complication of intrigues and disturbances. It is impossible to trace any consistent policy in the actions of the leaders of the Cæsarian party. We find Antony one day agreeing to a general amnesty, and the next day making inflammatory speeches at Cæsar's funeral; then with an equally sudden change proposing that the office of Dictator should be forever abolished, as if the very name had been defiled by having been made the title of the despotism. Immediately after this he is found making a circuit among the veterans, urging them to swear to the maintenance of Cæsar's Acts; but this does not prevent his making overtures to Sextus Pompeius later on. These negotiations with Sextus were conducted through Lepidus, who after obtaining the office of Pontifex Maximus, as a reward of his services to Antony, had assumed the command of Northern Spain and the southern portion of Transalpine Gaul. His legions thus occupied the passes both of the Pyrenees and of the Maritime Alps, and by this commanding position Lepidus exercised an important influence on the issue of the coming struggle. Pollio, the governor of Southern Spain, and Plancus who held Northern Gaul with five legions, waited on events along with Lepidus. They were eager in their protestations of loyalty to the Senate, but turned without scruple in favour of Antony the moment his cause appeared the stronger. Dolabella showed himself at first vigorous on the Republican side. When a riotous mob, largely composed of slaves, attempted to raise a column and to offer sacrifices on the spot where Cæsar's body had
