Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Honors Theses University Honors Program 5-2004 Early Life of Mark Antony Kendra Bumpus Follow this and additional works at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/uhp_theses Recommended Citation Bumpus, Kendra, "Early Life of Mark Antony" (2004). Honors Theses. Paper 264. This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the University Honors Program at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. J/ I-i :.r.•J • • Early life of Mark Antony • • • • • By Kendra Bumpus _ • • • • • • • Honors T'hesis • Submitted May 7, 2004 • • • • • rJ It • Early Life of Mark Antony • • Most people have heard of Mark Antony. Public opinion of him is that he was merely • Kleopatra's doomed lover and the man who failed to rule Rome after Julius Caesar died. These • are all true statements, but these statements do not reflect how Mark Antony came to be in these • positions. They do not reflect his growth from a drunkard teenager to the second in command of • Julius Caesar, undeniably the most powerful man in the world in his time. Mark Antony was a • man loved and respected by his soldiers and, though his succession was quick, due to his • personal friendships and contacts, it was not undeserved. Mark Antony came from obscurity and • moved into greatness. • There were several people that influenced Mark Antony and his political career. His • family brought about the possibility of his political life, and politics meant everything in first • century B.C. Rome. His grandfather was the first Antonius to have any contact with the Caesars, • something they probably did not even realize would be a turning point for Antony. Both the • houses of Mark Antony's family, the Antonii and the Julii, acquired such political power and • reputation that Antony was born into a powerful, and burdensome, role full of great expectations. • His political life "was a foregone conclusion,,,1 the same can be said for his military career, • though it did start off later in his life than other prominent figures. Antony would know political • greatness and political suicide through his family's dealings. He would learn all the lessons of • Roman politics before he ever stepped his foot in the Senate, or on any other political ground. • He would hear and see the tales of his family, would find the common themes, and would learn • from the mistakes others before him made. • • I Huzar, Eleanor Goltz. Mark Antony: A Biography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1978; p 12 • • • Bumpus 2 • One problem, which was a common theme for the Antonii, would be the involvement of • Cicero in his life. Another influential figure, which also had a common thread, would be Julius • Caesar. Another major role to include would be pirates, who would be a thorn in the side for one • member and the downfall of another of Antony's family. Antony would not make the same • mistakes his ancestors did, however; and he would not forget these people, as he honored them • publicly and in religious rites2 These ancestors established his political value, his value as an • ally, and the price to pay with him as an enemy. They gave him allies in "both conservative and • popular camps.,,3 They gave him his start in both life and politics. • • Marcus Antonius- the grandfather of Mark Antony • • Mark Antony came from a fairly influential family, though the men that were to act as his • role models were not very good politically or morally. Antony's real saving grace was the • memory of his grandfather from his father's side, Marcus Antonius, whose traditions and • 4 • commitments would leave their mark upon Antony throughout his life and career. Marcus • Antonius was born in 143 B.C., and led a rather good life, politically speaking.s Antonius was an • orator and could easily talk himself out of many situations, which he often did. He was highly • respected and had a rather bright future. He even taught Cicero, whom Antony would later kill, • in part, due to Cicero's hand in the death of his step-father among other reasons (see below, pI I). • It appears Cicero cared only for the eldest Antonius, though. In his Philippics, Cicero called the • • 2 Huzar, p 12 • 3 Huzar, p 22 , Huzar, p 13 • 5 Huzar, p 13 • • • Bumpus 3 6 J • day of his death, acerbissimum eius supremum diem , all the while criticizing his grandson • Antonius also had ties with Julius Caesar; it is this familial tie, one of many, with Caesar that • probably originally helped the young Antony rise in the ranks. Antonius was a censor, as wells. • In 113 and 112 B.c. Marcus Antonius was in Cilicia,9 fighting the pirate problem, which • his son would later do. The pirates were a great threat to the Romans. The Romans, at this time, • were using the sea as a major trade route, particularly to Egypt. This was due to Egypt producing • massive amounts ofgrain, which the Romans would need to feed their people. The pirates • compromised this trade and could have stolen much Roman revenue if they were not dealt with • properly. The Senate gave this task to Antonius; this shows how highly the senate regarded • • Marcus Antonius. • In 102 B.C., Antonius was praetor, giving him similar authority to a consul 10, governing • the Cilician coast, and was allotted a special commission for fighting against the pirates. II This • seems odd, as Antonius first attacked the pirates was ten years before, as mentioned above. • Surely the fact that he had been fighting pirates for the last ten years would have indicated his • inability to beat them. Perhaps this was the reason Antonius received "Rome's first special • command which included authority over other provincial governors: a power which later grew to • the imperium maius held by generals such as his grandson over all other commanders". 12 • Imperium maius is the "greater authority," or, in Antonius' case, more along the lines of • authority to deal with a community and the dealings of individuals in that community. 13 This • would be a groundbreaking event, as others would go on to have a power similar to this, such as • 6 Cicero, Philippics. 1.34 7 Cicero, Philippics. 1.34 • 8 Southern, Pal. Mark Antony. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Limited, 1998; p 12 9 Southern, p 12 • JO Oxford Classical Dictionary, p 1240 • II Huzar, p 13 12 Huzar, p 13 • 13 OCD, p 751 and 752 • • • Bumpus 4 • Tiberius (given by the emperor Augustus) and Germanicus (which he held in the east and was • given by Tiberius). Antonius seems to have had the same trouble Antony's other relatives, as he • later attempted to clear the Mediterranean of pirates by attacking Spain and Sicily and failed. 14 • The pirates were not eliminated, but were contained for the moment. • As a result of this, in December of 100 B.C., he was awarded a triumph,15 a procession • which would have given Antonius not only money but public fame, 16 which included an • allotment so a statue of him could be erected; and he was allowed to decorate the Rostra in l 18 • Rome. ? This is a tradition that started in 338 B.C. This not only allowed Antonius the public • fame mentioned above, it would have made him a household name. It also would have made him • a very influential person. The masses would have witnessed this parade, and they would have • adored Antonius for a time. During this time is when Antonius could have been made even more • influential by the masses and would have been more useful to other politicians with this • connection. In Rome, whoever controlled the love of the masses controlled Rome. • Marcus Antonius is most noteworthy because he was the first Antonius to reach the • 19 • consulship in 99 B.C. The consulship in Rome was the highest office one could attain. It was a • position which required two people, and those two people could rule as a king. 2o However, Rome • did not have kings any more, and Romans were fearful of the term, rex, almost as if it was a • curse on their society. Antonius had reached the highest point in Roman politics; his family • would surely profit from this. • • 14 Huzar, p 16 . • 15 Plutarch, Pompey, Ch 24.6 16 OCD, P 1554 • 17 Huzar, p 14 • 18 OCD, P 1336 19 Huzar, p 14 • 20 OCD, P 383-384 • • • Bumpus 5 • After his consulship, he became one ofthe censors in 97. Typically a censor was in • charge of not only the census, or counting how many Roman citizens were in the province, but • also they were responsible for the morals ofthe people in this province. Also, they could place a • censure, or a mark, upon a person, in effect, making this person unable to vote, but still be held • responsible for taxes and a nota, or a mark excluding one from the Senate?1 This was most • prestigious, as not many senators achieved such a high status22 Censors were elected every five • years. • In 90 B.C. Antonius was accused oftreason on an invalid charge, but, as censor, he did • follow Marius' policies which allocated generous grants of citizenship to Italians. This left a • legacy of gratitude for Antonius and his family throughout Italy, which Antony would be able to • use to his advantage. "During these years ofprominence, Antonius also received the religious • office of augur for life,,23 This appointment apparently did not mean too much.