196 
PLINY' S NATFKAL HISTORY. 
[Book VII, 
share of influence, he himself being entirely borne down by 
the power of Antony ; his illness^ at the battle of Philippi ; 
his flight, and his having to remain three days concealed in a 
marsh,^ though suffering from sickness, and, according to the 
account of Agrippa and Mecsenas, labouring under a dropsy ; 
his shipwreck^ on the coast of Sicily, where he was again 
under the necessity of concealing himself in a cave ; his des- 
peration, which caused him even to beg Proculeius^^ to put 
him to death, when he was hard-pressed by the enemy in a 
naval engagement ; his alarm about the rising at Perusia ; 
his anxiety at the battle of Actium ; the extreme danger he 
was in from the falling of a tower during the Pannonian war ; 
seditions so numerous among his soldiers ; so many attacks by 
dangerous diseases the suspicions which he entertained 
Augustus was detained at Dyrrhacliium for some time before the battle 
of Philippi by illness, and had not recovered when the battle took place. 
^ In the first engagement at Philippi, Brutus defeated the army of Au- 
gustus, while Cassius was defeated by Antony. Appian speaks also of his 
concealment in a marsh to the south of Philippi. 
9 In his war against Sextus Pompeius, his fleet was twice shattered by 
shipwreck off the coast of Sicily, and he suffered several defeats by sea. 
C. Proculeius, a member of the equestrian order, and a familiar friend 
of Augustus. It is of him that Horace speaks in the lines (II. Ode 2), 
" Vivet extento Proculeius sevo 
Notus in fratres animi paterni." 
He was one of the Eomans to whom Augustus thought of giving his 
daughter Julia in marriage. The mode of his death is mentioned in B. 
xxxvi. c. 59. 
This circumstance is stated more fully by Suetonius in his Life of 
Augustus ; he tells, that " in crossing from Sicily to Italy to rejoin his forces, 
Augustus was unexpectedly attacked by Demochares and Apollophanes, 
two of Pompey's captains, and only escaped in a small vessel with the 
greatest difficulty." 
^'^ L. Antonius having raised an army at Praeneste, took possession of 
the town of Perusia, which was blockaded by Augustus, and Antonius was 
at last obliged to surrender. During this siege Augustus encountered 
several dangers, and was once nearly killed wliile sacrificing beneath the 
walls, by a band of gladiators, who came upon him unawares. 
The victory was long doubtful, and it was only the sudden panic of 
Cleopatra, that finally ensured it to Augustus. 
The exact nature of the accident here alluded to, is discussed by Har- 
douin, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 169 ; he concludes, from the account of Sue- 
tonius and of Dion Cassius, that it was owing to tlie fall of a gallery, which 
extended between two towers. — B. 
These are fully described by Suetonius, in his Life of Augustus, c. 80 
and 81, 
