Antony, however, after he had crossed the Araxes, beset on every side by every kind of evil, at last got back to Antioch with a few men, and that with difficulty. For not only did he always escape defeated from all the battles, many as they were, that he attempted against the multitude of horsemen and arrows, but besides, hampered in uncertain and unknown places of the region, he was driven by a most grievous famine to unspeakable foods; and very many of his soldiers surrendered to the enemy.
1 Antonius uero postquam Araxim transmisit, omnibus undique malis circumuentus, uix tandem Antiochiam cum paucis rediit. nam cum multitudine equitum et sagittarum ab omnibus proeliis, quae plura temptauit, uictus semper effugerit tum praeterea incertis et ignotis regionis locis impeditus grauissima fame ad nefandos cibos coactus est; plurimi militum sese hostibus dediderunt.
From there he crossed into Greece and ordered Sextus Pompey, who, defeated by Caesar, was raising an army and a war anew, to come to him with a few men. Sextus fled, was often defeated in war by land and sea by Titius and Furnius, Antony’s generals, and was captured and shortly afterwards killed.
2 inde in Graeciam transiit iussitque Pompeium, qui uictus a Caesare exercitum bellumque reparabat, cum paucis ad se uenire. Pompeius fugiens a Titio et Furnio Antonianis ducibus saepe terrestri naualique bello uictus et captus ac post paululum interfectus est.
Caesar subdued and tamed in war Illyricum, Pannonia and part of Italy. Antony captured Artabanes, king of Armenia, by treachery and guile; he bound him with a silver chain and compelled him to reveal the royal treasures, and, having stormed the town in which he had disclosed that they were hidden, he carried off a great quantity of gold and silver.1
3 Caesar Illyricum Pannoniam partemque Italiae bellis subegit ac domuit; Antonius Artabanen Armeniae regem proditione et dolo cepit: quem argentea catena uinctum ad confessionem thesaurorum regiorum coegit, expugnatoque oppido, in quo conditos esse prodiderat, magnam uim auri argentique abstulit.
1Artavasdes II of Armenia; Orosius calls him Artabanes.
Elated by this money, he ordered war to be declared on Caesar and a divorce to be announced to Octavia, Caesar’s sister, his own wife, and commanded Cleopatra to come from Alexandria to meet him.
4 qua elatus pecunia denuntiari bellum Caesari atque Octauiae, sorori Caesaris, uxori suae, repudium indici iussit et Cleopatram sibi ex Alexandria occurrere imperauit.
He himself set out for Actium, where he had stationed his fleet, and when he found that nearly a third of the rowers had been carried off by famine, quite unmoved, he said: “Only let the oars be safe; for there will be no lack of rowers as long as Greece has men.”
5 ipse Actium ubi classem constituerat profectus, cum prope tertiam partem remigum fame absumptam offendisset, nihil motus remi, inquit, modo salui sint; nam remiges non deerunt, quoad Graecia homines habuerit.
Caesar set out from Brundisium for Epirus with 230 beaked ships. Agrippa, sent ahead by Caesar, captured many transports heavy with grain and arms coming from Egypt, Syria and Asia to the aid of Antony, and, sailing round the gulf of the Peloponnese, stormed the city of Methone, which was fortified with a very strong garrison of Antony’s.
6 Caesar ducentis triginta rostratis nauibus a Brundisio in Epirum profectus est. Agrippa uero praemissus a Caesare, multas onerarias naues frumento atque armis graues ab Aegypto Syria Asiaque ad subsidium Antonio uenientes cepit peragratoque Peloponnensium sinu Mothonam urbem ualidissimo Antoniano praesidio munitam expugnauit.
Then he took Corcyra; pursuing those who fled, he crushed them in a naval battle, and after many most bloody deeds he came to Caesar. Antony, shaken by desertion and the hunger of his soldiers, resolved to hasten the war, and suddenly, with his forces drawn up, advanced to Caesar’s camp, and was defeated.
7 inde Corcyram cepit; fugientes nauali proelio persecutus profligauit multisque rebus cruentissime gestis ad Caesarem uenit. Antonius defectu et fame militum suorum permotus bellum maturare instituit ac repente instructis copiis ad Caesaris castra processit et uictus est.
On the third day after the battle Antony moved his camp to Actium, ready to decide the issue in a naval battle. Caesar’s ships were 230 with beaks and 30 without, triremes equal in speed to Liburnians; and eight legions were placed on board the fleet, not counting five praetorian cohorts.
8 tertio post pugnam die Antonius castra ad Actium transtulit, nauali proelio decernere paratus. ducentae triginta rostratae fuere Caesaris naues et triginta sine rostris, triremes uelocitate Liburnicis pares et octo legiones classi superpositae, absque cohortibus quinque praetoriis.
Antony’s fleet was of 170 ships, surpassing in size as much as it fell short in number; for they stood ten feet high above the sea.
9 classis Antonii centum septuaginta nauium fuit, quantum numero cedens tantum magnitudine praecellens, nam decem pedum altitudine a mari aberant.
Famous and great was this battle at Actium. From the fifth hour to the seventh, with the hope of victory uncertain, very heavy slaughter was done on both sides; the rest of the day, with the night that followed, inclined towards Caesar’s victory.
10 famosum et magnum hoc bellum apud Actium fuit. ab hora quinta usque in horam septimam incerta uincendi spe grauissimae utrimque caedes actae; reliquum diei cum subsequente nocte in uictoriam Caesaris declinauit.
Queen Cleopatra was the first to flee, with sixty very swift ships; Antony too, pulling down the ensign of his flagship, followed his fleeing wife. As day was now dawning, Caesar completed the victory.
11 prior regina Cleopatra cum LX uelocissimis nauibus fugit; Antonius quoque detracto insigni praetoriae nauis fugientem secutus uxorem est. inlucescente iam die uictoriam Caesar consummauit.
Of the vanquished, twelve thousand are reported to have fallen, and six thousand were wounded, of whom a thousand died while being treated.
12 ex uictis duodecim milia cecidisse referuntur, sex milia uulnerata sunt, e quibus mille inter curandum defecerunt.
Antony and Cleopatra resolved to send their common children ahead to the Red Sea with part of the royal treasure; they themselves, having posted garrisons about the two horns of Egypt, Pelusium and Paraetonium, made ready a fleet and forces to renew the war.
13 Antonius et Cleopatra communes liberos cum parte regiae gazae ad Rubrum mare praemittendos censuerunt; ipsi praesidiis circa duo Aegypti cornua, Pelusium Parethoniumque, dispositis classem et copias instaurando bello parauerunt.
Caesar, hailed imperator for the sixth time, and himself consul for the fourth time with Marcus Licinius Crassus, came to Brundisium; there he settled the garrisons of the world by distributing the legions; then, setting out for Syria, he soon reached Pelusium, where he was received of their own accord by Antony’s garrisons.
14 Caesar sexto imperator appellatus et quartum ipse cum M. Licinio Crasso consul Brundisium uenit; ibi orbis terrarum praesidia diuisis legionibus conposuit; inde in Syriam profectus, mox Pelusium adiit, ubi ab Antonianis praesidiis ultro susceptus est.
Meanwhile Cornelius Gallus, sent ahead by Caesar, received into allegiance four legions which Antony had stationed at Cyrene as a garrison, and from there, having defeated Antony, he took Paraetonium, the first city of Egypt on the side of Libya, and straightway defeated Antony himself at Pharos.
15 interea Cornelius Gallus praemissus a Caesare quattuor legiones, quas Antonius apud Cyrenas praesidii loco constituerat, suscepit in fidem atque inde Parethonium, primam Aegypti a Libyae parte ciuitatem, uicto cepit Antonio ipsumque continuo apud Pharum uicit.
Antony engaged Caesar in a cavalry battle; in this too he was wretchedly defeated and fled. On the Kalends of Sextilis, at first light, when Antony went down to the harbour to draw up his fleet, suddenly all the ships went over to Caesar; and, stripped of his only defence, he withdrew in alarm with a few men into the palace.
16 Antonius equestre aduersus Caesarem bellum iniit; in eo quoque miserabiliter uictus aufugit. kalendis Sextilibus prima luce Antonius cum ad instruendam classem in portum descenderet, subito uniuersae naues ad Caesarem transierunt; cumque unico praesidio spoliatus esset, trepidus se cum paucis recepit in regiam.
Then, with Caesar close at hand and the city in turmoil, this same Antony ran himself through with a sword, and, half-dead, was carried to Cleopatra in the tomb in which she had shut herself up, resolved to die.
17 deinde inminente Caesare turbataque ciuitate idem Antonius sese ferro transuerberauit ac semianimis ad Cleopatram in monumentum, in quod se illa mori certa condiderat, perlatus est.
Cleopatra, after she understood that she was being kept for a triumph, sought a voluntary death, and was found lifeless, touched on her left arm, as is thought, by the bite of a serpent — though Caesar, in vain, even brought in the Psylli, who are accustomed to draw out and suck the venom of serpents from men’s wounds.
18 Cleopatra postquam se ad triumphum seruari intellexit, uoluntariam mortem petens, serpentis, ut putatur, morsu in sinistro tacta bracchio exanimis inuenta est, frustra Caesare etiam Psyllos admouente, qui uenena serpentum e uulneribus hominum haustu reuocare atque exsugere solent.
Caesar, as victor, gained possession of Alexandria, by far the richest and greatest city of all. For Rome too was so enlarged by its wealth that, through the abundance of money, the prices of estates and of other things for sale were fixed at double what they had been until then.
19 Caesar Alexandria, urbe omnium longe opulentissima et maxima, uictor potitus est. nam et Roma in tantum opibus eius aucta est, ut propter abundantiam pecuniarum duplicia quam usque ad id fuerant possessionum aliarumque rerum uenalium pretia statuerentur.
By Caesar’s order there were put to death the elder son of Antony; Publius Canidius, always most hostile to Caesar but faithless to Antony as well; Cassius of Parma, the last victim of the outrage done to Caesar’s father; and Quintus Ovinius, chiefly for this mark of disgrace, that he, a senator of the Roman people, had not blushed to preside most obscenely over the queen’s wool-working and weaving.
20 occisi sunt iussu Caesaris maior Antonii filius et P. Canidius, infestissimus quidem semper Caesari sed et Antonio infidus, et Cassius Palmensis, ultima uiolati patris Caesaris uictima, et Q. Ouinius ob eam maxime notam, quod obscenissime lanificio textrinoque reginae senator populi Romani praeesse non erubuerat.
Then Caesar came with his infantry forces into Syria, next withdrew into Asia for winter quarters, and afterwards travelled through Greece to Brundisium.
21 dehinc Caesar pedestribus copiis in Syriam uenit, deinde in Asiam ad hiberna concessit ac post per Graeciam Brundisium peruectus est.