. i, 87. i. » When the De Bdlo Gallico was published: Schanz, Geschichte der Rdm. Lit., I, pp, 204 f. • Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, s. v. adolescens, I. B. • Gc. Ad fam. xi. 14. 3; Ad Brut. i. 15. 8; Schnoidt, Jahrb. /. PhU., 1892, p. 333, and infra, pp. 94 £. «• C. /. L., I (3), Pt. I. p. 154. 17 i8 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS sidered in connection with the respective periods in which their activities fell, and by the fact that the Decimus Brutus who was consul in yj and his wife Sempronia are known to have had chil- dren at the time of the conspiracy of Catiline in 63." The father of this Brutus was in turn Decimus Junius Brutus, consul in 138, who was called Gallaecus. The father of Gallaecus and great- grandfather of our Brutus was, as we learn from Cicero,^* a Marcus Junius Brutus. This could not have been the Marcus Brutus who was named by Pomponius" as one of the three founders of the civil law. The Brutus named by Pomponius, inasmuch as he flourished just before the times of Marius,^* was a contemporary of Gallaecus and, if we may judge by his praenomen, an older brother. Hence Gallaecus must have been the son of some other Marcus Brutus, and none fits better from the point of view of time than the consul of the year 178. Thus it will be seen that the father, grand- father, and great-grandfather of Decimus Brutus Albinus were all consuls. Marcus Junius Brutus, the great-grandfather of Decimus, rose to place and influence at a time when the senate was the supreme power in the state. His political success is evidence for the belief that he was thoroughly loyal to the rule of the senatorial oligarchy. His conservative attitude is shown by the opposition which, as tribune, he, together with his colleague and brother, Publius Junius Brutus," made to the repeal of the lex Oppia^Si law that had been passed in the stress of the Second Punic War to restrain the luxury of women. Elected to the praetorship for 191, the double jurisdic- tion of praetor urbanus and praetor peregrinus fell to his lot. The further task of superintending the dock-yards, and refitting and equipping old ships for the war with Antiochus the Great, was imposed upon him in consequence of the departure to Greece of his colleague, C. Livius, with the ships already prepared.^* As praetor, he dedicated the temple of the Great Idaean Mother; on which occasion the Pseudolus of Plautus was presented for the first time." In 189 he was one of the ten legati sent by the senate to arrange terms of peace with Antiochus.^" Consul in 178, he undertook with his colleague the war against the Histri and brought it to a success- " SaU. Cat. as, 40. " Cic. Brut. 85. 107. ** I>*r^ I- »• »• 39- M Qc. Bna. I7s; Adfam. vU. aa; De orat. u. 214; De fin. i. la; Pro Clutnt. 141. «s Uv. miv. I, 3 U Val. Max. viUi. 1. 3. ** ^''' "^- ' ^' '*' ''• » Ut. xDvi. 36. 4. Schaiu. GtsckickU der Rim. LU., I. p. 57- *• Uv. xxxrii. ss- 7- CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS TO 45 B. C. 19 ful end in the following year.** With two other commissioners,*® he was sent to Asia in 171, to induce the allies, especially the Rhodians, to make war on behalf of the Romans against Perseus of Macedon, whose title of king had been bestowed on him by the senate in Brutus' own consulship.^* We last hear of this Brutus as an unsuccessful candidate for the censorship in 169.** Decimus Junius Brutus Gallaecus, son of the preceding Brutus (consul, 138), signalized his consulship by the opposition which he, in conjunction with his colleague, P. Scipio Nasca, made to the tribunes and the populace. According to Valerius Maximus,^* the tribune C. Curiatius cited the consuls to appear before the assembly, and there tried to induce them to submit to the senate a measure providing that grain be purchased for the people by the state and that commissioners be appointed to attend to the matter. Scipio, who seems to have been the presiding consul at that time, did not hesitate to express his opposition to the suggestion of Curiatius. From the Epitome of Livy we learn that when the tribunes did not obtain the right of exempting ten men apiece from the levies which the consuls were making for the wars in Spain, they ordered the consuls to be cast into prison." This Brutus also distinguished himself by his military achievements in Further Spain. He gave lands to the Lusitanian captives who had been taken in the wars with Viriathus and established for them a new town, Valentia, near Saguntum.^* He then completed the subjugation of Lusitania, being the first Roman commander to advance as far as the Atlantic Ocean.*' He also conquered the Gallaeci, a people of northwestern Spain, by a great battle in which 50,000 of them were slain, 6,000 captured, and only a few escaped.*^ From this victory he earned the cognomen ex virtute of Gallaecus.*® Summoned from Further Spain by Aemilius Lepidus in 136, Brutus assisted that ofiicer in the siege of Pallantia, a town of the Vaccaei, in north central Spain. This war, undertaken by Lepidus against the orders of the senate and without provocation on the part of the Vaccaei, was a failure. Lepidus and Brutus, when their armies had been reduced *• liv. zli. 5, 7, 10, 11; Jul. Obs. 6a. ** liv. xliii. 14. x. •• Liv. zlii. 45. ■> Val. Max. iii. 7. 3. •» Liv. xlv. 9. 3. •« Liv. Epit. 55; Cic De Ugg. iii. ao. •» Liv. Epit. 55. •• Liv. Epit. 55; App. Hisp. 73-7S; Cic. Pro Balb. 40. ■* Liv. Epit. 56; Oros. v.'s. la; Strabo iii. 3. i (p. 15a); Flor. i. 33. la; Val. Max. vi. 4. Ext. u •> VeU. ii. s; Scfaol. Bob. in Arch. (OreUi). p. 359. 1 20 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS TO 45 B. C. 21 almost to starvation, were forced to raise the siege a«id retire by night, and nothing but the enemy's failure to pursue them saved them from utter destruction.'** Brutus, however, in 136 celebrated a triumph over the Gallaeci and Lusitani.'® There is a story in Valerius Maximus which seems to imply that his conduct in dealing with the Spaniards was marked by avarice.^^ Be that as it may, he showed his liberality at home by dedicating temples from the spoils of war,'^ one of which was the Temple of Mars erected near the Circus Maximus.^' The fronts of these temples he adorned with the verses of his friend, the poet Accius.'* We learn from the Epitome of Livy ** that in 129, although C. Sempronius, the consul, had at first been unsuccessful in the war with the lapydes, he was afterward victorious, thanks to the valor of Decimus Brutus. In the beginning of 121 Brutus commanded the armed force of the aristocracy that attacked and slaughtered the partisans of Gains Gracchus, who, under the leadership of Marcus Fulvius, had intrenched themselves on the Aventine.'* According to Cicero, he was an augur ^^ and a polished orator, well trained for his times both in Latin and Greek literature.*® His death occurred before that of the poet Accius.^® His wife Clodia survived him.*" Decimus Junius Brutus, the father of the Decimus Brutus with whom we are chiefly concerned, first appears in history, so far as we know, in the eventful year 100. It is a significant fact that he is expressly mentioned by Cicero*^ as one of those who took up arms against the tribune Saturninus, the praetor Glaucia, and their party when, besides the magistrates, cuncta nobilitas ac inventus ran together in rage to put to death those turbulent leaders of the democracy. Brutus was at the time probably a very young man, but he must, from this passage, have shared in the indignation of the nobilitas at the test oath for senators embodied in the agrarian law of Saturninus, and thus have been quite ready with the rest to repay mob violence in kind and to wreak vengeance on those demo- crats whom he considered enemies of the state.*'* During the inter- •• App. Hisp. 80-83. " Val. Max. vi. 4. Ext. 1. »• Eutrop. iv. iq; Plut. Tib. Gr. ai. ** Val. Max. viii. 14. a. M Plin. N. H. xxxvi. 5. a6; Schol. Bob. in Arch. (Orelli). p. 359- »* Cic. Pro Arch, a?; Val. Max. viii. 14-3; Schol. Bob. loc. cit. »» Lib. 59. ** Oros. v. la. '» Cic. De amicit. 7. »• Cic. Brut. 107. •• Qc. loc. cit. Acdus lived until about 86— Teuffel & Schwabe (Warr), I. p. igx. 4* Att. xii. aa. a. ** Cic. Pro Rabirio ai. *• App. B. C I. 38-33. val between 100 and yy, a period marked by the Social War and the legislation resulting therefrom, by the civil wars between Marius and Sulla, by the Mithridatic wars, and by the triumph and domination of Sulla, not a word do we hear of Decimus Brutus. Even for the year yy, when he was consul, we have no record of his activity either as statesman or as general. From the senatus consultum ultimum which was passed in the beginning of that year against Lepidus, the leader of the democratic revolt against the Sullan constitution, uti Appius Claudius interrex, etc.,** we infer that the consuls for the year had not yet been elected. But we know from a speech that Sallust puts in the mouth of Lepidus that Decimus Brutus was reckoned as one of the leaders of the con- servative nobilitas ^^ even though he had no active part in putting down the sedition of Lepidus. We do not hear of him again until the year 74, when Verres was praetor. It seems that the young son of P. lunius Brutus, a relative (perhaps a brother) of Decimus Brutus, held by inheritance a contract which called for the keeping in repair of the Temple of Castor at Rome.**' The business of inspect- ing the condition of this and of other public buildings was assigned to the praetors, C. Verres and P. Coelius. Although the temple was in good repair, one of the minions of Verres suggested to him that the shafts of the columns were not perpendicular. Verres seized upon this flimsy pretext and demanded that the young Brutus forfeit his contract with the state on the ground of non-performance. The estate of Decimus Brutus was involved as security, and he was forced to pay over to Verres' secretary 560,000 sesterces forfeit money. When the contract had been let anew, Verres was constrained to refund 110,000 sesterces.** From this transaction it will be seen that Deci- mus Brutus was a man of considerable wealth. He was also a scholar and busy pleader, as we learn from the testimony of Cicero : Multum etiam in causis versabatur isdem fere temporibus D. Brutus, is qui consul cum Mamerco fuit, homo et Graecis doctus litteris et Latinis.*'' Sallust *® informs us that Sempronia, the wife of Decimus Brutus and mother of Decimus Brutus Albinus, was involved in the con- spiracy of Catiline. He mentions her as one of a number of women 4* Sail. Ex. hist.. Or. Phil. aa. ** Sail. Ex. hist.. Or. Lep. 3. *i In Verr. Act. ii. lib. I. 130. ** In Verr., loc. cit. and 144, 150. •» Qc. Brut. 175. *• SaU. Cat. 24, as. 22 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS TO 45 B. C. 23 who had lived immoral and extravagant lives and who, with the passing of their youth, had lost their means of gain and were now overwhelmed with debt. It was this class of women that, according to Sallust, Catiline had attached to his cause in the belief that through them he could enlist the slaves under his banner, set fire to the city, and secure either the co-operation or the destruction of their hus- bands. In this account Sempronia is represented as a woman of extraordinary passion and daring, utterly regardless of her honor or chastity, a reckless spendthrift, and even a murderess. She was, at the same time, "quite fortunate in her birth and personal beauty, her children and her husband." Possessed of unusual literary attain- ments, she was a conversationalist of rare versatility, wit, and charm. At the time of the conspiracy of Catiline, she took advantage of the absence of her husband from the city** to open her house to the intrigues of the conspirators. It was thither that P. Umbrenus brought the ambassadors of the Allobroges, unfolded to them the details of the plot, and secured their promise of alliance and assistance. From this narrative we can infer that Decimus Brutus had nothing to do with the conspiracy of Catiline and, from what we know of his previous history, we can readily believe that such a movement was utterly foreign to his sympathies. On the other hand, it is quite natural that Sempronia, with the democratic tradi- tions of her ancestry, should have been in sympathy with the radical leaders of the day. There was also a difference in character as well as in the politics and ancestral traditions of the husband and the wife. Sallust, however, probably exaggerated the bad side of Sem- pronia's character. She was doubtless a brilliant society woman — reckless and daring, and much too free in her manners for the good of her reputation. But Sallust wished to paint a picture of the cor- ruption in Roman society of the times, and so he chose Sempronia as a type for his rhetorical characterization. His well-known partiality for Caesar and his consequent hostility to Decimus Brutus Albinus, the son of Sempronia and one of the conspirators against the dictator, furnished him an additional motive for blackening the character of the mother.** Such was the parentage and ancestry of Decimus Junius Brutus, 4* Sdl. Cat. 40. > >• Cf. Schwartz, "Die BerickU Hber d. CiMinariscke Verxhwtntnt," Hermes, XXXII. p. S70. I who in our Greek sources *^ has the additional cognomen of Albinus. This was the cognomen of the gens Postumia, and hence we infer that Decimus was adopted into that well-known family.*^ The cor- rectness of this inference is established by coins of various types, one of which bears on the obverse the legend A. POSTVMIVS, COS.,^^ with the idealized head of the illustrious progenitor of the gens Postumia, Aulus Postumius Albus (or Albinus) Regillensis, who is said to have defeated the Latins in the battle of Lake Regillus, 498 or 496 B. c, and to have prevented the return of the Tarquins to Rome." On the reverse is the inscription ALBINVS BRVTI F. within a wreath of grain. But just which Postumius Albinus it was that adopted Decimus Brutus, it is hard to determine. It is some- times stated that it was the Aulus Postumius Albinus*'' who was consul in the year 99. '^^ But if we can believe the testimony of Oro- sius,'^ this Postumius was put to death by his own soldiers in 89, which was four years before the birth of Decimus Brutus. In that case he certainly was not Decimus' adoptive father. From the literary sources we know of only two Postumii with the cognomen Albinus who could have adopted Decimus : first, the Aulus Postumius Albinus, propraetor, who in 1 10 b. c. was left by his brother, Sp. Postumius Albinus, in charge of the army in Africa and who suffered an inglorious defeat at the hands of Jugurtha;''® second, the Aulus Postumius Albinus who was appointed by Caesar governor of Sicily in the latter part of 49.'*® Of these, the former died probably soon after Decimus was born, if not before, and the latter was presumably no older than Decimus, if as old. Hence who his adoptive father was must be left an open question. SI Dk) zliv. 14. 3; Plut. Brut. la, Caes. 64, Ant- n. *■ This method of indicating adoption, i. e., adding the cognomen of the adoptive father to the three names of the natural father, is exceptional. But toward the end of the republic there was no hard and fas t nik for naming adopted persons. Vide Ruggiero, Dizionario Epigrapkico, s. v. Adoptio. u Eckhel.V. p. aap. Another type has on the obverse, the head of Mars; reverse, ALBINVS BRVTI P. with two Gallic trumpets crossed and two shields, one Gallic, the other Greek, indicating that it was ■truck after the capture of the Greek city of Massilia in 49. Vide Head, Coins 0/ the Ancients, p. 118, No. 93; Babelon, Monnaies de la Rtpublique romaine. p. iii. M liv. ii. 19, 30, 31; Dionys. vi. a £F.; Val. Max. i. 8. i; Cic. De not. dear. ii. 6 and iii. 11 ff. » As by Gardthausen, Augustus, I. i, p. aa and Babelon, Monnaies de la Rtpublique romaine, II, p. III. s* Plin. N. H. viii. 7. 19; Jul. Obseq. 106; Gell. iv. 6; Qc. Post Red. ad Quir. ix. <* Oros. T. 18. aa; cf. Lit. Bpit. 75; Val. Max. ix. 8. 13. ^ I* SalL Jugurtha 37, 38- w App. B. C. ii. 48> ■ B. G. Wi. 6a. lo. ** B. G. yii. 57. i, and Holmes, p. 106, note. *> B. G. vii. 56. 5. *4 B. G. Tu. 87. 1. Caesar was on the slope ofiFlavigny acavding to Holmes, p. 143, directing the operations of his troops. Cf. B. G. nL 85. i. »» B. G. viii. 50. 1-4. »* Cic. Fam. viii. 7. a. CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS TO 45 B. C. 29 venturus erat, fecit; nuptura est D. Bruto. Of what Triarius" Paula Valeria was the sister we cannot with certainty determine. Nor do we know from whom she divorced herself sine causa. That she remained faithful to her new husband to the end of his life we infer from what Cicero says in a letter to Decimus written toward the end of January, 43 : ^® Eo tempore Polla tua misit, ut ad te, si quid vellem, darem littcrarum, cum, quid scriherem, non habebam. For the remainder of the year 50 we have no notice of Decimus. Whether he remained in Rome watching the progress of the exciting political events that led up to the Civil War or returned to Caesar in Gaul, our sources do not say. Neither have we any indication of his whereabouts during the first months of active military opera- tions. Like the majority of Caesar's lieutenants, he felt justified by the circumstances in sharing the fortunes of his chief. When men like Cicero hesitated for a long time whether to take the side of Caesar or that of Pompeius, certainly through no partiality to the former, there must have been a large element of justice in Caesar's contentions against Pompeius and the senate. In view of the personal aspect of the quarrel and Decimus' previous relations to Caesar, his choice between the rival leaders seems perfectly reason- able and natural. And his decision in this matter by no means indi- cates that he had renounced the political traditions of his ancestors and espoused democratic principles, or that he was in favor of the one-man rule which was the unforeseen result of Caesar's triumph over his enemies. After the Pompeians had been driven out of Italy, and while " Purser thinks that it was P. Valerius Triarius, who in 54 on behalf of the Sardinians accused M. Scaurus of repetundae and later was about to accuse him of ambitus. This Triarius was a trained and industrious speaker and the son of that Triarius (L. Valerius) who in 77, as propraetor in Sardinia, bore arms against Lepidus, and afterward, as legatus of Lucullus. 67 b. c, suffered a defeat near Zela in Pontus at the hands of Mithradates — Ascon. In Scaur, p. 17 (ed. Kiessling); Att. iv. 16. 6.; Ad Q. Fr. iii. 2. y, Att. iv. 17. 5; Cic. De Imp. Pomp. 2$; App. Mithr. 88, 89, iia, 120; Dio xxxvi. 10-12; Liv. EpU. 08; Plut. LucuU. 35. Others are of the opinion that Paula was the sister of C. Valerius Triarius, one of the inter, locutors in the De finibus of Cicero, who is highly commended by Cicero as a scholar and orator. He was on the side of Pompey in the Civil War and in command of the Asiatic ships off the coast of Dyrrhachium. He was present at the battle of Pharsalus, and it was on his advice that Pompey ordered his men not to stir from their places, but to await the attack of Caesar. This Triarius died before April 46, and Cicero was the guardian of his children — Orelli Onomasticon 2, s. v. Paula Valeria; Cic. De fin. i. 13; BrtU. 265, 266 Caes. B. C iii. 5. 3, iii. 9. 2; Att. xii. 28. 3. Now it is possible that the two Triarii. Publius and Gaius, were brothers. But had this been the case, Caelius would probably have written soror Triariorum. If they were not brothers, of which one Paula Valeria was the sister it is impossible from the data at hand to decide. Since Cicero was a friend of Gaius and was more interested in him than in Publius. it would seem that Caelius would be more likely to mention an occurrence in the family of the former than in that of the latter. »• Fam. xi. 8. I. 39 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS ships were being gathered to pursue them, Caesar determined to pro- ceed to Spain and detach the two provinces of that peninsula from the cause of PompeiusJ* Before his departure from Italy, having summoned the senate for April i,®** he recounted to it the wrongs to which he had been subjected by his enemies, proposed that peace commissioners be sent to Pompeius,®^ and endeavored to secure con- trol of the funds in the aerarium sanctius. L. Caecilius Metellus vetoed the bill passed by the senate intrusting Caesar with these funds and, effecting nothing by his veto, proceeded to guard the treasury doors in person.®* Caesar threatened Metellus with death, and his soldiers, under his orders, broke open the doors and carried off all the money of the state.*^ By this violence, in contrast with the reputation for clemency which he had courted " and up to this time deserved,** he gave deep offense to the people.*' Although justified by the plea of military necessity, this action was neverthe- less significant of the absolutism that was to follow. Caesar left Rome on April 7.*^ On his arrival in Further Gaul, he learned that L. Domitius Ahenobarbus had already set out to take possession of Massilia for Pompeius with seven fast sailing- vessels which he had secured from private individuals on the island of Igilium and in the neighborhood of Cosa on the coast of Etruria, and which he had manned with a crew of his slaves, freedmen, and tenants. He learned, too, that Pompeius had sent ahead of Domitius the legati of Massilia who were in Rome, with the earnest entreaty that they would not suffer their city to be won over from allegiance to him by the kind offices of Caesar. Accordingly, the Massiliots had closed their gates to Caesar, had summoned the neighboring mountaineers to their assistance, had brought grain from the sur- rounding country into the city, had begun the manufacture of arms, and were already engaged in repairing their walls, gates, and fleet.** Caesar had a fruitless interview with the leading men of the town, who made professions of. neutrality and refused to give him aid or to admit him within their walls. Meantime Domitius with his ships arrived, was received by them, and placed in command of the city. »• Caes. B. C. i. ao. 3o. •■ Caes. B. C. \. 32. ** Att. iz. 17. I. ** Dio zli. 17. a; Fam. viii. 16. 1. *i Dk} zli. 17. a; App. B. C ii. 41; Plut. Pomp. 6a; Caes. 35; Att. z. 4. 8. •« Att. iz. -jc. 1. •» Caes. B. C. I. 23; Dio xK- iS- '» Caes. B. C. i. 33. 4: ^«. «• i7- i. «• 8. 6. •• AU, X. 4. 8. 8. 6. " Caes. B. C. i. 34- CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS TO 45 B. C. 31 Smarting under this insult, Caesar ordered C. Trebonius to lead his three legions against the place,** prepared the usual siege works, and, in thirty days from the time that the timber was cut, built, equipped, and armed twelve galleys at Aries. When these had been brought to Massilia, he placed them under the command of Decimus Brutus as legatus.^^ The legions and the siege from the land side he left in the charge of Trebonius. After the departure of Caesar for Spain,** Brutus must have spent some time in training his pilots and oarsmen, who had been procured from merchant vessels and were acquainted neither with the equipment of warships nor with the art of maneuvering them. His ships themselves were slow and unwieldy, owing to the fact that they had been constructed of unseasoned timber. But his fighting force was made up of the bravest men in the legions, centurions and antesignani, who were well provided with g^appling- hooks, drags, javelins, darts, and other missiles. The Massiliots had equipped seventeen warships, eleven of which were supplied with decks. To these they added many smaller craft in order to frighten the Roman fleet by the mere force of numbers. They put on board numerous bowmen and a large force of the Albici, a people of the neighboring mountains, whose courage they stimulated with promises of reward. Domitius manned some of their ships with the tenants and shepherds whom he hJid brought with him from Italy. It was about the 27th of June** when, with their complete equipment and overwhelming numbers — they had twenty-four ships to Brutus' twelve — they proceeded from the harbor to meet Decimus who had his station on the southeast side of the isle of Ratoneau.*^ Becoming aware of their approach Decimus brought forth his ships from their haven, and the battle began. Both sides fought with vigor and spirit. The mountaineers and the shepherds, the former with the promises of reward fresh in their minds, the latter in hope of freedom, were of great assistance to the Massiliots and displayed a courage almost equal to that of the Romans. The Massiliots, by the speed of their ships and by their skill, not only *• Hirtius B. G. viii. 54. 4; d. B. C. i. 36. 4. 90 Li v. Epit. no. *■ Dio (zli. 19. 3, 4) informs us that Caesar before his departure sulBFered a repulse from the Massili- ots. He had expected to conquer them easily, but finding their opposition stubborn he turned them over, to his legati. This account of Dio is hardly trustworthy. •* Stoffel, Histoire de Jules Cisar, Guerre Civile, Livre i, pp. 353 ff., 286, 287. •< Stoffel, p. 84; cf. Rouby, Siige de Marseille par Cisar, p. 93. For account of the battle, vide Caes. B. C. i. 56 ff. 32 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS baffled the Romans and eluded their attacks, but, whenever it was possible, they would surround single Roman ships with several of their own, or, sweeping past them would endeavor to break their oars and thus render them helpless. But when they were at close quarters with the Romans, the latter used their grappling-hooks. The men on one Roman ship would grapple and hold two of the enemy's ships, board them, and thus engage the Massiliots in hand- to-hand encounters. In these encounters Brutus' men showed their superiority in valor. They sank three of the enemy's ships, captured six,** and drove the remainder back to the harbor.** The news of Brutus' victory reached Caesar at Ilerda, just when he had com- pleted his pontoon bridge across the Sicoris by means of which he obtained access to the provisions which he had so sorely needed. It marked a turn in the tide of his fortunes,*® which for a time had been extremely desperate. It not only produced a good impression on Caesar's own men, but, as Dio *' informs us, the story of it, told to the Iberians and purposely magnified, wrought such a change in some of them that they immediately espoused the cause of Caesar. But the Massiliots did not despair at this defeat.** They brought out old ships from the dockyards, refitted, armed, and manned them with oars, men, and pilots, of whom they had many, and thus brought their fleet up to its former number of vessels. Not content with this, they added fishing-smacks too, which they had decked to protect the oarsmen from missiles. When their fleet was thus repaired and strengthened, they received news of reinforcements. L. Nasidius, sent by Pompeius with a fleet of sixteen ships, had sailed through the Sicilian Straits unnoticed by Curio, whom Caesar had placed in command of the island of Sicily. He had picked up an additional ship ^t Messina and, setting out with his fleet from that place, had sent a fast little ship ahead to run the blockade, advise Domitius and the Massiliots of his approach, and urge them to unite with him for another attack on the fleet of Brutus. This news filled the Massiliots with high hopes. They embarked upon their ships with fresh courage and confidence. Getting a favorable wind, they set forth, probably before daylight, skirted close along the shore between the islands and the mainland, eluded the fleet of Brutus, and met Nasidius at Tauroentum, the rendezvous appointed. Brutus •* cf. B. c. a. 5. 1. •» B. C. i. 56-58. •• B. C. i. 50. I. •» Dio zli. ai. 3, 4- Cf. Caes. B. C. i. 60. •• Cafs. B. C. n. 3 ff CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS TO 45 B. C. 33 did not see the Massiliots' ships until they were safely past his station, but he immediately followed them. The time that had elapsed since the first battle he had employed in repairing the Mas- siliot ships which he had captured, so that his fleet now numbered eighteen vessels. The combined force of the enemy amounted to over forty galleys. In the face of such odds, Brutus made a speech of encouragement to his men, exhorting them to despise the valor of those whom they had already conquered. He then proceeded to the attack. The Massiliots believed that on the chance of that day depended the issue of all their fortunes, and at the outset their valor was all that the situation which they had made for themselves demanded. As the fight progressed, the ships of Brutus gradually drew apart from each other in order to give room for the skill of the pilots and for greater freedom and speed of movement. Brutus* men made much use of their grappling-hooks, as in the previous engagement, and when they laid hold of a ship of the enemy, they boarded her and fought hand to hand with her crew. At the same time they received many wounds ; for a hail of missiles fell upon them from the smaller craft of the enemy. Two Massiliot triremes, recog- nizing Brutus' ship by its colors, proceeded toward it from opposite directions to ram and perhaps sink it by the double shock. But Brutus escaped by urging his men to row forward with their utmost speed, and thus the two hostile ships, pushed on with violence, col- lided with one another. Both were disabled by the collision, and then the ships of Brutus attacked and sank them. The ships of Nasi- dius which were on the left wing had retired unhurt before the battle had fairly begun. Of the fleet of the Massiliots, five were sunk, four captured, and one withdrew from the battle with those of Nasidius. The latter vessels made their way to the coast of Hither Spain.** By this victory ^«» Brutus closed the sea to the Massiliots and completed the investment of the city. This naval battle was fought about the last of July."^ But it was not until the beginning of October that the Massiliots gave up the defense of their city by land. During this time Brutus was employed in maintaining the blockade of the port. A few days, however, before the town surrendered, L. Domitius, having learned of the decision of the Massiliots to give themselves up, resolved to run the blockade and effect his escape. He got together three •• B. C. n. 3-7- "»• Stoffel, p. 90. ••' Stoffel, pp. 253, 254, 287. 34 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS ships, two of which he assigned to his friends, while he himself embarked upon the third. Just then a terrible storm came up, favor- ing the design, and Domitius and his company started upon their way. But Brutus' ships, keeping daily watch near the harbor, caught sight of them and weighed anchor to pursue. The ship that carried Domitius was faster than its pursuers and with the aid of the tempest soon disappeared from sight. The other two were frightened by the formidable array of Brutus* ships and hastily retreated to the town.*®* Brutus was probably present in command of his fleet at the surrender of the city. Upon him devolved the duty of receiving the ships which the Massiliots brought forth from their harbor and their dockyards.*®' What Brutus did with these ships, or what became of his own fleet after the surrender of the city, no ancient writer informs us. Caesar tells us that on his departure for Italy he left two legions as a garrison for the city. Stoffel thinks that these two legions were new recruits, levied in Italy by Antonius in obe- dience to orders from Caesar and sent to Massilia to occupy the town on the departure of the veteran legions of Trebonius, which Caesar dispatched to Italy.*®* If this be true, Trebonius must have accompanied his three legions into Italy. We know that he was praetor urbanus for the year 48.*®' Hence it is probable that Decimus Brutus was placed in charge of the two legions which Caesar left behind at Massilia, and that he was given command of the town together with the fleet in the harbor. For Caesar, during his eleven days' dictatorship toward the end of 49, by virtue of his extra- ordinary powers, in providing governors for the provinces already under his control assigned Decimus Brutus to Transalpine Gaul.*** Massilia then became a part of Decimus' province and a base for administering it,*®^ while the two legions left there constituted his military force. This seems a small force for so extensive a province and one that had been so recently subdued; yet Caesar seems to have summoned all the legions from Gaul to take part in the cam- paign against the Pompeians in Spain and for the difficult siege of Massilia.*®* No successor to Brutus was appointed for 47 or 46.*®* ■^ Cms. B. C. H. m. a-4. '*» Caet. B. C. iii. ao. t. «•» Cms. B. C. u. aa. s- *** App. B. C. u. 48. *•* Stoifel, Giierre CiviU, pp. 3x6. Si7- **' E- Herxog. GaUias Narbonmsis kistona, pp. loa, 103. »^ Hirtius B. G. Tiii. 54. 4. 5\ Ca^ B. C. i. 15. 3; >8- S; *5' >• 36, 4; 37- «; 3»- >• Cf- StoUd, pp. 356 ff. and 335 &• •^ App. B. C. fi. ixi; tir. Efii. 114. CAREER OF DECIMUS BRUTUS TO 45 B. C. 35 Indeed, it is highly probable that not until the middle of 45 did Caesar deem it expedient to relieve him of this important and diffi- cult post.**® The exceptional duration of his governorship is proof of his success as a provincial administrator. But of what he did we know almost nothing. Merely a single sentence from the Epitome of Livy is the sum of the literary evidence that we possess for the history of Gaul during this period; but that brief statement is a tribute to Brutus' efficiency. After an account of the events of the war in Africa we read : Brutus legatus Caesaris in Gallia Bellovacos rebellantes proelio vicit.^^"^ The Bellovaci had the reputation of being the bravest and most influential of all the Belgic tribes.*** In 57 they had demanded the leadership in the war of the Belgae against Caesar. In 52 they had joined in the general revolt of the Gauls.**« They refused, however, to furnish their full quota of troops for the relief of Alesia, proudly declaring that they would wage war with the Romans on their own account and would yield obedience to the commands of no one. However, because of their guest-friendship for Commius,*** at his request, they contributed two thousand men to the general levy. In the following year, 51, they made ready to carry out their boast and, with the assistance of several neighboring tribes, were preparing to attack the Suessiones, dependents of the Remi who were allies of Caesar. It required a force of seven legions for Caesar to subdue them. After a tedious campaign, how- ever, he had defeated them in a battle in which their leader, Correus, was slain, and had brought them to terms.*** But their spirit was unbroken, and they were, doubtless, still pre-eminent in military strength among the Gauls and Belgians,**® when in the year 46 they again raised the standard of revolt, with the result as recorded above. The silence of subsequent history concerning them affords convincing testimony to the thoroughness with which they were subjugated by Brutus. «» Plut. i4ii/. II. II "'™.''' ^\i' J*^ ***' *'*"**°° °* **"' Btnovad, cf. Strabo iv. 3. 5 (p. 194). iv. 6. 1, (p. ao8): Ptol. u. 9. 4: Plin. N. H. vr. 17. 106. "• Caes. B. G. ii. 4. 5.; Strabo iv. 4. 3- P- 196, avrir ti rmv B«Ay«r B«A\o xMii. 44. a- 3; Suet. lid. 76. 39 Dk) xliii. 44. 6. *• Dio. ^' '**•'* ^PP- "• *<^- *» Dio xliii. 45. i; Suet. lul. 76; App. ii. 106; cf. Nic. Dam. 20. 4. «poxcipiV«yTe, says Dio (xliu. 45- O- ** ^^ ^- "*'' S"«*- ^"'- ^'' ^*' *^- '*^' 43 Dio xliii. 45. a. " ^«- xiii- 44- 1; Pro rtge Deiot. 33. *• Dio xliii. 45. 3; AU. xii. 45 (3) »; Pro rege Deiot., loc. cit. 41 Lange, III, pp. 463-63; Dio xliii. 46. a; App. B. C. ii. 107. 4« Dio xliii. 14. 4. ♦• Krueger, p. 30. " Plut. Cats. 56. DECIMUS' PART IN THE ASSASSINATION 43 triumph that, when Caesar passed the seats of the tribunes, Pontius Aquila, a member of the college, did not rise to do him honor. Caesar was angered beyond measure at this show of independence and did not soon forget the incident." He increased the member- ship of the senate to nine hundred, admitting many foreigners and semi-barbarous Gauls, and making no discrimination against soldiers and sons of freedmen." This act called forth jests and sarcasms from the people, expressed in placards and popular songs.*^' A golden statue of the dictator was placed upon the Rostra."* This too aroused unfavorable comment, as we gather from Cicero's speech in behalf of King Deiotarus," delivered some time in November.** At the time of the Saturnalia, when Quintus Fabius Maximus, Caesar's three-months' consul, was entering the theater and the lictor had given the usual warning of his approach, from all sides the cry arose : "He is no consul !" " To show still further his con- tempt for their chief republican magistracy, on the death of Fabius on the last day of December, Caesar had Caninius Rebilus elected consul for the remainder of the year — that is, for a few hours. Such mockery of a venerable office made Caninius the butt of Cicero's biting wit, although the incident saddened Cicero. "These occur- rences seem ridiculous to you," he writes to Curius," "for you are not here. Were you to see them, you could not restrain your tears." Caesar placed his private slaves in charge of the mint and the public revenues, and he committed the command of the three legions that he had left at Alexandria to a favorite, the son of his freedman Rufinus. His lack of self-restraint was apparent in his utterances to those about him: "The republic is nothing," he is reported to have said, "a mere name without form or substance." "Sulla was am ignoramus to lay down the dictatorship." "Men must speak more respectfully to me and must consider my word as law." " At the beginning of the next year (44) other honors were decreed to Caesar.*® It was made lawful for him to appear anywhere, even in the city itself, clad in the vestis triumphalis, and to sit upon the sella curulis on any official occasion, save at the games, where he »> Suet. Jul. 78. »♦ Nic. Dam. 20. »» Suet. ltd. 76, 80; Dio. xliii. 47. 3- " Cic. Pro Deiot. 34. »» Suet. lid. 80. '* Krueger, pp. 31, 41, n. 10. »» Suet. lid. 80. For date vide Krueger, p. 43, n. la; C. I. L., I», p. a8. »• Fam. vu. 30. i. »• Suet. lid. 76, 77- ** Dio xHv. 4. 1-3. 44 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS occupied a seat with the tribunes in token of the fact that he pos- sessed the tribunicia potestas. He was also empowered to dedicate the spolia opima to lupiter Feretrius, just as if he had slain the com- mander of the enemy with his own hand ; always to have lictors with laurel-wreathed fasces; and to enter the city on horseback {ovans) when he returned from the Feriae Latinae on the Alban Mount. Already the title of king was being applied to Caesar by those about him without any marked disapproval on his part, though he ostensibly rejected the honor, when one day his statue on the rostra was found crowned with a laurel wreath. Two tribunes, C. Epidius Marullus and L. Caesetius Flavus, caused the symbol of monarchy to be lemoved. At the same time they spoke with praise of Caesar to the multitude, said that such flattery was contrary to his desires, and ac- cordingly had the offenders imprisoned. This action of the tribunes displeased Caesar not a little, but he took no immediate steps against them.** Soon after, however, when on January 26 Caesar was entering the city in ovation, returning from the Alban Mount, some of the people meeting the procession ventured to greet him in their acclamations with the title of king. Caesar deprecated this salutation, saying : "I am not king, but Caesar." The same tribunes, Marullus and Caesetius, caused the man who had first raised this shout to be brought before their tribunal. Caesar could no longer conceal his anger at the interference of the tribunes. He laid an accusation against them before the senate. Some of the senators were in favor of inflicting the death penalty on them, but Caesar, through the instrumentality of Helvius Cinna, thleir colleague, deprived them of their office by a vote of the assembly, and, by virtue of his powers as censor, he removed them from the senate,'* new tribunes being chosen in their stead. Thus Caesar brought upon himself the odium of really desiring the kingly title and of being a tyrant.*' But the senate with still greater zeal occupied itself with devis- ing new honors for its lord and master. To soothe the irritation •• Dio xliv. 0; App. ii. 108; Suet. Inl. 79; Veil. ii. 68. 4. •» DioxUv. 10; App. u. 108; Suet. lul. 70. 80; VeU. ii. 68. 4. 5; Liv. EpU. 116; Nic. Dam. Vit. Caes. ao. The account of Dio, as Schelle {Todeskampf drr Mmiscken RepiMik, pp. a ff.) has shown, is incorrect in stating that Caesar, though angered, refrained from taking action against the tribunes until they had issued an edict complaining of a lack of freedom in discharging the duties of their magistracy. For such an edict there would have been no motive whatewr until Caesar had in some way manifested his displeasure. Schelle has also shown in the same connection that Nicolaus and Appian (ii. laa, 138) are in error in stating that the tribunes were banished. They probably went into voluntary exile. •» App. ii. 108. DECmUS' PART IN THE ASSASSINATION 45 caused by the tribunes in their zeal for the old order of things, the senate voted that Caesar be called Pater Patriae, and that this title should be indicated on coins ; that his birthday should be a dies feriatus; that statues of him be set up in all the mu^nicipia and m all the temples of Rome, and that, in addition, there should be two statues of him placed upon the rostra, one adorned with the corofui civica and the other with the corona obsidionalis; that a temple of Concord, on the ground that the people enjoyed peace through Caesar, should be erected in his honor, and that there should be an annual festival in reminder thereof.^* Most of the business trans- acted by the senate durii^ the months immediately precedmg the Ides of March consisted in heaping upon the dictator honors that gradually raised him to the rank of a god. He was authorized to construct a new curia^'' For the cuna Hostilia, rebuilt both by Sulla and by Sulla's son, had been demol- ished apparently in order that room might be made for the temple of Felicitas erected By Lepidus, but really that the name of Sulla might not be preserved on such an important building, and that Caesar's name might be honored in its stead. By a decree of the senate, the month (Quintilis) in which he was bom was called Julius, and one of the tribes chosen by lot was likewise called Ittlia. It was voted that Caesar be the sole censor for life ; that his person should be sacrosanct and inviolable everywhere ; «« and that his own son, if any should be bom to him, or his adopted son, should be pontifex maximus. Some time between the en^ of January and the 15th of Febmary,*' Caesar, after resigning his ten years' dic- tatorship, was made dictator perpetuus. Other honors were decreed to him as follows : «« That he should have a golden throne {sella aurea), the vestis regia, and a bodyguard of senators and knights; that public prayers should be annually offered in his behalf ; that men should swear by his ''Fortune ;" and that all his acts should have the force of law. But the senate's ingenuity was not yet exhausted. It decreed that to Caesar, as to a hero, ludi quinquennales should be celebrated ; that at the Lupercalia another sodalitas of Luperci should be added to the Fabiani and the Quintiliani, which should be called Luperci luliani; and that in all gladiatorial games in Rome or elsewhere •4 Dio xliv. 4. 4, 5. " Dio xliv. s- «• Nic. Dam. 22; App. ii. 106, etc. Cf. Lange. III. p. 47©. •» C. /. X., I«, 38, 40; PhU. U. 87. " I>io «l»v. 6. 46 DECmUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS DECIMUS* PART IN THE ASSASSINATION 47 in Italy one day should be consecrated to Caesar. When he showed his gratification at these honors,** the senate decreed him a sella aurea in the theaters/® a crown of gold set with jewels like those of the gods/^ and a tensa of ivory in the processions of the ludi circenses. We are told that, owing to the confidence produced in Caesar by these extraordinary distinctions, he did not accept the body- guard of senators and knights which had been voted to him, and even diminished the Spanish guard which had hitherto attended him." On the 15th of February, the occasion of the Lupercalia, as on the previous day, the auspices were taken and found unfavor- able.^' Caesar was said to have reached such a pitch of arrogance ^* that on the announcement that the omens were unpropitious he remarked : "They will be more propitious when I will it ; and even if a beast does not have a heart, it ought not to be considered a sign of coming evil." Thus Suetonius represents Caesar as showing a haughty disdain, not only for the political traditions of the Romans, but for their religious rites as well. All of our sources give us some account of what happened on this Lupercalia, In the main features of the occurrence they all agree. Caesar in royal robe sat upon the rostra on his sella aurea and watched the procession of the Luperci as they entered the Forum. Antonius, naked and anointed accord- ing to the custom of the Luperci, placed upon Caesar's head an ivy- wreathed diadem. Caesar cast it from him. Antonius placed it on his head again and again. Caesar refused to accept this token of kingship and sent it to the Capitol for the statue of Jove. The people applauded his apparent self-denial. Both Dio ^" and Cicero ^* inform us that he had it recorded in the Fasti that M. Antonius at the bidding of the people had offered him the royal power, and that he had refused to accept it. Why Caesar thought it worth while to concoct the falsehood that Antonius did this populi iussu, it is hard to see. "For this," says Dio, "he was suspected of having acted with premeditation and of having desired the name of king, but of wishing to have it thrust upon him. And so he was cordially hated." Schmidt has hardly succeeded in showing that the account of Nicolaus of Damascus, who tells of this incident in greater detail •• Dio xKv. 6. 3. ** Cf. Suet. /«/. 76, mggeshtm in onkesira. »» Fkw. ii. 13 (iv. a), ©i. *■ So says Suetonius. *i Cic. De divin. I. 119; Val. Max. viii. 11. a. »« Suet. lul. 77. "Dio xliv. IT. 3. »* Cic. PhU. ii. 87. than any other author," is the true one.^" It is difficult to believe that there were, as Nicolaus asserts, many who really wished Caesar to become king.^* In fact, from Cicero and Plutarch we get a contrary impression. Cicero says that when Antonius showed the diadem there was a groan throughout the Forum {getnttus toto foro). Plutarch «* has it that there was slight applause, which had been planned beforehand. Again, Nicolaus fails to mention the fact that Caesar had the incident recorded in the Fasti. He evi- dently considered this act little creditable to the great man. In the consular elections which occurred soon after the Luperca- lia, a goodly number of votes, probably in consequence of what was done on that day, were cast for the former tribunes, Caesetius and Marullus." Nicolaus" tells us that L. Cornelius Cinna, a praetor, with the consent of Caesar, had already secured the passage of a law for the return of these tribunes and for the restoration of their right to hold office. But, as Schelle «» has shown, there would have been no point in the people's voting for these tribunes to spite Caesar, after such magnanimity toward them as Nicolaus would ascribe to him. Not long after this election came the climax in that long and wearisome list of distinctions " which were voted to Caesar. It was enacted that he should be called Divus, that a temple should be consecrated to Caesar and his Clemency, and that Antonius should be flamen Caesaris. And what, says Dio, especially showed the purpose of the senators, at the same time that they voted these things, they enacted that a tomb be made for him within the Fomerium, and that the decrees in his honor be inscribed in gilt letters upon silver columns. Helvius Cinna, a tribune of the />/^&j, acknowledged, we hope witfi shame, that he had drafted a motion which Caesar had bidden him to introduce in his absence, to the effect that the dictator, in order that he might have children of his own, might lawfully marry whomsoever he chose.*'' But this motion was never introduced. These extraordinary distinctions were usually voted to Caesar in 11 Nic. Dam. ai. »• O. E. Schmidt, "Die letzten Kimpfe der Rflmiachen Republik." Jahrb. /. PhU., Supplbd. 13, PP. 674 ff. » ._. T» Nic. Dam. loc. cit.i woXXoI? «' ^r ««i ^ovAom«i'Oi« ^a •» Pha. ii. no. 50 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS we know from their silent acquiescence in his death;** and the comparative complacence with which the people contemplated that tragedy was changed to anger only by the sensational laudatio funehris of Antonius. It would be nothing short of folly to assume that sixty or even eighty men constituted the entire opposition to Caesar. It would be nearer the truth to say that all those who were opposed to monarchy were in a state of passive opposition to the dictator, and that out of this passive opposition was developed among a few individuals an active agitation against the would-be king and tyrant. This agitation took shape in a definite plan of action — a plan of action that was suggested, and in a measure justified, by historical precedents. Men naturally recalled the fate of those who according to tradi- tion had aspired to kingly power. They remembered how Spurius Maelius nearly four hundred years before, because he was accused of designing to make himself king, had been slain by Servilius Ahala, the magister equitum, acting under the authority of Cincin- natus who had been illegally appointed dictator. Yet this "judicial murder" *• had been sanctioned by the people of that time and by posterity on the plea of the terrible nature of the accusation.*"* Again, a mob of senators, knights, and plebeians, led by P. Scipio Nasica, attacked and killed Tiberius Gracchus with three hundred of his friends.*®* This violence too was approved at the time and afterward by a large party in the state, the senate legalizing the death of Gracchus by voting him a public enemy (hostis)}'*^ Scipio Aemilianus expressed the opinion of the Optimate party when he said that Tiberius was justly slain, if his intention had been to gain control of the state.**' The death of Gains Gracchus *®* and of two hundred and fifty of his adherents was also compassed by an illegal senatus consultum tdtirnum, giving the consul Opimius the imperium sine proifocatione}^^ The acquittal of Opimius when he was brought to trial, quod indemnatos civis in carcerem coniecis- •• Cit. De divin. ii. as. '« Mommsen, History of Rome, I, p. 378. *** Liv. iv. 13, 14, 15; cf. Liv. iii. 55. 5. By the Valerio-Horatian law: Ne quis uUum magistratum sine provocatione crearet. Cf. Festus, p. 198. Cicero mentions other precedents (Phil. ii. 114): Sp. Cos- sins, Sp. Madius, M. ManltHS propter suipicionem regni appetendi sunt necati. Cf. ii. 87. «•« Veil. ii. 3; Plut. Ti. Grauk. 19. "» Val. Max. iv. 7. i. **3 Cic. Pro MUone, 8; Veil. ii. 4. 4; Sail. lug. 31. 7: Occiso Ti. Gracrko quern regnum parart miebant. *•* Orosius V. 13; Liv. Epit. 6i. *•' Qc. Pro Rob. perd. la; Cat. iv. 10; i. 4. DECIMUS' PART IN THE ASSASSINATION 51 set,''' gave legal sanction to the death of Gains Gracchus and his followers. There is no doubt that the prejudice caused by the sus- picion that Gains was aiming to secure the regal power was the excuse for the failure to condemn those who slew him. Saturninus and Glaucia were the next to suffer a violent death for usurpation. In their case the action of their fellow-magistrates and the nobility under the authority o'f the semtus consultum ulti- mum was justified only by the precedent established in I2i.*<>^ But the democratic party probably did not admit that these men came by their deaths in a constitutional manner.*** Indeed there was no strictly legal justification for any of these acts of violence. The only reasonable plea that the senatorial party, which was respon- sible for them, could make, was that they were done for the security of the state.*®* Yet they were not only approved of in after-times, but they were considered among the glorious achievements of the Optimate party.*** Thus a sentiment grew up among the members of that party that the slaying of a dangerous citizen was under certain circumstances not only just, but also necessary and highly commendable.*** It was on this principle that the senate, at the suggestion of Cicero, exceeded its constitutional powers in having the adherents of Catiline strangled. On this plea Cicero undertook to justify Milo for the killing of Clodius. The removal of a political opponent, who was suspected of aspiring to be a king, by mob violence or by judicial murder was a traditional policy of the Opti- mate party. Hence this method of ridding the state of Caesar readily suggested itself to a few leaders of that party; and, though they would have to proceed in his case without any pretense to legality, yet they felt that, in view of Caesar^s extravagant usurpa- tions and his manifest desire of kingly power, their action would meet the hearty approval, not only of the men of their own time, but of posterity as well. It would be a mistake to judge the conduct of men who lived two thousand years ago by the ethical standards that prevail in ••• Liv. Epit. 61. '«» Willems, Le Sinat de la RipMique romaine, Vol. II, pp. 247 flF. "• For the democratic view vide Sail. lug. 31, 42. p,pJ^^;ZZ'';l •"*= ""■ *'^""' ^ ''•^' '^- ""■ "• -• "'■ ^ °- ^' "«• -• »: ^' "• Cic. De lege Agr. ii. 10; Pro MUone 83. «" Cauer, Ciceros politisches Denken, pp. 115 flf. 52 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS our time, just as it would be a mistake to expect their actions to square with the political philosophy that is the product of the last twenty centuries. We have seen that a large and respectable party among the Romans looked upon assassination and mob vio- lence under certain circumstances as essential to the very existence of the state, and therefore highly commendable. Hence it was that Cicero, in a letter to Atticus, could suggest that Marcus Brutus should resist by violence the tyranny of Caesar, and could cite as precedents for such an act the example of the elder Brutus who exiled the Tarquins, and of Gains Servilius Ahala who slew the would-be king,*" Spurius Maelius. The assassination of Caesar was therefore planned as a coup d'etat by the younger leaders of the Optimate party. There is good reason for believing, as I have endeavored to show, that Decimus Brutus was a member of that party ; and his distinguished military services doubtless gave him prominence in the counsels of its leaders. Consequently, the friendship"* between Caesar and Decimus did not deter Pacuvius Antistius Labeo and Gains Cas- sius Longinus from sounding him on the subject of the plot against Caesar. And here it is worth while to mention the manifestly erroneous impression conveyed by Plutarch when he intimates that Decimus was not an active or courageous man, and that his value to the conspiracy was due to the fact that he had a troop of gladia- tors which he was training for exhibition, and to the circumstance that he enjoyed the confidence of Caesar. It is hardly necessary to say that this irrelevant reflection upon the courage of Decimus Brutus, probably found by Plutarch in some highly prejudiced source, is shown to be baseless, not only by the previous career of Decimus but also by his subsequent history."* Plutarch goes on to tell us that Decimus made no reply to Cassius and Labeo, but that, on meeting M. Brutus privately and learning that he was the leader in the undertaking, he readily agreed to co-operate with him. But there must have been other considerations besides the influence of Marcus Brutus that prompted Decimus to join the conspirators. We know from Orosius"' that the grandfather of Decimus Brutus with a large following of men had taken part in «»• AU. xiii. 40. I. "« Plut. BnU. i j. ■«4 Plut. BrtU. la. And yet M. Paulus accepts the sUtement of Plutarch and seeks to justify it by Sttbaequent events, with how much reason we shall see. ■** Orosius T. la. DECIMUS' PART IN THE ASSASSINATION 53 the riot which culminated in the death of Marcus Fulvius Flaccus and Gaius Gracchus, and that his father had joined the consuls and other magistrates in the attack upon Satuminus and Glaucia."« Such appeals as were made to the other Brutus on the score of the reputation of his ancestry "^ must have been no less cogent in leading Decimus to take part in putting Caesar to death. For he probably had as just a claim as Marcus to the distinction of being a descendant of the first republican consul, Lucius Brutus, who was instrumental in the expulsion of the Tarquins."' His immedi- ate ancestors on his father's side for three generations had been consistently in opposition to the alleged usurpations of democratic leaders, and he had been adopted into a family which was equally famous in the struggle against the kings, and which had furnished many prominent men to the Optimate party. The writers of Roman history whom Plutarch, Appian, and Cassius Dio followed and copied were bent on heaping obloquy upon Decimus Brutus for joining the conspirators against Caesar, but they do not assign any motive whatsoever for Decimus' conduct. Had he been con- trolled by selfish considerations, we certainly should have some inkling of the fact from the many sources that have come down to us. The cousin of Tiberius Gracchus had led the mob of gentle- men who put that leader to death, and Scipio Aemilianus, his brother-in-law and friend, after, Tiberius had been murdered, expressed a qualified approval of the deed."* The conduct of Deci- mus Brutus in entering a conspiracy against his friend "<> Caesar is perhaps a little easier to understand in the light of these precedents. But to undertake absolutely to justify that conduct in the light of modern ethical conceptions would be futile and is far from my pur- pose. And so I have attempted to present his act in the light in which he himself viewed it, and to show that he is not the arch- traitor he is pictured in the pages of such writers as Froude. Our sources all agree that Decimus Brutus was one of the leaders of the conspirators."^ His name is generally mentioned after those »»* Cic. Pro Rabir. p«rd. at. »«» Plut. Brut. 0; App. ii. „a; Dio xUv. ,a; Nic. Dam. 19: woAAi a' i{^p„y, ,.i i, U w^,u^ Bpovroi, vwov*. .i«A,t. rAr wpoytf,^,, ravt M 'P-mvAov BtU.!, rij, 'P^mv ««r.AcAw«30 Dio xliv. 16. 2. »i' Nic. Dam. 23; Dio. xliv. 17; Plut. Caes. 63. u» Dio xliv. 18. 1. »" Dio xliv. 18. i; Nic. Dam. 23; App. B. C. ii, 115; Suet. ltd. 81; Plut. Caes. 64. »»« Plut. Caes. 63. 'ss Nic. Dam. 23. '36 Suet. lul. 81. »s» Plut. Caes. 64. •*• Willenbiicher (p. 53, n. 2), a&suming the correctness of Plutarch's narrative, thinks that Caesar did not wish to let the opportunity slip of officially declining the crown before the senate also. Strange in ao strong a character as Caesar's, this desire to parade a [u^tended virtue! S6 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS his friends could not defend him against the imputation of tyranny. By such arguments, if we are to believe Plutarch, Decimus Brutus led Caesar to his death. It was already about eleven o'clock in the morning when Caesar in his litter, attended by Decimus Brutus, Antonius, and a throng of people, set out for the senate house."^ On his arrival there the usual sacrifices, preliminary to his entering the chamber, were made, but the omens were unfavorable. Many victims were slain at Caesar's bidding, yet no propitious sign could be obtained."^' The dictator, owing to the entreaties of some of his friends, was again on the point of ordering the sitting of the senate adjourned to another day, when Decimus Brutus a second time inter- vened, urging him to disregard the warnings of the priests and not to postpone those acts which concerned him and his power, but to consider his own valor an augury of good.^" Thus prevailing on him, Decimus, according to Nicolaus, led him by the hand into the Decimus Brutus seems to have had no part in the actual slaying of Caesar. The testimony of Nicolaus **• is as follows : "Decimus Brutus pierces him under the ribs. Cassius Longinus, hastening to give him another blow, misses his aim, and strikes the hand of Marcus Brutus." Paulus has shown that, by an error of Nicolaus or by a slip of the copyist, A&cno^ was written here for Map/eo9. For the person who pierced Caesar under the ribs and he whose hand was struck were the same, as the context shows. Again Appian says explicitly : "Brutus smote him in the thigh." "* That he meant Marcus Brutus is shown by another passage in which he says: "Cassius and Brutus [Marcus, from the context] at the same time inflicted wounds upon him.""* Similar is the testimony of Plutarch, who says : "Brutus [i. e., Marcus] inflicted a wound upon him in the groin." "• Since in no other source do we find mention '— Suet. lid. 8i; Plut. Cats. 63. 64- «««Suet. lid. 8i; App. u. 116; Nic. Dam. 34; Plut. Brut. 16. M. Nic. D«m.. he. cU.; Appian (loe. at.) has a aunilar account of Ca«ar's lie«tatk», but docs not Bcntion D. Brutus. Cf. Plut. Brut. 16. »♦• This meeting-pUu» of the senate, the curia Pomfeia, was an exedra of the Portieus P»mpeia which was connected with the sceua of the theater of Pompeius. This group of buildings was erected by Pom- peius in the year 55. Cf. Richter, TofograpkU von Rom, pp. as? ff- i4J Nic. Dam. 34: m*«/A»' «i Kiio xliv. 19. 3; Plut. Brui. n\ App. ii. 117; Cic. PkU. ii. 34. .s» Cic. PhU. ii. 34; App. u. 118; Dio xUv. aa. a; Plut. Ant. 14. Brut. 18. Caes. 67. Appian's rtate. ment that some of the senators were wounded in the tumult and othe,^ killed and that '"-"'r at.«^ and strangers were also murdered, is undoubtedly false. For (x) it was the express purpose of the l^^ator^ Z^y no one but Caesar; cf. Nic. Dam. as; (a) there would be no r^^n for kUhng P^P'* -»:^^ J!;^ fleeing from them; (3) no other source gives any such information; mdeed, Dio (xhv. ao. 4. "• 2) states expressly that no one was murdered or even harmed. Cf . Plut. Brut. 18. «s» Cic. PhU. ii. ao; Boissier, Cicero and His Friends, p. 301. '»• Suet. Jul So- .- NicAaus (C. as) says: if«tf-vT« «i, roivr.vtf.v oi a^ay.U .>«nrov Wovt« «ci ri,, ayopa, .« Tb K.wcr«A.oK. But the testimony of Plutarch {Caes. 67) contradicts Nicolaus statement as to the manner in which they proceeded: oi «i w.pl BpoiJro. .... ix«Povv «** rb K.w.t-Aco. o« ♦.v^ovcrtv ZlZ..r.K. Pluta^Tevidence on this point is borne out by the account of Dto/x^- -. 2^). Nor does Appian (ii. no) give one the impression that the conspirators "fled ma run. Of course, t^y w^ undTr the strait of suppressed excitement. But their object was to allay the fears of the people^ l7u conceivable that they would run as if in flight when they affected above everythmg else a show o^ ^^nce (M-*speciaUy when there was no immediate ^ to run from ? Again. NicoUus gives contradictory evidence. He states that, owing to their igno- r^^afThat had hap^ned. there was a tumult among the people until they saw the m^erers and UipKOv BpoOrov navo^o. to., •opw^o.' «« oW.vbi kokov ytycdTO*. Cf . Plut. Brut.- 1». decimus' part in the ASSASSINATION 59 the people, proclaimed that they had slain a king and tyrant, and called the people to their ancestral liberty. They halted in the Forum,"* and, to a crowd that had gathered about them there, they spoke against Caesar and in behalf of popular rule, saying that they had not slain him from selfish motives, but in order that the people might be free and self-governing. The people became quiet, but did not receive them with enthusiasm, and the conspirators, joined by some who had had no share in the deed, proceeded to the Capitol to pay their vows to the gods.*®^ When they had arrived there, they stationed guards at intervals around the place. For they feared Lepidus and his recently enrolled legion which was on the Tiber island, as well as the consul Antonius and the veterans of Caesar."^ The conspirators had already gone up to the Capitol when three slaves bore Caesar's mangled corpse upon a litter from the curia through the Forum to his residence.*®* To the crowd that thronged the Forum, L. Cornelius Cinna, the praetor, appeared and in full view laid aside his official robe because it had been given him by a tyrant, and proceeded to address the people, calling Caesar a tyrant and his slayers tyrannoctoni. Glorifying their deed, he urged that they be summoned from the Capitol as benefactors and rewarded as such.*®*^ The speech of Cinna was probably too violent to meet the approval of the people. They showed no disposition to act on his suggestion. But when Publius Cornelius Dolabella, the young man who had been designated by »*' That the conspirators halted in the Forum and one or more of them addressed the people before going to the Capitol is expressly stated by Dio (xliv. 21. i ff.). Nor is the account of Dio contradicted, but rather conflrmed, by Appian. who. as MuUer has shown, gives a fragment of a speech then made. The truth is that the Forum was their first objective point when they started from the curia. There they would find the people to whom they were desirous of explaining their deed and whose approval they confidently expected to obtain. It was only when the people did not join them (tou Srjuov 6i ainoU ov irpowt^- n*a/«« and pretended to have been privy to the plot against Caesar and to have been absent from its execution against his will, then the conspirators were summoned from the Capitol by the people, and Brutus and Cassius went down to the Forum alone, according to Appian, accompanied by the gladiators of Decimus Brutus and by slaves, according to the account of Nicolaus of Damascus. \Plutarch states' that all the conspirators descended to the Forutn."^ It seems unlikely that the conspirators should have entirely deserted their stronghold, especially as the troops of Lepidus had probably by that time been posted in the Campus Martins "« in the rear of the Capitoline Hill. How easy it would have been for Lepidus to occupy the Capitol during the absence of Marcus Brutus and his party! Again there was no such danger to Brutus and Cassius alone from the crowd in the Forum as modem writers think. For did not the people request them to come down,"' and had not Dola- bella with impunity just assailed Caesar? At any rate, both Brutus and Cassius addressed the people,"^ Brutus being the principal speaker. They were heard in respectful silence. Neither one, Appian tells us, assumed a humble tone, but spoke of what they had done as something confessedly noble. They praised one another, eulogized the city, and especially commended Decimus because he had fur- nished them with gladiators in good season."^ They also urged the people to imitate the deeds of their ancestors who had destroyed kings that did not rule by force as Caesar did, and to choose their magistrates in accordance with the laws. They advocated the recall of Sextus Pompeius and the tribunes, Caesetius and Marullus, who »•* App ii laa DoUbelU's assumption of the consulship was on the afternoon of the Ides. For Dk) (xHv aa) piacea it before the occupation of the Forum by Lepidus with his troops which occurred during the night of the I5th-i6th or on the early morning of the i6th. And Appian places it before the deKent of the conspirators from the Capitol. It is little probable that the conspirators or their fnends. real or pretended, appeared in the Forum on the i6th, when it was occupied by the hostile troops of Lepidus. How much more natural was it for Dolabella at that time to appear in favor of the conspirators, than after- ward when popular opinion had been inHuenced against them by the active measures of Lepidus and Antonius. «•» App. u. xaa; NIc. Dam. a6; Flut. Cats. 67, BnU. 18. «•• App. u. 118; Dio. xliv. 19. a. '•• Plut. Brut. 18; App. ii. laa. "•App..foc.««.; Nic.Dam.a6; ?lnt. Bna.,loc.cit.,Caes.67. As I have already suted. the descent of Brutus and Cassius from the Capitol and their speeches in the Forum must have occurred on the Idea. Foe so Nicolaus puts it (Schmidt. Die kitten KAmpfe, p. 68x). •»» This is Appian's own reason why they praised Decimus. Brutus and Cassius would not havt been io naive as to give such a reason for commending their fellow-conspirator. DECIMUS' PART IN THE ASSASSINATION 61 had gone into voluntary exile when they had been deprived of their office by Caesar.^^* After their speeches, which were probably not received with the enthusiasm they had anticipated, Brutus and Cassius, not feeling entire confidence in the existing state of affairs, returned to the Capitol.^^* In the evening the friends and relatives of the libera^ tores, and among them Dolabella, Cicero, and other consulares repaired to the Capitol."* There was probably a free discussion of the situation and of what was best to be done. Cicero urged with much vehemence that the praetors, Marcus Brutus and Cassius, immediately call the senate to meet in the Capitol.*^' Some one, probably, also advocated that the liberatores through their influence in the senate, of which they and their friends constituted a majority,^^* carry out the intention, which Suetonius^" tells us they originally had, namely, to have a decree passed commanding Caesar's body to be thrown into the Tiber, his property confiscated, and his acts rescinded. But more moderate counsels prevailed. For the conspirators probably saw that, if the senate passed such an act, it would cause an immediate clash between themselves and their gladiators on one side, and the troops of Lepidus reinforced by the veterans of Caesar on the other. They hoped that the republic might be restored without resort to arms. They did not foresee that Roman society (especially the military element) at that time was too much subject to the corrupt influence of powerful and designing leaders for any such hope to be realized. So, instead of accepting Cicero's advice, they proposed to send commissioners to Antonius, the consul, and Lepidus, Caesar's magister equitum, with a view to the re-establishment of the republic. They wished Cicero to be one of these commissioners, but he refused owing to lack of confi- dence in M. Antonius."® Other consulares "• then went to Antonius and Lepidus to treat with them on behalf of the liberatores for peace, »»• Schelle, Todeshampf, pp. a-5; App. ii. 12a. Frdhlich (De rebus a Caesare occiso. etc., p, 57) puts the descent of Brutus and Cassius to the Forum on the Ides. It was certainly not on the i6th when Lepidus held the Forum. ■»* Nic. Dam. 27; App. ii. 123. »»« App. ii. 123; Dio xliv. 22. i; Cic. AU. xiv. 10. i, Phil. ii. 89. «»» Cic. AU., loc. cit. »»• App. ii. 124, 127. *'* Suet. lul. 83. Suetonius does not say that the conspirators intended that these acts be authorized by the senate. But his language certainly implies such a senatus consuUum involving the damnatio memoriae of the dictator. Cf. Appian's account in chap. 137 of the debate in the senate on the 17th. »»• Qc. PkU. u. 89. «»• Cic, loc. d^. 62 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS the safeguarding of freedom, and the avoidance of bloodshed."® One specific proposition they made as a basis of agreement, namely, that Caesar's appointments to office remain in force.*" They also invited Antonius and Lepidus up to the Capitol to discuss in person the matters proposed."^ Antonius and Lepidus postponed making their reply until the next day."^ They wished to avenge Caesar, acording to Appian, on account of friendship, the obligation of their oaths, or because of their own ambition to rule. They thought that all things would be easier for them, if so many powerful men should be removed at a single stroke. But they feared the friends and relatives of the conspirators and the senate, which was favorable to them, and especially did they fear Decimus Brutus, whom Caesar had chosen governor of Cisalpine Gaul, where there was a large army. They resolved to endeavor to attach this army to their own cause."* Their policy was delay, and this was especially true in the case of Antonius, who as yet had no military force at his back and who wished time to gain over the veterans of Caesar, many of whom were at that time in the city, having come to see Caesar off for the East. We have assumed all along that Decimus Brutus had left the curia with the other conspirators and had remained with them up to the time when the conunissioners returned from Antonius and Lepidus. On the next evening, however, the i6th, Decimus was no longer with his colleagues on the Capitol, but was somewhere else in the city, either at his home or in hiding. For on the morning of the 17th, if Schmidt's dating of the letter (Fam. xi. i) is, as I believe, the correct one,"** Decimus wrote to Marcus Brutus and Cassius, saying, among other things : Heri vesperi apud me Hirtius fuit It remains for us to explain when and why he left them. In this letter certain expressions occur which indicate that, wherever Decimus is, he is authorized to speak for his associates «•• App. ii. 123. •'• Nic. Dam. a?- «•« Nic. Dam. 27. '** Echoed in Fam. xi. i. i. Vid* infra. «•♦ This is Appian 's report (ii. 124) of the motives and aims of Antonius and Lepidus. »•» Schmidt, " Correspondenx Qceros seit Caesars Tode," Jahrb. /. /»*«/., 1884. P- 334- This dating is accepted by Tyrell and Purser (V, p. 217) *nd Abbott, Letters of Cicero, p. 248- But Groebe (Drumann, Ankang, I, pp. 400 ff.) thinks that the letter was written on the morning of the i6th. The only objection that 1 can see to the dating of Schmidt is that there is no mention of the meeting of the senate that took place on the 17th and was in progress at the time Schmidt supposes Decimus to have written. But why should Decimus speak of that which the conspirators on the Capitol would know ? The acts of Caesar had not yet been ratified. The senate had probably at that time come to no conclusion whatever in regard to the issue raised by the death of Caesar, and the debate was still in progress. The letter of Dedmu* decimus' part in THE ASSASSINATION 63 on the Capitol. In the first two sections he gives an account of an interview he has had with Hirtius. Hirtius had reported to him Antonius' disposition toward him and the rest — that it was the worst and most treacherous ; Antonius had said that he could not give him (Decimus) a province, and did not think that any of the conspirators were safe in the city — so excited were the people and soldiers. "Both of these statements I think you understand are false," continues Decimus, "and, as Hirtius showed, this is true, namely, that Antonius is afraid that, if we should obtain even a moderate support for our position, no part would be left for them to play in the state. Being in this difficult situation, I resolved to demand for myself and the rest of us a legatio libera, that some honorable excuse for leaving the city might be found.'* The expression, placitum est mihi tit postularem legationem liheram mihi reliquisque nostris, shows that Decimus is treating with Hirtius, not only for himself, but also in behalf of his confederates. The letter continues : "Hirtius promised to secure for us a legatio libera, but I have no confidence that he will secure it, the general feeling is so overbearing and hostile to us ; and if they do grant our request, I believe that, in spite of it, they will adjudge us enemies or sentence us to exile." In view of his lack of confidence in Antonius and his party, Deci- mus suggests that they go into voluntary exile, and, if the situation improves, they will return to Rome ; while, if the worst comes to the worst, they will have recourse to the last expedient, that is, civil war. But Decimus is against civil war save as a last resort. "Because," he adds, "we have no rallying-point except Sextus Pom- peius and Caecilius Bassus, who, I think, will be strengthened by the news about Caesar. It will be time enough to have recourse to them when we shall know how strong they are. If you and Cassius want me to make any agreement for you, I shall do so; for Hirtius demands this of me. Answer this as soon as possible, for I think shows that Antonius was the power to be reckoned with; and probably when the senate met on the morning of the 1 7lh. Antonius had not definitely decided whether to let Decimu.«! haw his province or not. Antonius was an opportunist and was going to make the best arrangement possible for himself. Again, is it likely that Antonius who had run away in mortal terror at midday and hid himself would have so far recovered his composure by evening as to assume the haughty attitude this letter ascribes to him ? To put this letter, indicating as it does that the conspirators had been reduced to desperate straits, on the morning of the i6th is to contradict the testimony of Nicolaus 17: rfj rt wputrg rffiifta xai Jevrcpf KarairenKtyfitvtav im. tmv Kai'flr«p' « ''hich Cicero says that D. 303. 304. The determining points are: (i) Decimus writes whUe Cicero is stiU in Rome (Ciceri left Rome between the 9th and 20th of October Fa«. xii. 23. a and 4«. xv. X3. i). (2) Cicero answers ^ ram. a. 0. i before he leaves the city. 74 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS The reply to this letter of Decimus is, as Stemkopf has shown, found in Ad jam. xi. 6, paragraph i," xi. 6 being made up of two distinct letters. Cicero's letter, like that of Decimus, is very brief. Its tone of polite formality is such as Cicero would naturally use toward one who had not been among his intimate friends.** He did not give Decimus any assurance that he would do the definite thing requested of him, for the reason that at this time he had not the privilege of free expression in the senate, as he informs us in a similar letter " to Plancus written about the same time. He prob- ably expected Lupus to explain to Decimus the exact situation at Rome. Decimus Brutus, as we learn from this letter, was already in September encamped at Mutina, and Appian's statement^® that he was still in the open country when Antonius entered Cisalpine Gaul — ^a statement absurd on its face — is shown to be false. After Antonius left Rome, October 9," to meet the Macedonian legions at Brundisium, his friends accused and caused to be con- demned a slave named Myrtilus for attempting the life of the consul. They alleged that Myrtilus had been prompted by a bribe from Deci- mus Brutus.®- Antonius himself was probably responsible for this false charge against Decimus, his object being to make him unpopu- lar with the people and thereby lessen the odium that would attend his own projected invasion of Cisalpine Gaul. During the absence of Antonius, Octavianus had been busy col- lecting, by means of large donations, an army of veterans in »» Sternkopf (PhiMogus, LX, pp. a8a ff.) by a convincing argument shows that the course of the first correspondence between Cicero and Decimus is as follows: Bruttis writes F. xi. 4, request for supplicatio — September. Lupus brings thw letter in six dasrs from Mutina to Rome — September. Cicero answers in xi. 6a — September or beginning of October. Cicero leaves Rome — middle of October. Lupus comes to Rome with a new letter of Brutus, not preserved — November. He sends this letter to Cicero, who is out of the dty, and a few days after returns to Brutus without an answer. Cicero returns to Rome — December 9. Cicero writes xi. 5, probably at once — December q. Lupus cdknes again to Rome and confers with Cicero. Cicero writes xi. 7 — middle of December (la?). A courier tuings the edict of Brutus; meeting of the senate; Cicero writes xi. 66 — December 20. Vide also Stemkopf 's article in Hermes, XL (1905). PP- 5ao ff- ** Cf. App., iii. 6a: km Am^ov ILcuiaa^ y^kv ovra. ^t'Aov iitxvtK; which, however, is probably an exaggeration of Appian. »• Fam. X. 2. I. »• Fam. xiii. 23. a. »• App. iii. 49. »• AU. XV. 13. 6, xvi. 11. 6. DECIMUS' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 75 Campania.'' He had even sent his emissaries to anticipate the arrival of Antonius at Brundisium, and win over the Macedonian legions with money and liberal promises, as well as by means of circulars derogatory to the consul.'* These measures had the desired result, and the disaffection toward Antonius was increased by his own niggardliness and brutal acts of discipline."' Octavianus placed himself under the guidance of Cicero and professed a desire to conduct his opposition to Antonius by and with the advice of the senate.'® He was writing frequent letters to Cicero,'^ he had demanded a secret conference with him,'« and had sent a special messenger to ask him whether he should proceed to Rome with his three thousand veterans, or should hold Capua and block the way of Antonius who was marching toward Rome with the legia Alauda^ rum, or should go to meet the three Macedonian legions which were advancing along the Adriatic Sea toward Cisalpine Gaul. Cicero urged him to proceed to Rome. He was of the opinion that Octavianus, if he created confidence, would have the support of the Optimate party,'® and, if his forces were strong, he could have (Decimus) Brutus on his side.*' Octavianus acted on the advice of Cicero; proceeded to Rome; addressed an assembly of the people before the Temple of Castor*^ and Pollux; and reminded them of Caesar and of the wrongs he himself had suffered at the hands of Antonius, on account of which he had collected the force of veterans as a guard. He also declared his readiness in everything to serve and obey his country. Some of the veterans, learning his intention against Antonius, changed their minds and under various pretexts returned to their homes. Octavianus proceeded to the neighborhood of Ravenna, where he enlisted many new recruits and established his headquarters at Arretium.** About the middle of November Antonius returned to Rome, leaving the main body of his troops at Tibur, but bringing a con- " AU. xvi. 8. I, a. (par. i quingenos denarics dot); Att. xvi. 11. 6.; Res gestae Dhn Augusti i i Liv Epit. 117; Dio. xlv. I a. a. »« App. iii. 43, 44; Dio xlv. la. i. " PhU. iii. 4, V. aa. iii. 10, 30, xii. la, xiii. 18; App. ui. 43; of. AU. xvi. 8. a; Dio xlv. 13. i, 3; 3s. 3. »*>!«. xvi. 9. "Xtf. xvi. 8. 1,0. I, 11,6. »»w4tf. xvi. 8. I. S9AU. xvi. 8. a. *o AU. xvi. 9. ♦« In AU. xvi. 15. 3, Cicero writes of this contio. He does not like the speech of Octavianus and is not ready to declare himself for him till he learns his attitude toward Casca's candidacy for the tribunate Casca was one of the slayers of Caesar. «» App. iii. 41. 4a; Dio. xlv. la. 4 ff. For Octavianus* professed desire to obey the senate vid. App. iii. 48. 76 DECIMUS JUNIUS ^RUTUS ALBINUS siderable number into the city to serve as his personal guard and to overawe the senate and the people.*' He ordered a meeting of the senate for November 24, to lay before that body the conduct of Octavianus, but he himself failed to attend and adjourned the sitting until November 28.** Meantime to Tibur, whither he had returned, a number of knights, senators, and plebeians repaired and swore to be loyal to him.** On November 28 Antonius was again in Rome, having called a meeting of the senate for that day on the Capitol.*' He had prepared a motion to restrain Octavianus,*^ but it seems that he did not lay it before the house. While the senate was in session he received news that the fourth legion, under the quaestor, L. Egnatuleius, had deserted his standard. The Martian legion, under D. Carfulenus, had already abandoned him, turned from its north- ward march along the east coast toward the west, and encamped at Alba near Rome ready to unite with Octavianus. The fourth legion had now joined the Martian at Alba.*® At the news of this, Antonius hastily caused the praetorian provinces not yet assigned to be dis- tributed by lot,*» left the city by night for Tibur, and hurried thence with his "mutilated army" to Cisalpine Gaul.'^® At Ariminum he could still count on four veteran legions, the legio Alaudarum, two Macedonian legions (II and XXXV), and another Macedonian legion, which, under the leadership of Lucius Antonius, was on its way to join him.*^^ In addition to these, he had his bodyguard, auxiliary troops, and recruits.''^ Decimus Brutus meantime had received letters from members of the senate urging him to keep a strong hold on his province, and to collect additional men and money to resist Antonius.**' To this effect Cicero wrote on his return to Rome, December 9."* In this letter written in reply to one from Decimus, now lost, which he had received while absent from Rome, Cicero says: Si enim iste pro- « App. iii. 45, 50, 5a; Phil. xiii. 19. ♦• Phil. iii. ig, ao, ai. ♦» App. iii. 46; PhU. xiii. 19: Rediit ai milUes; ibi pesti/era ilia Tiburi contio; Dio xlv. 13. 5. *' PhU. iii. ao; quod in teniplum ipse nescio qua per Gallorum cuniculum ascendit. *» Phil. xiii. 19: parata de circumscribendo adulescente setUentia consularis. «• PhU. xiii. 19; iii. 7; Dio xlv. 13. 3, 4. **PhU. iii. a4. »• Non. MarceU. 539. 3; PhU. xiii. ao; iii. 31. »» App. iii. 46; PhU. iii. 31. Cf. Schwartz, p. 227, n. 4. What I have said above is in accordance with the testimony of Apinan. But Groebe (Drumann, I, pp. 434, 440) thinks that one of the five Mace- donian legions that fell to Antonius in the arrangement between him and DoUbella was left in Macedonia, and that this legion is the one referred to in Phil. x. 13: Legio, quam L. Piso ducebat Ugatus Antoni, Ciceroni se filio meo tradidit. At any rate, Antonius had in all six legions at Mutina {PhU. viii. 25). »« App., loc. cU. M App. iii. 27; cf. 3a, 33. i* Fam. xi. 5. decimus' administration of cisalpine GAUL 77 vinciam nactus erit, cut quidem ego semper amicus fui, ante quam ilium intellexi non modo aperte sed etiam libenter cum re p. helium gerere, spem reliquam nullam video salutis.^^ Cicero also renews his assurance that he will support in the senate Decimus' claims to honor and distinction.*® Decimus Brutus had not been idle. After his campaign with the Inalpini he had raised a legion of recruits," and thus shown his intention of resisting the claims of Antonius to his province." As soon as he learned that Antonius had left Rome and was hurrying with his army toward Cisalpine Gaul, he probably wrote to Cicero urging him to secure the passage of a senatus consultum confirming his right to his province and authorizing him to hold it by force of arms." It was to this letter, now lost, that Cicero replied in Fam, xi. 7,«« written not later than December 12. Cicero urges Decimus not to wait for the authorization of the senate in preserving the liberty and safety of the Roman people— for the senate is not yet free to deliberate. He entreats Decimus not to condemn his act on the Ides of March. The freeing of his country then was all the more glorious because it was done nullo publico consilio. He cites the example of the young Caesar who had espoused the public " xi. 5. 3. »• Fam. xi. s- 3- " App. iii. 49; PhU. v. 36. s« Fam. xi. 7. 3. w This seems a fair inference from Fom.xi. 7. a: Caput auUm est hoc .... ut ne in libertale et salute popuh Romant conseruanda auctoritattm senatus exspectes nondum liberi. This inference Ls also supported by the testimony of Appian (iii. 49): ' f^^vtioviov «' aurw irpo6ea^iav bpiCovrot fitB' riv i>s noXcfiitf XPnwrai, ^axpoTipav o Ae*Mios; and, Voluntas senatus pro auctorUate haberi debet, cum auctoritas impeditur metu; and also ita animaius debes esse, non ut nihU facias nisi iussus sed, etc. v •• That Fam. xi. 7 was written before December 20 has been established both by Ruete (p. 38) and at greater length, by Stemkopf (PhUologus, LX, pp. 282 S.). The considerations presented by them may be briefly sunimarized as follows: (i) It would have been idle for Cicero to urge Brutus to hold his province, privato consUio, when the latter's edict announcing his intention to do that very thing was akeady known in Rome. (2) On or after December 20, Cicero could not have written, Caput autem est hoc .... ut ne in libertate et salute populi Romani consenTeU and Purser think. For, if we assume, as T. and P. do, that Fam. xi. 6. i (which, following Stemkopf, I think is a separate letter by itself) were written Decem- ber ao, it is inconceivable that Cicero should have had a conference with Lupus and others at hLs house on the morning after the arrival of Lupus, and should have written Decimus about that conference, mention- ing the fact that it had been caUed at the instance of Lupus, and then in a subsequent letter to Decimus {Fam. xi. 6. i), on the evening of the following day. should have taken pains to announce the arrival of Lupus in Rome. Hence Fam. xi. 7 was probably written several days before December 20. 78 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS cause privato consilio, and of the legions that had revolted from the consul and by their act declared him a public enemy. He should accept the will of the senate as authorization so long as fear kept it from declaring itself. Finally, he had twice committed himself, first on the Ides of March and again, recently, by the raising of a new army and new forces. He should do that which he knew would be approved and not wait for the senate's bidding. When Cicero wrote this spirited letter he probably had in mind Brutus' conservatism and his regard for constitutional forms —respect for which, paradoxical as it may seem, had drawn him into the plot against Caesar, and now justified him in resisting Antonius. For the plehiscitum and the lex of June which had been voted per vim in favor of Antonius and Dolabella, whereby Antonius obtained the imperium in the Gauls, and Dolabella in Syria, for six years beginning with 44, while they did not abrogate the lex Antonia de actis Caesaris, yet violated it, and therefore marked the beginning of the revolution that culminated in the bloody Second Triumvirate. Accordingly, when Decimus Brutus refused to recognize the imperium maius of Antonius in Cisalpine Gaul, it was, strictly speaking, a counter-revolutionary movement and not, as Scharwtz" maintains, the continuation of the revolution inau- gurated by the young Caesar. Antonius probably on his arrival at Ariminum demanded of Decimus the surrender of his province." Decimus refused and issued an edict saying, se provinciam retenturum in senatus popu- lique Romani potestate^* The date of this edict was probably December 15, since it was published in Rome on the morning of the 20th.«* For that day the tribunes had called a meeting of the senate to propose measures for the safety of the consuls-elect and of the senate on January i." Cicero had determined not to be present at the sitting, but, when he heard of the bold stand Decimus had taken, he resolved not to miss the opportunity of urging the senate to place •« Hermes. i8g8, p. 104. n. 5. Schwartz sa3fs: "Sdn einziges ArRumem is», daas das Gesrtz und das Plebisat, auf welchen ea beruht. gegen das S.C.Qber die acta Caesaris verstiessen und per vim rogirt seien/ Schwarts seems to have overlooked or disregarded the Ux de actis Caesaris confirmandis, expressly men- tkmed by Qcero (Phil. v. 10). •• App. iii. 40. That Antonius bade Decimus to go to Macedonia, as Appian says. is. of course. Use •« PhU. iii. 8. It is impossible to say whether or not Cicero's letter ad Pam. zi. 7 had reached Ded- mus before he issued his edict. **Pam. xi. 6. a; cf. Pam. jd. 6. i. **Pam. xi. 6. a; PkU. iu. 13, as. DECIMUS' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 79 the stamp of approval upon it. A full senate assembled when it became known that Cicero had gone to the curia.** The orator delivered his third Philippic, in which he justified the conduct of the two legions which had deserted Antotjius, and the action of Octavianus and Decimus Brutus, by the argument that Antonius was virtually no longer consul.®^ The senate adopted all of the motions that Cicero advocated.*® These were : ( i ) That the consuls- elect should provide that the senate might convene in safety on January i. (2) That it was the opinion of the senate that Decimus Brutus by his edict deserved well of the state, since he was defend- ing the authority of the senate and the liberty and majesty of the Roman people.** (3) That, in keeping the province of Gallia Citerior and its army under the control of the senate, Decimus Brutus, his army, the municipia, and the colonies of the province of Gaul had acted and were acting properly, regularly, and in accord- and with the welfare of the state.^® (4) That it was the decision of the senate that Decimus Brutus, Lucius Plancus, and others who held provinces should retain them, in accordance with the lex lulia, until by a senatus consultum their successors should be appointed, and that they should see to it that those provinces and their armies continued to obey the senate and Roman people and to defend the republic.^* (5) That the consuls-elect should as soon as possible lay before the senate the matter of honors and rewards for C. Caesar, the legio Martia, and the legio IV, because of their services to the commonwealth.''* After the meeting of the senate Cicero delivered to a large assembly of the people an impassioned speech (the fourth Philippic), in which he declared that, while Antonius had not been designated by the senate a public enemy in word, he had already been so adjudged in fact.'" After this contio, late in the day, probably, Cicero wrote to Decimus, paragraphs 2 and 3 of Fam. xi. 6, in which he speaks of Decimus' edict and of his godlike services to the state, of the meeting of the senate and the contio, and at the end he gives Decimus assurance of zealous support in all things that pertain to his ofiicial position. ** Pam. xi. 6. a, 3; xii. ai. 3. •» Phil. iii. 6. la. 14. ** Stemkopf, pp. 284 ff.; Phil. iii. 37 ff. ♦• PhU. iv. 8, V. a8. »• Phil. iv. 9; V. a8; x. 23. »' Fam. xii. 2a. 3; xii. 25. 2. »• Phil. iv. a-6, 3, 4. a8; x. a3. »* Pkti. iv. I. 8o DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS We have already noted the arrival of Decimus at Mutina. On learning of the approach of Antonius, he hastily collected supplies, slaughtered and salted cattle, and closed the gates of the town, antici*^ pating a protracted siege. With his force of three legions (only one of which had seen much service) and a handful of gladiators he did not venture to meet Antonius in the open field.^* Besides, he probably preferred to have Antonius assume the offensive, so that it might be made clear that he was defending his province against the consul who was seeking unlawfully to wrest it from him. Antonius probably appeared before the walls of the city about December 20, and began the construction of a moat and trench around the place.^* A meeting of the senate was held on January i under the new consuls, Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa. The consuls laid before the senate the state of the republic and the matter of granting rewards to the young Caesar and to the two legions that had deserted Antonius.*^* Other consulares were called upon for their opinion before Cicero." Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the first, pro- posed that commissioners be sent to Antonius to bring about peace if possible, between him and the senate.^* Cicero in his fifth Philip- pic opposed the motion of Sulpicius, and after a bitter invective against Antonius moved: (i) That a tumultus be decreed, a iustitium proclaimed, the saga be put on, and that exemption from service be removed and levies be held in all Italy except Gaul. (2) That the senatus consultum ultimum be adopted,'* and that it be decreed that those who were in the army of Antonius, if they left it before February i, should be pardoned. (3) That Decimus Brutus be praised for retaining the province of Gaul in obedience to the senate and Roman people, and for having raised so large an army with the aid of the municipia and the colonies of Gaul.«® (4) That the senate and people express their confidence in M. Lepidus for his loyal services to the state, and that a gilded equestrian statue be erected to him on the rostra, or wherever else in the Forum he might wish it." (5) That Gaius Caesar be given the rank of a »* App. B. C. iii. 40. " PkU. V. 24. Antonius had not reached Mutina on the 15th. and the news of his ha>-ing laid Mege to the place was in Rome before January 1, 43. App. iii. 49. »* Lange, iii. p. 520; PkU. v. »8. " PkU. V. s; Lange (III, p. 522) names Q. Fufius Calenus. P. ServiHus Isauricus. and Servius Sul- piaus Rufus. »• PhU. V. i; ix. 4. 9. »• Pka. V. 31, 34. •• PhU. V. 36. •« PkU. ▼. 40. 41. decimus' administration of cisalpine GAUL 81 propraetor, that he be voted into the senate inter praetorios, and that as a candidate for the magistracy he should be in the position of those who had held the quaestorship for the previous year (44).** (6) That L. Egnatuleius, the commander of the legio IV, be allowed to sue for, take, and hold the magistracies three years before the legal time ; *' that lands be granted to the veterans who had deserted Antonius ; that exemption from military service, except in case of a Gallic or Italian tumultus, be voted to them and their children; and that the two legions which had deserted Antonius be given their discharge at the end of the war and be paid the money promised them b} C. Caesar.®* All these motions, save the first two, in regard to the tumultus and the senatus consultum ultimum, were adopted on January 3. The one in regard to the young Caesar, however, was modified so that he was given the privilege of expressing his opinion in the senate among the consular es.^^ To the other honors voted him were added, on the motion of his stepfather, L. Marcius Philippus, an equestrian statue.** On the 4th,*' owing to the influence of the friends and relatives of Antonius and the consulares other than Cicero, the senate, against the latter's earnest protest, voted to send ambassadors to Antonius with instructions that he should abstain from attacking the consul designate, from besieging Mutina, from devastating the province, and from holding levies, and that he should submit to the senate and people.®® The senate further demanded that he should withdraw with his army from Cisalpine Gaul across the Rubicon, but that he should not bring it within two hundred Roman miles of the city.®* The ambassadors were instructed to proceed to Decimus Brutus and his soldiers, and assure them that their services were appreciated and would be rewarded by the senate and the people.*® It was decreed that, if Antonius did not yield to the demands of the ambassadors, the saga would be assumed, and it would be considered that Antonius had declared •» PkU. V. 46. »3 PkU. V. 52. 84 PhU. V. S3. •s PkU. vii. 10, II, I4-, xi. ao; Res gestae i. U. 3-5, and p. 3 (Mommsen); Dio xlvi. 29. a, 3; Veil, ii. 61. 3; Ad Brut. i. 15. 7. •* i4(/ Brut., loc. cU.\ Dio xlvi. 39. 2; App. iii. 51, 66. *i PkU. vi. 3. On the first three days of January the senate sided with Cicero against the proposition to send ambassadors {PkU. vii. 14). But the tribune, Salvius, according to Appnan adjourned the debate on the question whether an ambassador should be sent or a tumultus declared. •• PkU. vi. 4. »» PkU. vi. s. •• PkU. vi. 6. \ 82 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS war upon the Roman people." It was also voted that, in the mean- time, the consuls, one or both, should depart for the seat of trouble, that levies be held throughout Italy, that exemptions be withdrawn,' and that all preparations be made for war."- At this meeting of the senate, too, on the motion of Lucius Caesar, the lex agraria of Lucius Antonius, which had been passed in June to win over the veterans to his brother, the consul, was repealed." On the afternoon of the same day Cicero delivered to the people his sixth Philippic, in which he criticized the lukewarm conduct of the senate in sending ambassadors to a "gladiator," •* assured his hearers that Antonius would never obey its commands,'"* and urged upon them the necessity of aiding Decimus Brutus, of collecting troops everywhere, and of avoiding the crime of delay.»« Cicero consoled himself, however, with the reflection that the legati would return within twenty days, and then his opinion would be unanimously accepted. The three consiilares ""^ who composed the embassy, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, L. Calpurnius Piso, and L. Marcius Philippus," departed from Rome on the morning of January 5.»» Soon after their departure, the consul, Hirtius, who was still physically weak from long illness, having been chosen by lot to take command in the field, set out with a small troop of veterans to reinforce Octavianus and carry relief to Decimus. Pansa remained at home to superin- tend the levies.^oo To Octavianus at Spoletium ^^ in Umbria the news came that the imperium had been conferred on him by the senate. He marched thence to Forum Comelium"* on the via Aemilia in Cisalpine Gaul, having been joined by Hirtius at Ariminum.*®* On January 24, Cicero having been asked by Paula, the wife of Decimus Brutus, if he had any communication for the latter wrote ^«* him that nothing had as yet been heard from the legati, •« PhU. vi. 0. and vii. II, 36; Fam. xii. 24. 2. •» PhU. vii. n ff. •» Groebe's Dnimann. I, Anhang, pp. 424 f.; PhU. vi. 14. •* Pl**i- vi. 3. •' PkU. vi. 0. «• pifii ij5 , •JPW. vi. 5. 07 PkU. viii. ,7; xiu. ao. ••PhU. ix. 9. «-PAi/.vii.i2;xiv.4.s. For the illness of Hirtius t^ Fa«. xu. 23. a. The nucleus of Hirtius' for« was made up of veterans who had deserted from the second and thirty-fifth Macedonian legions. Phil. v. 53; vui. 5; Consukm . ... cum cxercUu misimus. »•' PKn. N. H. xi. (73) 100; C. /. L., I, p. 383; xii. 4333. «•• Fam. xii. s. a; a: Dio xlvi. 35. 4-7. »•* Non. 230. 24 and Groebe's Drumann. I, p. 452. im Fam. xi. 8. DECIMUS' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 83 and that all were waiting in suspense for news from them. He told Decimus, however, of the deep concern of the senate and the people for his safety and honor, of the wonderful affection for his name and unique love for himself which everybody felt, and of the confident expectation that he would this time free the state from the kingdom as he had already freed it from the king. He added that a levy was being held in Rome and throughout Italy, if it should be called a levy, when all voluntarily presented them- selves. In Philippic vii, delivered toward the end of January, we have a similar testimony to the zeal of the people in enrolling their names for service, of the municipia in furnishing men and pledging money, and of individuals in equipping soldiers for the cause.*®* In this speech Cicero showed the dishonor, danger, and the impossi- bility of peace with Antonius.*®* The people seemed to realize this, and there is no doubt that there was a genuine feeling of hostility toward Antonius and a corresponding sympathy for Decimus Brutus. The ambassadors, whose leader, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, had died in Antonius' camp before Mutina,*®' did not return until Feb- ruary i.*®8 Antonius, instead of obeying the mandate of the senate, made counter-proposals and would not permit the legati to pass through his lines to inform Decimus Brutus of the senate's decree in his honor.*®* He showed them the damage wrought by his engines to the town and the extent of his siege works, and did not suffer his attack to lag a moment while they were present.**® Yet he seems to have been willing to make one concession, namely, to give up all claims to Cisalpine Gaul. His demands were:*** (i) that the senate make grants of land to his soldiers, and that those having obtained lands from him and Dolabella be permitted to retain them; (2) that the decrees of himself and his colleague remain in force ; (3) that no account be taken of the money he had drawn from the Temple of Ops : (4) that his lex iudiciaria be not repealed ; (5) that Gallia Comata, with the six legions there brought up to their full complement by soldiers drawn from the army of Deci- mus Brutus, be granted him for five years, that is, until the end of the proconsular imperium of M. Brutus and Cassius. When '•J Phil. vii. 13, 23, 24; Dio xlvi. 31. 4. io6 PkU. vii. 9. 107 PhU. ix. 1,2. ••• Fam. xii. 4. I. Cf. Fam. x. 28. t, 2 and Ganter, "ChronoloKische Untersuchungen zu Ciceros Bnefen an M. Brutus u. Philippischen Reden." Jahrb. f. PhU., CXLIX, pp. 613 ff. '•• ^**- viii. 21. «»«» PhU. viii. 20. i«« PhU. viii. 25 Jo 27. 84 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS the senate met on February 2,"^ a motion to send other legati to Antonius to continue the negotiations for peace was lost."' Cicero moved that a bellum be decreed, involving as it did the declaration that Antonius was a hostis. But the substitute motion of L. Caesar, that a tutnultus be voted and the saga assumed on the 4th, pre- vailed."* It was also decreed on February 3 "'^ on the motion of Cicero, that those soldiers who should leave Antonius by March i should be pardoned. But if anyone save L. Varius Cotyla should go to Antonius, he should be considered to have acted contra rem puhlicam.^^^ It was probably on February 2 that the senatus consultum ulti- mum was passed.*" About this time also the decree commanding Lepidus and L. Munatius Plancus to march into Italy to the aid of the consuls and Octavianus was adopted."® On the 3rd Pansa read in the senate a dispatch from his col- league, Hirtius, to the effect that the latter had expelled the garri- son at Claterna and occupied the place."' In a letter to Cassius, written soon after February 4,^*0 Cicero says : "The decision in the whole war seems to rest on Decimus Brutus, and if he, as I hope, has broken out of Mutina, apparently there will be nothing left of the war. Quite small is the force that is besieging him now, for Antonius holds Bononia with a strong garrison. Moreover, Hirtius is at Claterna,"* Caesar near Forum Comelium, both with reliable troops. Pansa has collected a large force at Rome from his levy. Up to this time the winter has prevented action. Hirtius, if we may judge from his frequent letters, will be careful in everything he does. Except Bononia, Regium Lepidi, and Parma, we are in control of all Gaul, which is thoroughly loyal. The Transpadani isa "• Phil. viii. 1; Phil. viii. was delivered February 3 (cf. 2. 6 and Nonius, p. 538); Ganter, p. 616. "» Phil. viii. II, ao. Q. Fufius Calenus was the author. "*Phil. viu. I, a, 6. "»viii. 3a. "^ Phil. viii. 33. "I Res gestae 1. 6.; Dio xlvi. 31. a. Mommsen, in his edition of the Res gestae, p. 4, is probably in error in assuming that this decree was a month earlier. »»• Dio xlvi. 2Q. 6; Fam. x. 33.1. Lange (III, p. 536) considers that this S. C. was passed after the news of the battle of Mutina had reached Rome. But at this time Plancxis was already on his way to Italy. Vide Fam. x. 9. 3; x. 11. a and lullien, Fondaieur de Lyon, p. 49. ««• PhU. viii. 6. »•• Fam. m.. s. For the date vide Ganter, Jahrb. f. Phil.. CXLIX, pp. 613 If. <» According to Appian (iii. 65), Hirtfus, having the chief command, obtained the two legions that had deserted Antonius. "■ Cf. PhU. xii. 10. Patavini alios exclmseruHt, alios eiecerutU missos ab Antonio; pecunia, militibus, tt quod maxime de-erat, armis nostras duces adiuverunt. decimus' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 8s too, your clients, are wonderfully attached to our cause. The senate is most resolute except the consulares, of whom only L. Caesar is reliable and upright. We have lost a tower of strength by the death of Servius Sulpicius. The rest are deficient, some in energy, others in principle. Some envy the fame of those who they see have won approval in the government. But there is a wonderful unanimity among the people at Rome and throughout Italy." A similar account of the situation is given in the tenth Philippic,*^^ which was delivered shortly before this letter was written.^** Cicero expected too much of Decimus Brutus. For probably the larger part of Antonius' forces — he had six legions ^^^ besides his praetorian cohort and cavalry — remained before the walls of Mutina. And even if Decimus who had only one veteran legion and two of recruits,^^® had been able to break through the strong circumvallation of Antonius, he would most likely have been crushed by the com- bined forces of his opponent before effecting his escape.^*^ Cicero, in his picture of the situation in Italy, fails to take account of Ven- tidius Bassus with his three legions, two of which he had raised for Antonius, probably in the previous year, among the veterans of Caesar colonized in Campania, and the third, in the Picene country, in the early part of 43.^*® In the beginning of March, Ventidius was reported to have arrived at Ancona.^^' In the latter part of February Titus Munatius Plancus in the service of Antonius was defeated and forced out of PoUentia by Pontius Aquila, a legatus of Decimus Brutus.*'® Decimus himself, in Mutina, had repelled the assaults of Antonius with vigor.*'* The secret agents of the latter, sent into the city to corrupt his men, Decimus detected and arrested. Anto- itj Paragraph lo. «»» Phil. viii. 25. «■< Cf. Gnater, loc. cit. "« Fam. x. 33. 4. i*r Bononia, where the magnum praesidium was, was only twenty-five Roman miles from Mutina, and L. Antonius, at Parma, was only thirty-five Roman miles distant from Mutina. "• App. iii. 66. Cf. Schmidt, "P. Ventidius Bassus" (Philohgus, LI, pp. 198 ff.), and Bodewig, De proeliis apud Mutinam commissis, pp. 9 ff. <*« Phil. xii. 33. March 8 is the latest terminus for the delivery of Philippic xii (Ruete, p. 45). For the appointment of the second embassy to Antonius, which probably took place the day before the speech was delivered (certainly not more than two days before; of. xii. i ff. and 7), is mentioned in the letter of Antonius to Hirtius and Caesar {Phil. xiii. 36) which was brought to Rome March ao. The terminus post quem is February 33 {Phil. xii. 24). Philippic xi, then, must be dated somewhat earlier than Schmidt puts it, as Rente has shown. >*• Dio xlvi. 38. 3; PhU. xi. 14 (cf. PhU. xiii. S7). Schmidt {De epist. et a Cassia et ad Cassium pp. 34-37) thinks that the terminus ante quem of PhU. xi. was March 7. •»« Dio xlvi. 36. I. Cf. PhU. viiL 17, ao. 86 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS nius had already by the end of January surrounded the town with works, and cut off communication with the outside world. Starva- tion seemed the only feasible method of reducing the besieged to submission. In the beginning of March Cicero's anxiety for the safety of Decimus had become so great that he even allowed himself to be named a member of the new peace commission of five consulares that the senate voted to send to Antonius."* But this action of the senate proved unpopular in the city, and Cicero, after reflecting that it would be a confession of weakness on the part of the govern- ment at Rome, appeared in the senate the next day, and, in the twelfth Philippic, pleaded that he along with the consul Pansa and others had been deceived "' by the false hopes of peace held out by the friends of Antonius, and urged the folly and inexpediency of such an embassy, and especially the impossibility of his being a member of it. The consequence was that the embassy never left the city. From the letter of Antonius which Cicero incorporates in the thirteenth Philippic, it appears that Antonius had made overtures to Hirtius and Caesar, probably for the purpose of forming a com- pact with them without regard to the senate. Hirtius and Caesar wrote back that there could be no peace unless Decimus Brutus were either released or aided with provisions. They also referred in their letter to the fact that the senate had appointed legati to Antonius."* The latter replied in a scornful letter taunting Hirtius and Octa- vianus for acting with the Pompeians and the enemies of the dictator, after they had received so many favors at his hands."*^ The meeting of the senate at which this letter was read was held on March 20."« Perhaps Hirtius and Caesar were goaded to action by this stinging epistle which they received about the middle of March. For they now became alarmed for fear that Decimus, owing to the straits to which he was reduced for lack of food, might make terms with Antonius."^ Accordingly, Caesar left his camp at Forum Comelium, joined Hirtius at Clatema, and together they marched toward Bononia."* On their approach the garrison »»• PhU. xii. I, 3, 17 ff. us PkU. xiH. 22 ff. »»3 PhU. xii. 1, a, 7. "« PhU. xiii. 7 ff.. so and Fam. x. 6. 1. *i*PhU. jdii. 34, 36. «J»Dio xlvi. 36. a; App. iii. 65. **• That Hirtius and Caesar did not winter together as Appian states, is shown by Cicero {Fam. xii. 5. a): erat an/em Clatemae nosttr Hirtius, ad Forum Comelium Caesar .... Hiempsadhuc rem geri ^hibuerat, whose statement is confirmed by Dio xlvi. 35. 7. DECIMUS' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 87 of Antonius abandoned the place; Hirtius and Caesar took it and proceeded on their march toward Mutina. They put to flight some cavalry of Antonius that had turned to face them; but when they came to the river Scultenna, about five Roman miles from Mutina, they found the bridge guarded by a strong detachment of Antonius' troops, and there they halted.^'® Wishing to indicate their presence to Decimus, they signalled to him by means of beacons lighted in the tops of the tallest trees. When these were not understood, they sent swimmers across the river in the night with letters written on thin plates of lead and fastened to their arms.^*® These messengers, it must be assumed, swam the river either above or below the place where the troops of Antonius were stationed and thus found their way past the sentinels of Antonius into the town.^*^ Hirtius and Decimus also made use of carrier pigeons to communicate with each other.^** Some relief was brought to the destitute condition of the besieged by means of salt and cattle floated down the river to a point from which they could be conveyed unnoticed into the town.^*' The extremity to which Decimus Brutus and his men were reduced for want of provisions caused disquiet at Rome. In two letters written about the end of March, one to Cassius,^** the other to M. Brutus,^**^ Cicero gives an idea of the desperate straits in which Decimus was. In the letter to M. Brutus, Cicero says : "At the time I write this, the situation is thought to have reached a crisis ; for gloomy letters and reports are being brought from our Brutus." He goes on to say that he is not especially alarmed by these reports ; that he has confidence in the armies and generals of the senate; he does not agree with the majority of people, for he does not find fault with the fidelity of the consuls, which is very much under suspicion. He does desire in some things foresight and «»• Dio xlvi. 36. 3; Front. Strateg. iii. 13. 7. The Scultenna (Scoltenna) is the western tributary of the Panaro (cf. Gardthausen ii. i. pp. 37 f.). Apinan (iii. 73) speaks of " bridges," but it is not likely that the via Aemilia crossed the Scultenna by more than one bridge. lie Dio xlvi. 36. 4, s; Front. Strateg. iii. 13. 7; Plin. N. H. x. 37. no. <«< The assumption of Paulus (p. 34) and Gardthausen (ii. i. p. 38) that the Scultenna originally flowed beneath the walls of Mutina in the bed of what b now the eastern tributary of the Secchia, and has since changed its course, seems strange and difiEicult. It is true that the account of Frontinus convejm the imiH«ssion that the Scultenna flowed close by the town of Mutina, though it does not distinctly say so. But if the troops of Hirtius and Caesar were encamped just across the river from Mutina, why was it neces- sary to signal their presence to the besieged from the tops of the tallest trees (Dio xlvi. 36. 4) ? »♦• Front. Strateg. iii. 13, 8; Plin. N. H. x. no. *** Fam. xii. 6. •« Front. Strateg. iii. 14. 3, 4. »♦» Ad Brut. ii. 1. 88 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS haste, and if they (the consuls) had shown these qualities, they would long before have restored the free state. In the letter to Cassius, written a little later, he seems to have received more definite news from Decimus. "Brutus," he says,"« "is holding out with difficulty now; if he has been saved, we have already con- quered; but if — may the gods avert the omen! — you and Marcus Brutus are the last refuge of all." ^*^ From the first letter quoted it seems that the long delay of the consuls in making any effort to relieve Decimus caused their loyalty to be called into question. They certainly were singularly slow in bringing aid to Decimus, whose long and heroic defense of Mutina against overwhelming odds affords proof enough of his courage and fortitude as well as of his skill as a commander. But the siege was not to last much longer. For on March 19 "» Pansa left Rome with the new levies, consisting of four legions of recruits,"' to reinforce his colleague, Hirtius, and the young Caesar. To avoid Ventidius, who was watching for the consul at Ariminum or Fanum, Pansa marched along the ina Cassia "® by way of Faesulae toward Bononia. Hirtius sent Galba a hundred miles on the way to meet him and bid him hurry to the rescue. In the night of April 13-14, Hirtius, who was expecting Pansa to arrive in his camp on the next day, also sent D. Carfulenus with the Martian legion and two praetorian cohorts to conduct him and his recruits safely thither.*" There had already been numerous cavalry skirmishes, and Antonius, anxious for a decisive engagement before the arrival of Pansa, had appeared in battle array before the camp of Hirtius and Caesar. They did not show fight, however, as they were determined to wait for reinforcements."* Consequently, Antonius marched with two veteran legions II and XXXV, to cut oflF Pansa, supposing that he would meet only raw recruits."* He awaited the approach of Pansa at Forum Gallorum, eight miles from Mutina, and having repulsed him, was himself defeated by Hirtius on the same ««* Pom. xii. 6. a. »«» Ci.Ad Brut. ii. a. a. (April xi): Est enim spes omiUs in Bruto exptdiendo, de quo vthementer time- «♦• Pam. xii. 3$- »■ Quinquatribus frequenH senatu .... Pansa tuas litteras recitavU, and Phtl. xiii. i6: Caesar confecit imvictum txercitum; duo Jortisrimi consults adsumt cum copUs. «<• Pam. X. 30. 1. »»• PkU. jriu. aj; Schmidt, "P. Ventidius Baisu*," PkUoUgus, LX, pp. aos f. »»» Pam. X- 30. I. ««• App. iii. 6s; Dio xlvi. 37. 1-3. tw Pam. z. 30. 4. 5. decimus' administration of cisalpine GAUL 89 ground and forced to retreat to his camp at Mutina."* While this battle was going on at Forum Gallorum, L. Antonius, at Mutina, made an attack on the camp of Hirtius and Caesar, but was repulsed by the latter.^"* These several engagements were fought on April 14,"® and the news of them reached Rome on the 20th."^ Three days before this news came there were rumors to the eflfect that Antonius had been victorious; whereupon his partisans planned to take possession of the Capitol, the Forum, and the gates of the city. They spread the report that Cicero intended to assume the fasces as consul, and, according to Cicero himself, they plotted to kill him as a tyrant because of his alleged intention to usurp the consulship. But P. Apuleius, on April 20, got up a counter- demonstration on behalf of Cicero, in which a large assembly of the people declared its confidence in the patriotism of the orator. Within two or three hours thereafter came the joyful news of the victory and the dispatches of the republican generals. There was then another demonstration of the people, who in a vast throng conducted Cicero to the Capitol and thence to the Forum, where he responded in a speech to their expressions of good will and shouts of congratu- lation."® On the next day the senate met and, on the motion of Cicero, decreed that a monument be erected to the slain; that the rewards promised them be paid to their heirs ; that there be suppli- cationes of fifty days in honor of the two consuls and of Octavianus, who were all three to be designated as imperatores; and that the promises already made to the soldiers be renewed.^*' The substance of Appian's report of the events after the battle of Forum Gallorum is as follows : After his defeat at Forum Gal- lorum, Antonius determined to avoid a pitched battle and to harass the enemy by cavalry skirmishes until Decimus, exhausted by want »»« PkU. xiv. a7. «»s PhU. xiv. as. 37; Pam. x. 30; Dio xlvi. 37; App. iu. 67 flF. «»• Oy\d, Fasti iv. 6ai ff.; C. /. L. x. 8375, with Mommsen's discussion in Hermes (i88a.) pp. 635 f. Mommsen and Holzapfel (Jahrb. f. Phil., i8q4. pp. 400 f.) endeavor to show that the date of the battle given in the MSS of Pam. x. 30. i,a.d. XVII Kal. Mai., is the correct date, and that the passage in Ovid refers only to the battle fotight by Octavianus in defense of the camp before Mutina, and fixes the date of that battle as April 14. But they must assume that the young Caesar fought two battles, one on the 14th and the other on the 15th; whereas Cicero, who had the official reports of the consuls and of the young Caesar himself (Phil. xiv. ai), ascribes only one battle to him (Phil. xiv. 6 and a8). Or they must assume that Cicero was nmrij mistaken when he put the battle fought by Caesar on the same day as the battles in which Pansa and Hirtius took part. But Cicero could not have made this mistake with the official dispatches in his hands. •ST Ad Brut. i. 3. a. «s« PkU. xiv. 14-16; Ad. Brut. i. 3. a. »»• PkU. xiv. 14, 34 ff.; Dio xlvi. 38. i. a. 90 DECniUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS of food, should surrender. When Hirtius and Caesar, who on account of Decimus' situation were anxious for a decisive engage- ment, appeared in battle array before his camp, Antonius did not respond to the challenge. Hirtius and Caesar then proceeded toward the other side of the town, which was not so well guarded because naturally difficult of approach, with the idea of forcing an entrance from that quarter. Antonius attacked them with his cavalry only. The cavalry of Hirtius and Caesar halted to receive that of Antonius, while the rest of their army proceeded on its way around the town. Antonius, fearing that the town would be released from his g^sp, led out two of his legions. The forces of Hirtius and Caesar turned and gave battle, and Antonius called his other legions from their camps. These legions, owing to the suddenness of the summons and the distance, were slow in coming to the relief, and so the troops of Caesar were victorious. Hirtius penetrated the enemy's camp and, fighting near Antonius' quarters, was slain. Caesar secured the body of the consul and held the enemy's camp until he was forced out by Antonius. Both sides spent the night under arms. On the next day, in a council of war, Antonius was advised by his friends to continue the siege, while abstaining from battle according to his previous plan. They urged that his enemies had suffered as much as he, that Hirtius had been killed, that Pansa was sick, that he had the advantage over them in cavalry, and that Mutina, reduced to the extremity of famine, would soon surrender. But Antonius, under the evil influence of a god, feared that Caesar, by an attack like that of the day before, would succeed in forcing an entrance into the town; or that he would endeavor to surround him with his superior force, in which case his own superiority in cavalry would not avail. He feared too the effect of a defeat on Lepidus and Plancus. So he decided to retire from Mutina with the design of effecting a junction first with Ventidius from Picenum and then with Lepidus and Plancus. With this in mind he proceeded toward the Alps. Such is the account of Appian (iii. 71, 72), the only source that gives any extended report of the battle of Mutina and the departure of Antonius from before its walls. Dio relates that after the battle of Forum Gallorum, Antonius, when Hirtius and Caesar appeared before his camp at Mutina, at first was frightened and remained quiet, but, having been reinforced by Marcus Silanus with troops from Lepidus, he took courage, DECDiUS' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 91 made a sudden sally, and after much slaughter on both sides turned and fled."® In another passage "^ Dio says that the rewards which the senate had previously promised to the soldiers of Caesar it now voted to give to those of Decimus, although the latter had con- tributed nothing to the victory, hut had seen it from the walls. Dio is in error in regard to the time of the coming of Silanus to the aid of Antonius. For we learn from Galba's account^'* of the battle of Forum Gallorum that the praetorian cohort of Silanus took part in the battle, and therefore Silanus had reached Mutina at least a week before the battle there. Accordingly, the other state- ment of Dio that Antonius, because of the reinforcement brought by Silanus, made a sudden sally from his camp, thus assuming the offensive, contradicts the account of Appian given above as well as the probabilities in the case. For Appian expressly states that CMily when Hirtius and Caesar had started to attack another part of his circumvallation, did Antonius send his cavalry in pursuit and then lead out two of his legions. Again, Dio would have us believe that Antonius turned and fled from the battle, whereas Appian conveys d different impression. For he has it that, after Hirtius, who had taken possession of the camp of Antonius, had been slain, Caesar held the camp only a little while before he was dislodged by Antonius. Appian's account is borne out by the report of the battle that reached Asinius Pollio. Says Asinius in a letter to Cicero : "• Nunc haec mihi scribuntur ex Gallia Lepidi et nuntiantur, .... -fHirtino autem proelio et quartam legionem et omnis peraeque Antoni caesas, item Hirti, quartam vera, cum castra quoque Antoni cepisset, a quinta legione concisam esse; ibi Hirtium quoque perisse et Pontium Aquilam; did etiam Octavianum cecidisse {quae si, qoud di prohibeant! vera sunt, non medeocriter doleo) ; Antonium turpiter Mutinae obsessionem reliquisse sed habere equitum K, legiones sub signis armatas tris et P. Bagienni unam, inermis bene multos, etc. From this passage it is seen that Antonius' departure from Mutina was not a flight; that he had probably inflicted as much damage as he had suffered ; but that, considering his position no longer tenable, and reflecting on the great advantages of union with Ventidius and afterward with Lepidus and Plancus, he retired of his own accord from the siege. Cicero himself writes,"* after the true inwardness of Antonius' departure from Mutina became known I ••• Dio xlvi. 38. s-7. •'• Dio xlvi. 40. a. '«» Fam. X. 30. I. '«3 Fam. X. 33. 4. '** Fam. xi. la. a. 92 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS at Rome : Qui si ita se habet, ut, quern ad modum audiebam de Graeceio, conHigi cum eo sine periculo non possit, non ille mihi fugisse a Mutina zndetur, sed locum belli gerendi mutasse. That Antonius' departure was looked upon at first as a retirement from a strong position and, as it were, an abandonment of the fight is shown by Pollio's expression : Antonium turpiter Mutinae obsessio- nem reliquisse.^^^ All of this goes to show that Dio's statement that Antonius ''turned and fled," whether he means from the battle or from Mutina, in either case conveys an erroneous impres- sion. Now, in view of the fact that every statement which Dio makes in regard to the battle is either false or conveys a wrong impression, save only his mention of the death of Hirtius "« and of Pontius Aquila,"^ what he says in regard to the soldiers of Decimus Brutus — namely, that they had no part in the victory except merely as spectators from the walls — may be entirely disregarded. For this statement bears upon its face the stamp of improbability and false- hood, prompted by the desire of its original author to flatter Augustus. Furthermore, it is flatly contradicted by the testimony of both Marcus Brutus and Cicero. Brutus, writing from Dyrrachium in the early days of May on the receipt of the first news of the battle of Mutina, says : "® Cum alia laudo et gaudeo accidisse, turn quod Bruti eruptio non solum ipsi salutaris fuit sed etiam maxima ad victariam ctdiumento. Similarly explicit is the testimony of Cicero writing. May 29, after he had received the fullest possible information in regard to the battle, both favorable and unfavorable to Decimus Brutus : ^«» Tantam spem attulerat exploratae victoriae tua praeclara Mutina eruptio, fuga Antoni conciso exercitu, ui omnium, animi relaxati sint, etc. It is conceivable that Decimus left a portion of his troops in the town to man the walls;"® but ••» No doubt it was reported at Rome that Antonius had been utterly routed and compelled to flee, which was only seemingly, not really true. Cf. Pam. xi. 14. 1. 1 *** Dio xlvi. 30. I. »•» Dio xlvi. 40. 2. That Pontius AquUa had a part in the battle cannot be considered as proof of the participation of Decimus whose Ugatus he was. For AquUa had been operating outside of Mutina and was not in the town at the time of the battle, as Schmidt ("Der Tag der Schlacht von Mutina," Jahrb. /. PhU., i8oa. p. 333) «eems to think. Cf. Schelle, Todeskamff, p. 19, n. 3; Pam. x. 33. 4; Ad BnU. i. 15. 8, and supra, p. 85. »•• Ad BnU. i. 4. I. ••• Fam. xi, 14. 1. »»• Schelle has attempted to reconcile the conflicting testimony of Dio and Cicero. His conclusion ia (Todeskampf, pp. 17 fF.): £r wird also anfangs sick abwartmd verhalUn und erst dann, als der Sieg sick auf die Seite seiner Verb^ndeUn neigk, die MiUina einscUiessenden VeruhanMungen durchbrochen kaben. DECIMUS' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 93 that he led out a part against the besiegers, that they fought with desperation, and were an important factor in deciding the battle and influencing Antonius to retire from the town, seems as certain as anything can well be. If Decimus Brutus did not know of the fate of Hirtius and Aquila until the next day, we must assume that he made his sally through the circumvallation of Antonius at some distance from the latter's camp on the opposite side of the town ; or, what is more likely, the camp of Antonius where Hirtius and Aquila were slain was some distance from the walls. After making his sally and driving off the besiegers toward the camp of Antonius, Decimus again retired within the walls. The date of the battle of Mutina, since the conclusive demonstra- tion of Schelle ^^^ and the additional argument of Schmidt,^^* is now generally accepted as April 21. On the 22d Antonius beg^n his march toward the Alps,^^* and Decimus then learned for the first time of the deaths of Hirtius and Aquila. On the same day Decimus had an interview with the young Caesar,^^* whose camp was probably across the Scultenna, four Roman miles from the town.^^" He urged upon Octavianus the necessity of intercepting Ventidius before the latter could eflFect a junction with Antonius and advised him to cross the Apennines for that purpose, while he himself marched along the via Aemilia in pursuit of Antonius. Octavianus probably gave him no definite assurance of what he would do,^^** but professed loyalty to the cause of the senate."^ On the morning of the 23d Decimus received a summons from Pansa, who was at Bononia dying from the wounds he had received at the battle of Forum Gallorum. On the way thither Deci- mus learned that Pansa was dead, and therefore returned to his troops at Mutina. They were very much reduced in number and, owing to their long privations, were in a wretched plight, and utterly unfit for the rapid pursuit of Antonius. Besides, Brutus had no cavalry and was without beasts of burden.^^® Before leaving >" Schelle, Beitr&ge tur GeschicU des Todeskampfes der Rotnischen Repuhlik. pp. 9 ff. »»• Schmidt, "Der Tag der Schlacht von Mutina," Jahrb. f. Phil., 1892, p. 325- «»» App. iii. 12. '»♦ Pam. xi. 13. i. "s App. iii. 73. Apinan's account of the interview between Decimus and Octavianus is false. Cf. Pam. xi. 13. I. IT* Pam. xi. 10. 4. Quodsi Caesar me audisset atque Appeniwum transisset, etc. 'T> Pam. xi. 13. i: Caesari non credebam priusquam convenissem et coUocutus essem, impljring that he trusted Caesar after the interview. "'Fom. xi. 13 X, 2. ft f 94 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS Mutina, he took over all the recruits of Pansa and Hirtius in the neighborhood, except one legion of Pansa which was under the command of Caesar."* On the morning of April 24 Decimus set out in pursuit of Antonius, who had two full days' start of him."« According to Schelle and Schmidt, owing to the exhausted condition of his troops, it must have required two days for him to reach Regium Lepidi, seventeen Roman miles from Mutina. There he halted and spent a few days in securing provisions for his army, as well as beasts of burden to convey his baggage. Antonius had just foraged the country, and Decimus' task of victualing his forces was there- fore all the more difficult. At Regium he was probably joined by the troops of Pansa that had been stationed at Bononia."* Meantime, on April 26 the news of the battle of Mutina reached Rome. The senate met immediately and declared that Antonius and his followers were hostes,^^^ and voted that their property be confiscated ; that the saga be laid aside ; "« that there be a supplicatio m honor of Decimus in all the temples of the gods ; "* that he be granted the honor of a triumph ; "» that the consuls be buried in the Campus Martius, and that statues be erected to them and to Pontms Aquila, the legatus of Decimus.^«« To Octavianus it was voted that he be permitted to enter the city in ovation. The rewards promised to the soldiers were to be paid. That there was discrimina- tion against the soldiers of the young Caesar, as is asserted by Livy. Velleius, and Cassius Dio, is hardly credible in view of the express testimony of Appian to the contrary.^" The motion of Cicero that the name of Decimus Brutus be entered in the calendar opposite the day on which the news of his release from Mutina was received at Rome, which was also his birthday, failed of passage."' On the same day (April 27) it was decreed that Decimus Brutus should tegumem mtht Caesar turn remUiit. »•• Fam. xi. 13. 2: Biduo me Antonius antecessU. «•' Cf. App. ui. 76; Schmidt, loc. cU. »•» Ad Brut. i. 5. I, 3fl; Fam. x. ai. 4; liv. EpU. 119; Dio. xlvi. 39. 3. «•» Dio xlvi. 30. 3. »•« Fam. xi. 18. 3. Cf. Dio. loc, cit., and 40. 1. and App. ui. 74. *«»Liv. £^. ,,9: Veil. ii. 6a. 4. '»• Ad Brut. i. ,5. 8; Liv. EfU. 119; VeU. ii. 6a. 4; Val. Max. v. a. .0; Dio xlvi. 40. a m.. Z f T*° !k • '•'•l'*'? '^*' '*** ^''^ '*^°" '^' ^ ^""^^ ^°»«°»"» **^ »o be paid 5,000 drach- mae and to have the nght of wearing an olive crown in pcrpetuum. Cf. Fam. xi. ao a V fi«d iL'da^t; A;^';,:*- ^"" "• "• ' •"' "• "• '- ^^''' ^-*^*- ^- ^**^- ''89a. p. 333. ha. DECIMUS* ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 95 take command of the army of the consuls and should pursue Antonius.^®* Returning to Decimus Brutus, we find, from a letter of his to Cicero,"° that on April 29 he was still at Regium. The time since he arrived he had spent in giving his troops a much-needed rest, in reorganizing his army, and in equipping it with provisions, bag- gage animals, and some cavalry. When ready to begin his march anew, he wrote Cicero of his plans. They were briefly: to drive Antonius out of Italy and guard the passes of the Alps to prevent his return, and to meet and defeat Ventidius Bassus, if possible, before he could eflfect a junction with Antonius. He urged Cicero to use his influence by messengers and letters with that "shifty fellow Lepidus," to prevent his renewing the war in conjunction with Antonius. He was firmly convinced that Lepidus would never do right. Of Asinius Pollio he expressed no judgment, for he thought that Cicero knew what Asinius would do. Lepidus and Asinius "^ were important because of the number and reliability of their legions. He wished Cicero also to secure Plancus ^^^ in whose loyalty Decimus had confidence after the defeat of Antonius. On the 29th Decimus broke camp at Regium, continued his march along the via Aemilia, and on May 5 arrived at Dertona, having traversed the distance of about one hundred and ten Roman miles in seven days.^®^ Here he received news of the decrees passed by the senate after the report of the battle of Mutina and the flight of Antonius had become known at Rome. He also learned of the rejection by the senate of Cicero's motion, that the 27th of April, his birthday, be indicated in the calendar as such, since it was also the day of the announcement in Rome of the victory at Mutina."* «•» Ad Brut. i. 5. i; Liv. EpU. lao; Fam. xi. 14. a, 19. i; App. iii. 74. 76, 80;. Dio. xlvi. 40, x, 47, 3, 50. 1. For other decrees in regard to Sex. Pompeius, M. Brutus, and C. Cassius, vide Lange. Ill, p. 536. ••• Fam. xi. 9. »•» Lepidus, governor of Narbonese Gaul and Hither Spain, had seven legions (App. iii. 84). Deci- mus' judgment of him was confirmed by the sequel. Asinius, governor of Further Spain, had three legions; Fam. X. 3a. 4. «•• Plancus, go\-emor of Gallia Comata, was at this time in the country of the Allobroges on his way to Italy in obedience to the command of the senate. (Cf. supra, p. 84, and Fam. xi. 11. a.) «•» Fam. xi. 10. «•« Ad Brut. i. 15. 8; cf. Schmidt {Jahrh. f. PkU., 180a, p. 333), who says that the motion was that the expression NAT(alis) D. IVNI BRUTI ALBINI should be placed in the calendar opposite the a6th or, more correctly the a 7th, since on the latter day the news of the release of Decimus from siege leached Rome. The fact that Decimus received at Dertona the report of the defeat of Cicero's motion is. as Schmidt states, a proof that the battle of Mutina was fought on the aist and the release of Decimus took place on the aad. For it would require eight days for the account of the transactions of the senate on the a7th in regard to the good news about Decimus that left Mutina on the aad, to reach Dertona. That is, the report of the senate's proceedings would get to Dertona about May 5. 96 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS In regard to those in the senate who objected to decrees in his honor, Decimus wrote Cicero that he preferred his judgment to that of all those of the opposition. For Cicero's judgment was real and sincere, whereas that of the opposition was warped by malice and envy."» "Let them prevent my being honored," says he, "pro- vided they do not interfere with the successful conduct of the busi- ness of the state." He refers to the serious danger to the state involved in the loss of the consuls, and apparently hints at the ambi- tion of Octavianus to hold the consulate.^*' He reports that Antonius, who had fled from Mutina with a "small force of unarmed infantry," by seizing gangs of slaves in barracks and impressing men of all con- ditions, had raised a considerable army. This army had been increased by the force of Ventidius, who had made a difficult march across the Apennines and, probably on May 3, joined Antonius at Vada Sabatia. Brutus complained bitterly of Octavianus because he had not crossed the Apennines and intercepted Ventidius. "For then I should have driven Antonius to such straits," says Decimus, "that he would have perished of destitution rather than by the sword.^»» But orders cannot be given to Caesar nor can Caesar give orders to his army." After this union with Ventidius the plan of Antonius, according to Decimus, who was not yet sure of it, was either to join Lepidus ; or, occupying the Apennines and Alps, to make raids with his large force of cavalry into the country round about ; or to march back into Etruria, a part of Italy that was without an army. Deci- mus feared the effect at Rome of the strengthening of Antonius' army by new recruits and by the junction with Ventidius. The voluntary departure of Antonius from Mutina, having as it did the appearance of a flight, had not only produced the false impres- »•» Cicero himself, two months kler, in a letter to Marcus Brutus (i. 1 5. 8) says of those who opposed his motion for granting this special honor to Decimus: Atque iUo die cognovi paulo pluris in senatu male- volos esse quam graios. ^**Fam. xi. lo. I, a: Quae (res publica) quatUo sit in periculo quam potero brn-issime exponam. Frtmum omntum quantam pertitrbationem rerum urbanarum ad/erai obUus consvlum quantamque cupidita- tem homtnUms honoris iniciat vacuitas non te fugit. Satis me midta scripsisse, quae lUteris commendari fosstnt, arbitror: scio enim cut scribam. «" Schmidt (Jahrb. /. PhU., 1892. p. 327; PhiMogus, 189a. p. 208) has shown that the original plan of Decunus was that Caesar should march from Bononia across the Apennines to Florentia and meet Ventidius. who was probably at Faventia when the battle of Mutina was fought, and received orders immediately thereafter to march southwest across the Apennines to Florentia and thence northwest along the vta Aemilta, in order to effect a junction with Antonius at Vada. This was probably the route that Ventidius did take; i. e., from Faventia by way of Faesulae. Pistoria. Luca, and Genua, to Vada. a distance of 350 miles. decimus' administration of cisalpine GAUL 97 sion at Rome that Antonius was completely routed and was running away as fast as he could with a mere handful of men, but it had deceived Decimus himself, who plainly underestimated the strength of Antonius after the battle.*"* If we are to believe the statement of PoUio, Antonius, after his union with Ventidius, had seven legions and five thousand cavalry under his command, though three of these legions were probably not full. That the army of Antonius was now stronger than that of Decimus it is safe to infer from the language of Cicero,*®* who had received, besides this letter of Brutus, a personal report from Brutus' messenger Graeceius. Decimus himself had but seven legions,*®* only one of which had seen veteran service, the rest being for the most part raw recruits. These legions, he wrote Cicero, he was no longer able to support with his private means. He had spent his fortune of more than 40,000,000 sesterces and mortgaged all his property to his friends since he had undertaken the task of freeing the republic.-®* By the next day. May 6 ^^^ Brutus had advanced into the country of the Statieilenses, where he learned definitely that Antonius was on his way to join Lepidus. In memoranda that had fallen into his hands, he found the names of the messengers Antonius had sent to Asinius, Lepidus, and Plancus, respectively. He immediately dis- patched a messenger to Plancus urging him not to yield to the solicitations of Antonius, but to oppose him. Within two days he t9» In Fam. id. g, Decimus seems to have more fear from Leindus than from Antonius himself. In par. 3 of the present letter we have his conception of Antonius' force at Mutina: Revertor nunc ad Ante- nium. Qui ex fuga cum parvulam manum peditum haberet inermium, etc. Contrast with this the state- ment of PoUio, Fam. x. 33. 4: Antonium turpiter Mutinae opsessionem rdiquisse, sed habere equitum V, Ugiones sub signis armatas tris et P. Bagienni unam, inermis bene multos; Ventidium quoque se cum legione sepiima. octax>a, nana coniunxisse. Compare with the estimate of Pollio, that of Lepidus (Fam. X. 34. I.), who writes to Cicero from Pons Argenteus about May 18, not so long after the imion of Ventidius and Antonius: P. Ventidius suas legiones tris coniunxit cum eo et ultra me castra posuit. Habebat antea Ifgionem quintam et ex reliquis legionibus magnam muUitudinem, sed inermorum. Equitatum habet mag- num: nam omnis ex proelio integer discessit, ita ut sint amplius equitum milia quinque. '99 Fam. xi. 12. 2: Qui (Antonius) si ita se habeJ, ut. quem ad modum audiebam de Graeceio, con- fiigi cum fo sine periculo non possit, non ille mihi fugisse a Mutina videtur, sed locum belli gerendi mutasse. ••• To the tliree legions which had been with him at Mutina, had been added four of the five legions of recruits that had belonged to the armies of Hirtius and Pansa. Pansa had led four l^ons of recruits into Cisalpine Gaul, but the young Caesar, had retained one of these after the battle of Mutina. Hirtiwt' and Caesar's army before the arrival of Pansa had consisted of four veteran legions and one of recruits. Three of Pansa 's legions and the one legion of recruits of Hirtius and Caesar had joined Decimus after his release from the siege. Cf. Groebe's Drumann I, pp. 450 ff. »»• One of these friends was Pontius Aquila whose expenditures in behalf of Dedmus' army the senate voted to refund to his heirs (Dio xlvi. 40. 2). If any proof were needed of Decimus' loyalty to the cause of the republic, this circumstance would seem to furnish it. »"» Fam. xi. 11. 2. 98 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS expected to receive legati from the Allobroges and all Gaul, whom he purposed to send back home confirmed in their loyalty.*®' From the country of the Statiellenses Decimus continued his march to the southwest toward Vada, where Antonius was encamped. When he was within thirty Roman miles of Vada,*®* he received the report of a speech that Antonius had delivered to his soldiers in which he besought them to follow him across the Alps, and told them that he had an understanding with Lepidus. The soldiers of Ventidius cried out against this proposal of Antonius, saying that they ought to conquer or die in Italy. They then begged that they might march to Pollentia. Antonius, not being able to withstand their clamor, postponed his march until the next day. When Anto- nius* projected advance upon Pollentia became known to Decimus, he immediately dispatched five cohorts to anticipate him and directed thither the march of his main body. His cohorts arrived there an hour before Trebellius with the cavalry of Antonius. Decimus con- If sidered this an omen of victory.*®' When Trebellius found the town already occupied by the troops of Brutus, he retreated southward and rejoined the main body of Antonius' forces, which now continued its march along the Ligurian coast toward Lepidus. Decimus must have arrived at Pollentia about the nth of May. For on May 6, he was at a point about eight Roman miles east of Aquae Statiel- lae.*®* From that point to Pollentia the distance by the road was about ninety- two miles, five days' march. Paulus*®^ thinks that Decimus was deceived in thinking it of advantage to occupy Pollentia. But after the union of Antonius with Ventidius, Decimus probably decided, in view of the superiority of the veteran forces of the enemy to his own untried recruits, to avoid a pitched battle, and to march to join Plancus, especially as he thought that Lepidus would receive Antonius. Antonius doubtless knew that Decimus would direct his march toward the northwest and by taking the route along the upper Durius (Dorea Baltea) effect a junction with Plancus, who at this time was encamped upon the Isara near Cularo. Hence his object in sending his cavalry to ••JFam. xi. ii. i. —*Fam. xi. 13. 3. ••iFam. xi. 13. 4. ■•* Ruete, Correspondent, p. 50. Tyrrell and Purser, note to Pam. xi. 13, put Brutus at Aquae Stattellae on the morning of the 7th. But, probably, he spent the night of the 5th-6th at Dertona. And as it was twenty-seven miles from Dertona to Aquae Statiellae, he halted on the evening of the 6th at a point about eight miles east of Aquae Statiellae. ••» Dissertation, p. 47. decimus' administration of cisalpine GAUL 99 Pollentia was to obstruct the march of Decimus. In reaching Pol- lentia before the cavalry of Antonius, Decimus gained at least the advantage of keeping his road to Plancus clear. Plancus had already on April 26,^®* in tardy obedience to the mandate of tlie senate, crossed the Rhone near Lyons and entered Narbonese Gaul, the province of Lepidus, with the intention of marching into Italy and co-operating in the relief of Decimus Brutus at Mutina.^*® He had chosen the route through Bergusium, Labiscum, Lemincum, along the valley of the Isara (Isere) through the Graian Alps to Eporedia.^^* When he had marched some dis- tance into the country of the Allobroges, he heard the news of the battle of Mutina, halted his march, recalled his cavalry, and held his army in a waiting attitude. Meanwhile, through confidential mes- sengers, he urged Lepidus to act in concert with himself against Antonius ^" and for the republic. Lepidus pledged himself to give battle to Antonius, if he were not able to keep him out of his province, and requested Plancus to march with his forces to join him.*" Accordingly, Plancus turned southward and, on May 12, crossed the Isara (Isere) at Cularo by means of a bridge which he had constructed in a single day. On the 13th, having learned of the arrival of Lucius Antonius at Forum luli, he sent his brother with four thousand cavalry to meet him. He himself followed by forced marches with four legions and the rest of his cavalry.*^' From the statement of Plancus we infer that L. Antonius had reached Forum luli by the 8th or 9th. For it would require four or five days for a messenger to bring the news of his arrival to Plancus on the Isere. From a letter of Asinius Pollio,who announces to Cicero the union of Ventidius and Antonius and the occupation of the Alps by L. Antonius, we conclude that L. Antonius, with his contingent of cavalry and cohorts, was several days' march in advance of M. Antonius' main army.*** We know from the proba- bilities in the case, as well as from the text of Fam. x. 17. i, that Marcus Antonius with the vanguard of his main army did not arrive at Forum luli until May 15. For it is practically certain that M. Antonius was at Vada on May 6, where he made a speech to his *'* Fam. X. 9. 3. "'^ Fam. x. ii. 2. ■'* Groebe's Dnunann, /. Ankang, p. 463, and C. I. L., XII, maps. •» Fam. X. II. 3, 15. I. *" Fam. x. 15. 3, and cf. Groebe, Dnunann, I. Anhang p. 464. •«• Fam. X. 15. a. •'*Fam. x. 33. 4. lOO DECDiUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS army (vide supra, p. 98), probably, on that day."» He apparently did not leave Vada until May 7, possibly not until the 8th. On his departure, or before, he dispatched some cavalry under Trebellius to take Pollentia, or at least to make a feint against it. Whether he had to wait on the way for his cavalry to rejoin him or not, he would not be likely to march from Vada to Forum luli, a distance of one hundred and thirty-two Roman miles,^" along the route of the via lulia Augusta, m less than seven days. It would probably require eight days. And Antonius was, doubtless, delayed at least a day in waiting for the cavalry that had gone to Pollentia. Conse- quently, it is entirely reasonable to suppose that he reached Forum luli on May 15, just as we read in the text of Fam, x. 17. i : Anto- nius Id, Mai. ad. Forum luli cum primis copiis venit. Ventidius bidui spatio abest ah eo. According to Groebe,*" two of the best MSS have here Antonius Idus Maias, etc. And so, under the mis- taken impression that the Antonius here mentioned is L. Antonius, whose arrival at Forum luli Plancus chronicles in Fam. x. 15. 3,"« Groebe, in order to make Plancus consistent, suggests that, instead of the simple alteration in the MSS, Idus Maias to Id. Mai. (or Maiis), that our editors have adopted, we should write a. d. VIII Idus Maias. But the Antonius mentioned in Fam. x. 17. i is none other than Marcus Antonius, as is shown by the absence of the praenomen and by the mention of Ventidius in the immediate connec- tion. Probably the truth is that Antonius, when he halted at Vada about May 3,*" at once sent his brother Lucius on to meet Lepidus. And Plancus, having already written Cicero of Lucius' arrival at Forum luli, now informs him that Marcus with the vanguard of his main army has arrived at the same place. Hence Groebe's sug- gested change in the present text is unnecessary, incorrect, and impossible. * This same letter to Cicero, written by Plancus on the march from Cularo to join Lepidus,"® announces that Lepidus was •»» Fom. zi. 13. a, 3, 4; d. zi. 10. 3 and ad, 11. "• C. I. L., V, a, p. 8a8, and XH, p. 635. Tabula PeuHngeriana makes it 1*3 miles. •«» Dnunann, Anhang, p. 464. The MSS Groebe refers to are evidently Mediceus 49. 9 and Hor- Itiamm a68a. Cf. Mendelssohn, Cicero EpistuUu, p. 956. •»• Cum vero mihi nuntiatum est L. AnUmium praemissum cum equUHms venisu, fratrem cum equitum fuattuor milibus, ut occurrerei ei, min a. d. Ill Idus Mai. The MSS have a.d.V Idus Mai. ; but see Tyr- rell and Purser's note, Vol. VI, p. 146. ••• Schmidt, JaMt. f. PkU., 189a, p. 3a6. ••• Fam. X. 17 is dated May 19 or ao in MUlkr's and PurMr's editions, but Groebe (Dnunann, I, p 467) puts it on May a?. DECIMUS* ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL lOI encamped at Forum Voconi, twenty-four Roman miles from Forum luli, and that he had determined to wait there until Plancus joined him. Lepidus himself had already informed Cicero of his arrival at Forum Voconi.**^ "On hearing," he wrote, "that Antonius with his troops was coming into my province, and that L. Antonius had been sent ahead with a part of the cavalry, I broke camp and began my march from the confluence of the Rhone ^^^ against them. And so by continuous marches I have come to Forum Voconi and have pitched my camp beyond on the Argenteus against the Antonians." In the same letter, after reciting the fact that Ventidius had joined Antonius with his three legions, and after stating the strength of Antonius' forces,^^' he reports that several of the latter's men had crossed over to himself, and that the numbers of the enemy were being continually diminished. Among those who had left Antonius were Silanus and Culleo. Silanus, we remember, had been sent into Italy ostensibly to aid the republic, but had fought on the side of Antonius around Mutina.*^* Q. Terentius Culleo had been stationed by Lepidus to guard the passes of the Alps, but had permitted Antonius to march through unhindered.^^' Lepidus writes that, although he had been grievously wronged by those two in that they had gone over to Antonius, yet, out of regard for humanity and the ties of relationship ( !),*** he had spared their lives, but at the same time he had dismissed them from his service and had forbidden them to remain in his camp. As far as the war was concerned, Lepidus professed loyalty to the senate and the republic. The date of this letter as well as of the arrival of Lepidus at the Argenteus was, probably. May i8.^^^ On the 22d he writes another let- ter *^' to Cicero, referring to certain "false rumors" in Rome which called his loyalty in question, and expressing his pleasure that Cicero did not believe them. However, he made no promise of action against Antonius, but merely asked Cicero to expect him in re publica administranda to live up to his previous reputation, which, if we are to believe Dio,*^' was certainly bad enough. Returning to Decimus Brutus, we find that before receiving his letter, which announced his occupation of Pollentia,*'® Cicero, about ••• Fam. X. 34. I. ••• With the Druentia (Durance). **' Vide supra, p. 96. »•« Vide supra, pp. 90 f. •*s App. iii. 83. ■** Lepidus was brother-in-law of Silanus. ••» Tyrrell and Purser, Vol. VI, p. 173, note. •»• Fam, X. 34. 3, 4. •*» Dio xliii. i. •»• Fam. xi. 13. 1-4. I03 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS the middle of May wrote "^ him of the change that men had under- gone in the city, when from the universal assurance that Antonius had fled broken-spirited and with a few panic-stricken, unarmed soldiers, they came to realize that he had merely transferred the seat of war and was still a dangerous antagonist. "Some actually complain and say that you did not pursue him ; they think that, if you had hurried, he could have been crushed." Cicero apparently did not altogether approve of this criticism. "But still you must see to it," he adds, "that there can be no just complaint. The situation is thus : whoever crushes Antonius will finish the war." A few days later, on May 19, Cicero wrote another letter *" to Decimus, in which he censures him for the tone of a recent dispatch of his to the senate. In that communication Decimus had probably expressed in a guarded manner his apprehensions as to the attitude of Octavianus, and his lack of confidence in the position of the senate, and especially of its dominant faction, the party of Cicero and himself, in view of the supposed ambitions of the young Caesar. Accordingly, he advised that the senate take active measures to con- ciliate both Caesar and his soldiers.^^^ There was probably in the dispatch of Decimus, also, a warning that Lepidus would unite with Antonius against the republic. Cicero wrote Decimus that his advices to the senate were too timid, considering the victory at Mutina. Furthermore, the senate felt offended because he, either in the tone of his recommendations or in so many words, had reflected on its courage. Cicero in this letter not only implied that they were free from fear in regard to the danger at which Decimus had mysteriously hinted (the danger from Octavianus), but he assured him that neither did they fear Lepidus.^" But even before Cicero wrote this letter Decimus* apprehensions on the score of Lepidus had been removed. For on May 15, he received from Plancus the information that Antonius was not going to be received by Lepidus. ^'^'^ This good news, coupled with the announcement that Plancus was on his way to join Lepidus, and that they were going to act in concert against Antonius, doubtless •SI Fam. xi. la. '*• Fof*- «». i8. •31 Cf. Fam. xi. ao. 3, 4. After the battle of Mutina, Caesar with five legions (four of veterans, one of recruits. Fam. xi. 20. 3, 4) had marched southward, apparently to comply with the advice of Decimus to intercept Ventidius. He seems to have got somewhere near Ventidius. but made no attempt to stay his progress toward Antonius (App. iii. 8c). He was probably engaged in raising additional troops and in political intrigues through his friends at Rome. •»*Fam. xi. 18. i, a. •"Fam. x. ao. a; xi. 14. 3; cf- «*• >3. i- decimus' administration of CISALPINE GAUL 103 had some influence in causing Decimus to delay his departure from Italy. For he naturally hoped that the combined forces of Plancus and Lepidus would be amply sufficient to crush Antonius. Besides, the menacing attitude of the veterans under Octavianus gave him serious alarm for the safety of his own party at Rome.*^® These considerations seem to explain satisfactorily why Decimus deter- mined to remain in Italy, at least until he heard from Cicero and got further orders from the senate. ^^^ Consequently, instead of continuing his march by the most direct route to reach the passes of the Alps along the valley of the Durius (Dora Riparia), Decimus, after leaving Pollentia, turned eastward to Vercellae, probably to procure supplies for his needy troops and to obtain recruits. At Vercellae, on May 21,*'® he wrote to Cicero, sending at the same time a dispatch to the senate, which probably contained something that might give offense to the friends of Octavianus.^^^* At any rate, Decimus wished Cicero to alter anything in his official letter that it might seem improper to make public. In his personal letter to Cicero he refers for the first time to his disappointment that the fourth and Martian legions had not joined him in accordance with the decree of the senate adopted soon after the battle of Mutina. We do not know what influenced these veterans. Probably they were unwilling, as was reported to Cicero,"® to serve under one who had had a part in killing Caesar, and doubtless the prospect of larger rewards from Octavianus had no little weight with them. In view of the uncertain temper of young Caesar and the threatening attitude of his soldiers, the veterans of the dictator, it was with good reason that Decimus had grave apprehensions as to the situation at Rome. Nunc veto, he writes, cum sim cum tironibus egentissimis, valde et meam et vestram vicem timeam necesse est. On the 24th he had advanced northward to Eporedia, where he »»• Fam. xi. ao. i, a. •»» Fam. xi. 23. 2. Under the drcunwtances Paulus (p. 48) and JuUien {Le Fondateur de Lyon, p. 7a) are unjust in their criticism of Decimus for his delay in crossing the Alps to join Plancus. »»• Fam. xi. ip. »»• An idea of the contents of the dispatch may be obtained from the letter of Cicero in reply (Fam. id. 14. a) : Pecuniae, quam desidtras, ratio potest haberi eaque habebitw. De Bruto arcessendo Caesareque ad lUdiae praesidium tenendo valde tibi adsemtior. . . , , Ex Africa legiones exspectantur. The 8um> moning of Brutus was in reality suggested by Decimus to jwotect Cicero and the republicans from the young Caesar and his soldiers. So the reference to Caesar here must be a blind and at the same time in- tended to conciliate him. Besides, it was probably a good idea to keep him at a distance from Antonius. •«• Fam. xi. 14. a; cf. PhU. xi. 38. I04 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS wrote **^ Cicero more in detail concerning the complaints of Caesar and the veterans. Cicero was reported to have made an intemperate remark about Octavianus (laudandum adolescentem, ornandum, tollendum), which had been repeated to the latter and, as Decimus hears, had given him offense. Decimus' authority for this stor^, Labeo Segulius, also wished him to believe that the veterans were angry because neither Caesar nor himself had been appointed on the board of ten that had been designated by the senate to assign lands to the soldiers. The language of the veterans, as Labeo had reported, was violent and threatening toward Cicero. When Deci- mus heard this, though already on his march toward the Alps, he halted until he could learn what was going on at Rome. In his opinion, the friends of Octavianus, by boasting and threatening, by inspiring Cicero with terror, and by urging on the young man, hoped to make profit for themselves. Still he advised Cicero to be on his mard, to comply with the wishes of the veterans in regard to the decemviri, and to secure the passage of a decree granting to them the lands belonging to the soldiers of Antonius and promising that the senate would determine in the future the matter of pecuniary rewards for them. Decimus had made up his mind not to leave Italy unless it were absolutely necessary. But he was not idle. He was arming and equipping new legions so as to have an army "to meet all the changes of fortune and the violence of men." In his next letter, of the following day. May 25 "* (he was still at Eporedia), he spoke with renewed confidence of the loyalty of Lepi- dus. As to Octavianus and the veterans, he seems to have received, after writiiig on the day before, reassuring news."' So that his fears for Cicero and his party at Rome were somewhat relieved, and he could write: Omni timore deposito debemus libere ret puhlicae consulere. Quod si omnia essent aliena,^** tamen tribus tantis exercitibus, propriis rei publicae, valentibus, magnum animum habere debebas, quem et semper nabuisti et nunc fortuna adiuvante augere potes. Cicero, in his reply *** of June 4 to the first "• of Decimus* letters •♦« Fam ri. ao. •«• Fam. xi. 23. **» Most likely in a letter from Cicero, possibly Fam. xi. 18. *** Paragraph i. In the expression quod si omnia essent aliena, Tyrrell and Purser think that the reference is to Leptdus and that "the three armies are those of Octavianus, of Plancus and his (Decimus') own." On the contrary, the reference in the expression quoted is to Octavianus. and the three armies are those of Lepidus, Planctis, and Decimus. •*>Fam. xi. ai. *^ Fam. xi. 20. decimus' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 105 from Eporedia, avoided a direct denial of having made the remark about Octavianus that he was alleged to have made. He explained why Decimus and Octavianus were not appointed on the board of ten to distribute lands to the soldiers, by the fact that there was opposition to Decimus in the senate on the part of those who were persistently arrayed against any measure in his favor. Cicero makes light of the warning of Decimus that he should take care lest by showing fear he would be compelled to fear all the more : **^ "Your injunction that I should be on my guard lest by showing fright I may be forced to be all the more afraid, is a wise and friendly one. But I should like you to persuade yourself, since you are well known to excel in that kind of courage, never to have any fear or alarm that I may attain even approximately to your particular brand of bravery." In the next letter, written two days later, June 6, in reply to Decimus' second letter from Eporedia, Cicero says : **® Quod scribis in Italia te moraturum, dum tibi litterae meae veniant, si per hostem licet, non erraris (multa enim Romae), sin adventu tuo bellum conHci potest, nihil tibi sit antiquius. He seems to admit that trouble was brewing at Rome — but he thinks that the ending of the war with Antonius would be the best service Decimus could render at that time. But more than a week before Cicero wrote this, an event had happened that made the task of ending the war with Antonius under the circumstances almost an impossible one for Decimus. For on the 29th of May, in the early morning (the fourth watch), Antonius and his troops were received into the camp of Lepidus."* Immediately after the union of the two armies, on the same day, Antonius began his march toward Plancus. Lepidus remained behind at the Pons Argenteus until the next day, May 30, to explain his treachery in an official letter to the magistrates and senate. Plancus, who was encamped at Verdon, forty Roman miles to the northwest of the camp of Lepidus, did not hear the news until Antonius was already within twenty miles of him. He at once began a hasty but orderly retreat. On the 4th of June he recrossed the Isara (Isere), cut down the bridges, and awaited at Cularo •«» Fam. xi. ax. 4; cf. xi. 20. 3. •♦• Fam. xi. 24. •«• Fam. X. 3s; x. 23; and x, ai which Groebe (Drumann, I, pp. 465 fl) puts after the news of the union of Lepidus and Antonius had reached Plancus on May 29. Cf. App. iii. 84; Plut. Ant. 18; Dio zIti. 51; Veil- ii. 63. io6 DECmUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS (Grenoble) the arrival of Decimus Brutus, whom he expected by June g.^'^^ Decimus must have started from Eporedia not later than May 27. For by the route which he took, along the valley of the Durius {Dora Baltea) through the Graian Alps, Darantasia, Obilinnum, and down the valley of the Isara, the distance from Eporedia to Cularo was close on to two hundred Roman miles.^*^ Allowing fifteen miles a day, a large number for that rough country, he would have had to leave Eporedia on May 2y to arrive at Cularo on June 8. Since his departure from Mutina he had increased his army by three new legions,*'^ raised for the most part in the neighborhood of Eporedia. On his march to Plancus he seems to have received the news of the junction of Lepidus and Antonius; for on June 3 he wrote to Cicero:*'^* "In my deep grief I console myself with this reflection that men understand that with good reason I feared what has happened. Let them [the senate] deliberate whether or not to bring over the legions from Africa and Sardinia ; whether or not to summon Brutus ; and whether to give me pay for my soldiers or merely promise it. I have sent a dispatch to the senate. Believe me unless all these things are done just as I write, all of us will be imperiled. I request you to be careful to whom you intrust the business of leading the legions to me. Loyalty and haste are required." It is true that Decimus had early expressed his distrust of Lepidus; but recently he had suflFered himself to be deceived by the optimistic reports from Plancus, and his fears from that source had been quieted. This last letter of his to Cicero betrays a petulance and impatience that was more characteristic of Marcus Brutus than of himself. But it is hardly strange that a man in his situation, in view of the slowness and indecision of the senate,"* should have thus expressed himself in a private letter. Decimus' rapid march across the Alps seems to have surprised Antonius and Lepidus. His arrival at Cularo relieved the fears of Plancus that his army of four legions would be crushed by the com- bined forces of the enemy. Decimus and Plancus sent forward some cavalry to aid the Allobroges in delaying the approach of Antonius and Lepidus, and they apparently thought of advancing against them themselves, as we learn from their report"' to the ••• Fam. X. 23. a, 3. •»* Ct C. I. JL, V, a, pp. 755, 765, and maps of Vol. XII. •*• Fam. xL ao. 4 and z. 34. 3. *»*F*m. id. a6. •MCf. Fam. id. 14. i. •**Fam. zi. 13a. 4, $' DECIMUS' ADMINISTRATION OF CISALPINE GAUL 107 magistrates and senate. "Nevertheless, even if by chance," this report goes on to say. "ttiey should cross the Isara, we shall do our best to see that they do not inflict any damage on the republic." They further announce that the union of their armies is complete, but they urge diligence on the part of the government at Rome in sending them aid. The junction of Decimus with Plancus raised the hopes of Cicero and those at Rome ^^^^ after the feeling of alarm that had followed the report of the treachery of Lepidus. On the 30th of June Lepidus was declared a public enemy (hostis) by the unani- mous vote of the senate, along with the rest of those who had deserted the republic at the same time as he.**^^ To the latter, how- ever, an opportunity of returning to allegiance before September I was left. From the middle of June to the end of July the armies of Decimus Brutus and Plancus remained idle, awaiting, and at the same time dreading, an attack from the forces of Antonius and Lepidus. From the last letter ^^^ we have from Plancus to Cicero, dated July 28, we learn why the consuls-designate had not dared to assume the offensive. "Up to this time," Plancus writes, "we have kept the situation unchanged. Although I know how much men desire a victory and not without reason, yet I hope you approve of our plan [of inactivity] . For, if there should be any reverse in the case of these armies, the republic has no great reserve force ready to withstand the sudden rebellious onslaught of these traitors. But I think you know the strength of our forces. In my camp I have three veteran legions, one of recruits which is quite the best of all. In his camp, Brutus has one veteran legion, one of two years* service, and eight of recruits. So the army, as a whole, is imposing in numbers, but weak in strength. Moreover, how much confidence can be put in a recruit in battle, too often we have learned by experience." *•*• It should be added, to what Plancus says of the state of their forces, that many of Brutus' men had suffered greatly from their privations and from sickness.^*® It seems that Octavianus had promised to go to their assistance, and they had been expecting •**Fam. zi. 15; x. aa. •i* Fam. x. a4. •«» Fam. xii. 10. i. •» Fam. x. 34. 3. •*« Appian (iii. 81) says that they suffered with the dysentery. Cf. Fam. xL 19. z, where Brutus says cum sim cum tirtmibus egentissimis, App. iii. 97. io8 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS the veteran legions from Africa.**^ Plancus thinks that if Caesar had been willing to come when he had promised, the war would have been ended, or Antonius and Lepidus would have been driven into Spain, which was most hostile to them. The armies* of Lepidus and Antonius were equal to those of their opponents in number of legions, and very much superior in cavalry strength, as well as in point of service and equipment.*'* Consequently Decimus and Plancus were probably wise in not risk- ing a pitched battle. But prospect of reinforcement there was none. The urgent appeals of Cicero to Marcus Brutus to lead his army to Italy had been in vain.^*'* Cassiiis too had been summoned by Cicero, but with no better result.*®* The African legions had not yet arrived, though a decree of the senate had summoned them.*** Altogether the outlook was exceedingly gloomy for Decimus and Plancus. It was about a month after Plancus had written the letter above referred to, that, notwithstanding his many protestations of loyalty, he deserted Decimus and the republic and joined Antonius and Lepidus.*" Already on the 19th of August, Octavianus, with Q. Pedius as colleague, had been chosen consul ; the decree of amnesty of the preceding year had then been repealed ; and those who had occasioned the death of Caesar, together with their allies, had been condemned unheard to exile and the loss of their possessions.**^ The army of Decimus Brutus had also by a decree of the senate been transferred to Caesar.**® And so when Decimus, on hearing of his own condemnation and of the understanding **• that had been brought about between Caesar on the one hand and Antonius and Lepidus on the other, proposed to march into Italy against the new enemy of himself and the republic, he was abandoned by Plancus.*^® For Plancus found in the proposal of Decimus an excuse for com- **' Paragraph 4, 6; App. iii. 91. **■ Fam. X. 33. 4; App. iii. 84. Antonius had seven legions and Lepidus seven. They also had « large body of cavahy and auxiliary troops. ••» Ad Bn$t. i. 10. 4, 5; Fam. xi. 15. 2. ***Fam. m. 10. 3; cf. App. iii. 85; c£. Dio xlvi. 51. 5. •*»Fam. id. 14. a; App. iii. 85. •♦* Dio xlvi. 53. a. • <«T Gardthausen, Augustus, I, i. pp. las f. and ii. i, pp. 47 f. »•• Dio xlvi. 47. 3. *^ App. iii. 96; Dio xlvi. 51. 5a. •»• Dio xlvi. 53. a. decimus' administration of cisalpine GAUL 109 pleting the arrangement between himself and Antonius that had been effected through the agency of Asinius PoUio, who a little while before had joined Antonius with two legions.*'* Decimus, thus forsaken by his colleague, determined at first to flee through Cisalpine Gaul and along the Adriatic Sea to join Marcus Brutus in Macedonia. He had probably already crossed the Alps into northern Italy, when he learned that his route through his province to Aquileia was blocked by Caesar, who had returned from Rome with his troops and was in the neighborhod of Bononia. He then turned toward the north with the intention of crossing the Rhine near its source and marching through the passes of the Rae- tian Alps, and thence through the wild country of Raetia and Noricum. But the courage and patience, as well as the physical endurance, of his troops were exhausted. The recruits, many of whom had been levied in Cisalpine Gaul, deserted first and marched to join Caesar. Soon afterward the veterans also abandoned him and proceeded to Antonius. Brutus was left with his bodyguard of Gallic horse. Of these, he released those who desired it from the obligation of further continuing the flight. Having distributed the money in his possession, he pressed on toward the Rhine with only three hundred horsemen. There, since the river was difficult to cross, all save ten deserted him. Having adopted the Gallic garb and being acquainted with the Gallic language, he abandoned his circuitous route across the Alps and now was making directly for Aquileia, thinking that with his small retinue he would not attract attention. But he fell ino the hands of a band of mountain robbers and was bound and taken before the chieftain of their tribe, Camelus, to whom he had, as a provincial governor, shown many favors; Camelus greeted Decimus cordially, and pretended to be indignant that he had been bound, but straightway informed Antonius of his capture. Antonius sent some Gallic horsemen to fetch his head. There is a story of Valerius Maximus to the effect that, when Decimus and his party were discovered in hiding in the darkness, Terentius, a member of the little troop, pretended that he was Brutus and offered himself to be slain by the horsemen of Antonius, but, having been recognized by Furius, their leader, he failed even by his own death to save the life of his master.*'* In another passage Valerius states that, when Decimus was bidden to present his neck •»« App. ia. 07- «»» Val. Max. iv. 7. 6. no DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS to the sword, he was persistent in refusing, saying : "I will give it provided I may live." "^ These tales were probably invented by some flatterer of Augustus to cast a shadow over the name and fame of Decimus Brutus. The report of Appian "* practically agrees with that of Livy, Velleius, and Orosius, and we get there- from no hint that Decimus died a coward. According to Appian, he was the next one of the liberatores after Trebonius to meet his fate, and paid the penalty for the assassination of the dictator within a year and a half of that event."*^ His end must have come about the middle of September, 43. •»»Val. Max. ix. 13. 3; Seneca, Epist. 82. 11; Dio xlvi. 53. 3. "♦App. iii. 98; Veil. ii. 64. i; Liv. Epit. lao; Orosius VI. 18. 7. account was probably one of Antonius' Gallic horsemen. •»*App. iii. 98. Capenus Sequanus in Livy's INDEX OF PROPER NAMES (Ntunbers refer to pages) Mam. Aemilius Lepidus (Cos. 77 b. c), ai. M. Aemilius Lepidus (Cos. 137 b. c), 19. M. Aemilius Lepidus {triumvtr), 38, 45, 55. 59-^«. 64-69, 80, 84, 90, 9i» 95-108. M. Aemilius Lepidus (revoluUonary leader), 21, 24. Africa, 23, 35, 106, 108. Agedincum, 27, 28. Alba, 76. Alban Mount, 44' Albici, 31. Alesia, 28, 35. Alexander the Great, 40- Alexandria, 43- Allobroges, 22, 98, 99, ^06. C. Amatius ( Pseudo-Marius) , 71. Ancona, 85. T. Annius Milo, 51. Antiochus the Great, 18. Antitistius Labeo, Pacuvius, 52. Antium, 67. L. Antonius, 73, 76, 82, 89, 99, 100, lOI. M. Antonius (triumvir), 17, 28, 34, 36, 38, 46-50, 55, 56, 58, 59, 61-109. Appian, 37, 53, 55, 56, 60, 62, 72, 74, 89, 90, 91, 1 10. L. Appuleius Saturninus, 20, 24, 51. P. Apuleius, 89. Aquileia, 109. Argenteus, loi, 105. Ariminum, 76, 78, 82, 88. Aristotle, 40. Aries, 31. Arretium, 75. Arverni, 27. C. Asinius PoUio, 91, 9^, 95, 97, 99, 109. Atlantic Ocean, 19, 27. Attia, 36. T. Attius Labienus, 28. Auray, 25. L. Aurelius Cotta, 54. Aventine, 20. Bay of Quiberon, 25. P. Bagiennus, 91. Bellovaci, 35- ■Less important names are omitted from this index III Bononia, 84, 86, 88, 93, 94, 109. Britain, 25, 27. Brittany, 24. Brundisitun. 72. 74, 7S» L. Caecilius Metellus, 30. Q. Caecilius Bassus, 63. M. Caelius Rufus, 28. L. Caesetius Flavus, 44, 47, 6o- Calpurnia, 55- L. Calpurnius Piso, 69, 82. C. Calvisius Sabinus, 57- Camelus, 109. Campus Martins, 54- C. Caninius Rebilus, 43- Capitol, 42, 59. 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 69, 76, 89. Capua, 75- D. Carfulenus, 76, 88. Cassius Dio Cocceianus, 32, 36, 42, 46. 47, 48, 49, 53. 72, 90, 91. 94, ^01. C. Cassius Longinus, 38, 49, 52, 54, 5^. 60, 61, 62, 63. 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 83, 84, 87, 88. Catiline, see Sergius. Cevennes Mountains, 27. Cisalpine Gaul, 27, 36, 37, 38, 62, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 83, 109. Claterna, 84, 86. Ti. Claudius Nero (Roman emperor), 58. App. Claudius, 21. Qodia, 20 P Qodius, SI. P. Coelius, 21. Commius, 35. L. Cornelius Cinna, 47, 59- L. Cornelius Sulla, 21, 43, 45, 65. P. Cornelius Dolabella, 17, 38, 49, 59, 61, 72, 73, 78. P. Cornelius Scipio Aemihanus, 50, 53. P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, 19, 5©. Correus, 35. Cularo, 98, 99, 100, 105, 106. Curia Hostilia, 45- Curia Pompeia, 54, 57, 66. C. Curiatius, 19- Curio, see Scribonius. M'. Curius, 43- Deiotarus (king), 43- 112 DECIMUS JUNIUS BRUTUS ALBINUS * Dertona, 95. L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, 30, 31, 3a, 33, 34- Durius, 98, 103, 106. Dyrrachium, 92. L. Egnatuleius, 76, 81. C. Epidius Marullus, 44, 47, 60. Eporedia, 99, 103, 104, 105, 106. Etruria, 30, 96. C. Fabius, 28. Q. Fabius Maximus, 43, Fasti (calendar), 46, 47, 94, 95. Forum, 46, 47, 58, 59. 60, 64, 89. Forum Comclium, 8a, 84, 86. Forum Gallorum, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93. Forum luli, 99, loo, loi. Forum Voconi, loi. M. Fulvius Flaccus, ao, 53. Furius, 109. Galba, see Sulpicius. Gallaeci, 19, 20. Gaul, 24, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 36, 37, 72, 73 ; Gallia Cantata, 83 ; Further, 30. Glaucia, see Servilius. Graeceius, 92, 97. Helvius Cinna, 44, 47. A. Hirtius, 38, 48, 62, 63, 64, 66, 68, 80, 82, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94. Histri, 18. lapydes, 20. Iberians, 32. Ides of March, 41, 49, 54, 66, 77, 78. Ilerda, 32. Illyricum, 24. Inalpini, 73. Isara, 98, 99, 105, 106. Isocrates, 40. Italy, 24, 27, 29, 30, 31, 34, 36, 54, 71, 85, 98 104. C. lulius Caesar, 17, 22, 23-32, 34-63, 65-72, 75, 78, 8s, 103. C lulius Caesar Octavianus (Augus- tus), 36, 37, 48, 58, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79. 80, 81, 82, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 9