[51] Octavius was planning to get possession of another considerable army belonging to Antony, that was under the command of Fufius Calenus near the Alps. He already had suspicions of Antony, and he hoped, if the latter remained friendly, to preserve these forces for him, or, if war should break out, to add this large force to his own strength. While he was still delaying and looking around for a fair-seeming occasion, Calenus died. Octavius, believing that he had found a good excuse for both transactions, went and took possession of the army and of Gaul and Spain besides, which were Antony's provinces.1 Fufius, the son of Calenus, was terrified, and delivered everything over to him without a fight. Octavius, having acquired eleven legions of soldiers and these large provinces by one stroke, dismissed the chief officers from their commands, substituted his own, and returned to Rome.
1 There is some confusion here. Spain was not one of Antony's provinces. It had been assigned to Lepidus in the original division (iv. 2 supra). It had been taken from him by Antony and Octavius (v. 3), and the latter administered it by proxy (v. 26). Lepidus had received Africa in exchange (v. 12). How the discrepancy is to be explained is not clear. Mendelssohn suggests a lapse of memory on the part of the author.
The Civil Wars. Appian. Horace White. London. MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. 1899.
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