Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
public life, but a worthy, good man, and particularly remarkable
for his liberality, as may appear from a single example. He was
not very rich, and was for that reason checked in the exercise
of his good-nature by his wife. A friend that stood in need of
money came to borrow of him. Money he had none, but he bade a
servant bring him water in a silver basin, with which, when it
was brought, he wetted his face, as if he meant to shave; and,
sending away the servant upon another errand, gave his friend
the basin, desiring him to turn it to his purpose. And when
there was, afterwards, a great inquiry for it in the house, and
his wife was in a very ill humor, and was going to put the
servants one by one to the search, he acknowledged what he had
done, and begged her pardon.
His wife was Julia, of the family of the Caesars, who, for her
discretion and fair behavior, was not inferior to any of her
time. Under her, Antony received his education, she being,
after the death of his father, remarried to Cornelius Lentulus.
who was put to death by Cicero for having been of Catiline's
conspiracy. This, probably, was the first ground and occasion
of that mortal grudge that Antony bore Cicero. He says, even,
that the body of Lentulus was denied burial, till, by
application made to Cicero's wife, it was granted to Julia. But
this seems to be a manifest error, for none of those that
suffered in the consulate of Cicero had the right of burial
denied them. Antony grew up a very beautiful youth, but, by the
worst of misfortunes, he fell into the acquaintance and
friendship of Curio, a man abandoned to his pleasures; who, to
make Antony's dependence upon him a matter of greater necessity,
plunged him into a life of drinking and dissipation, and led him
through a course of such extravagance, that he ran, at that
early age, into debt to the amount of two hundred and fifty
talents. For this sum, Curio became his surety; on hearing
which, the elder Curio, his father, drove Antony out of his
house. After this, for some short time, he took part with
Clodius, the most insolent and outrageous demagogue of the time,
in his course of violence and disorder; but, getting weary,
before long, of his madness, and apprehensive of the powerful
party forming against him, he left Italy, and traveled into
Greece, where he spent his time in military exercises and in the
study of eloquence. He took most to what was called the Asiatic
taste in speaking, which was then at its height, and was, in
many ways, suitable to his ostentatious, vaunting temper, full
of empty flourishes and unsteady efforts for glory.
After some stay in Greece, he was invited by Gabinius, who had
been consul, to make a campaign with him in Syria, which at
first he refused, not being willing to serve in a private
character, but, receiving a commission to command the horse, he
went along with him. His first service was against Aristobulus,
who had prevailed with the Jews to rebel. Here he was himself
the first man to scale the largest of the works, and beat
Aristobulus out of all of them; after which he routed, in a
pitched battle, an army many times over the number of his,
killed almost all of them, and took Aristobulus and his son
prisoners. This war ended, Gabinius was solicited by Ptolemy to
restore him to his kingdom of Egypt, and a promise made of ten
thousand talents reward. Most of the officers were against this
enterprise, and Gabinius himself did not much like it, though
sorely tempted by the ten thousand talents. But Antony,
desirous of brave actions, and willing to please Ptolemy, joined
in persuading Gabinius to go. And whereas all were of opinion
that the most dangerous thing before them was the march to
Pelusium, in which they would have to pass over a deep sand,
where no fresh water was to be hoped for, along the Ecregma and
the Serbonian marsh (which the Egyptians call Typhon's
breathing-hole, and which is, in probability, water left behind
by, or making its way through from, the Red Sea, which is here
divided from the Mediterranean by a narrow isthmus), Antony,
being ordered thither with the horse, not only made himself
master of the passes, but won Pelusium itself, a great city,
took the garrison prisoners, and, by this means, rendered the
march secure to the army, and the way to victory not difficult
for the general to pursue. The enemy, also, reaped some benefit
of his eagerness for honor. For when Ptolemy, after he had
entered Pelusium, in his rage and spite against the Egyptians,
designed to put them to the sword, Antony withstood him, and
hindered the execution. In all the great and frequent
skirmishes and battles, he gave continual proofs of his
personal valor and military conduct; and once in particular, by
wheeling about and attacking the rear of the enemy, he gave the
victory to the assailants in the front, and received for this
service signal marks of distinction. Nor was his humanity
towards the deceased Archelaus less taken notice of. He had
been formerly his guest and acquaintance, and, as he was now
compelled, he fought him bravely while alive, but, on his death,
sought out his body and buried it with royal honors. The
consequence was that he left behind him a great name among the
Alexandrians, and all who were serving in the Roman army looked
upon him as a most gallant soldier.
He had also a very good and noble appearance; his beard was well
grown, his forehead large, and his nose aquiline, giving him
altogether a bold, masculine look, that reminded people of the
faces of Hercules in paintings and sculptures. It was,
moreover, an ancient tradition, that the Antonys were descended
from Hercules, by a son of his called Anton; and this opinion he
thought to give credit to, by the similarity of his person just
mentioned, and also by the fashion of his dress. For, whenever
he had to appear before large numbers, he wore his tunic girt
low about the hips, a broadsword on his side, and over all a
large, coarse mantle. What might seem to some very
insupportable, his vaunting, his raillery, his drinking in
public, sitting down by the men as they were taking their food,
and eating, as he stood, off the common soldiers' tables, made
him the delight and pleasure of the army. In love affairs,
also, he was very agreeable; he gained many friends by the
assistance he gave them in theirs, and took other people's
raillery upon his own with good-humor. And his generous ways,
his open and lavish hand in gifts and favors to his friends and
fellow-soldiers, did a great deal for him in his first advance
to power, and, after he had become great, long maintained his
fortunes, when a thousand follies were hastening their
overthrow. One instance of his liberality I must relate. He
had ordered payment to one of his friends of twenty-five myriads
of money, or decies, as the Romans call it, and his steward,
wondering at the extravagance of the sum, laid all the silver in
a heap, as he should pass by. Antony, seeing the heap, asked
what it meant; his steward replied, "The money you have ordered
to be given to your friend." So, perceiving the man's malice,
said he, "I thought the decies had been much more; 't is too
little; let it be doubled." This, however, was at a later time.
When the Roman state finally broke up into two hostile factions,
the aristocratical party joining Pompey, who was in the city,
and the popular side seeking help from Caesar, who was at the
head of an army in Gaul, Curio, the friend of Antony, having
changed his party and devoted himself to Caesar, brought over
Antony also to his service. And the influence which he gained
with the people by his eloquence and by the money which was
supplied by Caesar enabled him to make Antony, first, tribune of
the people, and then, augur. And Antony's accession to office
was at once of the greatest advantage to Caesar. In the first
place, he resisted the consul Marcellus, who was putting under
Pompey's orders the troops who were already collected, and was
giving him power to raise new levies; he, on the other hand,
making an order that they should be sent into Syria to reinforce
Bibulus, who was making war with the Parthians, and that no one
should give in his name to serve under Pompey. Next, when the
senators would not suffer Caesar's letters to be received or
read in the senate, by virtue of his office he read them
publicly, and succeeded so well, that many were brought to
change their mind; Caesar's demands, as they appeared in what he
wrote, being but just and reasonable. At length, two questions
being put in the senate, the one, whether Pompey should dismiss
his army, the other, if Caesar his, some were for the former,
for the latter all, except some few, when Antony stood up and
put the question, if it would be agreeable to them that both
Pompey and Caesar should dismiss their armies. This proposal
met with the greatest approval, they gave him loud acclamations,
and called for it to be put to the vote. But when the consuls
would not have it so, Caesar's friends again made some new
offers, very fair and equitable, but were strongly opposed by
Cato, and Antony himself was commanded to leave the senate by
the consul Lentulus. So, leaving them with execrations, and
disguising himself in a servant's dress, hiring a carriage with
Quintus Cassius, he went straight away to Caesar, declaring at
once, when they reached the camp, that affairs at Rome were
conducted without any order or justice, that the privilege of
speaking in the senate was denied the tribunes, and that he who
spoke for common fair dealing was driven out and in danger of
his life.
Upon this, Caesar set his army in motion, and marched into
Italy; and for this reason it is that Cicero writes in his
Philippics, that Antony was as much the cause of the civil war,
as Helen was of the Trojan. But this is but a calumny. For
Caesar was not of so slight or weak a temper as to suffer
himself to be carried away, by the indignation of the moment,
into a civil war with his country, upon the sight of Antony and
Cassius seeking refuge in his camp, meanly dressed and in a
hired carriage, without ever having thought of it or taken any
such resolution long before. This was to him, who wanted a
pretense of declaring war, a fair and plausible occasion; but
the true motive that led him was the same that formerly led
Alexander and Cyrus against all mankind, the unquenchable thirst
of empire, and the distracted ambition of being the greatest man
in the world, which was impracticable for him, unless Pompey
were put down. So soon, then, as he had advanced and occupied
Rome, and driven Pompey out of Italy, he purposed first to go
against the legions that Pompey had in Spain, and then cross
over and follow him with the fleet that should be prepared
during his absence, in the meantime leaving the government of
Rome to Lepidus, as praetor, and the command of the troops and
of Italy to Antony, as tribune of the people. Antony was not
long in getting the hearts of the soldiers, joining with them in
their exercises, and for the most part living amongst them, and
making them presents to the utmost of his abilities; but with
all others he was unpopular enough. He was too lazy to pay
attention to the complaints of persons who were injured; he
listened impatiently to petitions; and he had an ill name for
familiarity with other people's wives. In short, the government
of Caesar (which, so far as he was concerned himself, had the
appearance of anything rather than a tyranny), got a bad repute
through his friends. And of these friends, Antony, as he had
the largest trust, and committed the greatest errors, was
thought the most deeply in fault.
Caesar, however, at his return from Spain, overlooked the