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TRIUMVIRAL POLITICS, THE OATH OF 32 b.c. AND THE VETERANS*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 November 2013
Extract
The compact formed between Antonius, Lepidus and Octavian near Bononia in November 43 b.c. (Dio Cass. 46.55.1–3), commonly named the second triumvirate, was characterized by civil conflict. The major battles at Philippi, Perusia and Naulochus led to the presence of many legions in Italy. In addition, a large number of time-served soldiers were settled throughout the peninsula. The requirement of land for the veterans meant conflicting interests arose with landowners who were dispossessed to make way for them. The impact of the army on Rome itself and on the population of the Italian countryside was great during the late first century b.c.
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- Copyright © The Classical Association 2013
Footnotes
*
I am indebted to the anonymous readers who made helpful suggestions for the final version of this article.
References
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2 Lepidus was deprived of his triumviral position (Dio Cass. 49.12.4).
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4 Linderski (n. 3), 79 emphasizes the grand scale of Octavian's recruiting in 32 b.c.
5 The war had been declared against Cleopatra (Dio Cass. 50.4.4) but Antonius' alliance with her legalized Octavian's action against him too.
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13 Osgood (n. 1), 56.
14 Suet. Aug. 9, written well over a century later, may reflect the sort of association drawn between the two conflicts by Octavian in 32 b.c. Suetonius bracketed Mutina and Actium in the most prominent position when he commented on Augustus' five civil wars.
15 All accepted that Antonius would be bound to Cleopatra in enmity against Rome (Dio Cass. 50.4.3–4).
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22 Cf. App. B Civ. 3.40.
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33 Bispham (n. 31), 273; cf. App. B Civ. 5.128.
34 Cic. Sest. 15.35; Dom. 35.90; Q Fr. 1.2.16 (SB 2); cf. Kearsley (n. 6), 62–3.
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37 Cf. Wallace-Hadrill, A., ‘Mutatas formas: the Augustan transformation of Roman knowledge’, in Galinsky, K. (ed.), Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (Cambridge, 2005), 55–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 55–8; Bispham (n. 31), 443.