The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the RepublicGilman, Arthur
History
The Story of Rome from the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic
Gilman, Arthur
Rome -- History -- Republic, 510-30 B.C.
Cicero entered Rome on the first of September, and delivered his first
Philippic the next day, in the same Temple of Concord in which he had
denounced Catiline twenty years before. He then retired from the city,
and did not hear the abusive tirade with which Antony attempted to
blacken his reputation. In October he prepared a second speech, which
was not delivered, but was given to the public in November. This is the
most elaborate and the best of the Philippics, and it is also much more
fierce than the former. The last of the series was delivered April 22,
43. Antony was soon declared a public enemy, and Cicero in his speeches
constantly urged a vigorous prosecution of the war against him.
Octavius gained the confidence of the army, and then demanded the
consulate of the senate. When that powerful office had been obtained,
he broke with the senate, and marched to the northward, ostensibly to
conquer Antony and Lepidus, who were coming down with another great
army. Instead of precipitating a battle, Lepidus contrived to have a
meeting on a small island in a tributary of the Po, not far from the
present site of Bologna, and there, toward the end of October, it was
agreed that the government of the Roman world should be peaceably
divided between the three captains, who were to be called Triumvirs for
the settlement of the affairs of the republic. They were to retain
their offices until the end of December, 38, Lepidus ruling Spain;
Octavius, Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa; and Antony, the two Gauls;
while Italy was to be governed by the three in common, their authority
being paramount to senate, consuls, and laws. This is known as the
Second Triumvirate, though we must remember that the former
arrangement, made by Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus, was simply a private
league without formal sanction of law. The second triumvirate was
proclaimed November, 27, 43 B.C.
[Illustration: MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO.]
The first work of the three rulers was to rid themselves of all whom
they feared as enemies, and we have to imagine them sitting down to
make out a list of those who, like the sufferers at the dreadful time
of Marius and Sulla, were proscribed. Among the prominent men seventeen
were first chosen to be butchered, and on the horrid list are found the
names of a cousin of Octavius, a brother of Lepidus, and an uncle of
Antony. To the lasting execration of Octavius, he consented that
Cicero, who had so valiantly fought for him, should be sacrificed to
the vengeance of Antony, whom the orator had scarified with his burning
words.
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