The officers of the armies bound themselves by an oath to act as umpires again between their magistrates,to decide what was right,and to coerce whichever should refuse to obey the decision;and they summoned Lucius to attend for this purpose.These refused to come,and Octavian reproached them in invidious terms to the officers of the army and in the presence of the optimates of Rome.The latter hastened to Lucius and implored him to have pity on the city and on Italy,torn by the civil wars,and to consent that by common agreement the decision should rest with themselves or with the officers.Although Lucius had respect for the speakers and for what they said,Manius boldly declared that while Antony was doing nothing
but collecting money from foreigners,Octavian was, by his favors,preoccupying the affections of the army and the desirable places in Italy;for that defrauding Antony he had freed Cisalpine Gaul,which had previously been given to Antony;that he had assigned to the soldiers almost the whole of Italy instead of the eighteen cities;that, instead of the twenty-eight legions that had participated in the battle,he had admitted thirty-four to a share of the lands and also of the money from the temples, which he had collected on the pretext of fighting Pompeius,against whom he had done nothing as yet, although the city was oppressed by famine; that he had distributed this money in order to curry favor with the soldiers,
to the prejudice of Antony, and that the property of the proscribed had been not so much sold as given to the soldiers outright; and, finally, that if he really wanted peace he should give his account for what he had already done, and for the future do only what should be agreed upon in common. Thus arrogantly did Manius proclaim his views, implying that Octavian could not do anything by his own authority and that his agreement with Antony was of no validity, although it provided that each should have absolute power over the affairs committed to him, and that each should ratify what was done by the other. When Octavian saw that they were everywhere preparing for war, each side made similar preparations.
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