and his 'savior,' the false son of our leader, and thereby receive my enmity and the lasting despite of the people.
I hope that you have the wisdom to choose the first course; I fear that you will have the caution to choose the second; I implore you, for your own safety, not to choose the third.
VI. The Memoirs of Marcus Agrippa: Fragments (13 B. c.)
We found the Rome we entered torn by strife and ambition. Marcus Antonius, the pretended friend of the slain Julius Caesar, consorted with the murderers, and would not allow him whom we now called Octavius Caesar to receive the honors and powers bequeathed him by his father. Upon ascertaining the ambition of the usurper Antonius, Octavius Caesar took himself into the countryside where his father's veterans tilled the soil, and we raised those troops loyal to the memory of their dead leader who would oppose with us the plunderers of our nation's dream.
Unlawfully, Marcus Antonius levied the Macedonian troops and marched with them into Rome, and thence to Mutina, where he laid siege to Decimus Brutus Albinus. And though Decimus had been among the murderers of Caesar, for the sake of order and the state, Octavius Caesar agreed to defend his lawful governorship of Gaul against the force of the outlaw Antonius; and with the thanks and sanction of the Senate, we gathered our forces and marched toward Mutina, where Antonius had encamped around the legions of Decimus.
Now I must tell of that campaign at Mutina, which was the first responsibility of war I had under Octavius Caesar and Rome.
The senatorial legions were under the command of the two consuls of the year, Gaius Vibius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, the latter of whom had been the trusted general of our late Julius Caesar. Octavius Caesar commanded the Martian and Macedonian IV legions, though of the latter I had military leadership. Quintus Salvidienus Rufus had been given the military command of the new legion of recruits we had levied in the countryside of Campania.
Antonius had made his siege of Decimus complete, and he proposed to lie in wait until Decimus's legions, weakened by hunger, must attempt to break through his encampment. We determined that Decimus had put away enough food within the walls of Mutina to endure, so we made winter quarters at Imola, only a two-hour march from Mutina, so that we might quickly go to the aid of Decimus if he made a sally against the Antonian forces. But he cowered within the safety of the city walls, and would not fight; so that when spring came, we faced the prospect of breaking through Antonius's lines ourselves, to save that Decimus who would not save himself. Early in April we determined to move.
Around Mutina the ground is marshy and uneven, cut by gullies and streams; beyond this marsh Antonius was encamped. In secret we searched the land for a way to cross, and discovered a ravine that was unguarded; and in the dead of night, joined by Pansa and five cohorts of his legion, Octavius Caesar and Salvidienus and I led our Martian legion and other soldiers into this ravine, having wrapped our swords and spears with cloth so that the enemy would not be aware of our approach. The moon was full, but a heavy fog clung to the earth, so that we could not see before us; and in single file, each man's hand upon another's shoulder, we inched blindly through the glowing mist, never sure of where we went or whom we might encounter.
Through the night we crept, and in the morning came up on a high road in the marshes; we waited for the fog to lift, and saw no enemy ahead of us. But a sudden gleam came from the brush, and we heard a muffled voice, and we knew we were surrounded. The horn sounded the order for battle, and the soldiers came to their formation on the high ground. The young recruits were ordered by Pansa to stand aside, so as not to hinder the fighting of the veterans, but to stand in readiness if they were needed.
For these were veterans of the Martian legion, and they remembered the slaughter of their comrades at Brindisi by the Antonius they now opposed.
The space upon which we fought was so small that one side could not flank another; therefore, man fought man like gladiators in an arena, and the dust rose thick as the fog of the night before, and swords rang in the air, and no one shouted. We heard only the cries of the wounded and the deep groans of those who were dying.
We fought through the morning and through the afternoon, one line relieving another as it became exhausted. Once Octavius Caesar himself came near death when he seized the standard that our eagle-bearer, wounded, had let fall; and the consul, Pansa, in this engagement suffered a mortal wound. Antonius ordered fresh troops into the battle, and step by step we gave ground; but under the command of Salvidienus the recruits fought as bravely as the veterans, and we were able to enter again into our camp whence we had come the night before. Antonius did not continue the attack after nightfall, so we went into the marsh that was littered with the bodies of our comrades, and carried back the wounded. That night we saw the camphres of Antonius's army beyond the marsh, and heard the singing of his soldiers in their victory.
We feared the slaughter that the next day might bring, for we were weary and our numbers were reduced by half; and we knew that Antonius had troops that he had not used. But during that night, the legions of the consul Hirtius had been marching to our relief; and joining us, made an attack upon Antonius's camp, which was complacent and disordered in its false certainty of success. And the battles raged for many days, during which time the Antonian legions were reduced to half their number; our losses were very slight. Salvidienus was given the legions of the dying Pansa, and he led them with bravery and skill. At last, our armies broke into the very camp of Antonius; and the brave Hirtius was killed by one of Antonius's guards, outside the tent where Antonius had lately rested and whence he had fled.
Upon this defeat, Antonius lost heart; and gathering what remained of his troops, marched northward toward the Alps, which he crossed at further cost to his strength, and joined the forces of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had remained safely at Narbonne.
After the flight of Antonius, Decimus, delivered from the siege, ventured outside the city walls. He sent messengers to Octavius Caesar, thanking him for his aid, and declaring that his own part in the murder of Julius Caesar had been caused by the deceptions of the other conspirators; and he asked that Octavius Caesar converse with him, in the presence of witnesses, so that he might be convinced of the sincerity of his gratitude. But Octavius Caesar declined his thanks, saying: 'I did not come to save Decimus; therefore I will not accept his gratitude. I came to save the state; and I will accept its thanks. Nor will I speak to the murderer of my father, nor look upon his face. He may go in safety by the authority of the Senate, not by my own.'
Six months later, Decimus was surprised and killed by a chieftain of one of the Gallic tribes. He had the head of Decimus severed, and sent it to Marcus Antonius, who gave him a small reward.
VII Senatorial Proceedings (April, 43 B. c.)
The third day of this month: the reading to the Senate of the dispatches from the Gallic campaign against the insurgent Marcus Antonius: by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
That the siege of Decimus Brutus Albinus is lifted; that the troops of Marcus Antonius are so reduced that they offer no immediate danger to the Republic; that the remnants of Antonius's army flee northward in disorder; that the consuls Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa are dead, and that their legions are temporarily under the command of C. Octavius, who waits outside Mutina.
The sixth day of this month: resolutions of Marcus Tullius Cicero.
That fifty days of thanksgiving be declared, in which the citizens of Rome will offer their gratitude to the gods and the senatorial armies for the defeat of Marcus Antonius and the deliverance of Decimus Brutus Albinus.
That the dead consuls Hirtius and Pansa be accorded public funerals, with full honors.
That a public monument be erected to memorialize the glorious deed of the legions of Hirtius and Pansa.
That Decimus Brutus Albinus be given a senatorial triumph for his heroic defeat of the outlaw Marcus Antonius. That the following directive be sent to Gaius Octavius at Mutina (copy appended):
'The Praetors, Tribunes of the Plebeians, the Senate, the People and Commoners of Rome, send greetings to Gaius Octavius, temporary commander of the Consular Legions:
'You are given the thanks of the Senate for the aid you have rendered Decimus Brutus Albinus in his heroic defeat of the insurgent armies of Marcus Antonius, and you are to know that, by edict of the Senate, Decimus Brutus has been made sole commander of the legions in the furtherance of the pursuit of the Antonian forces. You are therefore ordered to turn over the consular legions of Hirtius and Pansa to Decimus Brutus without delay. You are further ordered to disband those legions that you raised on your own authority, giving them the thanks of the Senate, which has formed a commission to study the advisability of offering them some reward for their services. An envoy from the Senate has been sent to Mutina to deal with these matters; you are to leave the transfer of powers to his offices.'
