A HISTORY OF THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE THE RISE OF OCTAVIAN

Rome lost its Republic because the last generation of the Republic's leaders underestimated the intelligence, savvy, and brutality of Caesar's sickly, inexperienced, eighteen-year-old heir, Octavian. Unlike other Romans, Octavian recognized that Caesar had ended the world governed by the Republic's rules and birthed a new one in which the will of powerful individuals determined the direction of the state. The Second Triumvirate was the first step formalizing this new constitutional order.

Edward Watts

THEME: The age of Augustus THEME The Second Triumvirate grew out of the chaotic eighteen months that followed Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March, 44 BC. In the days that followed Caesar's death, Caesar's champions, the consul Mark Antony and the military commander Marcus Lepidus, reached a compromise with his assassins, Brutus and Cassius, that ratified the legality of Caesar's actions as dictator and prevented the punishment of his assassins. Both groups sacrificed some of their credibility in these negotiations. Such compromises were essential steps in rebuilding trust between political adversaries during the centuries when the Roman Republic functioned well, but unlike the senators who negotiated this agreement, Octavian had neither interest in building trust with his uncle's assassins nor faith that the Republic could reward him if he did.…

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Ancient History (Digital) - 1 Issue, AH 50

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