Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Eighteen

It was also paramount in Roman society that there should not be any doubt as to who a Roman citizen's father was. This is precisely why Octavian himself ordered a favorite freedman of his to commit suicide after he had been convicted of adultery with freeborn Roman women. This policy of the properness of "who it was ok to have sex with" was a preventative measure to keep foreign genes out of the Roman gene pool. Citizens were supposed to marry citizens, and to wed a foreigner was looked down upon; if not illegal, such a union was not recognized by law-especially when it came to the matter of heirs to a will. For Mark Antony this meant that he could screw around with Cleopatra-but not marry her. For Octavia, a woman who appears to have been a wonderful, intelligent, loving spouse this may have stung a bit, but she understood the social mores of her time. Octavian, her loving brother was the one who absolutely hated the thought of Antony's liason with the eastern seductress. Then amidst Octavian dealing with his feelings about his Antony, some very interesting news started coming in from the east in the winter of 36 to 35 BC. This news-largely in the form of letters home from officers and others involved in Antony's Parthian campaign told a different story than Antony's gleaming tales of easy victory. In fact, it seems that his Parthian campaign came very close to defeat.

This interested Octavian greatly and other political higher-ups in Rome and a confidential investigation was commissioned to get the real story. Indeed it turns out that Mark Antony did make a series of mistakes that added up to a disaster. The campaign started out well enough but Antony started it too late in the year to afford a single setback or he would find himself fighting or retreating in the winter: think Napoleon or Hitler in later ages. Apparently Antony was so upset at himself he actually prepared for suicide several times. He was still a general in the midst of the quagmire, even after losing 20,000 men, one-third of his army, during the month it took to retreat to the relative safety of what would be modern Aremenia. I won't go into too may details of the actual battle as I am so behind on the major questions I want to at least ask if not answer on this blog, but I will try to find a link that describes it in full detail. When Antony's crippled army reached Syria, Antony started drinking heavily, as his sense of self-esteem was probably at the lowest point in his life. The soldiers that were left to him did stick by their general. According to Plutarch Antony's men, "greeted him with cheerful faces and gripped his hand as he passed: they begged him not to let their sufferings weigh upon him, but to go and take care of himself."

Messengers had been sent to ask Cleopatra for money and clothing for the soldiers. Apparently she took her sweet time (perhaps not wanting to be taken for granted?) but eventually brought everything that was required. After the soldiers were completely outfitted and supplied, Antony returned to Alexandria to contemplate how to proceed. When Octavian had absorbed all of the information about his colleague's debacle he decided to take a wait and see approach. Here is where some interesting thoughts about Octavian's motives come in. There are no records of any secret dealings or thougthts Octavian may have had with regard to sharing power with Antony until one or the other died. Who knows-maybe Octavian was just an intelligent and normally very careful opportunist and had no desire to unseat Mark Antony and rule the empire alone? But the sheer volume of evidence of his behavior-to me anyway (and not to worry-other "real" historians;-) argues very much against this. Octavian's slow but relentless and ruthlessness in chipping away at Antony's power and prestige (amongst other competitors) and his absolute refusal to do the barest minimum-even below minimum I think to help his fellow triumvir-taken as a whole points to an eventual plan to have sole rulership of the Roman world. I do think that Octavian truly adored his sister and am not entirely sure if he had an extra psychological push to get rid of Antony because of his dealings with Cleopatra; this situation probably added to the impetus to take Antony out, but I think this was the plan all along-ever since Octavian learned of his adoption by Julius Caesar.

The image is a Roman mosaic of a lion on a roundel. I do not know exactly when the next article will be here. I have developed the worse case of the summertime blahs on record I think-been very lazy regarding blogging lately. I do hope to come up with a schedule where I work on material for each blog three days of the week when I can with a day of rest. Hopefully I will get somewhat back on track soon. Thanks again to anyone following or commenting on this blog!

Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Seventeen

In the spring of 36 BC, when Antony left for Parthia with 60,000 legionaires, to take long overdue revenge for Crassus's defeat in 53 BC, many of these republican diehards hoped that he would achieve a great triumph over the enemy and few doubted that he would and thus restore his predominance in the Triumvirate. Mark Antony did indeed announce victory of the Parthians in the autumn of that same year. Octavian kept up with his colleagues doings in the east. Communications were slow but a variety of individuals from businessmen to state officials wrote home with news and gossip. At this point in his life Octavian obviously had great power already but he was expected to keep the Senate informed and Mark Antony involved. Octavia was back in Rome while Antony was on his military campaign. Octavia was an intelligent and adoring mother, sister and wife, so she worked hard to not only be a good mother to her six children and stepchildren, but also to advocate Antony's interests and try to dull the sharp edges in relations between her husband and brother. Mark Antony also engaged in geopolitics in the east. In 40 BC, Parthian cavalry led by Pakur, the intelligent and capable son of King Urud had invaded the province of Syria killing the governor.

This invasion represented the greatest challenge since Mithridates of Pontus fifty years before to Roman hegemony. Antony realized that the client states that acted as a bulwark between the Parthians and Rome needed to be stronger. So Mark Antony created a new map, slicing up great territories for men he could count on. These men were all Greek speaking west Asians. Amyntas in Galatia, Polemo in Pontus, Archelaus-Sisiness in Cappadocia, and Herod in the tiny but very strategically important kingdom of Judea. If Antony was going to be responsible for the eastern part of the Roman empire he needed leaders steadfast enough to repel military stikes and powerful enough to react effectively to them. Still the royal figure that Antony placed his greatest trust in was Cleopatra in Egypt. The pair renewed their allegiance ( it would be wrong to think of it as a love affair at this point) when Antony was forty-five and Cleopatra thirty-three. The two came to a quick agreement about the future of their partnership (with equal speed Cleopatra became pregnant again). Egypt's resources would be at Antony's beck and call. In return for her letting Antony make use of Egypt's substantial resources Cleopatra received fittingly substantial territories. Among these were coastal cities from Mount Carmel )in the south of modern Lebanon), part of Cilicia(southeast modern Turkey), and other areas to the north and south of Judea.

Cleopatra had every reason to be greatly pleased with herself. She had made enormous strides towards rebuilding the Ptolemaic empire as it had been at the height of its power two centuries before. It is very important to note that in Rome at this time no one saw anything wrong with Antony's statecraft. His reorganization of the east showed great political forethought and made sense. Also, Antony appeared to be an able judge of the men best suited to lead the client kingdoms of Rome. Cleopatra was hardly what you would call well-liked by the Roman political class. But they had known her since the days of Julius Caesar and it was apparent she was a competent ruler. It mattered not a whit to mot that Antony had replaced Caesar as Cleopatra's lover. Octavian, however, had a much different view of the restored relations between the two. First of all it was an insult to his dear sister, Octavia. He also couldn't help but notice the semi-divine names that Antony's illegitimate children were given around this time: Alexander Helios (Greek "Sun") and Cleopatra Selene (Greek "Moon"). Due to their illegitimate status the children had no hereditary claims in either Rome or Egypt, but the new cognomens had to make one think about what was being planned for their future. An even greater embarrassment and possible threat to Octavian was growing up quickly in Egypt. Cleopatra's co-monarch, Ptolemy XV Caesar or Caesarion was the child of Julius Caesar.

He was now eleven years old and was the murdered "gods" real, not adoptive son. For a quick study like Octavian, he must have realized the implications of this down the road if Cleopatra and Antony should ever hatch some grand political scheme. Octavian, in this particular case, must have wished the Roman idea of marriage was not so unsentimental. This is not to say love didn't flower in many Roman marriages, but a Roman couple were almost always locked into a marriage of convenience(many times second or later marriages allowed for freer choice). The Romans had a largely unsentimental view of sexual relations, and romantic love, so glorified in later ages was rare. As for expressing feelings of affection in public and immoderate sexual activity, Marcus Porcius Cato the Censor (or Cato the Elder, father of the Cato that has already been mentioned on this blog) who lived in the second century BC, once expelled a man from the Senate for kissing his wife in public. A Roman man did not feel feelings of guilt about taking a different sexual partner and didn't feel bound to a particular sexual object of his desire. He would not have understood such modern terms as "heterosexuality" and "homosexuality", which put people in sexual groups. What the man did was what mattered, not what he was.

Some ancient sources reveal that it didn't matter whether the husband chose a young man or woman-as long as he did not play the "passive" or "receptive" role with another man. The previously mentioned poet Horace shows thoughts fairly common of his age: "When your organ is stiff, and a servant girl or a young boy from the household is near at hand and you know you can make an immediate assault, would you sooner burst with tension? Not me. I like sex to be there and easy to get." I find the word "assault" he used (or at least the way it translated) very interesting. For I can't imagine what the helpless servant girl or boy must have felt during these sessions where they were made, it would seem, less than human by their masters-simply objects to quench a desire-an object under ''assault." Besides the adulterer or fornicator only supposed to play the "active" role in sexual relations, their was a second rule that the men were supposed to only give their lustful attentions to non-citizens and slaves. Freeborn boys and women were supposed to be off-limits. There is a large amount of evidence that this custom was broken quite a few times.

The image is of Mark Antony's donations of territory to Cleopatra and his illegitimate children with her as of 34 BC. I hope to be back with more fairly soon. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Sixteen

Instead Octavian paid part of the promised donatives, distributed honors, and pardoned Sextus' officers. The soldiers didn't take this well-especially Octavian's own men who mutinied, demanding full payment of all that was owed to them and immediate discharge. Acting quickly, Octavian countered this by announcing a campaign against the Illyrians (in modern Albania), for which he would need legions, and increased the number of awards to officers and men. Added to this he also made some pacific moves, discharging those who had fought at Mutina and Philippi and also offering an additional donation of two thousand sesterces. Peace returned among the soldiers. Sextus Pompeius moving eastward, disembarked at Mytilene in another eerie echo of his father's dash for freedom in 48 BC. There are only small details of his next moves. Sextus appeared to have large amounts of money still because he crossed over to the province of Asia and managed to raise three legions. Mark Antony didn't want much to do with Sextus, he was angered that Sextus had offered his services to the king of Parthia. Gaius Furnius, the governor of Asia, marched against Sextus with a large number of men. Outmanned, the judicious thing for Sextus to do was surrender. He had been promised fair and honorable treatment if he did so.

Again we can wonder if he was subconsciously 'wanting' to share his father's fate, for he apparently first tried to fight, then tried to escape but was caught. Sextus had thrown away his last chance for survival and was executed in 35 BC. He would have been about twenty-six years old. He had lived a short but exciting life. Also, it seems, especially going to earlier days, that Sextus should by rights have won the conflict. In fact for a long time he achieved a string of victories. It is fascinating to think that if he had taken Menodorus's advice and refused reconciliation with the Triumvirate, Sextus could have literally starved Italy into submission. The greatest part of this blog series so far might have had Sextus as its subject instead of Octavian. There is a vastly different view of Sextus between his own contemporaries and the later ancient historians who saw him as a pirate. The people of Sextus' own time saw him as a great and honorable nobleman fighting to claim what was legally his. Appian's view seems to be that Sextus had no grand strategic design and a marked tendency not to pursue his many successes until victory was achieved. As we have seen these descriptions of Sextus' actions do have truth in them. Another failure of Sextus was that he didn't put the relatively small amount of resources he had control over into an equation that counted the enormous resources available to the triumvirs.

Sextus was definitely not in a strategic position to wait and see how events would unfold. On the face of it, it would seem that Sextus didn't lose due to a lack of intelligence or military ability, but because he didn't take a broad overview of events into consideration and didn't follow up on the aimes he did achieve. I also wonder if ther were two psychological components to his failure. One being a strong subconscious bond with his father's life which had also ended in failure-but had made many glorious achievements to his name also. The other being that he simply lacked the psychological ruthlessness of his opponents. The Senate had voted Octavian many honors and also let him decide to accept them all or only those he approved before he got back to Rome in 36 BC. Octavian would be twenty-seven years old on the twenty-third of September and may have delayed his entry into Rome to coincide with his birthday. He accepted three honors. The first was an annual festival to celebrate his victory over Sextus at Naulochus, the second was a gold-plated statue of himself in the Forum, dressed like he was on entering Rome and standing atop a column decorated with ships' rams. The third honor carried the most weight by far: tribunicia sacrosanctus. This meant that his person was sacer (sacred), consecrated and inviolable on pain of stiff penalties-even death. This protection had always been given to tribunes of the plebs, but Octavian didn't need to hold the office of tribune, although he was also given the right to sit on the tribune's benches at meetings.

Octavian did a number of nice things for the citizens of Rome upon his return. He forgave unpaid installments of special taxes, as well as debts owed to collectors. He announced that documents relating to the civil wars would be burned. State administative duties were given back to the regular magistrates. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly in some people's eyes was that Octavian said he would give up all of his extraordinary triumviral powers when Antony returned from Parthia. The young man owed an enormous debt to his friends and supporters; starting with Agrippa he began to make sure they were well taken care of. As Agrippa was really the man who stepped in and saved Octavian's bacon-so to speak-Octavian rewarded him with a perhaps unique and prestigious honor-a corona rostrata, which was a golden crown decorated with ships' prows. Priesthoods were also given out quite freely. Land and treasure were also gifts that the friends of the new regime received. Agrippa came into even more wealth when he was rewarded large estates in Sicily and married Caecilia, who was the daughter of Cicero's extremely wealthy friend Atticus. With Octavian's two opponents for control of the west (Sextus and Lepidus) gone, his status had increased to the point the he no longer insisted on using the title divi filius.

He had now carved out his own name and place in the world. There was a remnant of a republican faction not necessarily under one umbrella of beliefs, but obdurate in their refusal to accept that the Republic was gone forever. These people now began to gravitate to Mark Antony now that Sextus was gone. Antony had several personal attributes that made him the 'last hope' of the republicans. He was anything but a natural autocrat like Octavian and people could see that he liked an easy life in some respects. Some felt that as long as Antony could hang onto his dignitas (dignity, honor) and auctoritas (influence, authority), he might not mind the idea of going back to the Republic.

The image is a statue of Bacchus and Ariadne. I still have more information ready to go-and it is once again my typing skills that have prevented more from being posted. Soon, after the showdown between Antony, Cleopatra and Octavian that led to the Battle of Actium I would like to start moving a bit faster as far as leaving out some of the less important details so I can get to some other subjects also. Thanks again to anyone following or commenting on this blog!

Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Fifteen

This feat was done also by a painful march across an expanse of old cooled lava near Mount Etna. Again, after just a few days Octavian had gone from the most desperate of situations to being in the driver's seat. He had twenty-three legions, 20, 000 cavalry and more than 5,000 light armed troops under his command in Sicily. Sextus recalled all of his men back from the west to the northeastern part of the island which was all he had left. Sextus knew that the only way out know was to engage the enemy at sea. On 3 September, his fleet sailed out of Messana and met Agrippa's in the sea between the ports of Mylae and Naulochus. If Suetonius can be relied on it seems that Octavian again was having an acute psychological crisis, similiar to what had happened at Philippi: "On the eve of the battle he fell so fast asleep that his staff had to wake him and ask for the signal to begin hostilities. This must have been the occasion of Antony's taunt: "He could not face his ships to review them when they were already at their fighting stations; but lay on his back in a stupor and gazed up at the sky, never rising to show that he was alive until his admiral Marcus Agrippa had routed the enemy." Slowly, as time passed, what were at first a few setbacks for Sextus became a rout.

One of Sextus' admirals took his own life, the other surrendered to Agrippa along with individual ships. Sextus had only 17 warships left. Sextus was so dumbstruck by what had happened that he forgot to give orders to his infantry. The result of this being that they immediately surrendered. Sextus gathered his money and anything else of use, took his daughter and some of his entourage and set sail towards the east with the remainder of his fleet. He intended to seek support from Mark Antony. We can wonder if Sextus was unconsciously following in his father's footsteps, who after his final defeat at Pharsalus had also sought safety in the east. Lepidus was about to do something extremely stupid. After being in the background so long he proclaimed himself the master of Sicily. This because he had landed on the island first and captured the largest number of cities. Of course Octavian was enraged by this. He sent some of his agents out. They found that Ledpidus' soldiers had little respect for him, applauded Octavian's courage (apparently they hadn't heard all of the stories about Octavian's crisis moments) and absolutely abhored the thought of another civil war. Then a very instructive incident took place that hwoed the courageous side of Octavian's personality.

Octavian took some cavalry to Lepidus's camp. Then unarmed he went into the camp with only a small number of companions. It was quite a scene, reminescent of the times Octavian put his life in mortal danger in front of large crowds. Naulochus had shown yet again that Octavian still found it very hard to deal with the experience of battle. However, when he was hurt or betrayed by opposition to himself he did not hesitate to put his life on the line. Lepidus ordered that the intruder be put out by force. Appian tells us that Octavian "was hit on the breastplate but the weapon failed to penetrate to the skin and he escaped by running to his cavalry. The men in one of Lepidus' outposts jeered at him as he ran." The experience must have been quite humiliating for Octavian but it had the desired effect. For in the next few hours Ledpidus' men began to desert him, even after he begged them to remain loyal. Lepidus even grabbed hold of a standard saying he would not release it. "You will when you're dead!" one of the standard-bearers replied. Now he knew it was over. Lepidus changed out of uniform and ran to Octavian as fast as possible, with spectators following along beside him like the event was public theater. Here a sea change occurred with the way Octavian treated some who betrayed him.

This could have been because for the first time in eight years Octavian didn't have a visible threat to his position on the horizon. Octavian also knew that people desperately wanted peace and a return to the rule of law. So when Lepdius came before him, Octavian stood and didn't let Lepidus fall to his knees. Octavian didn't punish Lepidus in any way and sent him to Rome as a private citizen. Octavian even let Lepidus keep his highly prestigious position of pontifex maximus. Lepidus was no longer allowed in the Triumvirate (he was probably grateful to be breathing). So Lepidus left public life and spent the remaining years of his life in a nicely comfortable retirement at the seaside resort of Circeii, about fifty miles south of Rome. This town was built on the side of a steep crag. The town also sported a temple of the sun and a lighthouse. Circeii was originally an island, and the malarial Pomptine Marshes were on its landward side. Legend had it that the witch Circe lived in one of the caves on its slopes. Circe had the ability to change visitors into swine. Circe with the rather porcine legend attached to it was a rather appropriate place for one of Rome's most loathsome politicians to spend his last years in. Now Octavian had 45 legions. 25,000 cavalry, about 37,000 light-armed troops and six hundred warships under his command. To find land for these men to settle on would take time; so it was very impractical to demobilize all of them immediately.

The image is a bust of Octavia, Octavian's loyal sister, with whom he was close to all of his life. Thanks again to anyone following or commenting on this blog! I hope to have the next article here soon.

Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Fourteen

Agrippa continued building his navy in the lake of Avernus and Lucrine lake during 37 BC and the spring of 36 BC. When the fleet was finally ready, Lepidus was summoned from his dormancy in Africa; he would bring a thousand transport ships, seventy warships, sixteen legions and a large force of Numidian cavalry. Ledpidus was to disembark on the south side of Sicily and capture as much territory as he could. Octavian would sail from Puteoli and yet another fleet which would include Antony's donated ships would sail from Tarentum. Sextus must have been somewhat concerned about countering this massive strike force. Unlike the triumvirs Sextus did not have an inexhaustible supply of manpower. Sextus had 300 ships and ten legions. However, his successes to date must have given him some comfort. Starting out fortune favored Octavian. Lepidus had succeeded in getting twelve legions on Sicilian soil and quickly took over the port of Lilybaeum on the island's western tip. Depending on Lepidus was difficult to say the least. Lepidus appears to have opened a line of friendly communication with Sextus, so he could reap benefits no matter who won the war. Then on 3 July 36 BC the fleets were struck by another terrible storm. Immediately the ships from Tarentum returned to port as the winds became strong.

Octavian fled to a well protected bay on the west coast of Italy. The wind followed him to the southwest and it was impossible to sail out of the bay. Much worse; anchors could not hold the ships and they slammed into each other or onto the rocks. The storm lasted through the night and many ships were lost to the storm's fury. It would take a month to rebuild the fleet. It was at this point, in what was probably a combination stubbornness and dejection, that according to Suetonius, Octavian cried out: "I will win this war even if Neptune does not wish me to!" The summer was already hoving into view and an intelligent commander would cancel these operations until the following spring, especially after receiving a beating like this. In Rome, Octavian's pig-headedness was moving popular sentiment towards Sextus again. A few lines show the ridicule and contemptuousness that the people had towards Octavian now: He took a beating twice at sea. And threw two fleets away. So now to achieve one victory. He tosses dice all day. The critique of Octavian's behavior was somewhat unfair. He did like to gamble in his leisure time, as a letter he wrote to his successor,Tiberius, shows, but he was hardly wasting time now.

He sent his reliable friend Maecenas to Rome to try to counter some of his critics, while he himself went all around Italy speaking to settler veterans and trying to assuage their fears. Massive efforts were made to repair the damaged vessels and lay new keels. In a very real sense now Octavian was going to take the largest gamble of his life, however, it was hardly leisure gambling-the war with Sextus was going forward. Octavian and Agrippa realized their best move would be to push back and hold Sextus at Messana. They would really need to count on Lepidus for this plan, as he was already in Sicily. After some skirmishes between the republican and triumviral forces, Octavian and his troops disembarked on Sicily south of Tauromenium. Sextus's forces completely surprised Octavian's before they even built their camp. Sextus's cavalry harried the soldiers still at work on fortifying the camp. But Sextus made a serious mistake, as he held back both his navy and infantry. Had he not done this there is a great possibility he not only could have won a decisive victory, but also captured Octavian. But Octavian's situation was still desperate, his soldiers worked through the night to build the camp's defenses. At daybreak they were exhausted and not physically or mentally ready for battle. Octavian knew he had to save his fleet at all costs and sail from Sicily as soon as possible. He gave command of the legions to Lucius Cornificius, an early supporter of him who had prosecuted Brutus in 43 BC for Julius Caesar's murder.

When Octavian sailed out to sea Sextus took off from Messana. In two roughly fought engagements, Octavian came out much worse for wear. Now Octavian was unsure of what to do next. He did not know if he should risk sailing back to Sicily and Cornificius, or to try to find his troops on the mainland. Eventually he decided on the latter. Octavian set out on a single ship that Sextus's men were in hot pursuit of. This must have been a very dark time for him indeed. For fearing capture, he asked a loyal aide, Gaius Proculeius, to get ready to kill him. Once again Octavian avoided capture, but even though he was out of immediate danger, he was alone except for his armor-bearer. Octavian again barely evaded capture as he was walking on a coast road and saw ships in the distance. He went down to the beach to greet them, realizing in a nick of time that they were Sextus' ships. Then as Octavian was getting away from this almost disastrous encounter he was attacked by the slave of an officer on his staff whose father he had proscribed!

This is all that is known about this encounter-nothing more is said of the slave's fate or any wounds Octavian may have sustained. Then yet another turn of fate, this time in Octavian's favor happened. Some mountain folk had found Octavian in a state of being almost pushed over the limits of what he could take. They transferred him from one small boat to another to avoid getting caught and took him to his legions. Octavian showed great strength when reunited with his men, food and sleep could wait. He sent word to Cornificius in Sicily about the situation and also messengers around the mountains to get the word out that he was safe. Showing his usual intent focus on the most immediate goal, Octavian was not going to let a stupid communication failure deny his chance to resurrect his campaign. He knew two actions must be accomplished quickly. He had to find a way to get his legions to Sicily. Here the incomparably capable Agrippa, who had an earlier victory against Pompeian forces had taken the opportunity to occupy some ports on the island's north coast. Octavian was able to transfer his men this way. Secondly, Cornificius, who was currently held down by Sextus' troops near Tauromenium had to find a way to disengage and join Agrippa's forces.

Getting there slowly but surely :-). I want to have the next post here very soon-perhaps tomorrow-time permitting. The image is of a Roman coin honoring Agrippa on the obverse and Neptune on the reverse. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!

Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Thirteen

He did decide on what was needed immediately: a large enough area of water that was surrounded by forest to supply wood to build a new fleet. In a turn of amazing lucidity, Agrippa knew just the right place-from Homer no less. Homer believed that the lake of Avernus was the gateway into Hades. Hades of course was where the dead went to shadowy, dull and vitiated existences. Agrippa was not superstitious or scared of the gloomy aura of the location. His idea was both wonderfully simple and brilliant at the same time. He wanted to build a canal south from Avernus to the Lucrine lake and then to sea. In this area Agrippa hoped to build a new fleet, train the men and himself in an area that he hoped Sextus would not even have knowledge of. This enormous undertaking needed huge amounts of men and material to succeed. Some of Octavian's wealthy backers put money into the project. Agrippa himself probably brought funds from Gaul, and money was also raised from the provinces. Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, the other major friend from Octavian's childhood had given Mark Antony pleas for help. Antony had spent the winter in Athens and said he would come back to Italy by spring or early summer of 37 BC. It was also in Antony's interest to make sure the west was peaceful and he also needed to recruit troops for the war against Parthia, as the Treaty of Brundisium allowed.

Once Antony sailed to Brundisium with a large fleet he realized the port was closed to him! He then sailed to Tarentum and invited Octavian to join him. By now Antony must have been furious with Octavian-and rightly so-and was unsure of whether to lend a hand now or not. Octavia was with her husband on this voyage and was extremely distressed at the thought of more tension between her brother and husband. According to Plutarch Octavia wrote to her brother: "If the worst should happen and war break out between you, no one can say which of you is fated to conquer the other, but what is certain is that my fate will be quite miserable." Octavian took his sister's advice. He was definitely not ready for a war with Antony. As a matter of fact, the two had an actual reason to meet as their triumvirate was about to officially expire. All Octavian felt he must do is keep Antony, who had already won so much military glory from getting involved in his conflict with Sextus. Octavian needed to start winning his own wars if he were to secure his position as a continued co-ruler of the empire. The triumvirs agreed to have their summit at Tarentum. Maecenas, who was the unofficial minister of culture set the agenda. He had a knack for talent-spotting in the realm of words and had given the freedom of his house in Rome to a group of poets.

The highest ranking of these would have been Virgil and Horace who was Maecenas' favorite was also there. Horace agreed with Epicurean philosophy in that pleasure was the only good. Maecenas provoked no surprises by gathering some poets to take with him on the journey to Tarentum. After a long journey on the road with some discomfort on the way; although they did get to take in some sights such as the city of Capua (modern Santa Maria Capua Vetere), one of the richest cities in Italy and one that Cicero had called a second Rome. Capua, having a fine ampitheater was a great city for gladiatorial combats. Capua is where Spartacus once fought with the gladiatorial bravery that had so impressed Cicero. The three men arrived in the elegant Greek city of Tarentum. The area Octavian and Antony were to meet at had a stream to separate the suspicious men. However, by accident the two had arrived at the same time. Antony who was lodged at Tarentum got out of his carriage and jumped without any bodyguards into a small boat and began rowing to Ocatavian's side of the riverbank. Octavian realized that he would lose face if he didn't return Antony's gesture of trust and also got into a boat alone. The men met in midstream and instantly got into an argument! This was due to the fact that each one of them wanted to disembark on the other's land as a show of politeness and respect. Octvian ended up winning the argument due to the fact the Octavia was also with Antony at Tarentum, and he wouldn't get to see his sister unless they met on Antony's side of the river. This argument is not of any importance in itself. However, it does illustrate the fact that when the men disagreed it was always Octavian who would win. When Octavian was in pursuit of a goal he went after it with a laser-like focus.

Antony, who felt secure as the senior triumvir had the unmindful self-confidence to let the younger man have his way. Octavian did manage to keep Antony from any thoughts of joining against him with Sextus. The Triumvirate which had expired on December 31 of the previous year, 38 BC was renewed for another five years. They also took back all of the concessions made to Sextus and promised to help each other. Antony offered 120 ships from his fleet to Octavian. This may seem like a large number-and it was-but these ships were expensive to maintain and not very useful to a general expecting conflict on the Asian landmass. For the 120 ships, Octavian promised Antony four legions. By this time people in Rome were becoming used to treaties signed with pomp and circumstance, but broken almost immediately. This time there were no celebrations like those that had taken place after Brundisium, although a coin of Antony's issued at Tarentum, shows Antony's and Octavian's heads facing each other. This was unusual on Roman coinage, although somewhat common among the Greek kings who wanted to emphasize harmony between husband and wife; perhaps Antony saw his relationship with Octavian in the same light as that of a fractious marriage that he hoped would get better! Octavian was now ready for a war with Sextus. He was certainly grateful for Antony's ships bu he had not the slightest intention of finding Antony his four legions. This brings to mind some important historical questions in regards to Octavian's good faith. We know he took this new entente with Antony seriously. However, when the pattern of Octavian's behavior is viewed as a whole over the years it shows that he behaved as a quick thinking opportunist. He grabbed hold of every gain or gift that came his way and gave as little as possible back in return.

I hope to have the next article here soon. I have got a lot caught up recently-and it is still my terrible typing that is keeping me behind in where I want to be with this blog. It is good at least to know I have some information ready to go. The image is a modern photo of Lago di Lucrino-the Lucrine lake mentioned in the first part of the article. Thanks again to anyone following or commenting on this blog!

Roman Empire: New Wars Old Enemies Part Twelve

Menodorus had defected from Sextus's camp in what was by far the largest blow to him personally and politically. Menodorus brought Octavian Sardinia and Corsica and three legions. Octavian thought with his typical calculation that now would be a good time to get rid of Sextus-treaty or no treaty. Mark Antony was against war with Sextus to Octavian's disappointment. Antony showed up at Brundisium on a mutually agreed appointment with Octavian in 38 BC. To Antony's annoyance Octavian was nowhere to be seen. It is not known what Octavian meant to signal by his abscence. Perhaps he was busy with his own military preparations against Sextus. Octavian appears to have thought that with Menodorus on his side he wouldn't need Antony anyway. Octavian had sent for an army from his lifelong friend Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa who was now a proconsul in Gaul. He also commissioned warships at Ravenna and planned for the other machinery of war to be assembled on the eastern and western coasts of Italy at Brundisium and Puteoli. Octavian's plan was to defeat Sextus at sea and then take troops from Italy to take over Sicily.

Gaius Calvisius Sabinus, who had once served under Julius Caesar and also had been the very first non-Latin consul in the previous year would sail south from Puteoli. Calvisius who was also one of the two senators who had tried to protect Caesar on the Ides of March would share his command with Menodorus. Octavian would be the admiral of the other fleet which would set sail from Tarentum and come at Sicily from the east. The sea was a very frightening and unpredictable place in ancient times. Sailing was avoided as much as possible during the winter. Roman war fleets were mostly made up of rowing galleys called triremes and quinqueremes. Even today it is not known exactly how they functioned. A trireme could have been layed out in two different ways: with three banks of oars, or one bank with the oars grouped together in threes with one man per oar. These were about 150 feet long and displaced about 230 tons. Quinqueremes probably had one bank of oars with five men pulling each oar. They would have had up to 150 rowers: these were often non-Romans-but not chained slaves as portrayed in Hollywood films! These warships would have been very hard to maneuver in storms. For weaponry they had brass battering rams on their prows. The Romans-maybe because they were not originally a maritime power-fought battles at sea as if they were on land.

The corvus (or crow) was a grappling device whereby men would board enemy ships. When boarding a ship was not an option, Romans used flaming projectiles to set them on fire. The first engagement took place when one of Sextus's men, an old pirate (as Menodorus had been) named Menecrates fought Menodorus and Calvisius off Cumae on the Campanian coast. Menecrates got the upper hand in this battle, although he himself was wounded and died. At nightfall the two fleets disengaged and Sextus's ships returned to port at Messana without finalizing their victory. After hearing about Cumae, Octavian made the mistake of trying to brave the straight and reach Calvisius. Sextus saw what was happening and made haste from Messana in great numbers and attacked Octavian's fleet. Octavian's ships tried to come back to port but many were dashed against the rocky coastline and set afire. When Sextus caught sight of Calvisius' fleet coming to help Octavian he went back to Messana. In this battle Octavian showed some courage again. He was unaware that Calvisius was close by and in danger of losing his own life helped resuce men from the water. Octavian and his men then took refuge in the mountains and lit bonfires to signal those still afloat as to their whereabouts. Octavian did not sleep and went amongst his men to do his best to keep their sprits up during a rough night without food and other necessities.

In a stroke of good luck the Thirteenth Legion was marching across those mountains at night probably heading towards Rhegium in preparation for the invasion of Sicily. The legion provided Octavian and his men with food and a makeshift tent was pitched for the extremely tired and worn down triumvir. Appian describes the scene that greeted Octavian at dawn: "At daybreak, as he looked out over the sea, his gaze was met by ships that had been set on fire, ships that were still half-ablaze or half-burned, and ships that had been smashed." Octavian was dealt a double defeat when an extremely fierce storm blew Octavian's remaining ships against the rocky coast, with the result that more than half his fleet was sunk and the rest of the ships badly damaged. For Octavian this certainly must have been the worst crisis of his young life. Not only were his hopes of defeating Sextus at sea dashed, but this was the kind of catastrophe that could start conspiracies against him in Rome. What would Sextus do now? It was Octavian who had broken the Treaty of Misenum. Surely Sextus must be outraged and wanting to extract his pound of flesh. Sextus, to Octavian's thinking anyway, must also be feeling humiliated on top of the anger he must also be feeling, as he had been advised not to sign the treaty with the triumvirs in the first place-could this make him doubly dangerous?

And what would be Mark Antony's thinking on this disastrous chain of events? As Sextus celebrated his great victory he began proclaiming that he was the son of Neptune-the god of the seas. He started wearing a dark blue cloak instead of a commanders regulation purple, sacrificed some horses (and it was also rumored some men) to Neptune by driving them into the sea. Sextus had made a kind of circle-having issued coins in Sicily identifying his father with Neptune-now he claimed to be the son of both a man and a god, just as Octavian had done. Octavian realized he would have to swallow a great deal of pride now and ask for help from his fellow triumvirs. Mark Antony, whom he had brushed off just months before and Lepidus, almost forgotten in Africa. He sent them a crucial appeal for help, as he realized that the other two might even ally with Sextus against him now! Octavian could only hope that his colleagues were not as imaginative and plotting as he was. The return of Agrippa made Octavian almost immediately want to take back his pleas for help that he had sent. Agrippa, twenty-four years of age, had some fantastic achievements in his career. He had secured the frontier on the Rhine and founded a new city, Colonia Agippinenis (modern Cologne, Germany). He was offered a triumph but always mindful of his friend and that his friend needed him, declined. Agrippa new a lot about warfare-but almost nothing of fighting at sea.

The image is of a silver denarius that Sextus Pompeius had issued around 44-43 BC. It shows his father, Pompey the Great on the obverse and a Roman warship on the reverse. I hope to have the next article here soon. Thanks to anyone following or commenting on this blog!