Octavian no longer held communication with the troops through the medium of others, and no longer asked them to wait, but assembled the army and came before them and related to them the indignities he had suffered from the Senate, and its purpose to destroy all the friends of Gaius Caesar, one by one: he admonished them also to beware against being transferred to a general opposed to their party and being sent to one war after another to be killed or set in opposition to each other. This, he said, was the reason why, after their common struggles at Mutina were ended, rewards were given to only two legions, in order to induce strife and sedition among them."You know, too," he said,
"the reason why Antony was lately vanquished you have heard what the Pompeians in the city did to those who had received certain gifts from Caesar. What confidence can you have of keeping the lands and money you have received from him, or what confidence can I have in my own safety, while the relatives of the murderers thus dominate the Senate? For my part I shall accept my fate, whatever it may be, for it is honourable to suffer anything in the service of a father; but I fear for you, such a host of brave men. You know that I have been free from ambition from the time when I declined the praetorship which you offered me with the insignia of that office. I see only one path of safety now for both of us:
if I should obtain the consulship by your help. In that case all my father's gifts to you will be confirmed, the colonies that are still due to you will be forthcoming, and all your rewards will be paid in full; and I should bring the murderers to punishment and release you from any more wars."At these words the army cheered heartily, and forthwith sent their centurions to ask the consulship for Octavian. When the Senate began to make talk about his youth, the centurions replied, as they had been instructed, that in the olden times Corvinus had held the office and at a later period the Scipios, both the elder and the younger, before the legal age, and that the country profited much from the youth of each.