Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

“ The consul, Claudius Marcellus, subdued the Alpine Gauls; and Caius Sulpicius Gallus the Ligurians. [y. r. 587. b. c. 165.] The ambassadors of king Prusias complain of Eumenes, for ravaging their borders; they accuse him of entering into a conspiracy, with Antiochus, against the Romans. A treaty of friendship was made with the Rhodians, upon their solicitation, [y. r. 588. b. c. 164.] A census was held by the censors; the number of the citizens was found to be three hundred and twenty-seven thousand and twenty-two. Marcus Æmilius Lepidus was chosen chief of the senate. ”

“ I see nothing to object to in Cleopatra's flight. I should like you to tell me what Clodia has done. You must look after the people of Byzantium like everything else, and get Pelops [194] to call on you. I
192. The Pseudo-Marius had just been put to death by Antony.
193. Both letters came from M. Lepidus, husband of Junia—the one to Brutus, the other to L. Aemilius (Lepidus) Paulus. ”

“ There are monuments of himself, and of his brother, and of his ancestors; he has a most excellent wife, children such as any man might desire, an ample family estate, untainted with the blood of his fellow-citizens. No citizen has been injured by him; many have been delivered from misery by his kindness and pity. Such a man and such a citizen may indeed err in his opinion, but it is quite impossible for him in inclination to be unfriendly to the republic.
Marcus Lepidus is desirous of peace. ”

“ Lepidus, as commander of the only army near Rome, became a man of great importance in the troubles which followed. Taking part with Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) , he joined in the reconciliation which the latter effected with the senatorial party, and afterwards sided with him when open war broke out. Antony, after his defeat at Mutina, joined Lepidus in Gaul, and in August 43 Octavian (afterwards the emperor Augustus) , who had forced the senate to make him consul, effected an arrangement with Antony and Lepidus, and their triumvirate was organized at Bononia. ”

“ For so, either (these men being conquered) we shall enjoy the republic victorious, or, if we be defeated (but may Jupiter avert that disaster) , we shall live, if not with an actual breath, at all events in the renown of our valour.
IV. But Marcus Lepidus, having been a second time styled Imperator, Pontifex Maximus, a man who deserved excellently well of the republic in the last civil war, exhorts us to peace. No one, O conscript fathers, has greater weight with me than Marcus Lepidus, both on account of his personal virtues and by reason of the dignity of his family. ”

“ The rest of his sisters he did not treat with so much fondness or regard; but frequently prostituted them to his catamites. He therefore the more readily condemned them in the case of Aemilius Lepidus, as guilt of adultery, and privy to that conspiracy against him. ”

“ What is really pressing, Brutus, is that you should come to Italy with your army as soon as possible. There is the greatest anxiety for your arrival. Directly you reach Italy all classes will flock to you. For whether we win the victory—and we had in fact won a most glorious one, only that Lepidus set his heart on ruining everything and perishing himself with all his friends—there will be need of your counsel in establishing some form of constitution. ”

“ And contrary to his will, certain bold man and his enemy, Marcus Lepidus, was expected to become consul, not so much by his own interest, as by the power and solicitation of Pompey, whom the people were willing to oblige. When the business was over, seeing Pompey going home overjoyed with the success, he called him to him and said, "What a politic act, young man, to pass by Catulus, the best of men, and choose Lepidus, the worst! It will be well for you to be vigilant, now that you have strengthened your opponent against yourself." ”

“ I proposed honours to Decimus Brutus, and also to Lucius Plancus. Those indeed are noble spirits whose spur to action is glory: but the senate also is wise to avail itself of any means—provided that they are honourable—by which it thinks that a particular man can be induced to support the Republic. But—you say—I am blamed in regard to Lepidus: for, having placed his statue on the rostra, I also voted for its removal. I tried by paying him a compliment to recall him from his insane policy. The infatuation of that most unstable of men rendered my prudence futile. ”

“ In the division of the provinces among the triumvirs, Lepidus obtained Spain and Narbonese Gaul, which he was to govern by means of a deputy, in order that he might remain in Italy next year as consul, while the two other triumvirs prosecuted the war against Brutus and Cassius. Of his large army he was only to retain three legions for the protection of Italy ; the remaining seven were divided between Octavian and Antony. Thus Lepidus was to play only a secondary part in the impending struggle between the triumvirs and the senate ”

“ Not knowing what massacre might be in store, every man had fled to his own house; and in vain the conspirators paraded the Forum, holding up their blood-stained weapons and proclaiming themselves the liberators of Rome. Disappointment was not their only feeling: they were not without fear. They knew that Lepidus, being on the eve of departure for his province of Narbonnese Gaul, had a legion encamped on the island of the Tiber: and if he were to unite with Antony against them, Cæsar would quickly be avenged. In all haste, therefore, they retired to the Capitol. ”

“ But Lepidus was a Caesarian and, alarmed by the success of Marcus Brutus and Cassius, allowed his troops to go over to Antony. Decimus Brutus had taken up the pursuit of Antony and joined forces with Plancus, governor of Narbonese Gaul. However, upon news of the events in Rome, Plancus abandoned Brutus and joined Antony. Brutus was deserted by his troops and killed while a fugitive in Gaul.
II. The Triumvirate of 43 b. c. Octavian had taken care to have the defense of Italy against Antony and Lepidus entrusted to himself, and hastened northwards to meet the advance of their forces. ”

“ Lepidus did not consider his oath binding long, and the following year (B.C. 77) he marched straight to Rome again, announcing to the senators that he came to re-establish the rights of the people and to assume the dictatorship himself. He was met by an army under Pompey and Catulus, at a spot near the Mulvian bridge and the Campus Martius, almost on the place where the fate of the Roman Empire was to be determined four centuries later by a battle between Maxentius and Constantine (A.D. 312) . Lepidus was defeated and forced to flee. ”

“ The old man listened quietly and calmly, crossing his arms and fixing his glittering eye, which seemed strangely familiar to Lepidus, on the Roman officer.
After a pause he spoke—“My lord,” and again the tone struck Lepidus as strangely familiar to his ear, “I serve the gods, and you the Emperor: let us both serve our masters truly. You would have news of Septimius the Centurion? It may be that the gods will permit you to see a vision: shall it be so?” ”

“ Marcus Emilius Lepidus was a little younger than Galba or Scipio, and was Consul in 617. From his orations, which were extant in the time of Cicero, it appeared that he was the first who, in imitation of the Greeks, gave harmony and sweetness to his periods, or the graces of a style regularly polished and improved by art.
Cicero mentions a number of other orators of the same age [pg 112] with Lepidus, and minutely paints their peculiar styles of rhetoric. We find among them the names of almost all the eminent men of the period, as Emilius Paulus, Scipio Nasica, and Mucius Scævola. ”

“ This army being augmented by recruits consisting partly [219] of enthusiastic adherents of the popular cause and partly of desperate adventurers, Lepidus considered himself strong enough to brave the chances of war, and began a march toward Rome. His army, however, was intercepted by the senatorial army sent to meet him, and Lepidus, completely defeated, fled to Sardinia, where he soon died.
One of the leading lieutenants of Lepidus in this campaign was Brutus, the father of the Brutus who was to be one of the assassins of Julius Cæsar. ”

“ M. Aemilius Lepidus, the Pontifex Maximus, was chosen as leader of the House. Nine names were struck off the roll, the most important being those of M. Cornelius, Maluginensis, who had commanded as praetor in Spain two years before, L. Cornelius Scipio, who was at the time exercising the civic and alien jurisdictions, and L. Fulvius the censor's brother, and according to Valerius Antias, co-proprietor with him of the family estate. ”

“ There was no lack of recruits for service in Syria or parts of the world where life was agreeable, and there was not the same wastage in the settled parts of the Empire; but central Europe possessed no attractions for the Roman soldier, and desperate expedients had been necessary to keep up the strength of the legions. A mutiny was also threatened in Spain, but it was nipped in the bud by the firmness and tact of Marcus Lepidus, whom we know as one of the possible aspirants to the Empire. ”

“ And afterwards what wickedness, or what crime was there which that traitor abstained from? He blockaded your colonists, and the army of the Roman people, and your general, and your consul elect. He lays waste the lands of a nation of most excellent citizens. Like a most inhuman enemy he threatens all virtuous men with crosses and tortures.
X. Now what peace, O Marcus Lepidus, can exist with this man? when it does not seem that there is even any punishment which the Roman people can think adequate to his crimes? ”

“ Several times when he was rushing from the House in anger at the excessive bickering of the disputants, some shouted after him: "Senators ought to have the right of speaking their mind on public affairs." At the selection of senators when each member chose another, Antistius Labeo named Marcus Lepidus, an old enemy of the emperor's who was at the time in banishment; and when Augustus asked him whether there were not other more deserving of the honour, Labeo replied that every man had his own opinion. Yet for all that no one suffered for his freedom of speech or insolence. ”

“ Marcus Brutus, who joined Pompey's party, then was rehabilitated by Caesar and then plotted his death, because he seemed to be seeking the title of king. Livius Drusus, who enjoyed the greatest favour of the Roman people when the agrarian laws were passed, but was ambushed and killed by the consul Philippus in his own house, to prevent him from accomplishing what he had promised. Lutatius Catulus, who expelled Lepidus from Italy when he sought to rescind the acts of Sylla with an army he had gathered and was the only man to end a civil war without bloodshed. ”

“ In autumn, the victorious army was led back into winter quarters; and the command in chief of all the troops was given by Cæsar to Marcus Lepidus, a man in fame and fortune nearest to the Cæsars; and every one, the longer and better he knows and becomes acquainted with him, the more he loves and admires him, and acknowledges him to be a credit to the great names from which he is descended. ”

“ In return, Lepidus gave up his military force, while Octavian and Antony, each at the head of ten legions, prepared to conquer the Eastern part of the empire, which could not yet be divided like the Western provinces, because it was in possession of Brutus and Cassius.
But before they began war, the triumvirs agreed to follow the example set by Sylla—to extirpate their opponents by a proscription, and to raise money by confiscation. They framed a list of all men's names whose death could be regarded as advantageous to any of the three, and on this list each in turn pricked a name. ”

“ The senate of Rome accepted the charge, and sent Marcus Lepidus to act as guardian—a trust which, after a short stay in Egypt, he conferred upon Aristomenes, an Acarnanian, who discharged the duties of this important office with integrity and ability for several years, until the king had attained the age of fourteen, when, according to the usage of the country, he was entitled to take the administration of the kingdom into his own hands. The folly of investing a person so young with absolute power, was in this instance made fully apparent. ”

“ So you must get your news from him himself. I have met Balbus: for Lepta, being anxious about the contract for the shows, took me to him. Well, he was in the place at Lanuvium, which he made over to Lepidus: and the first thing he said to me was, "I have just had a letter in which Caesar definitely asserts that he will be here before the Roman games." I read the letter. It dilated on my Cato, and he said that by reading it frequently he had increased his flow of language, and, when he read Brutus' Cato, he began to think himself eloquent. ”

“ His companion, toward whom he had turned, did the same, and looked at him with an air of expectation.
"I leave all details to you," said the Cæsar; "but what has to be done is this—that youth who calls himself Paulus Lepidus Æmilius must be produced as a gladiator either in the Circus Maximus or the Statilian Amphitheatre, [22] as the number of victims may dictate. Men of noble birth have been seen ere now upon the sand. We will then make him show against the best swordsmen in the world—against Gauls, Britons, and Cappadocians—what that Greek fence is worth of which he seems a master. ”