The Second Triumvirate: Saving Rome… or Tearing It Apart?

The Second Triumvirate: Saving Rome… or Tearing It Apart?

I have been learning about Cleopatra and her era. Yesterday we found out more about Mark Antony, and touched on the Second Triumvirate. So today I want to look more into it.

It began in the aftermath of Julius Caesar’s assassination on the 15th of March 44 BC. His death left a huge vacuum. Rome was unsettled, uncertain, and very tense. Those who had killed him believed they were saving the Republic, but instead they had unleashed complete chaos. Three men wanted to fill the void: Octavian, Caesar’s young adopted heir; Mark Antony, his  general; and Lepidus, a powerful but often overlooked figure. Each of them had something to gain, but also something to fear. None of them could secure power alone.

In 43 BC, they formed what became known as the Second Triumvirate, a legally recognised alliance. It gave them authority to restore order, but what happened was anything but calm. One of their first acts was the proscriptions, which were lists of their enemies, were drawn up. People were hunted down and killed. You can only imagine the fear that must have spread through Rome. Cicero, once a towering voice in Roman politics, was also executed. For the triumvirs, this may have felt necessary, but it came at a cost, even if they tried to justify it.

By 42 BC, their focus changed. They faced the forces of Brutus and Cassius, the men who had taken Caesar’s life. At the Battle of Philippi, the conflict reached its height. The victory of the triumvirs brought a sense of closure, maybe even revenge, but it was also the start of the end of any real hope for the Republic. From this point on, power was no longer shared.

After Philippi, the Roman world was divided between them. Octavian took the west, Antony the east, and Lepidus was gradually pushed aside. Tension started to build, especially between Octavian and Antony. What had started as a partnership was slowly turning into a power struggle. Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra caused even further problems, it influenced his decisions and even how he was viewed in Rome. Octavian though was careful and calculating, and used this to his advantage, he shaped the narrative in Rome, saying he had abandoned them and in turn this strengthened his own position.

But at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Octavian’s forces defeated Antony and Cleopatra. With that victory, Octavian became leader.

Were they really trying to save Rome, or simply to survive it? And at what point did survival turn into the desire for absolute power?

Image info:

Artist: Justus van Egmont

Jan van Leefdael 

Title: The Battle of Actium from a set of The Story of Antony and Cleopatra

Date: designed 1650, woven 1650-1677

Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art