speed and extent of Antony's preparations alarmed Caesar, who feared
he might be forced to fight the decisive battle that summer, for he
wanted many necessaries, and the people grudged very much to pay the
taxes; freemen being called upon to pay a fourth part of their incomes,
and freed slaves an eighth of their property, so that there were loud
outcries against him, and disturbances throughout all Italy. And this is
looked upon as one of the greatest of Antony's oversights that he did
not then press the war, for he allowed time at once for Caesar to make
his preparations, and for the commotions to pass over, for while people
were having their money called for they were mutinous and violent; but,
having paid it, they held their peace.

"Titius and Plancus, men of consular dignity and friends to Antony,
having been ill-used by Cleopatra, whom they had most resisted in her
design of being present in the war, came over to Caesar, and gave
information of the contents of Antony's will, with which they were
acquainted. It was deposited in the hands of the vestal virgins, who
refused to deliver it up, and sent Caesar word, if he pleased, he should
come and seize it himself, which he did. And, reading it over to
himself, he noted those places that were most for his purpose, and,
having summoned the senate, read them publicly. Many were scandalized at
the proceeding, thinking it out of reason and equity to call a man to
account for what was not to be until after his death. Caesar specially
pressed what Antony said in his will about his burial, for he had
ordered that even if he died in the city of Rome, his body, after being
carried in state through the Forum, should be sent to Cleopatra at
Alexandria.

"Calvisius, a dependent of Caesar's, urged other charges in connection
with Cleopatra against Antony: that he had given her the library of
Pergamus, containing two hundred thousand distinct volumes; that at a
great banquet, in the presence of many guests, he had risen up and
rubbed her feet, to fulfil some wager or promise; that he had suffered
the Ephesians to salute her as their queen; that he had frequently at
the public audience of kings and princes received amorous messages
written in tablets made of onyx and crystal, and read them openly on the
tribunal; that when Furnius, a man of great authority and eloquence
among the Romans, was pleading, Cleopatra happening to pass by in her
litter, Antony started up and left them in