102
SECOND BATTLE OF PHILIPPI.
his fleet had gained a complete victory on the same day on
which the first battle of Philippi was fought, he would now
have maintained himself on the defensive, according to his
original plan ; and by making the fleet land troops in the rear
of the hostile armies, he would have compelled them to retreat.
But it was not till after Brutus had yielded to the impatient
demand of his army to bring the matter to a decision, that he
heard of the news of his naval success having arrived in the
enemy’s camp; which, moreover, he did not believe, for the
message which was sent to himself had been intercepted.
Accordingly he allowed himself to be persuaded to fight
another battle. It was painful to him that he had been
obliged to promise his soldiers, who were as much demoralised
as those of his opponents, the plunder of Thessalonica and
Lacedaemon, if they should gain the victory. In this battle,
however, his troops did not display the same bravery as
before, and were completely routed. Brutus escaped with a
number of his companions to a hill. Had he been able to
reach the sea-coast, he might have been able to join his fleet.
Life was now a burden to him, as it had been to Cicero, and
the end of it was welcome to him. He commanded a faith-
ful servant to perform the last duty towards him, and as the
servant refused, he threw himself upon his own sword. He
was at the time of his death not more than thirty-seven years
old, so that at the time of Cicero’s consulship he was only
fifteen years of age.3
After this victory, Antony behaved very differently to what
had been anticipated. The better part of his nature here
gained the ascendancy, and many a one was saved by him,
whilst Octavian displayed a cold-blooded and scornful cruelty,
which was revolting to the minds of his own partisans, as
we see from the account of Suetonius4, who shews a strange
impartiality, although from his account it would seem as if
Octavian himself had had little to do with the atrocities which
were committed. One man, who was to be executed, prayed
that Octavian would allow his body to be buried, to which he
3 According to Cicero, Brut. 64 and 94, Hortensius spoke first in the consul-
ship of L. Crassus and Q. Scaevola (657, according to Cato), and ten years
before the birth of Brutus, so that the latter was born in 667; and as he died in
710, he must have been in Iiis 44th year. The other statement is that of Vel-
leius Paterculus. 4 Aug. c. 13.
BESULTS OF THE WAB OF PHILIPPI.
103
received the answer, that this was a point which he had to
settle with the ravens. Antony ordered the body of Brutus
to be honoured with a magnificent burial ; but the son of
Hortensius was ordered to be put to death, because Antony
ascribed to him a share in the murder of his brother Caius.
The majority of the proscribed who survived the battles of
Philippi put an end to their own lives, as they despaired
of being pardoned. It is surprising to find among them
the father of Livia, who subsequently became the wife of
Octavian, and whose husband, Tib. Claudius Nero, with his
whole family, belonged to the Pompeian party. He even
endeavoured to organise an insurrection in favour of the last
proscribed. In the reign of Livia’s son, Tiberius, Cremutlus
Cordus, the historian, was obliged to put an end to his own
life for having praised Brutus and Cassius, and for having
called the latter the last of the Romans.®
After the battles of Philippi the fleet of the patriots yet
remained, but their armies were dispersed, and most of the
soldiers entered the service of the conquerors, as was done so
frequently in the Thirty Years’ war. Many also returned to
Italy in secret; as for example Horace, the poet, who had
l>e<-'n among the volunteers in the army of Brutus. IIe had
been staying at Athens, like many other young Romans, for
the purpose of studying; and Brutus had received those young
men as volunteers into his army, and appointed them tri-
bunes. After his arrival in Italy, Horace was in difficulties,
until he obtained pardon through the influence of Maecenas,
and enjoyed safety and admiration.6
s Tacitus, Annal, iv. 34, foil. Compare Plutarch, Brut. 44 ; Dion Cassius,
xlvii. 24.
’ The ode (ii. 7) beginning with
O, saepe mecum tempus in ultimum
Deducte, Bruto militiae duce,
belongs either to the time after the peace between Sex. Pompeius and the trium-
virs, namely to the year 713, when Horace was twenty-five years old, or to the
year 712, in which Cn. Domitins Ahenobarhus joined Asinius Pollio (Appian,
BeBell. Civil, v. 50; Velleius Paterc. ii. 76; Dion Cassius, xlviii. 16). In our
editions of that ode there is a sad blunder in the punctuation. I do not remem-
ber how Bentley has managed it, but in the edition of Lambinus the punctuation
is decidedly wrong. After minaces (v. 11) a comma must be inserted, and after
turpe a sign of exclamation. Tuipe is not an adjective, but an adverb, accord-
ing to the usual Horatian mode of writing. Solum tangere mento is not to be
understood of those who had fallen in the battle, but of those who stumbled in
their flight. — N.