busied in a mutual execution in the greatest heat of the work there was of a sudden a deep silence on both sides as if it had been by consent This was the general conceit of it At last happen'd a misfortune which Caesar had not seen before the choice band of Veterans gave ground And though that they had not fled yet was their resistance to be attributed rather to a certain shame than valour Whereupon Caesar lighting off his Horse runs like a distracted person to the front of the Battel There he stay'd such as were shrinking encourag'd them and finally by his eyes hands and voice assures the whole body It is reported that in that disturbance he was thinking of killing himself and that it was apparent in his countenance he would have hasten'd his own death if five Cohorts of the enemies crossing the Battel being sent by Labienus to reinforce the Pompeian Camp then in some danger had not seem'd as if they fled Which Caesar either really believ'd or cunningly laying hold upon that occasion and charging them as a flying party he both heightned the courage of his own people and gave the enemy an overthrow For the Caesarians imagining themselves Conquerors pursue the more eagerly on the other side the Pompeyans supposing their party ran away began to fly How great the slaughter of the enemies was and how great the fury and animosity of the victorious may be guessed hence When such as had escaped out of the fight had retreated to Munda and Caesar had given order that the vanquish'd should immediately be besieg'd there was a rampire made of the carcasses brought together which were fasten'd and kept in with spears and Javelins a spectacle would have been abominable even amongst Barbarians But Pompey's Sons despairing of the victory Cneus escaping out of the fight wounded in the leg and going towards the desarts and unfrequented places was overtaken at the Town of Lauro by Cesennius who there kill'd him fighting so that he had not as yet despaired In the mean time fortune kept Sextus undiscover'd in Celtiberia and reserv'd him for other wars after Caesar's time Caesar returns victor into his Country His first triumph over Gaul was brought in by a representation of the Rhine and the Rhone and the captive Ocean in gold The second the Aegyptian Lawrel In that was represented the Nile Arsinoë and the Pharus on fire The third triumphal Chariot brought in Pharnaces and Pontus The fourth Juba and the Mauritanians and exposed Spain twice subdu'd Pharsalia and Thapsus and Munda appeared not amongst his triumphs And how many greater victories had he obtain'd for which he triumphed not Here at last arms were laid down the rest of the peace was without bloodshed Caesar's clemency made amends for the cruelties of the war No man was put to death by his command but Afranius 't was enough that he had been pardoned once and Faustus Sylla he had learnt to fear his Sons-in-law and the Daughter of Pompey with her Cousin-germans descended from Sylla This was to secure his posterity His Citizens not ungrateful bestow all honours upon this one Prince his Images are set up in the Temples he hath in the Theatre a Crown surrounded with rays a Chair of State in the Senate a Terret upon his House top and is assign'd a month in the Heavens and withal this is entituled Father of his Country and perpetual Dictator lastly it is a question whether with his consent regal ornaments were proffer'd him before the Rostra by the Consul Antonius all which honours were done him and seem'd as the garlands set about a Victim design'd to die For the clemency of this Prince was envy'd and the great power he had to confer benefits was insupportable to free persons Nor did they delay it any longer but Brutus and Cassius and others of the Senators conspir'd the Prince's death How inevitable is the blow of fate The conspiracy was known to many nay a paper discovering it was presented that very day to Caesar himself and of a hundred victims sacrific'd not one propitious Yet he went to the Senate thinking on the Parthian expedition There the Senate set upon him sitting in his Chair of State and layd him on the ground with three and twenty wounds So he who had fill'd the world with the blood of his Citizens at length fill'd the Senate with his own CHAP. III. Sextus Pompeius demands his Father's estate Octavius resolves to revenge Caesar's death Mark Antony a slave to Cleopatra CAesar and Pompey being slain the people of Rome seem'd to have return'd to the state of their former liberty and had really done so if Pompey had not left children and Caesar an heir or what was more pernicious than either if Antonius heretofore Colleague and since a competitor of Caesar's power the firebrand and disturber of the ensuing age had not surviv'd them For while Sextus demands what had been his Father's his fear spreads over all Seas while Octavius revenges his Fathers death Thessaly must into arms again while Antonius a person of a fickle disposition disdains that Octavius should be Caesar's successor or for the love of Cleopatra would basely have condescended to accept the title of a King the people of Rome could not otherwise have been safe without returning to servitude In so great a disturbance we had this to rejoyce at that the Soveraign authority was devolv'd to Octavius Caesar Augustus who by his prudence and conduct reduc'd to order the body of the Empire then so shaken and disturbed on all sides that no doubt it could never have been reunited had it not submitted to the authority of one Governor as unto one and the same soul and mind Marcus Antonius and Publius Dolabella being Consuls fortune transferring the Roman Empire to the Cesars there happen'd diverse commotions in the City And as it comes to passe in the annual revolution of the Heavens that the motion of the Stars cause Thunder and discover their periods by the weather so in the change of the Roman Government that is that of mankind the body of the Empire in a manner shook and was distracted with all the misfortunes consequent to civil insurrections and wars as well by Sea as Land CHAP. IV. The quarrel between Octavius Caesar and Marcus Antonius the siege of Mutina raised THe first occasion of the civil Commotions was Caesar's Will whose second heir Antonius enrag'd that Octavius was preferr'd before him undertook an irreconcileable war against the adoption of that most forward young man For seeing him not fully eighteen years of age apt to be wrought upon and receive affronts he derogated from Caesar's dignity by calumnies and purloyn'd his inheritance and ceased not to persecute him with opprobrious speeches and by all imaginable artifices to oppose his adoption into the Julian Family Nay at last to oppresse the young man he broke forth into open hostility and having raised an Army in that part of Gaul on this
side the Alps besieg'd Decimus Brutus who opposed his designs Octavius Caesar favour'd upon the account of his age and the injury done him as also the Majestical title he had assum'd got together the Veterane Bands and though but a private person who would credit it engages against a Consul relieves Brutus besieg'd at Mutina and forces Antonius out of his Camp Besides he behav'd himself verâ— gallantly upon that occasion for being all bloody and wounded he brought back upon his own shoulders the Eagled Ensigne which had been deliver'd to him by the dying bearer of it CHAP. V. The confederacy between Octavius M. Antonius and Lepidus the proscriptions and great cruelties exercised at Rome AS if Antonius had not been a sufficient obstructer of peace and burthen to the Commonwealth Lepidus as an additional fire must needs joyn with him so that to secure himself against two Armies it was of necessity that Caesar entred into that bloody association These conflagrations proceeded from different designs Lepidus's thoughts were wholly bent upon wealth which he hoped to acquire by the disturbance of the Commonwealth Antonius's upon his being reveng'd of those who had declar'd him an enemy and Caesar minded his unreveng'd Father and his Manes unappeased by the survivance of Cassius and Brutus Upon this association there is a peace concluded between the three Generals they shake hands between Perusia and Bononia and the Armies salute each other at the place where the two Rivers meet So they enter upon the Triumvirate against all right The Commonwealth being oppressed by an armed force the Syllanian proscription is reviv'd the fury whereof included no lesse than one hundred and forty Senators shameful cruel and miserable were the ends of those who fled into all parts of the world For whom who can do lesse considering the heynousnesse of the thing than condole When Antonius with Caesar's consent proscrib'd his Uncle L. Caesar and Lepidus did the like with his own Brother L. Paulus At Rome to expose the heads of those who had been kill'd on the Rostra was a thing had been usually done But the City could not forbear tears when they saw the head of Cicero exposed at that very place and they throng'd no lesse to see that spectacle than they had sometime done to hear him there These impieties proceeded from Antonius and Lepidus Caesar contented himself with the murtherers of his Father the slaughters of whom might be accounted just enough had they not reach'd so great a number of persons CHAP. VI. Brutus and Cassius charged by Octavius and Antonius the memorable fight in Thessaly attended by prodigies the death of Brutus and Cassius BRutus and Cassius imagin'd to themselves that they had put Caesar out of the Government as King Tarquin had been but that liberty which they thought to have restor'd they lost by that very parricide Being therefore afraid after they had committed the murther of Caesar's Veteranes they fled out of the Senate into the Capitol The Soldiers had a desire to be reveng'd but they wanted a Commander When therefore it was apparent what destruction hung over the Commonwealth all thoughts of revenge were layd aside upon an act of oblivion put out by the Consul However to be out of the eye of publick grief Brutus and Cassius went into Syria and Macedonia the Provinces which had been bestowed on them by that Caesar whom they had murther'd So Caesar's revenge was rather put off for a time than quit smother'd The Commonwealth therefore being setled rather as it could than as it ought upon the Triumviri and Lepidus left for the defence of the City Caesar and Antonius engage in a war against Brutus and Cassius They having got very great forces together pitch'd upon the same scene which had been fatal to Cneus Pompeius nor wanted there at this time the manifest presages of a decreed destruction for those birds which are wont to feed on dead carcasses were already seen flying about their Camp A Negro meeting them as they were going to engage was an apparent sign of a dismal event And Brutus himself being retired after night and a light brought him according to his custom a dreadful apparition stood before him which being by him asked what it was reply'd Thy evil Genius This said it vanish'â— leaving him amaz'd In Caesar's Camp all the presages the Birds and the Victims promised prosperity but nothing more remarkeable than that Caesar's Physician was admonished in a dream that Caesar should depart out of his own Camp which were in danger to be taken as it afterwards happened For the Armies being engaged when they had fought some time with equal eagernesse and though the chief Commanders were not then present one by reason of sicknesse the other through fear cowardize the invincible fortune both of the person revenging and him whom he reveng'd declar'd which was to be the victorious side At first the danger was doubtful and equal on both sides as the event of the battel made appear on the one side Caesar's Camp was taken on the other Cassius's But how far more prevalent is fortune then vertue and how true is that which Brutus said at his death That vertue was but a name no real thing The victory in this battel proceeded from a mistake Cassius observing a wing of his Army to give ground and seeing his Horse retreating in full speed after they had taken Caesar's Camp upon an imagination that they were upon the rout got to a Hillock where the dust and noise and the approaching night not permitting him to see what was done and the scout he had sent to bring him an account coming later than he expected looking on his party as lost got one that was neer him to strike off his head Brutus having lost all courage in the losse of Cassius that he might keep his promise with him for so they had agreed to be equal survivors of the war got one of his companions to run him through the body Who cannot but admire that these wise persons would not dispatch themselves with their own hands unlesse it may be out of this perswasion that they might defile them but that in the surrender of their most sacred and pious souls the directions should be theirs and the crime of the execution another's CHAP. VII A commotion raised by M. Antonius who shut up in Perusia by Octavius Caesar is forc'd to surrender it ANother war was occasion'd by the distribution of the Lands which Caesar assign'd the Veteranes as a reward for their service Antonius a person upon all other occasions of a lew'd disposition was now egg'd on by his wife Fulvia who with a sword by her side served in the wars as a man Wherefore animating those Husband-men who had been forc'd out of their Lands she occasion'd another war In this case Antonius is set upon by Caesar not upon any private account but as one adjudg'd an enemy by the suffrages of the whole
stand it out by force not that they had any hope left but out of a desire that their country should be deâ—troy'd rather by the enemies than themselves How great the fury of the discontented was may be inferr'd hence that they pull'd down â—heir houses to build a new Fleet that about â—heir Arms gold and silver was employ'd inâ—tead of iron and brasse and the Matrones parâ—ed with their haire to make cordage for the engines Afterwards Mancinus being Consul the siege was closely carried on both by Sea and Land The Haven and the first and second walls were already dismantled when the Castle notwithstanding called the Byrsa made such resistance as if it had been another City But though the destruction of the City was in a good forwardnesse yet was it consider'd that the name of the Scipio's was fatal to Africk The Commonwealth therefore pitching upon another Scipio was desirous the see an end of that war He was the Son of Paulus surnamed Macedonicus and had been adopted by the Son of the great Scipio Africanus presuming he would be an ornament to his race it being design'd that the Grand-child should absolutely lay desolate that City which the Grand-father had brought neer its destruction But as the bitings of dying beasts are most dangerous so we found more work with Carthage half ruin'd than when it was entire The enemies being forc'd into one Fortresse the Romans had also besieg'd the Port. Whereupon the Carthaginians made another Port on the other side of the City not with any design to get away but even from that place whence no man imagin'd it possible they should escape a new Fleet starts up In the mean time no day no night past but some new work engine or forlorn did appear like sudden flashes of fire out of the embers after some conflagration At last things growing desperate forty thousand men surrendred themselves and what is hardly credible Asdrubal being their Leader How much more gallantly did a Woman and that the same Asdrubal's wife behave her self when taking her two children she cast her self down from the top of the house into the midst of the fire therein imitating the Queen who founded Carthage How great a City was destroy'd to omit other things the very continuance of the fire makes apparent for during the space of seventeen days they could hardly quench the fire which the enemies themselves had been the occasions of by firing their own houses and Temples purposely that since the City could not be rescu'd from the triumphs of the Romans it should first be burnt CHAP. XVI Corinth the Metropolis of Achaia declaâ—ed an enemy to the people of Rome for the affronts done to their Ambassadors it is destroy'd and consum'd by fire COrinth Metropolis of Achaia the ornament of Greece and seated for the delightfulnesse of the prospect between the Ionian and Aegaean Seas immediately follow'd the fate of Carthage as if that age had been design'd for the destruction of Cities This City â—â— thing unworthy was destroy'd before it was certainly known to be of our enemies Critolaus was the cause of the war who employ'd the liberty given him by the Romans against them and affronted the Roman Ambassadors if not by blows at least in words The revenge therefore was put upon Metellus then setling Macedonia and hence came the Achaian war whereof the first action was that the Consul Metellus had the slaughter of Critolaus's party in the spacious Fields of Elis all long the River Alpheus And the war was ended in one battel and soon after the City was besieg'd but the fates so ordering things after Metellus had fought Mammius came in to compleat the Victory This latter by the advantages gain'd by the other General defeated the Achaian Army at the very entrance of the Isthmus and both the Ports of Corinth were stain'd with blood At length the Inhabitants having forsaken the City it was first plunder'd afterwards by sound of Trumpet destroy'd What abundance of statues what garments what pictures were taken burnt and cast about the streets What wealth was burnt and brought thence may be hence computed that all the Corinthian brasse now celebrated over the world was onely the remainders of that conflagration Nay the desolation of that most wealthy City enhanc'd the price of the brasse in as much as an infinite number of Statues and Images being burnt the Gold Silver and Brasse melted together flow'd in joynt veins CHAP. XVII An account of Transactions in Spain which is set upon by the Romans and the Provinces of it subdu'd by several Commanders the policy and valour of a Spanish Captain he is afterwards kill'd by a Roman Soldier Viriathus a Portuguez compar'd to Romulus Pompilius orders him to be murther'd AS Corinth follow'd Carthage so Numantia follow'd Corinth Nor was there afterwards any part free from war all over the world After the conflagration of those two famous Cities there was a general war all over at the same time as if those Cities seemed like violent winds to have spread the conflagrations of war into all other parts of the world Spain never had any design to make a general insurrection against us never thought â—â—t to unite all its strength nor yet to dispute the supremacy with us or attempt a publick assertion of its liberty which if it had it is so fortify'd all about by the Sea and the Pyrenaean Mountains that the very scituation secur'd iâ— from an invasion But it was straitned by the Romans before it knew it self and of all the Provinces it onely knew its own strength after it was conquer'd The contestation about this Province lasted neer two hundred years from the first Scipio's to Augustus Caesar not by a continu'd war but as occasions started Nor had we to do at first with the Spanyards but the Carthaginians Thence proceeded the contagion and series and cause of the wars The first Roman ensignes that past over the Pyrenaean Mountains were under the conduct of the Scipio's Publius and Cneus and they in memorable fights defeated Annon and Asdrubal Hannibal's Brother and Spain had been carried as it were by the first attempt if those gallant men supplanted in the height of their victory had not fallen by Punick treachery after they had got the better both by Sea and Land So that Scipio the revenger of his Father and Uncle who was soon after surnamed Africanus invaded it as it were a new and entire Province And he in a short time having taken Carthage and other Cities thinking it not enough to have forc'd the Carthaginians thence made it a tributary Province and reduc'd to the Empire all on both sides of the Iberus and was the first of the Roman Generals who prosecuted his victory to Gades and the entrance of the Ocean But it is a greater matter to retain a Province then to make one Generals were therefore sent into several parts sometime to one sometime to another and they with much difficulty