Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/126

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AUGUSTDLUS AUGUSTUS 9,364. It has an extensive trade in cattle and woollen and cotton goods. It was founded in . lotiO by King Sigismund Augustus, from whom it was named. The canal of Augustowo con- nects the Narew with the Niemen, making a continuous navigation between the upper Vis- tula and the mouth of the Niemen in the Bal- tic. It is 150 m. long and 5 to 6 ft. deep. Al U'sTI I.I s. Komulns, the last Roman em- peror of the West. He was placed on the throne A. D. 475, by his father Orestes, a na- tive of Pannonia, who had been a favorite of the emperor Julius Nepos, but who at last succeeded in usurping the power of his patron, and conferring it upon his son. The young man was remarkable only for his weakness and the beauty of his person. On the defeat of Orestes by Odoacer at Pavia, and his subse- quent execution (470), Augustulus was ban- ished to the castle of Lucullus in Campania, where he received yearly 6,000 pieces of gold. 1 1 (. I sil s, Cains Jnlins Caesar Oetavianns (named at his birth simply Caius Octavius), first emperor of Rome, born at Velitraa, Sept. 23, 63 B. C., died at Nola, Aug. 19, A.D. 14. lie was the son of Oaius Octavius, a rich senator, who in 60 B. C. was appointed prater of Macedonia, and of Atia, a daughter of Julia, the young- er sister of Julius Omar. His father dying just after retiring from his prajtorship, Octa- vius was educated in Rome at the wish of his mother, and afterward under the superinten- dence of Lucius Marcius Philippus, who became his stepfather. He soon attracted the notice of his great-uncle Julius Ccesar, who treated him as his own son, and by his will made him his principal heir. On March 15, 44, when the dictator was assassinated at Rome, Octa- vius was at Apollonia on the W. coast of Epirus Nova, pursuing his studies. The news of the murder and of his own adoption as heir reached him almost immediately. Against the warn- ing of friends, he went at once to Rome, chang- ing his name Octavius to Octavianus, and de- manded his inheritance, which Mark Antony, who had possessed himself of the principal power in the state, after some hesitation was obliged to yield. Octavius, who was now universally known by the name of Csar, began a struggle with Antony for the control of Rome. Each tried every means to gain the favor of the people. Octavius was already beginning to gain the advantage, when Antony left Rome to secure for himself the legions in Cisalpine Gaul. Octavius took advantage of his rival's absence to win still further the popular favor, and was aided by the refusal of Decimus Brutus, preetor in Cisalpine Gaul, to give up that province to Antony. Cicero now came forward in Octavius's favor, thinking thus to advance the cause of a freer government. The senate, the people, and the soldiers were soon won. In January, 43, having received the rank of praetor and been appointed to the command of those troops whose good will he had se- cured, he went with the two consuls to the as- sistance of Decimus Brutus, whom Antony was besieging in Mutina (Modena). Antony was defeated and driven beyond the Alps. But the senate, dreading any increase of the power of the successful general, and relieved of their fear of Antony, now made a change of policy, ap- pointed Decimus Brutus to the chief command of the army, and denied Octavius a triumph. The latter thereupon began to treat with Anto- ny for a reconciliation and division of power, Antony having in the mean time allied himself with Lepidus and recrossed the Alps. First of all Octavius secured the consulship, which the senate was persuaded almost against its will to permit him to assume. He paid the people the sums left by the will of Caesar, and secured for himself the command of an army to be sent against Brutus and Cassius, against whom a decree of outlawry was passed. Under the guise of moving first against Antony, Octa- vius marched his army into northern Italy and met Antony and Lepidus at Bononia (Bologna). Here an open reconciliation took place, and he formed with them the triumvirate, agreeing to merge his own power in this equal division of the empire among the three. The triumvirs returned to Rome immediately, though they entered the city separately. In the general proscription and massacre of their enemies which followed, Octavius displayed cruelty fully equal to that of his associates. After an unsuccessful attempt to take Sicily from Sex- tus Pompey, who had an excellent fleet, and with whom many Romans took refuge, Octa- vius and Antony turned their arms against Brutus and Cassius, whom they defeated at Philippi (42). On his return to Rome Antony now being with Cleopatra in Egypt Octavius found that Fulvia, Antony's wife, aided by Antony's brother, Lucius Antonius, had en- deavored to excite 'popular feeling against him by declaring that a new proscription was about to begin, and by other means. Antonius had even assembled an army. Octavius put a speedy end to this revolt by taking Perusia (Perugia), where Lucius Antonius had fortified himself, rind cruelly putting to death 400 Peru- sians as a sacrifice to the manes of Cajsar (40). Fulvia's death prevented a renewal of the war, and Octavius and Antony were reconciled at Brundusium, Octavia, Octavius's sister, being given in marriage to his fellow triumvir. Sex- tus Pompey, however, still held Sicily, the grain storehouse of Rome, and Octavius was obliged to bribe him by the offer of Sicily, Sardinia, Cor- sica, and the province of Achaia, to make peace and supply Rome with food. No sooner had Octavius thus secured Pompey than he IK pm to seek for a pretext to recapture the provinces given him. Alleging that Pompey allowed piracy near his coasts, Octavius declared war against him (38). Antony at first refused his aid, but was persuaded by the mediation of Octavia, and sent a considerable fleet to join that of Octavius. After some vicissitudes, Agrippa, the commander of the navy, ended