The Republic. R O 
Blit Octavianus, though he received a wound from one of 
the centurions, went, with great presence of mind, to the place 
where the military ensigns were planted, and, flourishing one 
of them in the air, all the legionary soldiers ran in crowds 
■and saluted him as their general. Lepidus being thus aban¬ 
doned by his men, divested himself of all the marks of his 
authority, which he could no longer keep, and submissively 
threw himself at the feet of Octavianus. This general spared 
his life, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his army; but 
deprived him of all his former authority, and banished him 
to Circseum. 
Octavianus was received upon his return to Rome with 
universal joy; the senators met him at the gates, and con¬ 
ducted him to the capitol: the people followed, crowned 
with garlands of flowers: and after having returned thanks 
to the gods, waited upon him to his palace. There remained 
mow but one obstacle to his ambition, which was Antony, 
whom he resolved to remove, and for that purpose began to 
render his character as contemptible as he possibly could at 
Rome. In fact, Antony’s conduct did not a little contribute 
to promote the endeavours of his ambitious partner in the 
-state. He had marched against the Parthians with a prodigious 
army; but was forced to return with the loss of the fourth 
part of his forces, and all his baggage. This extremely 
diminished his reputation; but his making a triumphal entry 
into Alexandria soon after, entirely disgusted the citizens of 
Rome. -However, Antony seemed quite regardless of their 
resentment: totally disregarding the business of the state, he 
■spent his time in the company of Cleopatra. This compli¬ 
cation of vice and folly at length totally exasperated the 
Romans; and Octavianus, willing to take advantage of their 
.resentment, took care to exaggerate all his defects. At length, 
when he found the people sufficiently irritated against him, 
he resolved to send Octavia, who was then at Rome, to 
Antony, as if with a view of reclaiming her husband ; but, 
in fact, to furnish a sufficient pretext of declaring war 
.against him, as he knew she would be dismissed with con¬ 
tempt. 
Antony was now in the city of Leucopolis, revelling with 
Ins paramour, when he heard that Octavia was at Athens, 
upon her journey to visit him. This was very unwelcome 
news to him as well as to Cleopatra; who, fearing the 
.charms of her rival, endeavoured to convince Antony of the 
strength of her passion. He frequently caught her in tears, 
which she seemed willing to hide; and often intreated 
her to tell him the cause, but this die feigned to wish 
to suppress. Thesd artifices, with the ceaseless flattery and 
importunity of her creatures, prevailed so much upon 
Antony’s weakness, that he commanded Octavia to return 
home without seeing her, and attached himself more closely 
to Cleopatra than before. His ridiculous passion now began 
to have no bounds. He resolved to own her for his wife, 
and entirely to repudiate Octavia. He accordingly assembled 
the people of Alexandria in the public theatre, where was 
raised an alcove of silver, under which were placed two 
thrones of gold, one for himself and the other for Cleopatra, 
There he seated himself, dressed like Bacchus, while Cleo¬ 
patra sat beside him clothed iu the ornaments and attributes 
of Isis, the principal deity of the Egyptians. On that 
occasion he declared her queen of all the countries .which he 
had already bestowed upon her; while he associated Csesario, 
her son by Csesar, as her partner in the government. To 
the two children which he had by her himself he gave the 
title of king of .kings, with very extensive dominions; and, 
to crown his absurdities, he sent a minute account of his 
proceedings to the two consuls at Rome. It was now neces- 
- xary to act up to his imaginary dignity; new luxuries and 
pageantries were now therefore studied, and new marks of 
profusion found out: not less than £60,000 were lavished 
upon one single entertainment; it is said, upon this occasion, 
• that Cleopatra dissolved a pearl of great value in vinegar, 
and drank it off. But we are told of one circumstance that 
might well repress their delights. 'He was suspicious of 
being jpoisoned in every meal; he feared -Cleopatra whom • 
M E. The Republic. 255 
he so much loved, and would eat nothing without haying 
it previously tasted by one of his attendants. 
In the mean time Octavianus had now a sufficient pretext 
for declaring war; and informed the senate of his intentions. 
However, he deferred the execution of bis design for a while, 
being then employed in quelling an insurrection of the 
Illyrians. The following year was chiefly taken up in pre¬ 
parations against Antony, who, perceiving his design, 
remonstrated to the senate, that he had many causes of com¬ 
plaint against his colleague, who had seized upon Sicily 
without offering him a share; alleging that he had also dis¬ 
possessed Lepidus, and kept to himself the province he had 
commanded; and that he had divided all Italy among his 
own soldiers, leaving nothing to recompense those in Asia. 
To this complaint Octavianus was contented to make a sar¬ 
castic answer; implying, that it was absurd to complain of 
his distribution of a few trifling districts in Italy, when 
Antony having conquered Parthia, he might now reward 
his soldiers with cities and provinces. The sarcasm upon 
Antony’s misfortunes in Parthia so provoked him, that he 
ordered Canidius, who commanded his army, to march 
without intermission into Europe; while he and Cleopatra 
followed to Samos, in order to prepare for carrying on thq 
war with vigour. When arrived there, it was ridiculous 
enough to behold the odd mixture of preparations for plea¬ 
sure and for war. On one side all the kings and princes 
from Europe to the Euxine sea had orders to send him thither 
supplies both of men, provisions, and arms; on the other 
side, all the commedians, daneers, buffoons, and musicians 
of Greece, were ordered to attend him. Thus, frequently, 
when a ship was thought to arrive laden with soldiers, arms, 
and ammunition, it was found only filled with players and 
theatrical machinery. When news was expected of the 
approach of an army, messengers only arrived with tidings 
of a fresh quantity of venison. The kings who attended 
him endeavoured to gain his favour more by their entertain¬ 
ments than their warlike preparations; the provinces strove 
rather to please him by sacrificing to his divinity, than by 
their alacrity in his defence; so that some were heard to say, 
“ What rejoicings would not this man make for a victory, 
when he thus triumphs at the eve of a dangerous war!” In 
short, his best friends now began to forsake his interests. 
His delay at Samos, and afterwards at Athens, where he 
carried Cleopatra to receive new honours, was extremely 
favourable to the arms of Octavianus. This general was at 
first scarcely in a disposition to oppose him, had he gone 
into Italy ; but he-soon found time to put himself in a con¬ 
dition for carrying on the war, and shortly after declared it 
against him in form. All Antony’s followers were invited 
over to join him, with great promises of rewards: but they 
were not declared enemies, partly to prevent their growing 
desperate, and partly to give a show of moderation to his 
own party. At length both found themselves in readiness 
to begin the war, and their armies were answerable to the 
empire they contended for. The one was followed by all 
the forces of the east; the other drew all the strength of the 
west to support his pretensions. Antony’s force composed a 
body of 100,000 foot and 12,000 horse; while bis fleet 
amounted to 500 ships of war. The army of Octavianus 
mustered but 80,000 foot, but equalled his adversary’s in the 
number of cavalry; his fleet was but half as numerous as 
Antony’s; however, his ships were better built, and manned 
with better soldiers. 
The great decisive engagement, which was a naval one, 
was fought near Actium, a city of Epirus, at the entrance 
of the gulf of Ambracia. Antony ranged his ships before 
the mouth of the gulf ; and Octavianus drew up fiis fleet in 
opposition. Neither general assumed any fixed station -to 
command in; but went about from ship to ship wherever 
his presence was necessary. In the mean time, the two land 
armies, on opposite sides of the gulf, were drawn .up, only 
as-spectators of the engagement; and encouraged the. fleets 
by their shouts to engage. The battle began on both sides 
with greatardour, and after a .manner not practised upon for¬ 
mer 
