Such was the course of events round Mutina.At Rome,in the absence of the consuls,Cicero took the lead by public speaking.He held frequent assemblies, procured arms by inducing the armourers to work without pay, collected money, and exacted heavy contributions from the Antonians.These paid without complaining in order to avoid calumny, until Publius Ventidius, who had served under Gaius Caesar and who was a friend of Antony, unable to endure the exactions of Cicero, betook himself to Caesar's colonies, where he was well known,and brought over two legions to Antony and hastened to Rome to seize Cicero. The consternation was extreme.They removed most of the women and children in a panic.When Ventidius learned this
he turned his course towards Antony, but being intercepted by Octavian and Hirtius, he proceeded to Picenum, where he recruited another legion and waited to see what would happen.When Pansa was drawing near with his army, Octavian and Hirtius sent Carsuleius to him with Octavian's praetorian cohort to assist him. Antony had disdained to occupy the defile as it served no other purpose than to hinder the enemy; but, eager to fight, and having no chance to win distinction with his cavalry, because the ground was marshy and cut by ditches, he placed his two best legions in ambush in the marsh, where they were concealed by the reeds and where the road, which had been thrown up artificially, was narrow.
Carsuleius and Pansa hurried through the defile by night. At daybreak, with only the Martian legion and five other cohorts, they entered upon the high road above mentioned, which was still free from enemies, and looked over the marsh on either side. There was a suspicious agitation of the rushes, then a gleam here and there of shield and helmet, and Antony's praetorian cohort suddenly shewed itself directly in their front. The Martian legion, surrounded on all sides and having no way to escape, ordered the new levies, if they came up, not to join in the fight lest they should cause confusion by their inexperience. The praetorians of Octavian confronted the praetorians of Antony.