improvement of his character.
Brought up under the influence of the disreputable Cornelius Lentulus
Sura, whom his mother had married, Antony spent his youth in
profligacy and extravagance. For a time he co-operated with the
reprobate Clodius in his political plans, chiefly, it is supposed,
through hostility to Cicero, who had caused Lentulus, his stepfather,
to be put to death as one of the Catiline conspirators; but he soon
withdrew from the connection, on account of a disagreement which,
appropriately enough, arose in regard to his relations to his
associate's wife, Flavia. Not long after, in 58 B.C., he fled to
Greece, to escape the importunity of his creditors; and at length,
after a short time spent in attendance on the philosophers at Athens,
found an occasion for displaying some of the better features of his
character, in the wars that were being carried on by Gabinius against
Aristobulus in Palestine, and in support of Ptolemy Auletes in Egypt.

A new chapter in his life was opened by the visit which he made to
Julius Caesar in Gaul (54 B.C.). Welcomed by the victorious general as
a valuable assistant in his ambitious designs, and raised by his
influence to the offices of quaestor, augur, and tribune of the plebes,
he displayed admirable boldness and activity in the maintenance of his
patron's cause, in opposition to the violence and intrigues of the
oligarchical party. At length his antagonists prevailed, and expelled
him from the curia; and the political contest became a civil war. The
Rubicon was crossed; Caesar was victorious, and Antony shared in his
triumph. Deputy-governor of Italy during Caesar's absence in Spain
(49), second in command in the decisive battle of Pharsalia (48), and
again deputy-governor of Italy while Caesar was in Africa (47), Antony
was now inferior in power only to the dictator himself, and eagerly
seized the opportunity of indulging in the most extravagant excesses
of luxurious licentiousness--excesses which Cicero depicted in the
"Philippics" with all the elaborate eloquence of political hatred. In
46 he seems to have taken offence at Caesar, because he insisted on
payment for the property of Pompey which Antony professedly had
purchased, but had merely appropriated. But the estrangement was not
of long continuance, for we find Antony meeting the dictator at Narbo
the following year, and rejecting the advances of Trebonius, who
endeavored to discover if there was any hope of getti