Battles of Forum Gallorum & Mutina
43 BC
Prelude
In June of 44 BC, Mark Antony was granted a five-year dictatorship of northern and central Transalpine Gaul and Cisalpine Gaul. Having made an uneasy truce with the assassins of Julius Caesar, Antony found himself increasingly unpopular with the people of Rome. After Cicero's Phillipics, and sensing the turn against him, Antony moved to the province he would receive at the end of his consulship, Cisalpine Gaul, but Decimus Brutus, the governor of the province, refused to give it up. In December, Antony besieged Decimus Brutus in Mutina.
The Senate then inducted Octavian into it and, as he himself states in Res Gestae, "gave me imperium" - the power to command forces; he was then sent north, alongside the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, to Mutina to relieve Decimus Brutus.
The Senate then inducted Octavian into it and, as he himself states in Res Gestae, "gave me imperium" - the power to command forces; he was then sent north, alongside the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, to Mutina to relieve Decimus Brutus.
Battle of Forum Gallorum
Pansa was marching to link with Hirtius and Octavian at Mutina with four legions of recruits when his forces collided with Antony's at the village of Forum Gallorum. Antony's experienced troops quickly routed Pansa's forces and the general himself was severely wounded. However, Hirtius launched an attack on Antony's exhausted ranks, capturing two Roman eagles and as many as sixty standards from him.
Battle of Mutina
Octavian fought alongside Hirtius at the Battle of Mutina against Antony, who was again defeated. in the attack on Antony's camp, Hirtius was killed, and with the death of Pansa after failing to recover from his injuries at Forum Gallorum, left the Republic leaderless and the army leaderless. Octavian recovered Hirtius' body and Suetonius claims that "in the thick of the fight, when the eagle-bearer of his legion was sorely wounded, he shouldered the eagle and carried it for some time". With the deaths of the consuls, Octavian gained their legions.
Context
Historians debate whether or not Octavian himself was involved in the deaths of the consuls Pansa and Hirtius as it gave him control of their armies and also removed the leadership from Rome. Historians also debate that these battles were important in distinguishing Octavian as a political force as it also provided Octavian with prestige.
The Senate then declared Antony a hostis - an enemy of the state.
The Senate then declared Antony a hostis - an enemy of the state.