THE PANTHEON/Agrippa & Hadrian Biographies

Agrippa was born in 64–62 BC[1] in an uncertain location. His father was Lucius Vipsanius Agrippa.

He had an elder brother whose name was also Lucius Vipsanius Agrippa, and a sister named Vipsania Polla. The family had not been prominent in Roman public life.

However, Agrippa was about the same age as Octavius (the future emperor 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 another side in the civil wars of the 40s BC, fighting under Cato against Caesar in Africa. When Cato's forces were defeated, Agrippa's brother was taken prisoner but freed after Octavius interceded on his behalf.

It is not known whether Agrippa fought against his brother in Africa, but he probably served in
Caesar's campaign of 46–45 BC against Gnaeus Pompeius, which culminated in the Battle of Munda.

At any rate, Caesar regarded him highly enough to send him with Octavius in 45 BC to study in Apollonia with the Macedonian legions, while Caesar consolidated his power in Rome.

It was in the fourth month of their stay in Apollonia that the news of Julius Caesar's assassination in March 44 BC reached them. Despite the advice of Agrippa and another friend, Quintus Salvidienus Rufus, that he march on Rome with the troops from Macedonia, Octavius decided to sail to Italy with
a small retinue.

After his arrival, he learnt that Caesar had adopted him as his legal heir. (Octavius now took over Caesar's name, but is referred to by modern historians as "Octavian" during this period.)