• General Notes

  [SUSANNA KEENE.FTW]
  
  Suicide.
  
  
  
  Mark Antony (who had long been Caesar's right-hand man and was
  consul along with Caesar in 44) soon took charge of matters,
  leaving Lepidus to depart for Gaul.  Antony was in nominal
  control of state affairs, but virtually everyone was on
  eggshells. Antony wielded a good deal of power as consul and as
  Caesar's second in command, but enjoyed little personal
  authority and dared not assert himself too strongly, lest he
  meet a fate similar to that of Caesar. The Senate, on the other
  hand, was concerned about popular reaction to Caesar's death,
  particularly on the part of Caesar's veterans. Most
  importantly, the official constitutional machinery, although it
  had continued to operate during the turbulent years 49-44, had
  been a virtual dead letter under Caesar's rule: his death
  created a vacuum in which no one quite knew how to behave. An
  uneasy truce was arrived at. An official amnesty was granted to
  the conspirators, but Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral --
  along with the generous gifts to the plebs included in the
  terms of Caesar's will -- so stirred the urban mob that a riot
  ensued and the conspirators fled Rome in fear
  for their safety. [Caesar's funeral is the occasion for the
  famous speech in Shakespeare's play: "I have come to bury
  Caesar, not to praise him...."] Antony then quickly retrieved
  Caesar's private papers from his widow and employed them to
  govern in Caesar's name, claiming to find there Caesar's plans
  for Rome's future. This charade soon wore thin with the Senate,
  all the more so due to Antony's high-handed manner and his
  wanton extravagance.
  
  Octavian and Antony. When Caesar's will was read, however,
  Antony received a nasty shock. In it Caesar named as his chief
  heir a virtual unknown by the name of *C. Octavius, adopting
  him (posthumously) as his son. Octavius was Caesar's
  grand-nephew on his sister's side, a rather sickly 18-year-old
  with only limited political and military experience. Upon his
  adoption, Octavius became *C. Julius Caesar Octavianus (or, in
  English, simply Octavian). Antony might well have expected
  little trouble in dealing with a youth of so little experience,
  few political connections, and virtually no personal authority.
  Unfortunately, Antony failed to recognize that in Octavian he
  was dealing with a
  natural born politician. Octavian never was an imposing figure
  physically, and he owed his military victories largely to the
  skill of his able lieutenants. In the political realm, however,
  he was without peer, rising from a virtual unknown in 44 B.C.
  to become the first of the Julio-Claudian emperors by 27 AD.
  Tensions immediately arose between Octavian and Antony, as each
  vied for the right to employ Caesar's substantial financial
  resources, to call upon the loyalty of his troops, and, above
  all, to invoke the authority of Caesar's name. On the one hand
  was Antony, Caesar's second in command who had served him so
  ably since the 50s, who had been named magister equitum under
  Caesar, and who had been appointed priest (flamen) in Caesar's
  honor; on the other was Octavian, who could claim to be
  Caesar's son and heir. Tensions between the two soon reached
  the boiling point, only to be checked by senior officers in
  command of Caesar's troops, who were united by their common
  loyalty to the dead Caesar and were unwilling to fight against
  one another in the name of Caesar's bickering heirs. By the
  middle of 44 B.C. an uneasy truce was established between
  Antony, Octavian, the Senate, and those involved in Caesar's
  assassination.
  
  Unfortunately Antony, while an able commander, was no Caesar
  when it came to the delicate art of politics. In 44-43 he soon
  alienated virtually all of the other factions listed above,
  uniting them against him. He began by foolishly attacking the
  orator and statesman Cicero, a leader of the senatorial faction
  (the optimates). These personal attacks led Cicero to denounce
  Antony in a series of damning speeches, known as the
  *Philippics.
  
  Not content with alienating Cicero and the Senate, Antony
  renewed his attacks against Octavian, charging him with plots
  against his (Antony's) life. Octavian saw that his position in
  Rome was far from secure and withdrew to central Italy, where
  he began to raise troops on his authority as Caesar's son and
  heir.
  
  At the end of 44, Antony stepped over the line altogether. As
  consul in 44 he had been assigned the province of Macedonia for
  43. Antony realized, however, that departing from Rome at this
  particular juncture would be political suicide and so passed a
  law that awarded him a five-year command in Cisalpine Gaul and
  Gallia Comata (Gaul proper) instead.
  
  This would allow him to keep tabs on affairs in Rome and had
  the added advantage of providing him with an army camped just
  north of Italy. (Clearly Antony had the precedent of Caesar's
  own career in mind.) The threat now posed by Octavian led
  Antony to speed up his plans: he decided to proceed
  to Cisalpine Gaul and assume command of his new provinces
  early. At this point the Senate was still unwilling to defy
  Antony too openly, but it did direct the current governor of
  Cisalpine Gaul, D. Junius Brutus Albinus (who had been involved
  in the conspiracy against Caesar), to maintain his position.
  When matters reached a crisis the Senate, at Cicero's urging,
  turned to Octavian for help. Octavian had his own forces; more
  importantly, he could invoke the name of Caesar, thus
  undercutting Antony's claims to represent Caesar's legacy.
  Cicero hoped that the young Octavian would be malleable -- a
  tool that the Senate could employ and then discard at its will.
  The plan was to have Octavian support the consuls for 43 (A.
  Hirtius and C. Vibius Pansa) in driving Antony off, then to
  have Octavian surrender his troops to Brutus, the lawful
  governor of the region. The first part of the plan worked:
  Antony was compelled to retire further into Gaul, where he
  joined up with Lepidus (see above). Unfortunately for Cicero
  and the Senate, however, Octavian was neither
  malleable nor stupid. He realized that, were he to surrender
  his troops to Brutus, he would not only lose an important
  bargaining chip but, given Brutus' association with Caesar's
  murder, would fatally undermine his claims to be Caesar's loyal
  son. As it happened, through one of those twists of fate
  that seem to occur so often in Roman history, the two consuls
  Hirtius and Pansa had been killed in the battle against Antony:
  Octavian saw a vacuum and marched south with his forces,
  determined to fill it. Confronted with Octavian's troops, the
  Senate was compelled to allow him to run for the office
  of consul, to which he was duly elected for the year 42. His
  adoption by Caesar was officially ratified and Caesar's
  assassins outlawed: thus Octavian could assume the role of the
  loyal son attempting to avenge his father's murder and continue
  his father's work in "reforming" the state. (The leaders of the
  opposition to Caesar, M. Junius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus,
  had already fled to the East, planning, like Pompey earlier, to
  raise troops and challenge Antony and Octavian.)
  
  The Second Triumvirate. Suddenly Octavian was no longer a
  youthful outsider but a major force  with which to reckon. He
  realized, however, that his own position vis a vis the Senate
  was far from secure and decided to make common cause with his
  former enemy, Antony. Thus, in 43, Octavian,
  Antony, and Lepidus were officially appointed as a panel of
  three (a triumvirate) to govern Rome with consular authority
  for a period of five years for the purpose of restoring
  constitutional order.  This alliance is known as the *Second
  Triumvirate. Through a curious twist of fate, Caesar -- who
  originally had been viewed as a dangerous, power-seeking
  popularis and a traitor -- now became the beloved leader whose
  legacy was being threatened and in whose name Octavian, Antony,
  and Lepidus must seize control of state affairs.
  
  Despite its official standing, the Second Triumvirate was in
  reality a military junta. Following the precedent of Sulla, its
  first order of business was to pay back its political enemies
  and raise some much-needed cash (necessary if the junta's
  troops were to be kept happy). Proscriptions were held in which
  some 300 senators and 2000 equites were dispatched, as much for
  their property as for their political sympathies. The most
  famous victim was Cicero, whose head and hands were cut off and
  hung from the speaker's platform (the Rostra) in the forum.
  [The Triumvirate also raised taxes, aiming first (as was the
  Romans' wont) at wealthy and "extravagant" women. This policy
  led to a woman named Hortensia presenting a public speech in
  the forum in which, we are told, she sounded the now familiar
  theme of no taxation without representation (i.e., without
  granting women the franchise).]
  
  The next order of business, once matters had been settled in
  Rome, was to deal with the forces of Brutus and Cassius in the
  East. The official line was that these forces were traitors to
  Rome, led by Caesar's assassins. Viewed objectively, however,
  they represented one of the last hopes of the Roman Republic,
  fighting a cause that was utterly unrealistic -- the days when
  the traditional constitutional machinery could cope with the
  economic, social, and political realities in Rome were long
  past -- but noble nonetheless. The final confrontation occurred
  in 42 at *Philippi in Macedonia (see Map 3 in Dudley), where
  Brutus' and Cassius' forces were quickly defeated in a series
  of
  battles by the combined forces of Antony and Octavian. The
  victory led to an immediate rise in Antony's fortunes: never
  much of a general, Octavian had presented a poor showing at
  Philippi, losing one important battle and spending a good deal
  of the time sick in his tent. For the moment, at least, Antony
  was very much the senior partner among the triumvirs.
  
  With their enemies subdued both at Rome and abroad, the two
  leading members of the Triumvirate soon returned to their old
  personal rivalries. Lepidus was quickly gotten out of the way:
  accused of treason, he was deprived of his provinces and
  allowed to remain a member of the Triumvirate only on
  sufferance. The other two triumvirs divided Rome's holdings
  between them: Octavian got Spain, Antony Gaul. Antony, however,
  had larger ambitions. Encouraged by his success at Philippi, he
  revived Caesar's plans for a grand military campaign in the
  East. His intentions clearly were to follow the precedent set
  by Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar himself: to win power, fame, and
  money through a series of military triumphs abroad and then
  return to Rome and oust his political rivals once and for all.
  In 41, therefore, he set out for the East, where he soon became
  entangled with the Egyptian Cleopatra.
  
  Cleopatra VII left three children by Marcus Antonius: the twins
  Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, born in 40 B.C. and
  Ptolemy Philadelphus, born in 36 B.C.  In 33 B.C. Antonius
  designated Alexander to be king of Armenia and overlord of
  Parthia and Media.  He designated Ptolemy to be ruler of all
  Egyptian possessions in Syria and Cilicia and overlord of all
  client-kings and dynasts west of the Euphrates, as far as the
  Hellespont.  After the death of Antonius, both boys were taken
  in by Augustus's sister Octavia to be raised with her own
  children.  They appear soon after in Augustus's Triumph in Rome
  and thereafter disappear from history.  Speculation is that
  both died in childhood.  Cleopatra Selene was married in 29
  B.C. to Juba II, a Roman client-king who ruled over Numidia
  c30-25 B.C. and over Mauretania 25 B.C.-cA.D. 23 when he died
  in his mid-70s.  Cleopatra had long before predeceased him,
  though the date is not known.  They had two (known) children:
  Ptolemy succeeded his father as king of Mauretania in A.D. 23.
  In 40, he was called to Rome to appear before the Emperor
  Caligula.  Tacitus reports he had the misfortune of presenting
  himself wearing such a sumptious purple robe that in envy
  Caligula had him put to death.  One simply did not appear
  before Caligula wearing better duds than the boss.  Although
  Ptolemy was certainly of a marriageable age, no wife or
  children are known, and none succeeded him as king. Ptolemy's
  sister Drusilla was married to Marcus Antonius Felix.  Nothing
  has survived in recorded history to point to any issue of this
  marriage.
  
  Octavian, by contrast, was given the thankless task of dealing
  with affairs in Italy, particularly the necessity of finding
  land for his and Antony's veterans. Antony clearly hoped that
  Octavian would become embroiled in Italian politics,
  squandering both his time and, more important, his popularity
  with the masses. In the end, this was a poor strategy on
  Antony's part. Not only did his own military ventures not fare
  well, but, by leaving Octavian in Rome, he allowed his rival to
  ply his considerable political skills in waging a propaganda
  war against Antony.
  
  At first, however, Antony's plan appeared to succeed.
  Octavian's problem was to find land for his and Antony's
  veterans; his solution was to confiscate land throughout Italy.
  The Italian cities were outraged, and this sense of outrage was
  encouraged by Antony's wife Fulvia and his brother L. Antonius,
  who incited a civil war. The rebels were suppressed through a
  combination of Antony's delay in supporting them and the
  brutality of Octavian's reprisals (particularly against the
  city of Perusia, in the so-called Perusine War). Antony
  eventually returned to Italy in 40, landing at Brundisium, but
  by then Octavian had not only secured Italy but had seized
  Gaul. War nearly broke out between Antony and Octavian, but
  their troops refused to fight against one another. At last a
  deal was cut: Antony was to pursue his ambitions in the East,
  while Octavian was granted the western half of Rome's empire.
  To cement the deal, Antony married Octavian's sister *Octavia
  (Fulvia having died of natural causes in the meantime).
  
  Antony accordingly returned east, where from 40-35 he was
  engaged in a series of largely unsuccessful campaigns against
  the Parthians. His desperate need for financial and military
  support drove him into the arms of Cleopatra (literally and
  figuratively) and he became her official consort.  Antony had 3
  children by Cleopatra. In 36, despite their age (6, 6, and 2,
  respectively), he granted each of these children, as well as
  Cleopatra herself, territories in the East as their official
  realms; he also lent his support to the claims of Caesarion
  (then 13 years old) to be Caesar's true son and heir. To Roman
  eyes these moves were troubling, suggesting that Antony was
  becoming a champion of
  Egypt and its oriental queen.
  
  Meanwhile, Octavian was busy in the West fighting *Sextus
  Pompeius, a son of Pompey the Great. Sextus had gathered the
  last of the Republican opposition about him in Spain and by 42
  controlled Sicily. With his fleet, Sextus was able to harass
  Roman shipping, nearly cutting off Rome's
  grain supplies. To the degree that Sextus could claim to be
  fighting for the cause of his father, Pompey, he represented
  the last forces of the old Republic; in reality, he was as much
  a military overlord/adventurer as Antony and Octavian. Octavian
  once again showed his lack of military experience, suffering a
  series of humiliating defeats, and, in 38, was forced to meet
  with Antony in order to ask for reinforcements. (At the same
  time the term of the Triumvirate, originally slated to expire
  in 38, was extended for another five years.) In 36 Octavian --
  or, rather, his general *M. Vipsanius Agrippa, working in
  tandem with Lepidus -- finally defeated Sextus at the battle of
  Naulochus. Lepidus made an attempt to seize Sicily for himself,
  but was soon deserted by his supporters and captured. As
  pontifex maximus Lepidus could not be killed (as we shall see,
  Octavian was beginning to develop scruples!), so he was merely
  stripped of his official powers and placed under permanent
  house arrest in Rome.
  
  Actium. The year 36 marks something of a turning point in
  Octavian's career. From this point on he began to doff the role
  of ruthless military warlord and instead present himself as a
  defender of the Republic (such as it was!). This strategy was
  to stand him in good stead in the propaganda war against
  Antony. Antony, Octavian could claim, had become the thrall of
  a depraved eastern
  monarch: he had "gone native" and (Octavian claimed) planned to
  reduce Rome to a mere subject state, transferring the capital
  of the empire to Egypt. The Romans would be slaves to a mongrel
  horde of oriental eunuchs and their lascivious queen, compelled
  to worship Egypt's decadent, bestial gods and to adopt the
  perverse religious practices of a land whose rulers regularly
  married their own siblings.
  
  Tensions between Antony and Octavian began to reach a head in
  35, when Antony formally repudiated Octavia, who had remained
  loyal to him despite the repeated humiliation to which he had
  subjected her. In 33, when the  Triumvirate officially expired,
  Octavian held the consulship: he was then able to present
  Antony as a private Roman citizen acting without the authority
  of the state and to contrast his own position as loyal servant
  of the Republic. There followed, in 32, the public reading of
  Antony's will (which, according to custom, had been deposited
  in Rome for safe keeping):  the provisions it contained were
  not outrageous -- for example, Antony asked to be buried with
  Cleopatra and requested official recognition for his children
  by Cleopatra and for  Caesarion -- but they furthered the
  impression that Antony now regarded himself as an Egyptian.
  
  n the end war was inevitable. The issue was decided in 31 at
  the naval battle of *Actium (in northwest Greece). Antony had
  established camp in the bay of Actium in late 32, hoping to use
  it as a base of operations against Octavian. He became mired
  there, however, his lines of supply cut off and his forces
  steadily shrinking due to disease and desertion. As time wore
  on, his troops became ever more demoralized, in part due to the
  presence of Cleopatra in their camp: Roman soldiers did not
  like the idea of being the servants of a foreign queen (think
  of Livy's portrayal of Tanaquil). Moreover, Antony's Egyptian
  fleet was outnumbered and out-generaled by Octavian's fleet,
  led by Agrippa. By September of 31 Antony had realized that his
  position was
  untenable and attempted to slip away with his fleet to Asia
  Minor. His plans were poorly executed by his demoralized
  troops, however, and only Cleopatra's ships managed to escape,
  followed by Antony with a few Roman stragglers. The remainder
  of Antony's forces surrendered after only token
  resistance. The battle of Actium was, then, something of a
  fiasco: a failed tactical retreat. Octavian and his supporters,
  however, presented it as a glorious triumph, spreading the
  story that Antony, accompanied by Cleopatra, had intended a
  full-scale naval battle but had turned tail and deserted his
  troops when he saw Cleopatra's ship fleeing in fear. In this
  version, Antony is betrayed by his besotted obsession with the
  cowardly and depraved Egyptian queen.
  
  Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where they committed
  suicide. Octavian, however, hailed his triumph as belonging to
  the Roman Senate and people -- a victory for Rome's political
  and religious traditions over a nefarious threat from the
  decadent East. (Notice that once again Octavian held the
  consulship -- his third -- in this crucial year, allowing him
  once more to present himself as the servant of the Roman people
  fighting in defense of the Republic, rather than as a military
  despot intent on wiping out a hated rival.) He claimed to have
  been supported in this victory by the god *Apollo, who had a
  small temple on a nearby promontory. Apollo, the god of Actium,
  became a prominent figure in Octavian/Augustus' reign. A god of
  poetry, music, and culture, he provided a fitting contrast to
  the "degenerate" Egyptian culture championed by Antony. He also
  embodied two contrary features that Octavian found useful, for
  Apollo was both a powerful god of retribution, smiting those
  who strayed beyond the proper bounds set for mortal ambitions,
  and a gentle god of refinement and
  culture. (These two contrasting features are symbolized by two
  of Apollo's attributes: the bow and the lyre.) As we shall see,
  the poets and artists who celebrated Octavian/Augustus'
  achievements presented his career as displaying these same two
  contrasting features, with Actium as the turning
  point. Before Actium, we find the stern triumvir who employs
  violence to punish his father's murderers, restore "order" to
  Italy, and check the wild ambitions of Antony and Cleopatra;
  after Actium, we find the benign ruler who oversees a
  political, moral, and cultural renaissance at Rome.

Details of Marcus Antonius' family with Major Octavia