Editing Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (section)

==Early life, family, and early career==

=== Early life and family ===
Agrippa was born {{circa|63&nbsp;BC}},<ref name="Birth">{{Cite book|last=Reinhold|first=Meyer|title=Marcus Agrippa: A Biography|publisher=The W.F. Humphrey Press|year=1933|location=New York|pages=1}} Based on primary sources regarding his death, scholars have agreed upon the year of Agrippa's birth to have occurred during the consulship of M. Tullius Cicero, in 63 BC, the same year [[Augustus|Octavian]] was born.</ref><ref>[[Cassius Dio|Dio]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/54*.html#28.3 54.28.3] places Agrippa's death in late March 12 BC, while [[Pliny the Elder]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/7*.html#46 7.46] states that he died "in his fifty-first year". Depending on whether Pliny meant that Agrippa was aged 50 or 51 at his death, this gives a date of birth between March 64 and March 62. A calendar from [[Cyprus]] or [[History of Syria|Syria]] includes a month named after Agrippa beginning on November 1, which may reflect the month of his birth. See Reinhold, pp. 2–4; Roddaz, pp. 23–26.</ref> in an uncertain location.<ref name="Reinhold, p. 9; Roddaz, p. 23"/> His father was called [[Lucius Vipsanius (father of Agrippa)|Lucius Vipsanius]].<ref>cf Pantheon inscription "M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT" [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Pantheon.html].</ref> His mother's name is not known and [[Pliny the Elder]] claimed that his [[cognomen]] "[[Agrippa (cognomen)|Agrippa]]" derived from him having been [[breech birth|born breech]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=Marcus Agrippa: A Biography |last=Reinhold |first=Meyer |publisher=L'Erma di Bretschneider |year=1965 |pages=10 |edition=new}}</ref> so it is possible that she died in childbirth.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The First Emperor: Caesar Augustus and the Triumph of Rome |last=Everitt |first=Anthony |publisher=John Murray |year=2006 |isbn=9780719554940 |pages=19 |edition=illustrated}}</ref> Pliny also stated that he suffered from lameness as a child.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Emperor Nero: A Guide to the Ancient Sources |last1=Barrett |first1=Anthony A. |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2016 |isbn=9780691156514 |pages=5 |last2=Fantham |first2=Elaine |author2-link=Elaine Fantham |last3=Yardley |first3=John C.}}</ref> He had an elder brother whose name was also [[Lucius Vipsanius (brother of Agrippa)|Lucius Vipsanius]], and a sister named [[Vipsania Polla]]. His family originated in the Italian countryside, and was of humbler and plebeian origins when compared to the highest families of the Roman aristocracy. They had not been prominent in Roman public life (but were nevertheless massively wealthy if compared to the average Roman family).<ref>[[Marcus Velleius Paterculus|Velleius Paterculus]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/2D*.html#96 2.96], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/2D*.html#127 127].</ref> According to some scholars, including [[Victor Gardthausen]], [[R. E. A. Palmer]], and [[David Ridgway (scholar)|David Ridgway]], Agrippa's family was originally from [[Pisa]] in [[Etruria]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=John Franklin |year=1996 |title=Etruscan Italy: Etruscan Influences on the Civilizations of Italy from Antiquity to the Modern Era |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/etruscanitaly00john/page/188 188] |isbn=978-0842523349 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/etruscanitaly00john/page/188 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ridgway |first1=David |year=2002 |title=The World of the Early Etruscans |location= Stockholm |publisher=Paul Astrèoms Fèorlag |page=37 |isbn=9789170811890 }}</ref>

Agrippa's family most likely gained [[Roman citizenship]] after the [[Social War (91–87 BC)|Social War]] in 87 BC and, like many other Italians, immigrated to Rome to take advantage of the social mobility opportunities that arose at the war's end.<ref name=filiation>{{Cite book |title= Marcus Agrippa [monographie]|last=Roddaz |first=Jean-Michel |series=Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome |publisher=[[Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome]] |year=1984 |volume=253 |isbn=2-7283-0069-0|pages=22 |doi=10.3406/befar.1984.1220 |language=French |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/befar_0257-4101_1984_mon_253_1|via=[[Persée (web portal)|Persée.fr]]}} {{Listed Invalid ISBN|2-7283-0000-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title= Marcus Agrippa [monographie]|last=Roddaz |first=Jean-Michel |series=Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome |publisher=Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome |year=1984 |volume=253 |isbn=2-7283-0069-0|pages=23 |doi=10.3406/befar.1984.1220 |language=French |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/befar_0257-4101_1984_mon_253_1|via=Persée.fr}} {{Listed Invalid ISBN|2-7283-0000-0}} </ref><ref name=grand>{{Cite book|title=Marcus Agrippa: A Biography|last=Reinhold|first=Meyer|publisher=W.F. Humphrey Press|year=1933|isbn=|pages=7}}</ref>

=== Early career ===
Agrippa was the same age as Octavian (later [[Augustus]]), and the two were educated together and became close friends. Despite Agrippa's association with the family of [[Julius Caesar]], his elder brother chose the opposing side in the [[Caesar's civil war|civil wars]] of the 40s BC, fighting under [[Cato the Younger|Cato]] against Caesar [[Battle of Thapsus|in Africa]]. When Cato's forces were defeated, Agrippa's brother was taken prisoner but freed after Octavian interceded on his behalf.<ref>[[Nicolaus of Damascus]], ''[http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/nicolaus.html Life of Augustus]'' 7.</ref>

It is not known whether Agrippa fought against his brother in Africa, but he probably served in Caesar's campaign of 46 to 45 BC against [[Gnaeus Pompeius (son of Pompey the Great)|Gnaeus Pompeius]], which culminated in the [[Battle of Munda]].<ref>Reinhold, pp. 13–14.</ref> Caesar regarded him highly enough to send him with Octavian in 45 BC to study in [[Apollonia, Illyria|Apollonia]] (on the [[Illyria]]n coast) with the [[Macedonians (Greeks)|Macedonian]] [[Roman legion|legions]], while Caesar consolidated his power in Rome.<ref>[[Suetonius]], ''[[Lives of the Twelve Caesars#Life of Augustus|Life of Augustus]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#94.12 94.12].</ref> In the fourth month of their stay in Apollonia the news of Julius Caesar's assassination in March 44 BC reached them. Agrippa and another friend, [[Quintus Salvidienus Rufus]], advised Octavian to march on Rome with the troops from Macedonia, but Octavian decided to sail to Italy with a small retinue. After his arrival, he learned that Caesar had adopted him as his legal heir.<ref>Nicolaus of Damascus, ''[http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/nicolaus.html Life of Augustus]'' 16–17; Velleius Paterculus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/2C*.html#59.5 2.59.5].</ref>