See also the Second Triumvirate (Argentina)

Second Triumvirate (Argentina)

The Second Triumvirate was the governing body of the United Provinces of the Río 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 Octavius (later known as Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...

, 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 legalized the Second Triumvirate of Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus...

, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

. 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 was the political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Unlike the Second Triumvirate, the First Triumvirate had no official status whatsoever; its overwhelming power in the Roman Republic was strictly unofficial influence, and...

, 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 is a Latin word which, in a broad sense, translates roughly as 'power to command'. In ancient Rome, different kinds of power or authority were distinguished by different terms. Imperium, referred to the sovereignty of the state over the individual...

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 Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

s.

History

Octavian, despite his youth, had extorted from the Senate and became presdient of the post of suffect consul (consul suffectus) for 43 BC. He had been warring with Antony and Lepidus in upper Italia

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. In October 43 they agreed to unite and seize power; they met near Bononia (now Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

).

The Triumvirate

Triumvirate

A triumvirate is a political regime dominated by three powerful individuals, each a triumvir . 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 period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 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

In the Roman Republic, the dictator , was an extraordinary magistrate with the absolute authority to perform tasks beyond the authority of the ordinary magistrate . The office of dictator was a legal innovation originally named Magister Populi , i.e...

 of Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of 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....

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 was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual 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).

In order to refill the treasury, the Triumvirs decided to resort to proscription

Proscription

Proscription is a term used for the public identification and official condemnation of enemies 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...

. 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; nor did the proscription of Marcus Favonius

Marcus Favonius

Marcus Favonius was a Roman politician during the period of the fall of the Roman Republic. He is noted for his imitation of Cato the Younger, his espousal of the Cynic philosophy, and for his appearance as the Poet in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar.-Life:Favonius was born in around 90...

, a follower of Cato

Cato the Younger

Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis , commonly known as Cato the Younger to distinguish him from his great-grandfather , was a politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a follower of the Stoic philosophy...

 and a constant opponent of both triumvirates; 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 senatorial 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 into a family of the equestrian order, as the son of a wealthy landowner in Arpinum, some 100 kilometres south-east of Rome.- Biography :Cicero's well-to-do father...

 (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 IV

Lucius Julius Caesar IV was the son of the consul of 90 BC, Lucius Julius Caesar III. He was the father of another Lucius Julius Caesar, the brother of Julia Antonia, and the uncle of the Brothers Antonii, Marcus, Gaius, and Lucius...

, 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 legate of Julius Caesar's starting around 54 BC and served as an envoy to Pompey in 50. During the Roman Civil Wars he served in Spain, he might have been a tribune in 48, and...

 and Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus

Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus

Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus was consul of the Roman Republic in 43 BC. Although supporting Gaius Julius Caesar during the Civil War, he pushed for the restoration of the Republic upon Caesar’s death...

, 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

Marcus Junius Brutus , often referred to as Brutus, was a politician of the late Roman Republic. After being adopted by his uncle he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, but eventually returned to using his original name...

 and Gaius Cassius Longinus

Gaius Cassius Longinus

Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:...

 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 defeated Andriscus of Macedon, the last Ancient King of Macedon in 148 BC, and after the four client republics established by Rome in the region were dissolved...

, Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

, 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. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...

. In 42 BC, Octavian and Antony set out to war, defeating Brutus and Cassius in two battles fought at Philippi

Battle of Philippi

The Battle of Philippi was the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian and the forces of Julius Caesar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC, at Philippi in Macedonia...

.

After the Battle, the Triumvirs 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 originally a title roughly equivalent to commander under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as part of their cognomen. The English word emperor derives from imperator via Old French Empreur...

 Caesar" — took control of the West, Antony of the East, and Lepidus of Hispania and Africa. This pact was enacted by the Treaty of Brundisium (Brundisium Agreement) in September 40 BC.

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 Roman general from the late 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 defense 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 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 College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. 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 the Younger , also known as Octavia Minor or simply Octavia, was the sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus , half-sister of Octavia the Elder, 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 by 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

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 with Cleopatra VII of Egypt

Cleopatra VII of Egypt

Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great's death during the Hellenistic period...

, even siring children with her. A master of propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

, 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 is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 for burial. Rome was outraged, and the Senate declared war against Cleopatra, an important distinction because Octavian did not want the Roman people to consider it a civil 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 decisive confrontation of the Final War of the Roman Republic. It was fought between the forces of Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC, on the Ionian Sea near the city of Actium, at the Roman...

 in Greece in September 31 BC, chasing them to Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 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. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

). 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 Octavian as well as an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets...

. With the complete defeat of Antony and the marginalisation of Lepidus, Octavian, having restyled himself "Augustus", was left sole master of the Roman world, and proceeded to establish the Principate

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

as the first Roman "emperor".