Complete Works of Velleius Paterculus

by Velleius Paterculus

  [80] (1) While engaged in his war with Pompey, Caesar had summoned Lepidus from Africa with twelve legions of half the usual strength. This man, the most fickle of mankind, who had not earned the long-continued kindness of fortune through any qualities of his own, being nearer to the army of Pompey, annexed it to his own, though it was following not his orders but Caesar’s, and owned loyalty to him. (2) His numbers now swollen to twenty legions, he went to such lengths of madness that, though but a useless partner in another’s victory, a victory which he had long delayed in refusing to agree to Caesar’s plans and always insisting upon something different from that which suited others, (3) he claimed the victory as entirely his own and had the effrontery to order Caesar out of Sicily. The Scipios and the other Roman generals of the olden time never dared or carried out a braver act than did Caesar at this juncture. For although he was unarmed and dressed in his travelling cloak, carrying nothing except his name, he entered the camp of Lepidus, and, avoiding the weapons which were hurled at him by the orders of that scoundrel, though his cloak was pierced by a lance, he had the courage to carry off the eagle of a legion. (4) Then could one know the difference between the two commanders. Though armed, the soldiers followed Caesar who was unarmed, while Lepidus, in the tenth year after arriving at a position of power which his life had done nothing to deserve, now deserted both by his soldiers and by fortune, wrapping himself in a dark cloak and lurking in the rear of the crowd that thronged to Caesar, thus threw himself at Caesar’s feet. He was granted his life and the control of his own property, but was shorn of the high position which he had shown himself unable to maintain.

  LXXXI

  Subita deinde exercitus seditio, qui plexumque contemplatus frequentiam suam a disciplina desciscit et, quod cogere se putat posse, rogare non sustinet, partim severitate, partim liberalitate discussa principis, speciosumque per idem tempus adiectum supplementum Campanae coloniae (veteranis in agros deductis qui coloniae veteranis in agros deductis qui coloniae eius relicti erant publici: pro his longe uberiores reditus duodecies sestertium in Creta insula redditi et aqua promissa, quae hodieque singulare et salubritaiis instrumentum et amoenitatis ornarnentum est. Insigne coronae classicae, quo nemo umquam Romanorum donatus erat, hoc bello Agrippa singulari virtute meruit. Vicior deinde Caesar reversus in urbem contractas emptionibus complures domos per procuratores, quo laxior fieret ipsius, publicis se usibus destinare professus est, templumque Apollinis et circa porticus facturum promisit, quod ab eo singulari extructum munificentia est.

  [81] (1) There followed a sudden mutiny of the army; for it happens not infrequently that when soldiers observe their own numbers they break discipline and do not endure to ask for what they think they can exact. (2) The mutiny was broken up partly by severity, partly by liberality on the part of the emperor, and considerable additions were at the same time made to the Campanian colony by placing veterans on the lands of that colony which had been left public. Lands in Crete were given in return for these, which yielded a richer revenue of a million two hundred thousand sesterces, and an aqueduct was promised which is to‑day a remarkable agency of health as well as an ornament to the landscape.

  (3) In this war Agrippa by his remarkable services earned the distinction of a naval crown, with which no Roman had as yet been decorated. Caesar, on his victorious return to the city, made the announcement that he meant to set apart for public use certain houses which he had secured by purchase through his agents in order that there might be a free area about his own residence. He further promised to build a temple of Apollo with a portico about it, a work which he constructed with rare munificence.

  LXXXII

  Qua aestate Caesar tam prospere sepelivit in Sicilia bellum, fortuna, in Caesare et in re publica mitis, saeviit ad Orientem. Quippe Antonius cum tredecim legionibus ingressus Armeniam ac deinde Mediam et per eas regiones Parthos petens habuit regem eorum obvium. Primoque duas legiones cum omnibus impedimentis tormentisque et Statiano legato amisit, mox saepius ipse cum summo totius exercitus discrimine ea adiit pericula, a quibus servari se posse desperaret, amissaque non minus quarta parte militum captivi cuiusdam, sed Romani, consilio ac fide servatus est, qui clade Crassiani exercitus captus, cum fortuna non animum mutasset, accessit nocte ad stationem Romanam praedixitque, ne destinatum iter peterent, sed diverso silvestrique pervaderent. Hoc M.Antonio ac tot illis legionibus saluti fuit; de quibus tamen totoque exercitu haud minus pars quarta, ut praediximus, militum, calonum servitiique desiderata tertia est; impedimentorum vix ulla superfuit. Hanc tamen Antonius fugam suam, quia vivus exierat, victoriam voeabat. Qui tertia aesta.te reversus in Armeniam regem eius Artavasden fraude deceptum catenis, sed, ne quid honori deesset, aureis vinxit. Crescente deinde et amoris in Cleopatram incendio et vitiorum, quae semper facultatibus licentiaque et adsentationibus aluntur, magnitudine, bellum patriae inferre constituit, cum ante novum se Liberum Patrem appellari iussisset, cum redimitus hederis crocotaque velatus aurea et thyrsum tenens cothurnisque succinctus curru velut Liber Pater vectus esset Alexandriae.

  [82] (1) In the summer in which Caesar so successfully ended the war in Sicily, fortune, though kind in the case of Caesar and the republic, vented her anger in the east. For Antony with thirteen legions after passing through Armenia and then through Media, in an endeavour to reach Parthia by this route, found himself confronted by their king. (2) First of all he lost two legions with all their baggage and engines, and Statianus his lieutenant; later he himself with the greatest risk to his entire army, on several occasions encountered perils from which he dared not hope that escape was possible. After losing not less than a fourth part of his soldiers, he was saved through the fidelity and by the suggestion of a captive, who was nevertheless a Roman. This man had been made prisoner in the disaster to the army of Crassus, but had not changed his allegiance with his fortune. He came by night to a Roman outpost and warned them not to pursue their intended course but to proceed by a detour through the forest. (3) It was this that saved Marcus Antonius and his many legions; and yet, even so, not less than a fourth part of these soldiers and of his entire army was lost, as we have already stated, and of the camp-followers and slaves a third, while hardly anything of the baggage was saved. Yet Antonius called this flight of his a victory, because he had escaped with his life! Three summers later he returned to Armenia, obtained possession of the person of Artavasdes its king by deceit, and bound him with chains, which, however, out of regard for the station of his captive, were of gold. (4) Then as his love for Cleopatra became more ardent and his vices grew upon him — for these are always nourished by power and licence and flattery — he resolved to make war upon his country. He had previously given orders that he should be called the new Father Liber, and indeed in a procession at Alexandria he had impersonated Father Liber, his head bound with the ivy wreath, his person enveloped in the saffron robe of gold, holding in his hand the •thyrsus, wearing the buskins, and riding in the Bacchic chariot.

  LXXXIII

  Inter hunc apparatum belli Plancus, non iudicio recta legendi neque amore rei publicae aut Caesaris, quippe haec semper impugnabat, sed morbo proditor, cum fuisset humillimus adsentator reginae et infra servos cliens, cum Antonii librarius, cum obscenissimarum rerum et auctor et minister, cum in omnia et omnibus venalis, cum caeruleatus et nudus caputque redimitus arundine et caudam trahens, genihus innixus Glaucum saltasset in convivio, refrigeratus ab Antonio ob manifestarum rapinarum indicia transfugit ad Caesarem. Et idem postea clementiam victoris pro sua virtute interpretabatur, dictitans id probatum a Caesare, cui ille ignoverat; mox autem hunc avunculum Titius imitatus est. Haud absurde Coponius, vir e praetoriis gravissimus, P. Silii socer, cum recens transfuga multa ac nefanda Plancus absenti Antonio in senatu obiceret, “multa,”, inquit, “mehercules fecit Antonius pridie quam tu illum relinqueres “.

  [83] (1) In the midst of these preparations for war Plancus went over to Caesar, not through any conviction that he was choosing the right, nor from any love of the republic or of Cae
sar, for he was always hostile to both, but because treachery was a disease with him. He had been the most grovelling flatterer of the queen, a client with less self-respect than a slave; he had also been a secretary to Antony and was the author or the abettor of his vilest acts; (2) for money he was ready to do all things for all men; and at a banquet he had played the role of Glaucus the Nereid, performing a dance in which his naked body was painted blue, his head encircled with reeds, at the same time wearing a fish’s tail and crawling upon his knees. Now, inasmuch as he had been coldly treated by Antony because of unmistakable evidence of his venal rapacity, he deserted to Caesar. Afterwards he even went so far as to interpret the victor’s clemency as a proof of his own merit, claiming that Caesar had approved that which he had merely pardoned. It was the example of this man, his uncle, that Titius soon afterwards followed. (3) The retort of Coponius, who was the father-in‑law of Publius Silius and a dignified praetorian, was not so far from the mark when he said, as Plancus in the senate fresh from his desertion was heaping upon the absent Antony many unspeakable charges, “By Hercules, Antony must have done a great many things before you left him.”

  LXXXIV

  Caesare deinde et Messala Corvino consulibus debellatum apud Actium, ubi longe ante quam dimicaretur exploratissima Iulianarum partium fuit victoria. Vigebat in hac parte miles atque imperator, in illa marcebant omnia; hinc remiges firmissimi, illinc inopia adfectissimi; navium haec magnitudo modica nec celeritati adversa, illa specie terribilior; hinc ad Antonium nemo, illinc ad Caesarem cotidie aliquis transfugiebat; rex Amyntas meliora et utiliora secutus; nam Dellius exempli sui tenax ut a Dolabella ad Cassium, a Cassio ad Antonium, ita ab Antonio transiit ad Caesarem; virque clarissimus Cn. Domitius, qui solus Antonianarum partium numquam reginam nisi nomine salutavit, maximo et praecipiti periculo transmisit ad Caesarem. Denique in ore atque oculis Antonianae classis per M. Agrippam Leucas expugnata, Patrae captae, Corinthus occupata, bis ante ultimum discrimen classis hostium superata.

  [84] (1) Then, in the consulship of Caesar and Messala Corvinus, the decisive battle took place at Actium. The victory of the Caesarian party was a certainty long before the battle. On the one side commander and soldiers alike were full of ardour, on the other was general dejection; on the one side the rowers were strong and sturdy, on the other weakened by privations; on the one side ships of moderate size, not too large for speed, on the other vessels of a size that made them more formidable in appearance only; no one was deserting from Caesar to Antony, while from Antony to Caesar someone or other was deserting daily; (2) and King Amyntas had embraced the better and more advantageous side. As for Dellius, consistent to his habit, he now went over from Antony to Caesar as he had deserted from Dolabella to Cassius and from Cassius to Antony. The illustrious Gnaeus Domitius, who was the only one of the party of Antony who refused to salute the queen except by name, went over to Caesar at great and imminent risk to himself. Finally, before the eyes of Antony and his fleet, Marcus Agrippa had stormed Leucas, had captured Patrae, had seized Corinth, and before the final conflict had twice defeated the fleet of the enemy.

  LXXXV

  Advenit deinde maximi discriminis dies, quo Caesar Antoniusque productis classibus pro salute alter, in ruinam alter terrarum orbis dimicavere. Dextrum navium Iulianarum cornu M. Lurio commissum, laevum Arruntio, Agrippae omne classici certaminis arbitrium; Caesar ei parti destinatus, in quam a fortuna vocaretur, ubique aderat. Classis Antonii regimen Publicolae Sosioque commissum. At in terra locatum exercitum Taurus Caesaris, Antonii regebat Canidius. Ubi initum certamen est, omnia in altera parte fuere, dux, remiges, milites, in altera nihil praeter milites. Prima occupat fugam Cleopatra. Antonius fugientis reginae quam pugnantis militis sui comes esse maluit, et imperator, qui in desertores saevire debuerat, desertor exercitus sui factus est. Illis etiam detracto capite in longum fortissime pugnandi duravit constantia et desperata victoria in mortem dimicabatur. Caesar, quos ferro poterat interimere, verbis mulcere cupiens clamitansque et ostendens fugisse Antonium, quaerebat, pro quo et cum quo pugnarent. At illi cum diu pro absente dimicassent duce, aegre summissis armis cessere victoriam, citiusque vitam veniamque Caesar promisit, quam illis ut eam precarentur persuasum est; fuitque in confesso milites optimi imperatoris, imperatorem fugacissimi militis functum officio, ut dubites, suone an Cleopatrae arbitrio victoriam temperaturus fuerit, qui ad eius arbitrium direxerit fugam. Idem locatus in terra fecit exercitus, cum se Canidius praecipti fuga rapuisset ad Antonium.

  [85] (1) Then came the day of the great conflict, on which Caesar and Antony led out their fleets and fought, the one for the safety, the other for the ruin, of the world. (2) The command of the right wing of Caesar’s fleet was entrusted to Marcus Lurius, of the left to Arruntius, while Agrippa had full charge of the entire conflict at sea. Caesar, reserving himself for that part of the battle to which fortune might summon him, was present everywhere. The command of Antony’s fleet was entrusted to Publicola and Sosius. On the land, moreover, the army of Caesar was commanded by Taurus, that of Antony by Canidius. (3) When the conflict began, on the one side was everything — commander, rowers, and soldiers; on the other, soldiers alone. Cleopatra took the initiative in the flight; Antony chose to be the companion of the fleeing queen rather than of his fighting soldiers, and the commander whose duty it would have been to deal severely with deserters, now became a deserter from his own army. Even without their chief (4) his men long continued to fight bravely, and despairing of victory they fought to the death. Caesar, desiring to win over by words those whom he might have slain with the sword, kept shouting and pointing out to them that Antony had fled, and kept asking them for whom and with whom they were fighting. (5) But they, after fighting long for their truant commander, reluctantly surrendered their arms and yielded the victory, Caesar having promised them pardon and their lives before they could bring themselves to sue for them. It was evident that the soldiers had played the part of the good commander while the commander had played that of the cowardly soldier, (6) so that one might question whether in case of victory he would have acted according to Cleopatra’s will or his own, since it was by her will that he had resorted to flight. The land army likewise surrendered when Canidius had hurried after Antony in precipitate flight.

  LXXXVI

  Quid ille dies terrarum orbi praestiterit, ex quo in quem statum pervenerit fortuna publica, quis in hoc transcursu tam artati operis exprimere audeat? Victoria vero fuit clementissima, nec quisquam interemptus est, paucissimi summoti, qui ne deprecari quidem pro se sustinerent. Ex qua lenitate ducis colligi potuit, quem aut initio triumviratus sui aut in campis Philippiis, si ei licuisset, victoriae suae facturus fuerit modum. At Sosium L. Arruntii prisca gravitate celeberrimi fides, mox, diu cum clementia luctatus sua, Caesar servavit incolumem. Non praetereatur Asinii Pollionis factum et dictum memorabile: namque cum se post Brundusinam pacem continuisset in Italia neque aut vidisset umquam reginam aut post enervatum amore eius Antonii animum partibus eius se miscuisset, rogante Caesare, ut secum ad bellum profisceretur Actiacum: “ mea “, inquit, “in Antonium maiora merita sunt, illius in me beneficia notiora; itaque discrimini vestro me subtraham et ero praeda victoris”.

  [86] (1) Who is there who, in the compass of so brief a work, would attempt to state what blessings this day conferred upon the world, or to describe the change which took place in the fortunes of the state? (2) Great clemency was shown in the victory; no one was put to death, and but few banished who could not bring themselves even to become suppliants. From this display of mercy on the part of the commander it may be inferred how moderate a use Caesar would have made of the victory, had he been allowed to do so, whether at the beginning of his triumvirate or on the plain of Philippi. But, in the case of Sosius, it was the pledged word of Lucius Arruntius, a man famous for his old-time dignity, that saved him; later, Caesar preserved him unharmed, but only after long resisting his general inclination to clemency. (3) The remarkable conduct of Asinius Pollio should not be passed by nor the
words which he uttered. For although he had remained in Italy after the peace of Brundisium, and had never seen the queen nor taken any active part in Antony’s faction after this leader had become demoralized by his passion for her, when Caesar asked him to go with him to the war at Actium he replied: “My services to Antony are too great, and his kindness to me too well known; accordingly I shall hold aloof from your quarrel and shall be the prize of the victor.”

  LXXXVII

  Proximo deinde anno persecutus reginam Antoniumque Alexandream, ultimam bellis civilibus imposuit manum. Antonius se ipse non segniter interemit, adeo ut multa desidiae crimina morte redimeret. At Cleopatra frustratis custodibus inlata aspide in morsu et sanie eius expers muliebris metus spiritum reddidit. Fuitque et fortuna et clementia Caesaris dignum, quod nemo ex iis, qui contra eum arma tulerant, ab eo iussuve eius interemptus est. D. Brutum Antonii interemit crudelitas. Sextum Pompeium ab eo devictum idem Antonius, cum dignitatis quoque servandae dedisset fidem, etiam spiritu privavit. Brutus et Cassius ante, quam victorum experirentur animum, voluntaria morte obierunt. Antonii Cleopatraeque quis fuisset exitus narravimus. Canidius timidius decessit, quam professioni ei, qua semper usus erat, congruebat. Ultimus autem ex interfectoribus Caesaris Parmensis Cassius morte poenas dedit, ut dederat Trebonius primus.