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43 B.C.]

An attempt of Antony to throw troops across the range and occupy Pollentia was anticipated by Decimus. Antony now hastened to cross the Maritime Alps and take refuge with Lepidus. He and his army endured great privations in the passage, but by the 11th his advanced guard was at Forum Julii (Fréjus), and he himself arrived there on the 15th. Lepidus had advanced from his headquarters near Avignon, as far as Forum Vocontium, about twenty-four miles from Antony. From this place he wrote on the 21st a letter to the Senate protesting his fidelity. On the 28th he and his army declared for Antony: with their united forces they then turned on Plancus, who had started from his headquarters by the Isara on the 20th to support Lepidus, and was only forty miles off when the reconciliation between Antony and Lepidus occurred. Laterensis, the lieutenant of Lepidus, on the strength of whose assurances Plancus had advanced, killed himself in disgust at the treason of which he had been the unconscious instrument. Plancus made good his retreat again behind the Isara. He writes from thence to Cicero on the 6th of June, and says that he expects Decimus Brutus to join him in three days' time.

Pollio and his powerful army followed the lead of Lepidus, but Plancus held out for some weeks longer. His last letter to Cicero is dated July 27th, and is full of declarations of affection and loyalty.