In 45 BC, as tribune of the plebs, he annoyed Caesar by refusing to stand during his triumphal procession, and, in the following year, joined the conspiracy to kill the dictator.
Aquila died fighting at the Second Battle of Mutina against Mark Antony in April 43 BC, before the formation of the Second Triumvirate later that year.
In late January, he took the town of Claternae jointly with the consul Aulus Hirtius, and then proceeded to Pollentia, where he defeated Antony's subordinate, Titus Munatius Plancus Bursa, in battle.
At the request of Cicero, the Senate honored Aquila with a statue and reimbursed his heirs with the costs he had personally incurred during the war.
[9][page needed] Aquila may have been an ancestor of Pontius Pilate, a 1st-century prefect of Judaea who is known for putting Jesus of Nazareth to death.