the time of Augustus or Tiberius. Their author was evidently
a man of talent, and perfectly familiar with the circumstances
of the period to which they relate. The question respecting
their genuineness was raised about a hundred years ago by
English critics, and I know that F. A. Wolf was decidedly
of opinion that they are a fabrication, but I cannot express
myself with the same certainty. I should like to see them
proved to be spurious, as I am morally convinced that they
are¹, but there are some serious considerations opposed to this
view. These letters to Brutus shew a certain difference of
feeling between Cicero and Brutus; and if a person of talent
contrasts the psychological natures of the two men, that want
of harmony would naturally present itself to him as the result
of his comparison. But in whatever manner the letters may
have been composed, their author lived so near the time
to which they refer, and their substance is based upon such
authentic documents, that we may take them as trustworthy
sources of history.

The first months of the year of Hirtius and Pansa’s consul-
ship were spent by Antony in besieging Decimus Brutus at
Modena. All the towns in Cisalpinc Gaul had by this time
declared against Antony. Modena must then have been a
town of very great extent, since Dccimus Brutus was in it
with his whole army. Antony had eight or nine legions, and
was far superior in numbers to the besieged, so that there was
no prospect for the latter except ultimate surrender. But
Hirtius, Pansa, and Octavian as praetor, came with three
armies to relieve the place. Hirtius and Octavian appeared
first, and pitched their camp in the neighbourhood of Bologna,
and Pansa followed with reinforcements. The army of Octa-
vian alone consisted of veterans; those of Hirtius and Pansa,
for the most part, of newly-formed legions, so that the two
latter were labouring under disadvantages. Antony broke up
and advanced against the enemy, for his plan was to prevent
the hostile armies uniting. This occasioned an engagement,
into which the troops of Pansa, especially the Iegio Martia,
which had been sent to his succour, inconsiderately allowed
themselves to be drawn. The fight was quite an irregular
one. Antony was at first nearly defeated, but he afterwards
gained the upper hand, and he was on the point of winning

¹ I am convinced with Wolf that the oιatιon for Maicellu* is a fuigoιy. *N. *

the battle, when Hirtius arrived from his camp with reinforce-
ments, and .Antony was beaten.² Pansa however had been
severely wounded, and died soon afterwards.

Some ten days or a fortnight later, during which Antony
kept within his fortifications, so that the situation of Decimus
Brutus was in no way improved, the troops of Pansa joined
the other armies, and Hirtius now attacked Antony, through
the upper lines of whose position he broke, and took his camp ;
but he himself fell in the battle. During the engagement,
Decimus Brutus made a sally, and succeeded in joining the
armies of his defenders. Antony might still have maintained
himself in the country, but he was bewildered, and resolved to
quit Italy. He cannot have thought at that time of the possi-
bility of becoming reconciled with Octavian.

About the end of April, the prospects of Eome were
favourable, except that both consuls were dead. Octavian’s
reputation was, even as early as that time, such as to occasion
a report, which was surely not quite without foundation, that
he had caused the surgeon to poison the wound of Pansa, and
had hired an assassin to murder Hirtius. If we apply the cui
bono of L. Cassius³, a strong suspicion indeed hangs upon
Octavian; and if, in addition to this, we consider that he was
not a man whose moral character was too good to allow him to
commit such acts, we cannot help thinking that the suspicion
was not altogether unfounded. The republic was thus in the
condition of an orphan, and those who might have become the
successors of the consuls were in circumstances which did not
permit it to entrust itself to them. In this sate of affairs,
Octavian placed himself at the head of the armies of the two
consuls; that of Antony was dispersed, and he himself fled
with a small band across the Alps. Lepidus, who was then in
Gaul, had it in his power to put an end to Antony’s career.
He was one of those who had, unfortunately, been among the
friends of Caesar; he was a contemptible person, and after the
death of Caesar, he had been raised to the office of pontifex
maximus, without having any claims to it. Lepidus and
Munatius Plancus, who had strong armies in Gaul, might as I
said before, have put an end to the war by cutting off Antony ;

² We have in Appian a sort of official bulletin of this battle, which was sent
to Rome, and from which probably some deductions must be made.—N.

³ See Cicero, pro Sext. Roscio_i c. 30.

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