[49] Octavius intended to turn Perusia itself over to the soldiers for plunder, but Cestius, one of the citizens, who was somewhat out of his mind, who had fought in Macedonia and for that reason called himself the Macedonian, set fire to his house and plunged into the flames. A strong wind fanned the conflagration and drove it over the whole of Perusia, which was entirely consumed, except the temple of Vulcan. Such was the end of Perusia, a city renowned for its antiquity and importance. It is said that it was one of the first twelve cities built by the Etruscans in Italy in the olden time. For this reason the worship of Juno prevailed there, as among the Etruscans generally. But thereafter those who shared among themselves the remains of the city took Vulcan for their tutelary deity instead of Juno. On the following day Octavius made peace with all of them, but the soldiers did not desist from tumults against some of them until the latter were killed. These were chiefly the personal enemies of Octavius, namely, Canutius, Gaius Flavius, Clodius Bithynicus, and others. Such was the conclusion of the siege of Lucius in Perusia, and thus came to an end a war which had promised to be long-continued and most grievous to Italy.1
1 " Some writers say that 300 persons of the two orders, chosen from those who had surrendered [at Perusia], were slaughtered as sacrificial victims on the Ides of March before an altar erected to Cæsar.' (Suetonius, Aug. 15.) Velleius (ii. 75) and Dion Cassius (xlviii. 15) relate a circumstance of a more romantic nature. The former says that the leader of the outbreak in Campania was Tiberius Claudius Nero. When the revolt was subdued, he fled with his wife Livia, who carried in her bosom their son, then two years of age, and all escaped to Sicily. Livia afterwards became the wife of Octavius, and this infant became the Emperor Tiberius. "Who," exclaims the historian, "can sufficiently wonder at the changes of fortune and at the mutability of human affairs?" Tiberius Nero had been a suitor for the hand of Cicero's daughter Tullia at the time when Dolabella obtained it. (Ad Att. vi. 6.)
The Civil Wars. Appian. Horace White. London. MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. 1899.
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