apparent proof lay before them, until someone said that Antonius would do well to dismiss the assembly, saying that he ought to act moderately and not stir up any disturbance, for he was consul. After this discussion, Antonius dismissed the assembly. Two or three days afterward, he set out for Brundisium to take over the army which had now arrived there. There was no further discussion about the plot, and when he left, his friends who remained behind dismissed the whole matter, and no one ever saw any of the conspirators who were alleged to have been taken.[160] 31. Octavian, although now exonerated from the charge, was none the less chagrined at the talk about him, interpreting it as evidence of a great conspiracy against him. He thought that if Antonius had happened to get the army on his side by means of bribes he would not have delayed in attacking him, not because he had been wronged in any respect, but simply led on to that course as an outcome of his former hopes. It was manifest that a man who had concocted this charge would go further to others and that he would have been eager to do this from the first if he had not had to fear the army. Accordingly Octavian was filled with righteous indignation against Antonius and with some concern for his own person, now that the other’s intention had become plain. Reviewing all contingencies, he saw that he must not remain quiet, for this was not safe, but that he must seek out some aid wherewith to oppose the other’s power and strategems. So then, reflecting upon this question, he decided that he had better take refuge in his father’s colonies, where his father had granted allotments and founded cities, to remind the people of Caesar’s beneficence and to bewail his fate and his own sufferings, and thus to secure their support, attracting them also by gifts of money. He thought that this would be his only safe course, that it would redound greatly to his fame, and that it would also redeem the prestige of his family. It was a far better and juster course than to be pushed aside out of his inherited honor by men who had no claim to it, and finally to be foully and nefariously slain just as his father had been. After consulting over this with his friends and after sacrificing, with good fortune, to the gods, that they might be his assistants in his just and glorious endeavor, he set out, taking with him a considerable sum of money, first of all into Campania where were the Seventh and Eighth Legions (for that is what the Romans call their regiments). He thought that he ought first to sound the feelings of the Seventh, for its fame was greater, and with this colony