Julius Caesar : Epilogue (43 - 31 BCE)
From History of the Hellenistic and Roman World
Caesar's death paralyzed Rome. All the assassins were insignificant men, whose lives only had meaning while Caesar lived and used them. Only now, with the deed done, did they experience their own lack of ability. Neither the unpopular Cassius or the fanatic Brutus possessed the talents required to bring about reforms or forge a new leadership in Rome. The murderers had been naive in hoping that the leadership of the Senate would be restored, but both it and the Public Assemblies acted like sheep in the times to come.
There could be no peace while there were ambitious men willing to employ armed force to reach their political goals. Using Caesar's will, Marcus Antonius inflamed the Roman populace against the assassins. The houses of Brutus and Cassius were burnt, and the murderers fled from the city. Antony was supported by another of Caesar's commanders, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Pursuing the assassins to Modena, Antony defeated them and looked set to make himself undisputed master of Rome.
There was only one small problem. In his will, Caesar had left three quarters of his estate to the eighteen year old Gaius Octavius, son of his niece Atia. The youth had been sent to Greece to serve with the Legions in the imminent war against Parthia, and now returned at the head of Caesar's veteran legions to claim his inheritance. Suddenly, the Caesarian party found itself divided.
Cicero was quick to utilize the possibilities and began a series of orations against Antony known as the "Philippics". Because Antony treated Octavian like a child, relations between the two grew increasingly tense. Eventually, a new civil war began between Octavian and the Senate on the one hand and Marcus Antonius and Lepidus on the other.
Antony and Lepidus were defeated and fled to Gaul and Spain, and the Republicans seemed to be firm in the saddle. Brutus and Cassius had consolidated themselves in the east, and the Senate controlled Italy and Africa. Ignoring Octavian, it then proceeded to dole out commands and titles as it had always done.
But Octavian had no intention of being ignored, and was determined that Caesar's murderers should pay for their crime. Occupying the city with his legions, he forced the senate to elect him sole consul. But Octavian did not become over-confident and to strengthen his position made peace with Antony and Lepidus. This new alliance was the second triumvirate.
The result was a veritable blood bath. Where Caesar's clementia had failed, Octavian and Antony imitated Sulla by proscribing their foes, and 2,500 noble Romans, including Cicero himself, were murdered. They then turned their arms against the assassins, meeting and defeating them in 42 at Phillipi. Within 3 years, all who had participated in, or had any connection to the conspiracy were violently dead.
But Rome was to be racked by eleven more years of civil war. Octavian nosed Lepidus from power, and with the help of his friend Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, defeated Sextius Pompeius at sea. Finally, in 31 BC, he and Agrippa destroyed Antony and Cleopatra's fleet at Actium. Antony and the Queen committed suicide, and her son Ptolemy Caesarion, said to be remarkably like his father in looks, was murdered on Octavians's order. Having rid himself of all rivals, Octavian continued the work begun by his beloved adoptive father, and when Caesar was deified, called himself "Son of God"; Caesar divi filius. He was also wise enough to avoid the mistakes commited by Caesar.
As a statesman and politician, he surpassed Caesar. Whereas Caesar had been decades ahead of his time, Octavian worked within the Constitution to fulfil his adoptive father's task. In his time, Caesar had laid bare the weaknesses of the Roman Republic, and marked out the times to come. Octavian's remedies were so thorough that, at his own death, fifty eight years after Caesar's, the republic was nothing but a memory.
