Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Three

Around 30 September the two eagles on the republican standards flew away, which was a disturbing portent for them. And unfortunately for the cause of the old Republic it turned out to be an omen of doom. The day after Antony broke the stalemate and ordered some of his men to stealthily cut through an area of marshland, and build a causeway that would get enough of his men through to outflank Cassius' position, cutting off the republicans supply line. It took ten days for Antony's forces to do this. Tall reeds had prevented Cassius from seeing his men. Cassius was totally taken by surprise, but quickly had a wall built through the marsh which cut Antony's causeway in two. Then Antony led an attack to destroy a palisade that ran between Cassius' camp and the marsh. Cassius' men were astonished when they saw Antony's forces carried crowbars and ladders to demolish his camp. Antony's gambit seemed outrageous, and Brutus' men charged Antony's as they marched past. Wisely Brutus didn't proceed this way for too long, for he had his men would have been exposed to a counterattack by Octavian's forces. So instead they changed course and attacked the triumvir's camp and captured it. Antony then broke through the palisade and took Cassius' camp. After this the account of the war gets confusing to say the least. Seemingly for awhile both sides had won-and lost!

To add to the confusion the area had seen little precipitation and the forces of battle kicked up great clouds of dust. The different forces could not tell what happened to their comrades. After both camps had been looted the men tried to find their way back to their own units. Because of the dust-the "fog of war" in the air they couldn't tell to which army other legionaires belonged. The dust and confusion had a horrible consequence for the republican side. Cassius was nearsighted and had retreated with some of his men to the hill on which Philippi stood and from this vantage point looked down on the battle. He could hardly see the looting of his camp while the clouds of dust prevented any of his men from seeing Brutus's progress at the far end of the battlefield. When Cassius saw a large group of cavalry coming towards him he sent one of his staff to see if it was friendly-as he was fearing the worst. It turns out that the forces were friendly and had been sent by Brutus. Some of Brutus's men had recognized the man Cassius had sent-Titinius. They shouted with glee and some jumped off their horses, hugged Titinius, sang and clashed their weapons in victory. In a horrible case of coming to the wrong conclusion of what had happened to Titinius-perhaps because he was already thinking the worst and was so nearsighted-Cassius had thought Titinius had been taken prisoner and Brutus had been defeated.

Cassius told his armor-bearer, a freedman named Pindarus, to follow him to his tent. Pindarus hesitated for a bit because he suspected what he was going to be asked to do. A messenger ran up to say the Brutus was victorious and was looting the triumvirs camp. Appian tells us the Cassius said, "Tell him I wish him total victory." Then Cassius asked of Pindarus, "Hurry up. Why don't you release me from my disgrace?" Here is an interesting question-Cassius' death is usually made out to be a tragic mistake. But if Appian is correct, he had Pindarus behead him after learning that victory might still be possible. Cassius it would appear died of shame and embarrassment. To him it must have seemed that an experienced general like himself should have defeated Antony's foolhardy gambit and even to have seen it coming. The fact that he had failed and that Brutus, a less experienced commander had triumphed added to his sense of disgrace. The one commander that it is hard to say anything about on that day is Octavian. As his camp was attacked but he was not taken prisoner and alive meant that he had to have escaped somewhere before the camp was sacked.

The rumor spread that Octavian escaped and hid in the marshes for three days-even his boyhood friends Agrippa and Macenas didn't deny it. Whatever happened with the divi filius that day, it is most likely he was told by his attending physician that he was still too sick to take an active part in battle and go somewhere to a safe place. Not very brave behavior-especially when compared to other men of the times including his adoptive father, Caesar. He was, however, a sick young man with very little military experience. The end result of this was that the future Roman emperor acquired a reputation for cowardice. After more twists of fate in a long, hard fought battle, where neither side could seem to gain the upper hand and the triumvirs side had a terrible loss to the republicans in one encounter in the Adriatic Sea (the outcome of which was so devastating to the triumvirs that they kept it secret from their men), the tide eventually turned completely against the republican side. The result being that after a war in which the two largest battles in Roman history were fought was a victory for Antony and Octavian. When he had heard of his men's plans to surrender, Marcus Junius Brutus said, "Yes, that's right, but with our hands not with our feet!" He then said goodbye to his men and told them that not one of them had failed him. Then he took one of his companion's swords and held the point to his left nipple and threw himself on it.

Brutus was a man of conflicting qualities (probably like most of us), in some ways he represented the worst types of abuse of authority of the Roman elite. He broke the sanction that senators should not be involved in trade or money lending and practiced usury in the Middle East on an enormous scale. After Pharsalus, it was he who revealed to Julius Caesar that Pompey's likely destination was Egypt, an example of being a turncoat and a huge betrayal of trust. However, at the same time Brutus was an intellectual and took the high-minded ideals of the Republic seriously. To Brutus, the assassination of Julius Caesar was more along the lines of a "noble sacrifice" for the better good than a political act. Even though he was obviously not afraid to make war, his contemporaries saw him as a man of a "singularly gentle nature." Brutus had almost been as terrified of civil war as the loss of liberty. Brutus had lived just long enough to see Cato's suicide turn him into a martyr for freedom and enter history as a legend. Perhaps in his final hours Brutus saw that his last chance to help the cause for freedom was to become a martyr also.

Some other celebrated names also died in the battle; a Lucullus, a Hortensius and another Cato. Cato's son removed his helmet and charged through the triumviral battle line, like his father choosing death over slavery. Back in Rome, Cato's virtuous daughter, Porcia also committed suicide. Her friends had been trying to watch her because they were afraid of what she might do. When Porcia learned that both her brother and her husband Brutus were dead, she managed to get away from them long enough to run to a brazier and swallow burning coals! The extiction of a great house (family name/line) had always been a cause for public mourning in Rome. After the Battle of Philippi there was a huge loss in the ranks of the nobility who had lived closest to the ideals of the Republic. It was of such magnitude that it could never be made up. Perhaps this is why Mark Antony searched to find the corpse of his enemy Brutus on the battlefield. He then covered it respectfully with a cloak and had it cremated. Even Antony, who had been alive when freedom had an actual being and essence could sense that something more had ended at Philippi than the human lives that battled there. When the smoke had cleared and the remaining units of the republican army surrendered, Octavian behaved with a particular viciousness. The last four weeks had been by far the hardest of his very short life (he would have been twenty-one) so far.

Thanks again to anyone reading, commenting or following this blog! I have enough material done still for at least five more articles-I have been doing two posts a day when I can to get everything caught up here when I can-although because my back pain seems to worsen when I type I don't know if I should do this anymore! Whatever happens I do hope to have the next article here soon. The image is of a Roman aqueduct built in 19 BC in Pont du Gard France. Best to anyone stopping by!