War of Mutina

The War of Mutina (December 44 – April 43 BC; also called the Mutina war) was a civil war between the Roman Senate and Mark Antony in Northern Italy. It was the first civil war after the assassination of Julius Caesar. 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, later the future emperor Augustus) to fight against Antony. Octavian, however, would pursue his own agenda.

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). After the two consuls were mortally wounded at those battles, there emerged a political vacuum. Octavian – with the support of his men – demanded the consulship from the Senate and marched on Rome. After taking control of the city, Octavian and one of his kinsmen, Quintus Pedius, were irregularly elected consuls. They forced through legislation which had the effect of outlawing Julius Caesar's killers before starting negotiations with Antony. The negotiations resulted in the two men reconciling. With Lepidus, they then formed the Second Triumvirate.

A group of senators, calling themselves the liberatores and led by Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated Julius Caesar on 15 March 44 BC at a meeting of the Senate. Among the conspirators were many aristocrats who had supported Caesar during the last civil war. The killers were driven largely by a belief that Caesar's perpetual dictatorship was undermining the republic.

In the immediate aftermath of Caesar's death, an uneasy truce emerged in Rome. 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. A public funeral was also scheduled; during and after the funeral, Antony whipped up the urban plebs into hysterical mourning for Caesar, which also had the intended effect of shifting public opinion against the tyrannicides.

In mid-April, public opinion forced Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, the lead tyrannicides and both praetors that year, to flee Rome. Antony secured for himself a number of allies. He arranged for Lepidus' irregular appointment as pontifex maximus and formed with him a marriage alliance. He also supported Publius Cornelius Dolabella's assumption of a suffect consulship and assigned him to the province of Syria. Also in April, Caesar's young heir Octavian arrived at Rome from Illyricum; he loitered in Italy, building support among Caesar's veterans, before he accepted his inheritance in May.

Octavian's arrival was met hostilely by Antony. Tension between the two quickly developed. Octavian petitioned for Antony to disburse Caesar's inheritance so that he could fulfil the terms of Caesar's will, which involved distributing 300 sesterces a man to the plebs; Antony delayed, probably on grounds that time was needed to divide Caesar's personal property from properties that belonged to the state. Octavian moved to sell his own property to raise money and fulfil the terms, gaining substantial popularity among the plebs. Writing in the Cambridge Ancient History, Elizabeth Rawson explains:

The policies of the actors in these events are difficult to assess. Antony has been seen as a genuine moderate, who intended to keep to the compromise of the Liberalia, but was driven into extreme and violent courses, either because young Caesar [Octavian]... rapidly threatened to filch the support of those most loyal to Caesar, including the plebs (perhaps chiefly the really poor) and to a large extent the veterans; or because, though Brutus was sincere in wishing the acta of Caesar to stand, many Republicans, including Cicero, were outraged at the sight of Caesarian partisans enjoying the property of Pompeians, and – very shortsightedly – anxious to go back on the agreement.

Antony then toured Italy, ostensibly to settle veterans, but actually to drum up military support; at the same time, Octavian and Brutus sponsored games to build urban support to their causes. On 2 June 44 BC, Antony forced through an illegal bill reassigning provinces. The bill was "trebly irregular because it was not a dies comitialis, due notice had not been given, and violence was used". According to Appian, the plebeian tribunes were bribed not to exercise their vetos. It moved Antony from his prospective province of Macedonia to Trans- and Cisalpine Gauls for a term of five years. It cemented Dolabella's position in Syria also for five years. He then snubbed Brutus and Cassius by assigning them to the duty of purchasing grain in Asia and Sicily.