the great prize, and then making his own terms. Sextus rejected
the advice with the characteristic words, "You should have done it
without asking me." It was agreed that Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica
should be given up to his absolute rule, and that Achaia should be added
to his portion; so that the Roman world was now partitioned among four:
Octavian, Antony, Lepidus, and Sext. Pompeius. On their return the
triumvirs were received with vociferous applause.

Before winter, Antony sailed for Athens in company with Octavia, who for
the time seems to have banished Cleopatra from his thoughts. But he
disgusted all true Romans by assuming the attributes of Grecian gods and
indulging in Grecian orgies.

He found the state of things in the East greatly changed since his
departure. He had commissioned P. Ventidius Bassus, an officer who had
followed Fulvia from Italy, to hold the Parthians in check till his
return. Ventidius was son of a Picenian nobleman of Asculum, who had
been brought to Rome as a captive in the Social War. In his youth he had
been a contractor to supply mules for the use of the Roman commissariat.
But in the civil wars which followed, men of military talent easily rose
to command; and such was the lot of Ventidius. While Antony was absent
in Italy, he drove Q. Labienus into the defiles of Taurus, and here that
adventurer was defeated and slain. The conqueror then marched rapidly
into Syria, and forced Pacorus also to withdraw to the eastern bank of
the Euphrates.

In the following year (38) he repelled a fresh invasion of the
Parthians, and defeated them in three battles. In the last of these
engagements Pacorus himself was slain on the fifteenth anniversary of
the death of Crassus. Antony found Ventidius laying siege to Samosata,
and displaced him, only to abandon the siege and return to Athens.
Ventidius repaired to Rome, where he was honored with a well-deserved
triumph. He had left it as a mule jobber; he returned with the laurel
round his brows. He was the first, and almost the last, Roman general
who could claim such a distinction for victory over the Parthians.

The alliance with Sext. Pompeius was not intended to last, and it did
not last. Antony refused to put him in possession of Achaia, and to
avenge himself for this breach of faith Pompeius again began to
intercept the Italian corn fleets. Fresh discontent appeared at Rome,
and Octavian equipped a second fleet to sail against the naval chief;