The Battle of Actium

31 BC

After this he [Octavian] formed a plan to let them slip by, intending to fall upon them in the rear as they fled, for he hoped on his own part that by swift sailing he should speedily capture Antony and Cleopatra, and expected that then, when they had made it clear that they were attempting to run away, he could in consequence of their act win over the rest without fighting. He was restrained, however, by Agrippa, who feared that they would be too slow for the fugitives, who were going to use sails, and he was also confident himself that he would conquer without difficulty, because in the meantime a violent rainstorm, accompanied by a mighty wind, had struck Antony's fleet, though not his own, and had thrown it utterly into confusion. Hence he abandoned this plan, and following the plan of Antony, put large numbers of infantry on board his ships also, and placed all his friends in auxiliary boats in order that they might quickly sail here and there, giving the necessary advice to the men in action and reporting to him what he ought to know; then he waited for the enemy to sail out. And when they set sail at the sound of the trumpet, and with their ships in dense array drew up their line a little outside the strait and advanced no further, Caeser set out as if to engage with them, if they stood their ground, or even to make them retire. But when they neither came out against him on their side nor turned to retire, but remained where they were, and not only that, but also vastly increased the density of their line by their close formation, Caesar checked his course, in doubt what to do. He then ordered his sailors to let their oars rest in the water, and waited for a time; after this he suddenly, at a given signal, led forward both his wings and bent his line in the form of a crescent, hoping if possible to surround the enemy, or otherwise to break their formation in any case. Antony, accordingly, fearing this flanking and encircling movement, advanced to meet it as best he could, and thus reluctantly joined battle with Caeser.

So they engaged and began the conflict, each side indulging in a great deal of exhortation to its own men in order to call forth the skill and zeal of the fighters, and also hearing many orders shouted out to them from the men on shore. The struggle was not of a similar nature on the two sides, but Caesar's followers, having smaller and swifter ships, would dash forward and ram the enemy, being armoured on all sides to avoid receiving damage. If they sank a vessel, well and good; if not, they would back water before coming to grips, and would either ram the same vessels suddenly again, or would let those go and turn their attention to others; and having done some damage to these also, so far as they could in a brief time, they would proceed against others and then against still others, in order that their assault upon any vessel might be so far as possible unexpected. For since they dreaded the long-range missiles of the enemy no less than their fighting at close quarters, they wasted no time either in the approach or in the encounter, but runing up suddenly so as to reach their object before the enemy's archers could get in their work, they would inflict injuries or else cause just enough disturbance to escape being held, and then would retire out of range. The enemy, on the other hand, tried to hit the approaching ships with dense showers of stones and arrows, and to cast iron grapnels upon their assailants. And in case they could reach them they got the better of it, but if they missed, their own boats would be pierced and would sink, or else in their endeavour to avoid this calamity they would waste time and lay themselves more open to attack by other ships; for two or three ships would fall at one time upon the same ship, some doing all the damage they could while the others took the brunt of the injuries. On the one side the pilots and the rowers endured the most hardship and fatigue, and on the other side the marines; and the one side resembled cavalry, now making a charge and now retreating, since it was in their power to attack and back off at will, and the others were like heavy-armed troops guarding against the approach of foes and trying their best to hold them. Consequently each gained advantages over the other; the one party would run in upon the lines of oars projecting from the ships and shatter the blades, and the other party, fighting from the higher level, would sink them with stones and engines. On the other hand, there were also disadvantages on each side; the one party could do no damage to the enemy when it approached, and the other party, if in any case it failed to sink a vessel which it rammed, was hemmed in and no longer fought an equal contest.

The battle was indecisive for a long time and neither antagonist could get the upper hand anywhere, but the end came in the following way. Cleopatra, riding at anchor behind the combatants, could not endure the long and anxious waiting until a decision could be reached, but true to her nature as a woman and an Egyptian, she was tortured by the agony of the long suspense and by the constant and fearful expectation of either possible outcome, and so she suddenly turned to flight herself and raised the signal for the others, her own subjects. And thus, when they straightway raised their sails and sped out to sea, since a favouring wind had by chance arisen, Antony thought they were fleeing, not at the bidding of Cleopatra, but through fear because they felt themselves vanquished, and so he followed them. When this took place the rest of the soldiers became both discouraged and confused, and wishing to make their own escape also in some way or another, they proceeded, some to raise their sails and others to throw the towers and the furnishings into the sea, in order to lighten the vessels and make good their escape. While they were occupied in this way their adversaries fell upon them; they had not pursued the fugitives, because they themselves were without sails and were prepared only for a naval battle, and there were many to fight against each ship, both from afar and alongside. Therefore on both sides alike the conflict took on the greatest variety and was waged with the utmost bitterness. For Caesar's men damaged the lower parts of the ships all around, crushed the oars, snapped off the rudders, and climbing on the decks, seized hold of some of the foe and pulled them down, pushed off others, and fought with yet others, since they were now equal to them in numbers; and Antony's men pushed their assailants back with boathooks, cut them down with axes, hurled down upon them stones and heavy missiles made ready for just this purpose, drove back those who tried to climb up, and fought with those who came within reach. An eye-witness of what took place might have compared it, likening small things to great, to walled towns or else islands, many in number and close together, being besieged from the sea. Thus the one party strove to scale the boats as they would the dry land or a fortress, and eagerly brought to bear all the implements that have to do with such an operation, and the others tried to repel them, devising every means that is commonly used in such a case.

As the fight continued equal, Caesar, at a loss what he should do, sent for fire from the camp. Previously he had wished to avoid using it, in order to gain possession of the money; but now that he saw it was impossible for him to win in any other way, he had recourse to this, as the only thing that would assist him. And now another kind of battle was entered upon. The assailants would approach their victims from many directions at once, shoot blazing missiles at them, hurl with their hands torches fastened to javelins and with the aid of engines would throw from a distance pots full of charcoal and pitch. The defenders tried to ward these missiles off one by one, and when some of them got past them and caught the timbers and at once started a great fire, as must be the case in a ship, they used first the drinking water which they carried on board and extinguished some of the conflagrations, and when that was gone they dipped up the sea-water. And if they used great quantities of it at once, they would somehow stop the fire by main force; but they were unable to do this everywhere, for the buckets they had were not numerous nor of large size, and in their confusion they brought them up half full, so that, far from helping the situation at all, they only increased the flames, since salt water poured on a fire in small quantities makes it burn vigorously. So when they found themselves getting the worst of it in this respect also, they heaped on the blaze their thick mantles and the corpses, and for a time these checked the fire and it seemed to abate; but later, especially when the wind raged furiously, the flames flared up more than ever, fed by this very fuel. So long as only a part of a ship was on fire, men would stand by that part and leap into it, hewing away or scattering the timbers; and these detached timbers were hurled by some into the sea and by others against their opponents, in the hope that they, too, might possibly be injured by these missiles. Others would go to the still sound portion of the ship and now more than ever would make use of their grappling-irons and their long spears with the purpose of binding some hostile ship to theirs and crossing over to it, if possible, or, if not, of setting it on fire likewise. But when none of the enemy came near enough, since they were guarding against this very thing, and when the fire spread to the encircling walls and descended into the hold, the most terrible of fates came upon them. Some, and particularly the sailors, perished by the smoke before the flame so much as approached them, while others were roasted in the midst of it as though in ovens. Others were consumed in their armour when it became heated. There were still others, who, before they should suffer such a death, or when they were half-burned, threw off their armour and were wounded by the shots which came from a distance, or again leaped into the sea and were drowned, or were struck by their opponents and sank, or were mangled by sea-monsters. Those alone found a death that was tolerable, considering the sufferings which prevailed, who were killed by their fellows in return for the same service, or else killed themselves, before any such fate could befall them; for they not only had no tortures to endure, but when dead had the burning ships for their funeral pyres.

When Caesar's forces saw the situation, they at first refrained from approaching the enemy, since some of them were still able to defend themselves; but when the fire began to destroy the ships, and the men, far from being able to do any harm to an enemy, could not even help themselves any longer, they eagerly sailed up to them in the hope that they might possibly gain possession of the money, and they endeavoured to extinguish the fire which they themselves had caused. Consequently many of these men also fell victims to the flames and to their own rapacity.

Dio's Roman History. (London: 1917), pp. 501-515.