Later at Philippi he led the cavalry charge
which broke through the triumvirate line and captured Octavius' camp.
That was the famous first battle of Philippi, prematurely reported in
Italy as a decisive victory for the Republican cause. Three weeks later
the forces clashed again and the triumvirs won a complete victory.
Messalla, who had been chosen commander by the defeated remnant,
recognized the hopelessness of his position and surrendered to the
victors.
Vergil's ninth _Catalepton_ seems to have been written as a paean in
honor of Messalla on receipt of the first incomplete report. The poem
does not by any means imply that Vergil favored Brutus and Cassius or
felt any ill-will towards Octavian. Vergil's regard for Messalla
was clearly a personal matter, and of such a nature that political
differences played no part in it. The poet's complete silence in the
poem about Brutus and Cassius indicates that it is not to any extent the
_cause_ which interests him. Nor can a eulogy of a young republican at
this time be considered as implying any ill-will toward Octavian, to whom
Vergil was always devoted. At this early day Antony was still looked upon
as the dominating person in the triumvirate, and for him Vergil had no
love whatever.
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