Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/612

5T6 ANTONY and was put to death by Marias and Cinna when they triumphed. He is one of the inter- locutors in Cicero's De Oratore. He was the grandfather of Mark Antony. ANTONY, Mark (MAECUS ANTONIUS), the Ro- man triumvir, horn in 83 B. C., died in 30. He was the son of Marcus Antonius Creticus and Julia, daughter of the former consul Lucius Julius Csesar. During his boyhood, and while he was receiving a good education under his tutor Epidins, his father died, and his mother married Publius Lentulus, afterward strangled for his share in Catiline's conspiracy. In his stepfather's house he met the most profligate young men of Eome, and, sharing their habits of extravagance, he was obliged to take refuge from his creditors in Greece, where he com- pleted his studies. After serving with much distinction under Gabinius in Syria (57), and in Egypt (56-55), and under Caesar in Gaul, he returned to Rome, and was made a tribune of the people ; but having strongly espoused the cause of Coesar, and vetoed the senate's decree commanding that leader to disband the armies he had with him in Gaul, Antony was obliged to leave Rome in the dis- guise of a slave and take refuge in Caesar's camp. He warmly seconded Caesar in his sub- sequent subjection of Italy, and when his chief became dictator was appointed by him com- mander of the cavalry, and governor of Italy during the absence of the victorious leader, who was pursuing Pompey. During his gov- ernorship, Antony gave himself up to the most open licentiousness, repudiating his wife, ap- pearing publicly in his chariot with a common courtesan, and surrounding himself with de- bauchees of every class. He subsequently mar- ried Fulvia, widow of Clodius. In 44 B. C. Caesar appointed him his colleague in the gov- ernment, and he in return aided his patron in many ways ; once testing the popular feeling by publicly offering him an imperial crown on the occasion of the Lupercalia. On Caesar's death, Antony at first feigned submission to the assas- sins; but afterward, seizing the opportunity given by their allowing him to deliver the fu- neral oration, he so eloquently incited the people to avenge the dictator's murder that the conspirators were driven from Rome. He was now the most powerful man in the state ; but his plans for the dictatorship were checked by Cicero, who urged the claims of Octavius Cae- sar; the surname Caesar proved an excellent popular catchword, and Antony, opposing this new choice, was declared an enemy of the re- public and banished from Rome, while the senate supported Octavius. After raising an army, fighting several battles, and suffering de- feat at Mutina from which place he was obliged to flee to his friend Lepidus, who was preserving an armed neutrality beyond the Alps Antony finally effected a reconciliation with Octavius, with whom he at once joined in a scheme for the complete subjection of Rome. The triumvirate was formed soon after by Octa- ANTRAIGUES vius, Antony, and Lepidus (43). In the general slaughter of their enemies which followed, An- tony caused Cicero to be murdered among the first victims. Brutus and Cassius were speedily defeated at Philippi (42) by the army of the tri- umvirs, and the latter now divided the empire, Antony receiving Asia, Macedonia, Syria, and Greece. He next carried on a war against the Parthians, and, when finally obliged to retire from their country, effected one of the most skilful retreats recorded in history. While ad- justing the affairs of his department of the em- pire, he met Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and from that moment became the complete slave of her caprices, extending her dominions, ruling as she dictated, and deserting his wife (Octavia, the sister of Octavius, whom he had married after the death of Fulvia), to lead a life of un- exampled luxury and sensuality with his new mistress at the Egyptian capital. The Romans were enraged. Octavius sent a fleet and army against him, and defeated him in the naval battle of Actium (31), partly through Antony's fatuity in following Cleopatra when she retired from the engagement, in which she at first acted as his ally. For a time he abandoned himself again to his old excesses. In a few months Oc- tavius again completely defeated him in Egypt. His resources Avere now at an end, and, ren- dered desperate by his failure and by a false report that Cleopatra had committed suicide, he stabbed himself, and died in her presence, having been carried to her wounded as soon as he discovered that the report of her death was untrue. ANTRAIGUES, Emmannel Lonis Henri de Lannay, count d', a French adventurer and secret agent, born at Villeneuye-de-Berg about 1755, assas- sinated near London, July 22, 1812. He was a patron of science, letters, and art, figured con- spicuously in aristocratic circles, where in 1788 he was called the handsome conspirator, and wrote against the nobility. After his election in 1789 as deputy to the states general he soon re- turned to royalist doctrines, and leaving France in 1790, was subsidized by foreign governments to intrigue against the revolution. His name became notorious in the conspiracies against Napoleon, who had him arrested in Italy in 1797, with documents incriminating Pichegru. He escaped, went to St. Petersburg, joined the orthodox Greek church, and received a pension and the office of chancellor of the Rus- sian legation at Dresden (1803), whence he was expelled by order of Napoleon, against whom he had published a famous diatribe (Fragment du 18 1 "* lime de Polybe, trouve sur le Mont Athos). He next betrayed Russia by revealing to Canning the secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit, and received a large pension from the English government ; but Napoleon's detectives having, as was supposed, received copies of these documents through his valet Lorenzo, the latter, fearing the consequences of his treach- ery, assassinated his master and his wife, and then shot himself.