[81] After conveying these hints to Antony, Octavius wrote still more plainly to Lepidus and Asinius concerning the indignities put upon himself and the rapid advancement of the murderers, causing them to fear, lest in consequence of the favor extended to the Pompeian faction, each of the Cæsarians should, one by one, share the fate of Antony, although he was suffering the consequences of his own folly and arrogance.1 He advised that, for the sake of appearances, they should obey the Senate, but that they should confer together for their own safety while they could still do so, and reproach Antony for his conduct; that they should follow the example of their own soldiers, who did not separate even when theywere discharged from the service but, in order that they might not be exposed to the assaults of enemies, preferred to unite their strength by settling together on ground that belonged not to them in groups, rather than enjoy their own homesteads singly. These things Octavius wrote to Lepidus and Asinius.2 The first soldiers of Decimus fell sick by reason of excessive eating after their famine, and suffered from dysentery, and the newer ones were still undrilled. Plancus soon joined him with his army, and then Decimus wrote to the Senate that he would pursue and capture Antony immediately.3
1 κἀκείνῳ δι᾽ ἀφροσύνην καὶ ὑπεροψίαν τοῦδε τοῦ δέους τάδε παθόντι, a sentence rendered obscure by the introduction of the words τοῦδε τοῦ δέους. Nauck thinks that the whole sentence is spurious.
2 That Octavius was serving his own interest, and not that of the republic, was perceived by Plancus, who wrote to Cicero as follows: "You know, my dear Cicero, that I share your affection for Octavius. Because of my intimacy with Cæsar when he was alive, I was under the necessity of defending and loving Octavius, and for the further reason that, as far as I could discover, he was himself a young man of most moderate and humane sentiments. Considering the distinguished friendship that existed between Cæsar and myself, it would have been base in me not to hold him in the place of a son, when he had been adopted as such by Cæsar, and confirmed by the judgment of the Senate. Now, what I write to you I swear that I write more in sorrow than in anger. That Antony is alive to-day, that Lepidus has joined him, that they have an army not to be despised, that they have hope and courage, are due wholly to Octavius. Not to go farther back, if he had been willing to join me at the time he said he would, either the war would now be ended, or it would be pushed into Spain, which is most hostile to them, to their great disadvantage." (Ad Fam. x. 24.) This letter is dated July 28.
3 ναυτικῶν περ ἤδη γεγονότων; literally " whose naval arrangements were already made." This is so incongruous with historical facts that most commentators have substituted some other word for ναυτικῶν. Schweighäuser suggested ναστίκον (hard pressed), but he left a blank at this place in the Latin version. Combes-Dounous adds the word αὖτῳ, and renders the passage that Antony had made preparations for flight by water. Tyrwhitt (as we learn from the preface to the Didot edition) conceived that the right words were αὐτίκα. ὦνπερ ἤδη γεγονότων, οἵ τε Πομπηϊανοὶ, etc., the last six words being transferred to the beginning of Sec. 82. Thus the rendering would be: "Decimus wrote to the Senate that he would pursue and capture Antony immediately. When the Pompeians learned what had happened," etc., a rational explanation.
The Civil Wars. Appian. Horace White. London. MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. 1899.
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