[139] See Appian 3, 21; 3, 23; Dio 45, 7. According to Appian’s account, Octavian liquidated not only the residuary estate which he received from Caesar, but also some of his own property in order to pay the specific legacies to the people. This would naturally make them feel indebted to him as well as to his late uncle, and was a particularly shrewd bit of strategy on his part in winning popular opinion away from Antony. [140] Antony and Dolabella. [141] Antony is accused of having made away with 700,000,000 sesterces (approximately $30,000,000) (Cic., Phil., 1, 17; 2, 35; 2, 93; 4, 14; 5, 11; Att. 14, 14, 5; Fam. 12, 2, 2; Vell. 2, 60, 4). Antony’s obvious defense was that the Caesarian treasury, the temple of Ops, had been left exhausted by Caesar (App. 3, 20). [142] During April and May Antony was corresponding with Brutus and Cassius, both verbally and by letter. The general impression given by Cicero is that a friendly compromise was not improbable: ‘Antoni colloquium cum heroibus nostris pro re nata non incommodum.’ (Cic., Att., 14, 6, 1, written April 12) ‘Epistula brevis quae postea a te scripta est sane mihi fuit iucunda, de Bruti ad Antonium ... litteris’ (Cic., Att., 14, 14, postscript). The appeal of Brutus and Cassius to Antony (Cic., Fam., 11, 2), as to what their chance for safety would be in Rome, was sent from Lanuvium toward the end of May. [143] Lacuna.