94 OCTAVIAN AND Q. PEDIUS PROCLAIMED CONSULS.
but Lepidus had no resolution, and would not lift up his hand
against him. He had previously endeavoured to bring about
a peace between the senate and Antony, whom he now received
into his camp, and who was proclaimed, perhaps only in
mockery, imperator by the armies of both Lepidus and Plancus.
This happened in the course of the summer, which begins in
Italy on the 7th or 8th of May.
During the perplexities into which the republic was thrown
by the death of the two consuls, Octavian began to disclose
Iiis real sentiments, by causing his veterans to demand the
consulship for him. In his first attempt he proposed Cicero
for his colleague, and declared that he would follow his advice
in all things; but this was a mere farce, devised to deceive the
people. Cicero however did not fall into the trap, for he now
saw that everything was hopeless. These last months of Iiis
life, from the beginning of June, formed the most unhappy
period of his existence, of which he now felt completely tired,
so that we need not wonder at his refusing to escape from
death. The veterans demanded the consulship for Octavian
with threats, and Cicero, as resolutely as any other senator, at
first resisted them—Certainlynot a sign of co wardice, for which
his great sensibility is too often mistaken; but in the end
Octavian’s opponents were obliged to yield. He and his
nephew, Q. Pedius, were accordingly proclaimed consuls on
the 19th of August. All hopes of the patriots had now
disappeared: the senate was reduced to complete servility,
and Cicero withdrew from its meetings altogether. One of
the first measures of the new consuls was the frightful
lex Pedia.4 Its being passed by the people was a mere form.
It ordained criminal proceedings against all who had been
accomplices in the murder of Caesar. The partizans of
Octavian also accused the senate of having treated him with
neglect after the war of Modena, although the senate could
not have done more than it did, as Octavian was only praetor.
In accordance with the lex Pedia a commission was now ap-
pointed, before whom Brutus, Cassius and other conspirators
were summoned to appear pro forma. All of them, however,
seem to have taken to flight, and the accused were eondemneɪl
in contumaciam, and contrary to the Roman law, proscribed.
According to the ancient privileges, persons who were
4 Veil. Paterc. ii. 69; Appian, De Bell Civil, iii. 95; Livy, Epιt. 120.
THE TRirMVIRATE.
95
CondemnedmiglitwitJidraw; but in this case they were hunted
up wherever they were, and prizes were offered for their heads.
Decimus Brutus fled from his own troops, whom Octavian had
already induced to revolt, and he was murdered on the frontier
of Gaul by a former friend.
While these things were going on, the month of November
was approaching. Antony, accompanied by Lepidus and
Plancus, had come from Gaul, and Octavian was stationed
near Bologna to meet them. Through the mediation of Lepi-
dus negotiations were commenced, and a meeting took place
on a small island in the river Reno near Bologna. Octavian,
Antony, and Lepidus agreed to undertake the government of
the republic for five years, under the title “ Triumviri rei
publicae constituendae.” This was, according to the old Lici-
nian law, an extraordinary magistracy, which may however
have existed at other times also, and the idea itself was not
new.5 Italy was to belong to the two consuls in common ; but
the provinces were distributed in such a manner that Lcpidus
obtained Spain and the part of Gaul near the Pyrenees; Antony
Cisalpine Gaul, Lugduncnsis, and Belgica; and Octavian Africa,
Sicily, and Sardinia. The eastern provinces were not disposed
of. The first thing that was now done was to proclaim a pro-
scription of seventeen persons.6 Antony sacrificed his own uncle,
and Lepidus his own brother, whose proscription he is even
said to have demanded. Vellcius7 and others who follow the
writers of the Augustan age, state that Octavian was induced
with great difficulty to consent to the sacrifice of Cicero : but
I do not believe that he had any scruples about it. To a man
of his nature, it was a relief to get rid of a benefactor before
whom he had so often played the hypocrite, and to whom he
had so often promised to remain faithful to the republic.8
After this proscription there followed another of 130 senators,
but the triumvirs did not stop short here. It is on the whole
very surprising to see how frankly the historians of the age of
Augustus, such as Asinius Pollio, express themselves upon the
events of the time. The reason probably was that the occur-
rences were looked upon as the acts of private persons, or that
5 See Lectures, vol. i. p. 367. 6 Appian, De Bell. Civil, iv. G, foil. 7 ιi. 6G.
8 It is on the whole astonishing how little we learn from the Epitome of Livy
concerning this period, although it is probable that he was more honest than
others; for it is known that Octavian called him a Pompeian. Hisfragment
on Cicero also shews that he was honest and unprejudiced.—N.