Chapter 28

[344]Bribery[345]ruling in[346]all[347]elections, and the[348]candidates making a most[349]dismal[350]confusion, after a long[351]interregnum, Pompey was made consul, without a[352]colleague, a thing[353]wholly new, and never heard of before; in which office he made a[354]severe[355]inquiry into all other[356]misdemeanors, as likewise into the death of Clodius, whom Milo[357]killed the same year, and for which he was[358]banished.

After the death of Cæsar, Antony the consul so[359]inflamed the people by[360]a seditious[361]harangue, that they[362]burnt his[363]body[364]publicly, and[365]threatened to set fire, and[366]pull down the houses of the[367]assassins. Octavius Cæsar, the son of Accia[368]Julius’s sister, was his[369]adopted son by[370]will. He being[371]slighted by M. Antony,[372]raised an army of[373]veteran soldiers, and[374]opposed his[375]tyrannical[376]proceedings. Antonius[377]extorted from the people by force the province of Gaul, but his[378]passage therewas opposed by D. Brutus at Modena, where he was[379]besieged by Antony.

In the[380]consulship of[381]Hirtius and Pansa, in the year of the city 711, at the[382]instigation of Cicero Antony was[383]declared[384]enemy, and a war[385]undertaken against him; when Octavius[386]joined in[387]commission with the consuls, with the[388]power of proconsul, being then about the 20th year of his age. There was a[389]dreadful and[390]bloody[391]battle[392]fought near Modena, in which all Cæsar’s[393]life-guards were slain; but Antony was routed, and the[394]siege[395]raised, yet both the consuls were killed.

In Macedon, Brutus[396]took off C. Antonius, M. Antony’s brother, who was[397]intriguing against him, and[398]got together a[399]formidable army. Upon which the senate[400]resolved by[401]degrees to[402]take down Octavius,[403]for fear of his[404]growing too[405]powerful; which he being[406]apprehensive of,[407]he entered into an[408]association with Antony and Lepidus; and[409]consequently they were all three made[410]commissioners[411]for settling the[412]republic. They having[413]divided the whole[414]empire into three parts,[415]proscribed a great many of the Romans, and amongst the rest M.[416]Tully Cicero, who, whilst he was[417]endeavouring to[418]make his escape into Greece, was killed by Pompilius, a[419]captain, whose[420]cause he had[421]pleaded in a capital[422]action. Therewas a[423]dreadful[424]havoc made in this[425]proscription. The[426]Epitome of Livy speaks of no less than an hundred and thirty senators; the same year,[427]gave[428]beginning to one of the finest cities of France,[429]Lyons.

The year following, Octavius and Antony[430]fought a battle with M. Brutus and the[431]principal of the[432]conspirators, near the city of Philippi. The[433]right[434]wings were[435]victorious on both[436]sides, and on both sides the[437]camps were[438]plundered. But Cassius, who was in the wing that was[439]routed,[440]giving up all for lost,[441]slew himself. Brutus, being[442]defeated in another[443]engagement, likewise put an end to his own life, being then thirty-seven years of age, and none of Cæsar’s[444]assassins[445]lived above three years after, being all[446]taken off by a[447]violent death, as[448]Suetonius says; some too[449]killed themselves with the same[450]dagger with which they had slain Cæsar.

After the[451]victory, Antony[452]went to Asia, and Octavius to Italy; where he[453]was engaged in a war with L. Antony, the brother of the[454]triumvir, and his[455]wife Fulvia, a[456]woman of a[457]manly[458]spirit. He forced Lucius from the town; after which, being[459]declared an enemy, he[460]besieged him in Perusia, and obliged him to[461]surrender. In the mean time, the Parthians being[462]invited by Labienus, one of Pompey’s party, made an[463]irruption intoSyria, whom Ventidius, after a very[464]signal[465]overthrow, in which the king was slain,[466]drove out again, and[467]recovered Syria.

S. Pompey, Cneius’s son, having a[468]fleet at his[469]command,[470]infested the seas. Cæsar made with him a peace, which was[471]soon[472]broken.[473]An engagement[474]followed, wherein Pompey was[475]worsted, and[476]forced to[477]fly. He was soon after[478]put to death by[479]order of M. Antony, under whose[480]protection he had put himself. About this time Antony made an[481]attempt upon the Parthians, by whom he was most[482]shamefully[483]beaten. At last Antony being[484]entirely[485]devoted to his Cleopatra,[486]divorced Octavia, Cæsar’s sister, and[487]declared war against him, in which he was at last defeated by sea near[488]Actium, a[489]promontory of[490]Epirus. Cæsar had upwards of 400[491]ships, and Antony about 200, but so[492]prodigiously[493]large, that they[494]looked like[495]castles and cities[496]moving through the sea. The[497]flight of Cleopatra[498]turned the[499]fate of a[500]dubious[501]engagement into the[502]ruin of Antony; he followed her into Egypt, and being[503]besieged in Alexandria, he[504]slew himself, and Cleopatra soon[505]followed his[506]example.

[1]benchè

[2]affievolito

[3]vecchiája

[4]ambizióne

[5]impiegáto

[6]tolleráre

[7]affidare

[8]província

[9]perciò

[10]ottenére

[11]mezzo

[12]leváre

[13]sdegnáto

[14]impossessársi

[15]uccíso

[16]forzáre

[17]fuggíre

[18]assénza

[19]distúrbo

[20]scacciàto

[21]unito

[22]assaltáre

[23]preso

[24]méttere

[25]a fil di spada

[26]moríre

[27]tornáre

[28]conclúdere

[29]rotta

[30]dichiaráto

[31]dittatore

[32]si disfece di

[33]proscrizióne

[34]ritirársi

[35]sostenere

[36]coraggiosaménte

[37]rassegnáto

[38]dettatúra

[39]pediculare

[40]morbo

[41]età

[42]procuráre

[43]annulláre

[44]atto

[45]scacciáto

[46]colléga

[47]accostársi

[48]armáta

[49]fuggíre

[50]Sardégna

[51]ammalársi

[52]mandáto

[53]eseguíre

[54]proditoriaménte

[55]uccíso

[56]facilménte

[57]ricuperáre

[58]accendérsi

[59]entráto

[60]alleánza

[61]impadroníto

[62]lasciáto

[63]andáre

[64]fortunáto

[65]mare

[66]terra

[67]forzare

[68]Ponto

[69]Tigràne

[70]conquistáre

[71]attaccáre

[72]infantéria

[73]cavallería

[74]Nísibi

[75]preso

[76]abbandonáto

[77]obbligáto

[78]lasciáre

[79]frutto

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