COMMENTARY

Q. Philippus was actually in Macedonia during Philip’s lifetime according to Livy (39, 48; 40, 2-3). The passage in Nicolaus shows that the Marcii of Cicero’s day were descended from the noble Marcii active during the 2nd century B.C.

When the civil war broke out he remained in Italy, coming to terms with Caesar. After Caesar’s death he gave his support to his young brother-in-law Octavian. The family can be traced back 8 generations to M. Claudius Marcellus, consul in 331 B.C.

The use of the word ἐνταυθοῖ (Müller), ἐνταῦθα (Dindorf) with reference to Apollonia, gives the impression that Nicolaus wrote the ‘Life of Augustus’ at that place. Chapters 16 and 17 are written with considerable detail concerning the behavior of the inhabitants just prior to Octavius’ departure, and the account is, among the historians, unique with Nicolaus. The city was one of importance (Cic., Phil., 11, 11, 26), and a favorite stopping point for travellers between Asia and Rome via Brundisium. See O. E. Schmidt, Jahrb. für Class. Philol. Sup. 13, p. 685.

Cassius was in command of Pompey’s sea-force in the Hellespont at the time of the civil war. He there surrendered to Caesar, though his capitulation seems not to have been justified by the circumstances (App. 2, 88; Dio 42, 6; Suet., Caes., 63). Caesar subsequently made him ‘legatus’ (Cic., Fam., 6, 6, 10; 15, 15, 2).

M. Brutus joined Pompey in Macedonia before Pharsalia (Plut., Brut. 4; Aurel. Vic., Vir. Illus. 82, 5). After the battle he went over to Caesar. Appian, 2, 146, makes the following statement: ‘all the murderers, except Decimus alone, had been taken prisoners from Pompey’s faction.’ The inaccuracy is similar to that of Nicolaus.

Nicolaus declares that Cinna secured the recall of the tribunes through a decree passed while Caesar was yet alive; Appian 2, 122 alludes to the tribunes as still being in exile on March 16, 44 B.C., when Brutus and Cassius descended from the Capitoline and urged that they be recalled. E. Meyer, Caesars Monarchie, p. 527, n. 2, is inclined to favor the version of Nicolaus.

Appian, 2, 128; 2, 138, says that Caesar appointed magistrates for 5 years in advance; Suetonius, Caes., 76, speaks of ‘several’ years; Nicolaus is corroborated by Cicero (Att. 14, 6, 2), ‘Etiamne consules et tribunos pl. in biennium quos ille voluit.’ See also Cic., Fam., 10, 32, 2. Among the historians, Nicolaus alone names Pansa and Hirtius, Brutus and Plancus, but Cicero speaks of the former pair as ‘consules designati’ in Philippic 3, 37 and 39, and of the latter pair as ‘consules designati’ in Philippic 3, 38.

Excuses for Caesar’s failure to rise are offered by three of the historians: Dio lays the blame upon an attack of diarrhoea, Plutarch upon an attack of epilepsy, while Nicolaus, less extravagantly, simply says that Caesar did not at first see the throng because of his deep interest in his own undertaking. More plausible are the suggested reasons of Suetonius: that L. Cornelius Balbus dissuaded Caesar from rising (compare Plut., Caes., 60, end), or that C. Trebatius Testa urged him to rise and thus displeased him.

The Publius referred to is probably P. Servilius Vatia. He was a man of little force of character, who half-heartedly supported the senate against Antony in 44 and 43. The fact that Lucius Caesar, against Cicero’s advice, nominated him in 43 as proconsul to oppose Dolabella, proves that he belongs to the moderate group which did not wish to offend Caesar’s soldiers or Octavian by giving open support to Brutus and Cassius (Cic., Phil., 11, 19). Brutus (Cic., ad Brut., 1, 16) as early as May, 43, took Cicero to task for commending his own safety to Octavian; in ad Brut. 1, 17, 5, he alludes to the terms to which Octavian had come with Cicero, in that the youth addressed the elder man as ‘pater’.