cus Brutus and Gaius Cassius. The first clash brought
no victor, but in the second the triumvirs destroyed
the conspirators and their armies. The writers of The
Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare
say of the two battles:
The Republicans mustered 19 legions and 20,000
cavalry plus light infantry, while the triumvirs
fielded 19 rather stronger legions and 13,000
cavalry. In the first battle, Antony, who was in
overall charge, routed Cassius’ legions on the
left flank, capturing his camp. In despair, Cas-
sius committed suicide, unaware that the right
wing, under Brutus, had enjoyed great success
against Octavian’s troops, inflicting heavy losses.
After a 3-week break, the triumvirs outmaneu-
vered Brutus and forced him to offer battle. The
clash between the main infantry lines was hard
fought, but Octavian’s infantry pushed back Bru-
tus’ troops. The second and third lines failed to
stop the enemy’s advance, and the whole army
was put to flight. Brutus committed suicide soon
afterwards.Following this victory, Antony moved to Greece
and Asia Minor. In 41 b.c., he went to Egypt, where he
met and fell in love with the Egyptian queen Cleopa-
tra, an affair that would be his undoing. Although he
renewed the triumvirate with Octavian, his popularity
was slipping.
In 34 b.c. Antony conducted a successful mili-
tary campaign in Armenia. After he returned to Egypt,
he proclaimed Cleopatra as the “queen of kings” and
named her son Caesarion (whose father was Julius Cae-
sar) the “king of kings.” Antony completed the break
with Octavian and Rome when he divorced Octavian’s
sister, whom he had married just a few years earlier.
Octavian therefore declared war, and the Roman fleet
moved against Antony, meeting his forces on 2 Septem-
ber 31 b.c. at Actium (now Akri in western Greece).
Antony controlled some 480 galleys, while Octavian had
400 at his disposal, but Octavian’s were much lighter
and much faster. These ships were commanded by the
Roman general Marcus agriPPa, who cut off Antony’s
supplies from the land. When Antony’s forces panicked
and fled, Antony wanted to retreat by land, but Cleopa-
tra demanded that they go back to Egypt by ship. In the
midst of their escape, their ships were destroyed, though
they evaded capture and returned to Egypt, pursued by
Octavian. In 30 b.c., Octavian’s forces stormed Alexan-
dria, cutting Antony off. Faced with surrender and cer-
tain execution, he chose to commit suicide in the belief
that Cleopatra had already done so. In fact, she had not,
but she took her own life when it was confirmed that
Antony was already dead.
Although not considered a major military figure,
Mark Antony was nonetheless an important strategist
and commander in some of Rome’s conflicts. Unfortu-
nately, he is better remembered for his ill-fated romance
with Cleopatra than for any of his military service.References: Pelling, C. B. R., Life of Antony (Cambridge,
U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1988); Huzar, Eleanor
Goltz, Mark Antony: A Biography (London: Croon Helm,
1978); Bruce, George, “Mutina” and “Philippi,” in Col-
lins Dictionary of Wars (Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins
Publishers, 1995), 171, 194; “Actium, Battle of,” in The
Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare
(Oxford, U.K.: Helicon Publishing, Ltd., 1998), 1.Astley, Jacob, Baron Astley (1579–1652)
English Royalist commander
Despite his noted service at the battles of Edgehill (1642),
Arundel (1644), and Gosworth Bridge (1644), Jacob Ast-
ley remains one of the least known of the commanders
who fought on the side of King Charles I during the first
English Civil War. He was born in 1579, a member of a
family from Norfolk; one of his ancestors, Thomas Lord
Astley, was killed at the battle of Evesham (1265). In
1598, when he was 19, Astley went to the Netherlands,
where he fought for Henry of Orange, and some time
later he went to Germany to fight in the Thirty Years’
War (1618–48) under gustaV ii. When he returned to
England, he was so well thought of that King Charles I
appointed him to various military offices.
When the so-called First Bishops’ War broke out
in 1639 in an effort to enforce Charles I’s control of
Scotland, the king named Astley as his sergeant major
general (major general) of the infantry. Astley discov-
ered that the English army was ill-equipped for battle,
and he was not responsible for the defeat the English
forces suffered at the hands of Alexander leslie and
montrose. A truce ended the conflict for a time, but
then the Second Bishops’ War broke out in 1640. Charles
sent a force under the command of Astley and EdwardAStley, JAcob, bARon AStley