Marcus Agrippa: Right-hand Man of Caesar Augustus (26 page)

Dio adds that whenever Caesar wrote a letter containing confidential information to Agrippa and Maecenas or any of his other close friends, he would use a monoalphabetic substitution cipher which shifted each letter of a word a single place in the alphabet.
¹⁹⁷
Agrippa had good reason to use the code. Over the subsequent months he is recorded as writing frequently to Caesar urging him to return to Italy to deal with matters there which required his presence in person.
¹⁹⁸
Agrippa was not a man to cry wolf. The fact he was making this request at all hints that Agrippa, despite his social and political status, was struggling to assert his authority and was concerned that the Caesarians might lose control of the situation. Even far from Rome, the long shadow of Antonius still reached into the corners of the Senate House to remind the Conscript Fathers that, though absent, he could yet stage a return. He had allies among the returning troops scattered across Italy and powerful friends in the city. Even for Agrippa Rome was not safe. As Caesar’s senior deputy, he faced real personal danger. Indeed, only that year a plot to assassinate Caesar led by the son of the former
triumvir
Lepidus had been exposed and squashed by Maecenas.
¹⁹⁹
Someone with a vendetta or seeking to curry favour with Antonius could strike Caesar’s Number One man at any moment.

Map 9. Agrippa’s Travels, 32–31 BCE.

After the events of 2 September, Kleopatra’s fleet had sailed south, stopping at Tainaros (modern Cape Tainaros) on the southernmost tip of Peloponnese to take on board provisions before making the crossing to Egypt.
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There Antonius joined her. For much of the time Antonius sulked and would not talk with his queen.
²⁰¹
He was ashamed that he had escaped with his life and left his entire army behind. The couple eventually reconciled, but parted company, Antonius sailing to Africa to join Pinarius Scarpa, and Kleopatra going home to Alexandria.
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Antonius did not receive the welcome he had hoped for. The men he sent ahead to announce his imminent arrival were killed on the spot and Scarpa refused point blank to meet Antonius. He then tried to commit suicide, but the two friends who had accompanied him prevented him from carrying out the threat.
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Having accomplished nothing he travelled onto Alexandria.
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He did not know it yet, but even his most loyal friend Herodes, king of the Jews, had finally deserted him and gone over to Caesar’s side.
²⁰⁵

1. Several portrait busts identified as Marcus Agrippa survive. The expression on the head in the Pergamon Museum is confident and assured.

2. The bust from Gabii is the portrait most recognisable as Agrippa. The hairstyle, thick eyebrows and double chin are distinctive characteristics of this naturalistic sculpture.

3. This damaged bust in the Louvre displays similar features to the one found at Gabii.

4. In this bust Agrippa is shown wearing one of his awards – the
corona navalis
– for victory at the battles of Mylae and Naulochus.

5. Augustus, the man Agrippa idolised and served faithfully for three decades as his right-hand man, was great nephew of the dictator Iulius Caesar.

6. The
centurio
, with his distinctive transverse crest, was a key officer in the Roman army in charge of a
centuria
of eighty men. The outcome of a battle often turned upon the leadership qualities of a centurion.

7. Commands on the battlefield were relayed by use of standards or music. The officers had other duties including maintaining financial accounts of men’s pay and savings and contributions to the unit’s burial fund.

8. The legionary in Agrippa’s time wore a shirt of iron chain mail with doubling over the shoulders. An oval shield was both a defensive and offensive weapon. The
pilum
was the standard weapon thrown in a massed volley.

9. The conical ‘Montefortino’ helmet provided basic protection from sword blows while allowing for good visibility. Legionaries advanced upon the enemy with the double-edged
gladius
drawn.