The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0001/00011.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 31KB | 476 lines

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$Title{History Of Cleopatra, Queen Of Egypt
Chapter IX: The Battle Of Philippi}
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$Author{Abbott, Jacob}
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$Subject{brutus
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octavius
friends
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$Date{1900}
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Title:       History Of Cleopatra, Queen Of Egypt
Book:        Cleopatra
Author:      Abbott, Jacob
Date:        1900

Chapter IX: The Battle Of Philippi

     When the tidings of the assassination of Caesar were first announced to
the people of Rome, all ranks and classes of men were struck with amazement
and consternation.  No one knew what to say or do.  A very large and
influential portion of the community had been Caesar's friends.  It was
equally certain that there was a very powerful interest opposed to him.  No
one could foresee which of these two parties would now carry the day, and, of
course, for a time, all was uncertainty and indecision.

     Mark Antony came forward at once, and assumed the position of Caesar's
representative and the leader of the party on that side.  A will was found
among Caesar's effects, and when the will was opened it appeared that large
sums of money were left to the Roman people, and other large amounts to a
nephew of the deceased, named Octavius, who will be more particularly spoken
of hereafter.  Antony was named in the will as the executor of it.  This and
other circumstances seemed to authorize him to come forward as the head and
the leader of the Caesar party.  Brutus and Cassius, who remained openly in
the city after their desperate deed had been performed, were the acknowledged
leaders of the other party; while the mass of the people were at first so
astounded at the magnitude and suddenness of the revolution which the open and
public assassination of a Roman emperor by a Roman senate denoted, that they
knew not what to say or do.  In fact, the killing of Julius Caesar,
considering the exalted position which he occupied, the rank and station of
the men who perpetrated the deed, and the very extraordinary publicity of the
scene in which the act was performed, was, doubtless, the most conspicuous and
most appalling case of assassination that has ever occurred.  The whole
population of Rome seemed for some days to be amazed and stupefied by the
tidings.  At length, however, parties began to be more distinctly formed. The
lines of demarkation between them were gradually drawn, and men began to
arrange themselves more and more unequivocally on the opposite sides.

     For a short time the supremacy of Antony over the Caesar party was
readily acquiesced in and allowed.  At length, however, and before his
arrangements were finally matured, he found that he had two formidable
competitors upon his own side.  These were Octavius and Lepidus.

     Octavius, who was the nephew of Caesar, already alluded to, was a very
accomplished and elegant young man, now about nineteen years of age.  He was
the son of Julius Caesar's niece. ^* He had always been a great favorite with
his uncle.  Every possible attention had been paid to his education, and he
had been advanced by Caesar, already, to positions of high importance in
public life.  Caesar, in fact, adopted him as his son, and made him his heir.
At the time of Caesar's death he was at Apollonia, a city of Illyricum, north
of Greece.  The troops under his command there offered to march at once with
him, if he wished it, to Rome, and avenge his uncle's death.  Octavius, after
some hesitation, concluded that it would be most prudent for him to proceed
thither first himself, alone, as a private person, and demand his rights as
his uncle's heir, according to the provisions of the will.  He accordingly did
so.  He found, on his arrival, that the will, the property, the books and
parchments, and the substantial power of the government, were all in Antony's
hands.  Antony, instead of putting Octavius into possession of his property
and rights, found various pretexts for evasion and delay.  Octavius was too
young yet, he said, to assume such weighty responsibilities.  He was himself
also too much pressed with the urgency of public affairs to attend to the
business of the will.  With these and similar excuses as his justification,
Antony seemed inclined to pay no regard whatever to Octavius's claims.

[Footnote *: This Octavius, on his subsequent elevation to imperia power,
received the name of Augustus Caesar, and it is by this name that he is
generally known in history.  He was however, called Octavius at the
commencement of his career, and, to avoid confusion, we shall continue to
designate him by this name to the end of our narrative.]

     Octavius, young as he was, possessed a character that was marked with
great intelligence, spirit, and resolution.  He soon made many powerful
friends in the city of Rome and among the Roman senate.  It became a serious
question whether he or Antony would gain the greatest ascendency in the party
of Caesar's friends.  The contest for this ascendency was, in fact, protracted
for two or three years, and led to a vast complication of intrigues, and
maneuvers, and civil wars, which can not, however, be here particularly
detailed.

     The other competitor which Antony had to contend with was a distinguished
Roman general named Lepidus.  Lepidus was an officer of the army, in very high
command at the time of Caesar's death.  He was present in the senate chamber
on the day of the assassination.  He stole secretly away when he saw that the
deed was done, and repaired to the camp of the army without the city and
immediately assumed the command of the forces.  This gave him great power, and
in the course of the contests which subsequently ensued between Antony and
Octavius, he took an active part, and held in some measure the balance between
them.  At length the contest was finally closed by a coalition of the three
rivals.  Finding that they could not either of them gain a decided victory
over the others, they combined together, and formed the celebrated
triumvirate, which continued afterward for some time to wield the supreme
command in the Roman world.  In forming this league of reconciliation, the
three rivals held their conference on an island situated in one of the
branches of the Po, in the north of Italy.  They manifested extreme jealousy
and suspicion of each other in coming to this interview. Two bridges were
built leading to the island, one from each bank of the stream.  The army of
Antony was drawn up upon one side of the river, and that of Octavius upon the
other.  Lepidus went first to the island by one of the bridges.  After
examining the ground carefully, to make himself sure that it contained no
ambuscade, he made a signal to the other generals, who then came over, each
advancing by his own bridge, and accompanied by three hundred guards, who
remained upon the bridge to secure a retreat for their master in case of
treachery.  The conference lasted three days, at the expiration of which time
the articles were all agreed upon and signed.

     This league being formed, the three confederates turned their united
force against the party of the conspirators.  Of this party Brutus and Cassius
were still at the head.

     The scene of the contests between Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus had been
chiefly Italy and the other central countries of Europe.  Brutus and Cassius,
on the other hand, had gone across the Adriatic Sea into the East immediately
after Caesar's assassination.  They were now in Asia Minor, and were employed
in concentrating their forces, forming alliances with the various Eastern
powers, raising troops, bringing over to their side the Roman legions which
were stationed in that quarter of the world, seizing magazines, and exacting
contributions from all who could be induced to favor their cause.  Among other
embassages which they sent, one went to Egypt to demand aid from Cleopatra;
Cleopatra, however, was resolved to join the other side in the contest.  It
was natural that she should feel grateful to Caesar for his ef