Second Triumvirate

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Second Triumvirate

See also the Second Triumvirate (Argentina)
Second Triumvirate (Argentina)

The Second Triumvirate was the governing body of the United Provinces of the R?o de la Plata that followed the First Triumvirate in 1812, shortly after the May Revolution, and lasted 2 years....
which held power in 1812.

The Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Marc Antony, was a Roman Republic politician and General. He was an important supporter and the best friend of Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, being Caesar's second cousin, once removed, by his mother Julia Antonia....
, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia
Lex Titia

The Lex Titia was a Roman law passed on November 27, 43 BC, that granted triumvirates the right to rule for a period of five years. It is commonly known as the law that formalized and legalized the second triumvirate of Augustus, Mark Antony and Lepidus ....
, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
. The Triumvirate existed for two five-year terms, covering the period 43 BC – 33 BC.

Unlike the earlier First Triumvirate

First Triumvirate

The First Triumvirate is a term used by some historians to refer to the unofficial Rome political alliance of Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Pompey....
, the Second Triumvirate was an official, legally established institution, whose overwhelming power in the Roman state was given full legal sanction and whose imperium maius
Imperium

Imperium in a broad sense translates as 'Power '. In ancient Rome the concept applied to people and meant something like 'power status' or 'authority' or could be used with a geographical connotation and meant something like 'territory'....
outranked that of all other magistrates, including the consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
s.

Triumvirate
Triumvirate

The term triumvirate is commonly used to describe a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals. The arrangement can be formal or informal, and though the three are usually equal on paper, in reality this is rarely the case....
was legally established in 43 BC as the Triumviri Rei Publicae Constituendae Consulari Potestate ("Triumvirs for Confirming the Republic

Roman Republic

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The Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later known as Augustus), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Roman Republic

First Triumvirate

Consul

History

The Triumvirate
Triumvirate

The term triumvirate is commonly used to describe a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals. The arrangement can be formal or informal, and though the three are usually equal on paper, in reality this is rarely the case....
was legally established in 43 BC as the Triumviri Rei Publicae Constituendae Consulari Potestate ("Triumvirs for Confirming the Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
with Consular Power", invariably abbreviated as "III VIR RPC"). It possessed supreme political authority. The only other office which had ever been qualified "for confirming the Republic" was the dictatorship

Roman dictator

Dictator was a political office of the Roman Republic. The dictator was above the three branches of government in the constitution of the Roman Republic as no other body or officer could check his power....
of Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , or simply Sulla, was a Roman general and politician, holding the office of consul twice as well as the Roman dictator....
. The only limit on the powers of the Triumvirate was the five-year term set by law.

A historical oddity of the Triumvirate is that it was, in effect. a three-man directorate with dictatorial powers which included Antony, who as consul in 44 BC had obtained a lex Antonia
Lex Antonia

Lex Antonia was a law established in ancient Rome in 44 BC.It was proposed by Mark Antony and passed by the Roman Senate, following the assassination of Julius Caesar....
which had abolished the dictatorship and expunged it from the Republic's constitutions. As had been the case with both Sulla and Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
during their dictatorships, the members of the Triumvirate saw no contradiction between holding a supraconsular office and the consulate itself simultaneously (Lepidus was consul in 42 BC, Antony in 34 BC, and Octavian in 33 BC).

Octavian, who, despite his youth had extorted his way to having been named suffect consul (consul suffectus) for 43 BC, had been warring with Antony and Lepidus in upper Italia

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
when they met near Bononia (now Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Po Valley , between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, exactly between the Reno River and the S?vena River....
) in October that year and agreed to unite and seize power. In order to refill the treasury, the Triumvirs decided to resort to proscription

Proscription

Proscription is the public identification and official condemnation of enemy of the state. It is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a "decree of condemnation to death or banishment" and is a heavily politically-charged word frequently used to refer to state-approved murder or persecution....
. As all three had been partisans of Caesar, their choices of targets were somewhat peculiar. The most notable victim, Marcus Tullius Cicero, who had opposed Caesar and excoriated Antony in his Philippics, came as no surprise, but the proscription of Caesar's legate

Legatus

A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of Roman senate rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes....
Quintus Tullius Cicero

Quintus Tullius Cicero

Quintus Tullius Cicero was the younger brother of the celebrated orator, philosopher and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero. He was born in 102 BC into a family of the equestrian order, as the eldest son of a wealthy landowner in Arpino, some 100 kilometres south-east of Rome....
(Marcus Tullius Cicero's younger brother) seems to be motivated by pure spite. Perhaps the most shocking proscription was that of Caesar's legate Lucius Iulius Caesar

Lucius Julius Caesar

In Ancient Rome, several men of the Julii Caesares family were named Lucius Julius Caesar. Distinct by their praenomen, "Lucius", none of these members of the Julii Caesares family can be confused with their distant relative and much more famous Julius Caesar, the Roman who conquered Gaul, became dictator for life, and then was murdered by Ro...
, Caesar's first cousin once removed (and Antony's uncle) and one of Caesar's closest friends.

Octavian's colleague in the consulate that year, his cousin and nephew of Caesar, Quintus Pedius, died before the proscriptions got underway. Octavian himself resigned shortly after, allowing the appointment of a second pair of suffect consuls (the original consuls for the year, Caesar's legate Aulus Hirtius

Aulus Hirtius

Aulus Hirtius was one of the consuls of the Roman Republic and a writer on military subjects.He was known to have been a Legatus of Caesar's since about 54 BC, and served as an envoy to Pompey in 50....
and Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus

Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus

Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus , consul of the Roman Republic in 43 BC. He supported Julius Caesar in the Caesar's civil war.Tribune in 51 BC, during the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, he joined the cause of the Caesarians....
, had died fighting on the Senate's side of the first civil war to follow Caesar's death, that between the Senate and Mark Antony himself). This became a broad pattern of the Triumvirate's two terms; during the ten years of the Triumvirate (43 BC – 33 BC), there were 42 consuls in office, rather than the expected 20.

The Caesarean background of the Triumvirs made it no surprise that immediately after the conclusion of the first civil war of the post-Caesar period, they immediately set about prosecuting a second: Caesar's murderers Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus

File:Portrait Brutus Massimo.jpgMarcus Junius Brutus or Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman Senate of the late Roman Republic....
and Gaius Cassius Longinus

Gaius Cassius Longinus

For other individuals with a similar name, see Cassius Longinus.Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman Republic Roman Senate, the prime mover in the conspiracy against Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus....
had usurped control of most of the Eastern provinces, including Macedonia

Macedonia (Roman province)

The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC, after the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus defeated Andriscus of Macedon in 148 BC, and after the four client republics established by Rome in the region were dissolved....
, Asia Minor, and Syria

Syria (Roman province)

Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War....
. In 42 BC, Octavian and Antony set out to war, defeating Brutus and Cassius in two battles fought at Philippi

Philippi

Philippi was a city in eastern Macedonia , in northern ancient Greece, founded by Philip II of Macedon in 356 BC and abandoned in the 14th century after the Ottoman Empire conquest....
.

In October 40 BC, the Triumvir agreed to divide the provinces of the Republic into spheres of influence. Octavian — who had begun calling himself "Divi filius" ("son of the divinity") after Caesar's deification as Divus Iulius ("the Divine Julius") and now styled himself simply "Imperator

Imperator

The Latin word Imperator was a title originally roughly equivalent to commander during the period of the Roman Republic. It later went on to become a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as part of their cognomen....
Caesar" — took control of the West, Antony of the East, and Lepidus of Africa. This pact is known as the Treaty of Brundisium (Brundisium Agreement).

While Antony cemented his hold in the East and reformed the provincial administration (like Sulla's provincial reforms, Caesar's had been quietly ignored after his death), Octavian tightened his grip on the West and nominally oversaw a campaign against the pirate commander Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius

Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius, in English Sextus Pompey , was a Ancient Rome general from the late Roman Republic . He was the last focus of opposition to the Second Triumvirate....
(the campaign was actually commanded by Octavian's lieutenant, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman statesman and general. He was a close friend, son-in-law, lieutenant and minister to Octavian, the future emperor Caesar Augustus....
), which culminated in victory in 36 BC. Agrippa had been consul in 37 BC and had secured the Triumvirate's renewal for a second five-year term.

Like the First Triumvirate, the Second Triumvirate was ultimately unstable and could not withstand internal jealousies and ambitions. Antony cordially detested Octavian and spent most of his time in the East, while Lepidus favoured Antony but felt himself obscured by both his colleagues, despite having succeeded Caesar as Pontifex Maximus

Pontifex Maximus

The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the Ancient Rome College of Pontiffs. This was the most important position in the Ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post....
in 43 BC. Consequently, Lepidus cooperated in Octavian's campaign against Pompeius (son of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) but foolishly attempted to seize control of Octavian's victorious legions. Octavian unilaterally expelled Lepidus from the Triumvirate, but allowed him to retain his Pontificate.

War between Octavian and Antony

Despite having married Octavia

Octavia Minor

Octavia Minor , also known as Octavia the Younger or simply Octavia, was the sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus , half sister of Octavia Major, and fourth wife of Mark Antony....
, Octavian's sister, in 40 BC (Octavian had married Antony's stepdaughter Clodia Pulchra

Clodia Pulchra

Clodia Pulchra, also known as Claudia was the daughter of Fulvia and her first husband Publius Clodius Pulcher. She was the stepdaughter of Mark Antony and half sister of Marcus Antonius Antyllus and Iullus Antonius....
three years earlier), Antony openly lived in Alexandria

Alexandria

Cleopatra VII of Egypt

Cleopatra VII Philopator was a Hellenistic ruler of Egypt, originally sharing power with her father Ptolemy XII Auletes and later with her brothers/husbands Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV; eventually gaining sole rule of Egypt....
, even bearing children with her. A master of propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to Objectivity providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience....
, Octavian turned public opinion against his colleague. When the Triumvirate's second term expired in 33 BC, Antony continued to use the title Triumvir; Octavian, opting to distance himself from Antony, refrained from using it. Octavian illegally obtained Antony's will in July 32 BC, and exposed it to the Roman public: it promised substantial legacies to Antony's children by Cleopatra, and instructed that his body should be shipped to Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports....
for burial. Rome was outraged, and the Senate declared war.

Octavian's forces decisively defeated those of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium

Battle of Actium

The Battle of Actium was the final engagement in the Final War of the Roman Republic. It was fought between the forces of Augustus and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII....
in Greece in September 31 BC, chasing them to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
in 30 BC. Both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide in Alexandria, and Octavian personally took control of Egypt and Alexandria (Egyptian chronologies consider Octavian as Cleopatra's successor as Pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
). A conspiracy organised by Lepidus's son

Lepidus the Younger

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the Younger or Marcus Aemilius Lepidus Minor , was the only child of triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus . Lepidus' mother was Junia Secunda, a sister to politician Marcus Junius Brutus....
was crushed by Octavian's ally Gaius Maecenas

Gaius Maecenas

Gaius Cilnius Maecenas was a confidant and political advisor to Augustus as well as an important patron for the new generation of 'Augustan' poets....
. With the complete defeat of Antony and the marginalisation of Lepidus, Augustus was left sole master of the Roman world, and proceeded to establish the Principate

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
as the first Roman "emperor".