WIVES OF THE CiESAKS. 587 



decree proclaimed the future triumvir a foe to the republic. Antony 

 was ordered to lay down his arms ; but this command he treated with 

 contempt, when Hirtius, Pansa, and Octavius as vice-praetor, were 

 despatched to Mutina to give him battle. Antony was defeated ; the 

 consuls perished in the arms of victory, and, if the rumours of a people, 

 urged by the asperity of faction may be credited, by the treachery of 

 young Octavius. 



The success at Mutina was not productive of the consequences 

 which Octavius hoped. His projects were foreseen by many, who 

 declared him heir to Caesar's proud ambition, as well as to his name 

 and fortune. The honour of a triumph was decreed to Decius Brutus, 

 while Octavius was unmentioned, and denied the consulate, which 

 afterwards, however, he obtained by the address and influence of 

 Cicero. 



Octavius saw an earnest of mistrust or enmity in the proceedings 

 of the senate, and determined to resent it. Lepidus, informed of his 

 disgust, conceived the moment favourable to a project he had medi- 

 tated of associating the powers of Antony, Octavius, and himself; by 

 which their own authority would be confirmed, and the senate and 

 the firm republicans would be reduced to unconditional submission. 

 Antony had taken refuge in the camp of Lepidus. The latter charged 

 himself with the persuasion of Octavius, who singly was incapable of 

 action, and saw the evident necessity of yielding to the strength of 

 circumstance. The scheme succeeded. Antony, though put to flight 

 at Mutina, was strong. His partisans were numerous and bold. 

 Lepidus had the advantages of opulence and birth ; and the meanness 

 of his intellect was rather an inducement than objection to Octavius 

 to become a party to a league, of which the powers would be even- 

 tually wielded by the predominance of talent and political sagacity. 



The meeting of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus took place in an 

 islet of the Labinius. After solemnly exchanging protestations of in- 

 terminable amity, they proceeded to the terms of that triumvirate 

 which deluged Rome with blood. They divided among themselves 

 the provinces and legions ; each triumvir was invested with sovereign 

 authority ; the consular dignity was abolished j they resolved unani- 

 mously on a war with Brutus, Cassius, and their partisans ; and each 

 agreed to the surrender of his private friends to satisfy the vengeance 



Antony as a willing slave ; as the moving cause of Caesar's wars and usurpation ; 

 as the affliction of the commonwealth " hujus luctuosissimi belli semen tu fiusti 

 * * reipublicse causa pestis atque exitii." His other imputations on the 

 youth of Antony, and his obscene sarcasms on his intercourse with Curio, are too 

 expressive to be quoted. Such a catalogue of crimes, recited in a varying strain 

 of vehemence and ridicule, is yet announced by Cicero as an imperfect'history 

 of Antony's iniquities. The modern sense of decency will be offended at the in- 

 consistency of the accuser. In the first philippic, he avows himself the friend 

 and debtor of Mark Antony; in the second he declares the tragedy of Caesar's 

 murder incomplete. The inference is plain ; and later, in the same philippic, he 

 reproaches Rome with Antony's existence. The oration, it is true, is fraught 

 with virtuous indignation, though portions of it are deformed by personal male- 

 volence. Its conclusion, though rapid and succinct, embodies the magnanimous 

 devotion of a Roman ; and vindicates, if uttered with sincerity, the glorious 

 name conferred on Cicero, " the Father of his Country." 



