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- 4 Şub 2022
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Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus [bronze beard] was well acquainted with the risks and rewards that faced noblemen in times of civil war, for his father Lucius had opposed the First Triumvirate and paid for it with his life at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C. Ahenobarbus was present at Pharsalus, but unlike his father he survived and was pardoned by Julius Caesar.
The self- serving purpose of Caesar’s mercy did not fool him, and after Caesar was struck down on the Ides of March, he fled to Macedon with Brutus. When he was named in Octavian’s proscriptions of 43 B.C. Ahenobarbus had little option but to cast his lot with the cause of Brutus and Cassius. Ahenobarbus patrolled the Adriatic for the Republicans, and together with Murcus, the naval commander of Cassius, he defeated the Caesarean Calvinus in a sea battle. For this critical victory, which prevented additional supplies and men from reaching the main forces of Antony and Octavian in Illyria, Ahenobarbus was hailed Imperator.
After Brutus and Cassius were defeated at Philippi in October, 42 B.C., Ahenobarbus patrolled the seas until 40 B.C., when the political tide shifted yet again, and he allied himself with Marc Antony just when war between Antony and Octavian seemed imminent. The Treaty of Brundisium restored peace, Ahenobarbus was made governor of Bithynia and then witnessed Antony’s disastrous campaign against the Parthians in 36 B.C., and in the following year helped capture the renegade Sextus Pompey. Having thus far survived the civil war, Ahenobarbus was returned to Rome to assume the consulship in 32 B.C. However, the inevitable showdown between Antony and Octavian began when Octavian marched on Rome and forced the consuls Ahenobarbus and Sosius to flee to the East along with some 300 senators who opposed Octavian. By this stage of his life Ahenobarbus’ health was suffering and he was not enthusiastic about throwing his lot in with Cleopatra, so he defected to Octavian just before the battle of Actium took place on September 2, 31 B.C. He did not long survive, dying of natural causes late in 31, or early in 30 B.C.
The self- serving purpose of Caesar’s mercy did not fool him, and after Caesar was struck down on the Ides of March, he fled to Macedon with Brutus. When he was named in Octavian’s proscriptions of 43 B.C. Ahenobarbus had little option but to cast his lot with the cause of Brutus and Cassius. Ahenobarbus patrolled the Adriatic for the Republicans, and together with Murcus, the naval commander of Cassius, he defeated the Caesarean Calvinus in a sea battle. For this critical victory, which prevented additional supplies and men from reaching the main forces of Antony and Octavian in Illyria, Ahenobarbus was hailed Imperator.
After Brutus and Cassius were defeated at Philippi in October, 42 B.C., Ahenobarbus patrolled the seas until 40 B.C., when the political tide shifted yet again, and he allied himself with Marc Antony just when war between Antony and Octavian seemed imminent. The Treaty of Brundisium restored peace, Ahenobarbus was made governor of Bithynia and then witnessed Antony’s disastrous campaign against the Parthians in 36 B.C., and in the following year helped capture the renegade Sextus Pompey. Having thus far survived the civil war, Ahenobarbus was returned to Rome to assume the consulship in 32 B.C. However, the inevitable showdown between Antony and Octavian began when Octavian marched on Rome and forced the consuls Ahenobarbus and Sosius to flee to the East along with some 300 senators who opposed Octavian. By this stage of his life Ahenobarbus’ health was suffering and he was not enthusiastic about throwing his lot in with Cleopatra, so he defected to Octavian just before the battle of Actium took place on September 2, 31 B.C. He did not long survive, dying of natural causes late in 31, or early in 30 B.C.