War of Mutina
[2] The main issue of the war was attempts by the Senate to resist Antony's forceful assumption of the strategically important provinces of Transalpine and Cisalpine Gaul from their governors.
The Senate, led by Cicero and the consuls (Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa), attempted to woo Julius Caesar's heir (today known in this period as Octavian) to fight against Antony.
The consuls, with Octavian, led troops into northern Italy against Antony and won two battles at Forum Gallorum and Mutina (14 and 21 April 43 BC).
The liberatores and the Caesarians in government – led by consul Mark Antony, magister equitum Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and consul-designate Aulus Hirtius – reached an agreement to offer amnesty for Caesar's death and ratify the dead dictator's acta.
[5] In mid-April, public opinion forced Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, the lead tyrannicides and both praetors that year, to flee Rome.
Octavian moved to sell his own property to raise money and fulfil the terms, gaining substantial popularity among the plebs.
[10] Writing in the Cambridge Ancient History, Elizabeth Rawson explains:[7] The policies of the actors in these events are difficult to assess.
Late in the year, Antony presided over the assignment of praetorian provinces, putting his brother Gaius in the strategically-important Macedonia.
[21] Cicero was unable to secure Antony's declaration as a public enemy, but he nevertheless proclaimed that he had "laid the basis for a res publica".
Octavian's then-private command was legitimised with imperium pro praetore;[24] he was also inducted into the Senate with consular status and granted the right to stand for the consulship a decade early.
[26] Cicero gave a further speech, the Seventh Philippic, which must have changed some minds, for soon afterwards, levies were undertaken; the consul Hirtius was voted command of the republic's forces.
[30] On 20 March, entreaties from Lepidus (in Narbonensis) and Plancus (in Transalpine Gaul) to avoid a war were rejected: Cicero, delivering the Thirteenth Philippic, inveighed against Antony as a brigand and warned the Senate of the dangers of an Antonian victory.
Cicero wrote to Lucius Munatius Plancus on 30 March 43 BC that he expected "all the fortunes of the republic" would be decided in a single battle that would soon occur.
[30] Antony's veterans still won the upper hand, inflicting heavy casualties on the reinforcements, while Pansa, who was mortally wounded in the fighting, retreated with his recruits to Bononia.
[34] After news of Hirtius' victory arrived on 20 April, Cicero was paraded from his house to the capitol and the Senate voted supplicationes for fifty days.
[35] After news of the victories at Forum Gallorum and Mutina reached Rome, a decree was passed declaring Antony a public enemy (hostis).
Further troubles emerged when Decimus – now voted overall command of the war – reported he was not in control of his army and that Octavian refused to follow orders.
On 30 May, Lepidus sent a letter claiming that his army had mutinied from his command and joined Antony's forces; he called for the Senate to make peace.
[41] Octavian's loyalty to the Senate also was in serious doubt; Appian reports that after Mutina, he opened communications with Antony and Lepidus, seeking to join with them to suppress the "Pompeians".
[42] Octavian, apparently hearing rumours that Cicero was intending to side-line him, also refused to send Pansa's former legion to Decimus Brutus.
The following elections returned Octavian (aged 19) and one of his relatives, Quintus Pedius; they took office on 19 Sextilis (later renamed August) 43 BC.
The two, with Lepidus, then agreed to form a commission of three men with powers rei publicae constituendae; Octavian and Antony would go to war against Caesar's killers.
[49] Within the year, the triumvirs started a series of proscriptions where prominent wealthy men and political enemies were marked for death: among them were Decimus Brutus and Cicero.
