Brutus was left, as he says, "with only starveling recruits." Octavian was in no hurry to throw off the mask, and affected to be on cordial terms with Decimus.[1] But he would not press the pursuit. "If," writes Decimus Brutus,[2] "Cæsar would have listened to me and crossed the Apennines, I could have hemmed in Antony so completely that he would have perished for lack of supplies; but I cannot command Cæsar, and Cæsar cannot command his troops. These are both very ugly facts."
Antony shows at his best in the hour of danger and disaster. He drew off his shattered forces westward with skill and courage. He was still strong in cavalry, but of infantry he had only one legion[3] (the 5th) in tolerable order; of the others[4] only a remnant survived, and many of the men were without arms. But as early as the 5th of May[5] he had reached the coast and approached the Gallic frontier. Here he was joined by Ventidius Bassus at the head of three veteran legions.[6] Ventidius had passed the Apennines from Ancona, doubtless with the connivance of Octavian, and overtook Antony at Vada Sabatia, a little west of Genoa. Decimus Brutus, who had marched in pursuit, lay on May 5th at Dertona, some fifty miles north-east of Antony, and with the Apennines between them.
