Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/306

 A N T O N 1 U S. into Gaul ; and after feme flay there, being furnifhed with money and credit by Caefar, returned to Rome to Cue for the queftoifhip. In this fuit he fucceeded, and afterwards ob- tained the tribunate ; in which office he was amazingly a&ive for Carfar. N^verthelefs, finding the fenaiors exafpe- rated againft this general, he fled in difguife to Casfar's camp ; complaining, when he arrived, that there was no fafety at Rome, nothing right done there., and that the tribunes could not perform their office, but with danger of their lives. Casfar upon this marched immediately into Italy ; which made Cicero fay, that Antony was " as much the caufe of . II. " the enfuing war, as Helen was of that of Troy." But this was fa id in a pofefied inve&ive, which muft not be inter- preted too literally : the flight of the tribunes gave Caefar a piaufible handle to begin, and feemed to fancftify his attempt; but his " real motive, as Plutarch fays, was the fame that ani- " mated Cyrus and Alexander before himtodifturb the peace laAnton. " of mankind: the unquenchable thirft of empire, and the " wild ambition of being the greattft man in the world, " which was not pofiible till Pompey was deftroyed." Caefar, having made himfelf matter of Rome, gave Anthony the government of Italy, with the command over the legions there, in which poft he gained the love of the foidiery ; which is not very furprifmg, if we conbder, that he ufed to exercife and eat with them, and m?ke them prcfents when his circum- ftanccs permitted. But what was more to his honour, he afliftcd Csefar fo fuccefsfully on feveral cccafions, that twice particularly, when Csefar's army had been put to flight, he rallied the fcattered troops, and gained the victory : this raifed his reputation fo, that he was reckoned the next beft general to Czfar. After the defeat of Pompey at Pharfalia, Czefar, as an acknowledgment of Anthony's great fervices, made him matter of the horfe : in which office he behaved with violence. For though he afleniblcd the fenate, and maintained a fhadow of liberty, yet he exercifed himlelf upon all occafions arbitrarily and tyrannically ; and this behaviour, together with his difiblute life, (for he was drunken and debauched to the laft degree) was the reafon, as Plutarch fays, why Cafar the next year did not admit him his col- league in the confulfhip : he did however admit him two years after. Upon the death of Casfar, Antony was terribly frighted, and hid himfelf during the night un-^- the difguife of a flave ; but hearing that the confpirators were retired to the-Capitol, he afle-mbled the fenate as conful, to deliberate upon the ^ preient