Legio Martia (the Martian Legion)

Reading notes

• Ad Familiares 10.30 §1 the Martian Legion (which I used to command)

  The Legio Martia, one of two legions that deserted Antony for the Republican side in late 44 BC; it formed the shock element of the consular army and bore the brunt of the fighting at Forum Gallorum.

• Ad Familiares 11.7 §2 the Martian Legion, the Fourth Legion, which judged their own consul a public enemy

  Two veteran legions that defected from the consul Antony to Octavian and the Republic in late 44 BC. Their "own consul" declared a public enemy (hostis) is Mark Antony, consul of 44.

• Ad Familiares 11.19 §1 the Fourth and the Martian legions

  Two veteran legions that deserted Antony for the Republican cause in late 44 BC; their reassignment away from Decimus Brutus left him, as he complains here, with only raw recruits.

• Tenth Philippic §21 the Martian legion broke his fury, the Fourth crushed it

  The Martian and the Fourth legions deserted Antony for Octavian in late 44 BC, a turning point Cicero often celebrates. Their defection forced Antony north into Cisalpine Gaul.

• Twelfth Philippic §8 That very Martian legion, heavenly and divine

  The Legio Martia, a legion that deserted Antony for the Senate in 44 BC; with the Fourth it was a mainstay of the war effort, and Cicero fears talk of peace will sap its zeal.

• Thirteenth Philippic §18 the chosen centurions of the Martian legion

  The Legio Martia deserted Antony for Octavian in late 44 BC; Cicero says Antony massacred its loyal centurions at Brundisium. The legion's stand and later sacrifice at Mutina are honoured in the Fourteenth Philippic.

• Philippica XIV §31 for the soldiers of the Martian legion

  Cicero moves that a monument be raised to the fallen of the Legio Martia, the first to break from Antony, which held Alba Fucens and joined Octavian; a few of its men died in the moment of victory at Mutina.

• Third Philippic §5 the Martian Legion

  The Legio Martia, one of Antony's legions that defected to Octavian in late 44 BC and encamped at Alba; Cicero holds it up as a model of devotion to the commonwealth.

• Fourth Philippic §5 Martian Legion

  The Legio Martia, one of the legions Antony had brought from Macedonia; it defected to Octavian in November 44 BC. Cicero plays on its name, derived from Mars, the god from whom the Roman people were held to descend.

• Fifth Philippic §4 Martian Legion

  The Legio Martia and the Fourth Legion both deserted Antony for Octavian in late 44 BC. Their defection is the military turning-point Cicero repeatedly celebrates.