Read Online Marcus Agrippa: Right-hand Man of Caesar Augustus by Lindsay Powell - Free Book Online Page B

tribunal and letters Agrippa wrote to his legati after his verdict on the unlawful confiscation of Temple Tax dues (16.27–30, 16.60, 16.165, 16.167 and 16.169), Agrippa’s return to Rome with Antipatros ( Antiquitates Iudaeicae 16.86).
    Livy (T. Livius), 59 BCE–17 CE – Regarded by many as ancient Rome’s greatest historian, Livy was known to Augustus and his family. Indeed he encouraged Augustus’ grand-nephew, who later became Emperor Claudius, to study history. Book 129 of Ab Urbe Condita covered the battles of Mylae and Naulochus during the War with Sex. Pompeius and singled out Agrippa for particular mention; 132 described the Illyrian War; and 133 discussed the Actian War. Book 138 gave an account of his last days and death. Beyond the cryptic summaries in the Periochae , the full texts are now entirely lost.
    Manlius (M. Manlius or M. Manilius), First Century CE – Roman poet and astronomer about whom little is known, wrote the Astronomicon (1.797–798) which alludes to the fact that Agrippa began his military career at a young age.
    Nikolaos of Damaskos, c. 65 BCE-4CE * – Greek-speaking Roman historian and philosopher, Nikolaos was tutor to Kleopatra and became an advisor of King Herodes. He visited Rome in 12 and 8 and after Herodes died in 4 BCE. Of the many books he wrote parts of the Life of Caesar – that is of Caesar Augustus – ( Bίος Καῖσαρ ) survives. It is one of the most important extant sources for the early years of Agrippa, mentioning that he met the future Augustus while young ( BK 7.6), that friends of Augustus – possibly Agrippa among them – were late arriving for Iulius Caesar’s war in Hispania (10–11), that his brother Lucius fought on the side of Cato and the conspirators in the Libyan War (7) andconfirms that Agrippa was among the group of friends touring Campania to recruit men to the cause of Caesar’s heir (30). In his own Autobiography , which survives as fragments, he mentions Agrippa’s ire at hearing Iulia almost came to grief at Illium and the trip he took across Asia with Herodes is recorded (F134).
    Orosius (Paulus * Orosius), c. 375–after 418 CE – Historian of the Christian Church, priest and student of St. Augustine of Hippo, Orosius wrote the History Against the Pagans ( Historiarum Adversum Paganos ), a book written to prove the decadence of ancient Roman civilization. In it he mentions Agrippa’s engagement during the wars of Sex. Pompeius (6.18.25–29), his guerilla actions in the Actian War (6.19.6–7), one of the most detailed accounts of the Battle of Actium (6.19.8–10) and his war against the Bosporani (21.28).
    Pliny the Elder (C. Plinius Secundus), 23–79 CE – The polymath Pliny the Elder began his career as an active soldier in the Rhine army, seeing three tours of duty (45–51 CE), including one as a praefectus equitum – as a result of which he wrote a single-volume book on throwing the javelin while riding on horseback, which has been lost. Sadly, Pliny’s Bella Germaniae , a history of Rome’s German Wars in twenty volumes, has also not survived, and probably with it an account of Agrippa’s crossing of the Rhine River. Pliny is best known for his encyclopaedic Natural History ( Naturalis Historia ), which, among its many topics, describes the people and territories of the known world in the first century CE. Pliny discusses Agrippa’s strange birth, unhappy childhood and age at death ( Nat. Hist . 7.8), the name of his brother and sister (6.139), a reference to his eye-witness account of Augustus’ sickness before the Battle at Philippi which intimates that he was also there (7.148), his taste for rustic simplicity and the speech he gave on the public ownership of art (35.26), his achievements and legacy, including the Portus Iulius (36.125), the award of the corona navalis (16.7–8), repairs to the aqueducts (36.121), the opening of hundreds of public bathhouses with free admission and improvements to the Circus