116 CONSEQUENCES OF THE BATTLE OF ACTlUM.
satisfy the conqueror. Antony’s anger with Cleopatra, whom he
had followed to Alexandria, lasted for three days; hut her
magic power over him was so great that he became recon-
ciled to her even now, and endeavoured to deceive her con-
cerning his real position. He hoped that his land forces would
be more successful, for they were attached to him1, and in spite
of all the offers that were made to them, they held out reso-
lutely for six days after his departure, still believing that he
would return, until at length they found themselves abandoned
by Canidius, their commander. They now listened to the
proposals of Octavian, and recognised him as imperator. Thus
the war was at an end; and the Roman legions that were yet
scattered about in the East surrendered to Octavian without any
further opposition, except in a few cases, where resistance was
continued from personal motives.
The battle of Actium, so famous in the history of the
world, was fought on the 2d of September2 of the year 721.
Wliatever we may think of Octavian himself, it cannot be de-
nied that the victory of Actium was the happiest event that
could have happened, and that people could not have prayed
to heaven foτ a more fortunate issue of the war. Horace’s ex-
pressions concerning the victory of Actium3 are not of the kind
which we have to regard with connivance or indulgence, for
they are perfectly true and just. But eleven months yet passed
away, before the war was quite at an end. After the battle of
Actium, Octavian returned to Italy, where fresh disturbances
had broken out, for the veterans were still very rebellious,
and demanded fresh assignments of land. Agrippa in the
meantime took possession of the eastern provinces ; and it was
not till the spring of the following year, that Octavian
marched through Syria towards Pelusium, the claustra of
Egypt. It is not improbable that Cleopatra had given
secret orders for Pelusium to surrender4, as the place
1 Things had been different in the time of the successors of Alexander, when
armies went over from one general to another. The troops of Antony, which
in a moral point of view, were no better than bands of robbers, remained faithful
to their commander. ∙—N.
2 This battle ought to have refuted those later writers, such as Gcllius (v. 17.)
and Macrobius (Saturn i. 15.), who could not see anything beyond what they
found in their books, and who assert that no battle could be ventured upon on
the day after the calendae, nonae and idus, without great misfortunes to Rome.
There are hundreds of instances in which such men were unable to see with their
own eyes.—N.
3 See especially Carm. i. 37, and Epod. 9. 4 Plutarch, Anton. 74,
DEATH OE ANTONA AND CLEOPATRA.
117
admitted the invaders without resistance; for, as a vain
woman, she may still have entertained a hope of winning
Octavian as she had won Caesar. The only thing she dreaded
seems to have been, lest the war should be protracted, and
Octavian should thus come to Alexandria as an inexorable
enemy. These circumstances render it very probable that
Pelusium surrendered to the enemy by her command. Octavian
however not only made his attack from Pelusium, but sent
another army to march from Paraetonium in Libya towards
the capital. This was possible only for a small army, for the
country between Cyrene and Alexandria, through which the
soldiers had to march from Paraetonium was a most inhospitable
region, and contained no fortified places at all. The two
Roman armies thus met at Alexandria. Antony still had a
number of Roman soldiers, both cavalry and infantry, with
whom he wanted to make a sally, but most of the soldiers
employed in it went over to Octavian. Antony thus found
himself abandoned by all, except a few who remained with
him from despair, such as Cassius of Parma, one of the mur-
derers of Caesar. He resolved to die, and died a cowardly
and miserable death. The fatal wound which he inflicted
upon himself did not produce an immediate effect, and some
time elapsed before the loss of blood caused his death. Cleo-
patra had shut herself up in her palace with the most costly
treasures of her kingdom. Octavian wished to take her alive,
that he might carry her to Rome in triumph; for there was a
report that she wished to die the death of Sardanapalus. On
the 1st of August 722, Alexandria capitulated. The con-
dition was that, on the following day, the gates should be
thrown open to the Romans. Cleopatra kept the body of
Antony, who died on the day of the capitulation, in her
room, and she herself was wavering between the hope of
conciliating Octavian and the feeling that she ought not to
survive Antony. Proculeius, an officer of Octavian, who is
honorably mentioned in one of the Odcs of Horace5, endea-
voured to persuade her not to put an end to her life, and
promised her safety. She was prevailed upon; but when she
found that Octavian would not allow her to appear before him,
when she saw that she would be spared only to adorn his
triumph, and when all her requests to be left in possession of
5 ii. 2, 5.