Salvidienus' killing was prepared by the passing of the senatus consultum ultimum. The triumvirs' own extraordinary position was itself sufficient to authorize such emergency action; but, as usual with the s.c.u., it was moral rather than legal justification which was really in point. The Senate's moral backing was still worth having, and this was one of several occasions when the triumvirs paraded a certain constitutionalism. For instance, Octavia's marriage to Antony was technically difficult, for she had not completed the legal term of mourning after the death of her first husband, Marcellus: a dispensation was scrupulously secured from the Senate.[33] And Herod was to be recognized as king of Judaea: Antony and Octavian had agreed it - but the formal decision was deferred to the Senate, with Antony himself joining in the debate; a solemn procession to the Capitol followed, led by the consuls.[34] At some time during 39 the triumvirs also secured a senatorial decree to ratify all their past and future acts:[35] constitutionalism again, though of a rather quizzical kind. Like L. Antonius two years earlier, they evidently felt that traditionalist public sentiment was worth impressing.
But peace would surely impress people more. The Brundisium agreement had explicitly envisaged the possibility of coming to terms with Sextus as well. But it was not clear if Sextus himself would agree: there seems to have been some difference of view among his supporters, who were very disparate. The pirate-admiral Menodorus, we are told, pressed Sextus to continue the war, Staius Murcus and others took the opposite view; and here too the issues were fogged by suspicion, with Sextus by now deeply distrustful of Murcus. Murcus duly died, mysteriously. But Sextus still saw the force of his advice: he himself had always been realistic about his chances in a full-scale war. There was a preliminary meeting of negotiators at Aenaria in spring, 39. Scribonius Libo, once again emerging in a context of conciliation, represented Sextus. Octavian, Sextus and Antony then met at Cape Misenum in full summer, perhaps as late as August,[36] and terms were agreed. Sextus was to retain Corsica as well as Sicily and Sardinia, and take the Peloponnese as well; he was to hold this dominion for five years. Consulships were agreed for every year till 32: Libo was promised 34 and Sextus 33, just after the expiry of his quinquennium. For the present, he could have an augurship. In return for all this, he was to raise his blockade of Italy and remove his troops, to undertake to build no more ships and to receive no more runaway slaves, to guarantee Rome's corn supply, and to 'keep the sea free of pirates'. His supporters were to be allowed to return to Italy, with an amnesty for the proscribed: they were to receive some compensation for their vanished property. His slave supporters were to be freed, and his free soldiers were to receive the same rewards on retirement as those of the triumvirs. These last concessions were ones that Antony and Octavian were doubtless very ready to grant: they would placate many of Sextus' supporters, and, if it came again to war, he would not find it easy to recall them to arms.[37]There was also some more constitutionalist talk, this time more grandly of 'restoring the Republic': in eight years' time, perhaps.[38]
The agreement was celebrated by a banquet on Sextus' galley — once again rich material for later legend, with tales of the swashbuckling Menodorus eyeing the cable and thinking of cutting it, to make Sextus master of the world.[39] The agreement was indeed a precarious one, though for less romantic reasons - largely because it diminished and threatened Octavian distinctly more than Antony. It also freed Antony to return to the East. He left Rome shortly after 2 October 39, accompanied by Octavia.[40] He was not to see the city again.
vi. the east, 39—37 b.C.
During the summer of 39 news from the East had been reaching Rome. It was astoundingly good. A year earlier Antony had despatched Ventidius to try to recover Asia Minor:[41] and it seems that Ventidius took Labienus by surprise, forced him to flee eastwards, and finally trapped and defeated him near the Taurus range, perhaps at the Cilician Gates (midsummer 39). Labienus himself fled to Cilicia, but was overtaken there and presumably killed. Later in the summer Ventidius won another great victory at Mt Amanus over Phranipates, the satrap of the newly conquered Syria. Phranipates was killed, and the rest of the Parthian forces fell back beyond the Euphrates. Ventidius had done magnificently, and by the autumn of 39 it was already time for the Senate to reward certain states for their resistance to Labienus — Stratoniceia, Aphrodisias-Plarasa, and (now or a little later) Miletus.[42] The war seemed over. Indeed, there was uncomfortably little left for Antony to do himself.
Still, after spending the winter in Athens he prepared to depart eastwards in the spring of 38. There were a few preliminaries to take care of. The Parthian evacuation made this a sensible time to reorganize some parts of the East, at least provisionally; this time he concentrated on a great swathe from north to south of central Asia Minor. Twenty-five years earlier Pompey had ascribed a considerable tract of western Pontus to Bithynia, but allowed control to remain largely with the cities he had fostered: Antony now reversed the process, weakening the cities and establishing a new strong kingdom of Pontus.88 It was to be ruled by Darius, a descendant of Mithridates Eupator. Deiotarus of Galatia had died, and his possessions in Pontus were assigned to Darius; however, Deiotarus' grandson Castor was recognized as king of Galatia, and he was also allowed the interior of Paphlagonia.89 So far Antony was following the traditional Roman policy of supporting kings from the old regal families; thus also Lysanias was confirmed as king of Ituraea.90 And so far he was not especially concerned with rewarding past loyalties: Lysanias for one had taken the Parthian side.[43] But he also had new, able favourites of his own. Amyntas, once Deiotarus' secretary, was given Pisidia; Polemo of Laodicea-ad-Lycum, whose father Zeno was one of the few who resisted Labienus, received a dominion combining the western part of Cilicia with some parts of Lycaonia.[44] Like Ituraea and parts of Pontus, these were rough, unpacified regions: the new kings evidently had work to do. It was also probably now that Cleopatra was given Cyprus and a region of eastern Cilicia: she too perhaps had a task, for Cilicia and Cyprus were peculiarly rich in timber, and she was presumably to build ships to replenish Antony's fleet.[45] Herod of Judaea also received some further backing. Ventidius and his lieutenant Poppaedius Silo had apparently not tried very hard to displace the rival claimant Antigonus for the throne:[46] he had more pressing concerns. Stronger support could now be given. It seems that Antony began, rather oddly, by recognizing Herod as 'king of the Idumaeans and Samarians': possibly he acknowledged that Jerusalem was for the moment beyond recovery, and granted him this new title in provisional compensation.[47]