ate. But the consul, Mark Antony, from whom
he had expected the greatest assistance, opposing him in his suit, and
even refusing to do him so much as common justice, unless gratified with
a large bribe, he went over to the party of the nobles, to whom he
perceived Sylla to be odious, chiefly for endeavouring to drive Decius
Brutus, whom he besieged in the town of Modena, out of the province,
which had been given him by Caesar, and confirmed to him by the senate.
At the instigation of persons about him, he engaged some ruffians to
murder his antagonist; but the plot being discovered, and dreading a
similar attempt upon himself, he gained over Caesar's veteran soldiers,
by distributing among them all the money he could collect. Being now
commissioned by the senate to command the troops he had gathered, with
the rank of praetor, and in conjunction with Hirtius and Pansa, who had
accepted the consulship, to carry assistance to Decius Brutus, he put an
end to the war by two battles in three months. Antony writes, that in
the former of these he ran away, and two days afterwards made his
appearance (77) without his general's cloak and his horse. In the last
battle, however, it is certain that he performed the part not only of a
general, but a soldier; for, in the heat of the battle; when the
standard-bearer of his legion was severely wounded, he took the eagle
upon his shoulders, and carried it a long time.

XI. In this war [115], Hirtius being slain in battle, and Pansa dying a
short time afterwards of a wound, a report was circulated that they both
were killed through his means, in order that, when Antony fled, the
republic having lost its consuls, he might have the victorious armies
entirely at his own command. The death of Pansa was so fully believed to
have been caused by undue means, that Glyco, his surgeon, was placed in
custody, on a suspicion of having poisoned his wound. And to this,
Aquilius Niger adds, that he killed Hirtius, the other consul, in the
confusion of the battle, with his own hands.

XII. But upon intelligence that Antony, after his defeat, had been
received by Marcus Lepidus, and that the rest of the generals and armies
had all declared for the senate, he, without any hesitation, deserted
from the party of the nobles; alleging as an excuse for his conduct, the
actions and sayings of several amongst them; for some said, "he was a
mere boy," and others threw out, "that he ought to be promoted to