Ailing, despondent, and under evil auspices, Octavianus took in hand the confiscation of Italian property and the settlement of the veterans of Philippi, the remnants of twenty-eight legions. Of the acts and policy of the dynasts, the share of Caesar's heir was arduous, unpopular, and all but fatal to himself. No calculation could have predicted that he would emerge in strength and triumph from the varied hazards of this eventful years. Syme, The Roman Revolution, 207.

I was triumvir for the settling of the state for ten continuous years. I was first of the senate up to that day on which I wrote this, for forty years. I was high priest, augur, one of the Fifteen for the performance of rites, one of the Seven of the sacred feasts, brother of Arvis, fellow of Titus, and Fetial. Rest Gesti Divi Augisti, 7.

A thankless task confronted Octavian as he returned to Rome from Philippi in late 42 BC. What glory there had been in the destruction of the Liberators, had fallen to Antony, who had now departed to raise money in the East and his fateful meeting with Cleopatra. Ill for much of the Phillipi campaign, Octavian again fell ill upon his arrival in Italy; so ill that rumors abounded that he was dead. Of the varied tasks of the triumvirs, his in Italy would require forceful confiscation of lands to supply the ever-greedy veterans. In addition, Sextus Pompeius lurked in the Tyrhennian Sea, an unknown but almost certainly hostile faction, and his pirate ships were strangling Rome's grain supply.

The Perusine War

Octavian doggedly pursued the path of confiscating personal property and awarding it to the veterans; there was no public land left in Italy and he had little choice. In the midst of this necessary but unpopular action, the consul Lucius Antonius (brother of Marcus) made political capital out of Octavian's actions. It can never be known how much Lucius acted in his brother's confidence - Antony always denied he had any influence with his brother. But Octavian's confiscations created a hostile political party and Lucius was at its head. Senatorial opposition to the land confiscations hardened. Lucius promoted a law to declare the Triumvirate illegal and to make Octavian an enemy of the state. He claimed that, once Octavian and Lepidus were removed from power, Antony would be willing to return, legally, as Consul and return the state to its Republican heritage. Many Senators - who had no illusions about Octavian's unscrupulousness - joined in the effort, but on Octavian's side was the army, benefiting from his confiscations of land and property. The Antonine party (including Antony's wife, Fulvia, who was active in its decisions) fought scattered actions before withdrawing to the town of Perusia on the border of Etruria and Umbria; they barricaded themselves behind strong fortifications and awaited a general rising to overthrow Octavian. But none came.

Although, during the confiscation process, Octavian had nearly come to grief controlling the turbulent and greedy legions, they now stood by Caesar's heir. Lucius had clearly recognized that, by awarding land to the soldiers (both his and Antony's), Octavian would receive all their loyalty. Octavian was outmanned initially and had to borrow heavily from the Roman temple treasuries to pay his soldiers - a loan he would pay back, with interest. In this war, the faithful Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa first made his mark as a general of note. Octavian, Agrippa and Salvidienus, another Octavian ally, drew three armies up to besiege Perusia, where Lucius waited anxiously for reinforcements. Siege-works reminiscent of the great engineering of Caesar went up surrounding Perusia, and its inhabitants soon began to starve. Attempts to break out were unsuccessful and Lucius' forces began deserting to Octavian, who received them pleasantly. Finally, Lucius gathered his remaining troops and made a speech which eerily echoes what may, or may not, have been his motivation in creating this brushfire civil war:

"It was my intention, fellow-soldiers, to restore the ancestral constitution for you. I saw that the triumvirate was despotism and that it was not dissolved even after the deaths of Brutus and Cassius, its ostensible object. Now that Lepidus has been stripped of his share of power and Antonius is raising money in far distant lands, this one man is arranging everything according to his own ideas while our ancestral constitution is a mere sham and a mockery." Appian, The Civil War, V, 39.

Lucius then offered himself as a scapegoat for his soldiers and sought to surrender to Octavian. Octavian prudently replied that he would pardon all Antony's soldiers and in fact, most of the armies were left unmolested. Instead, Octavian took his revenge upon the city of Perusia itself. Its citizens were pardoned by the town burnt to the ground, whereas the entire city council was promptly executed. He also managed to execute several personal enemies, with very little publicity. Many of the pardoned Republicans immediately fled to Sextus Pompeius and, in roundabout fashion, sought Antony to join Sextus Pompeius against Octavian. Antony demurred but strengthened ties with Pompeius. Octavian - not to be outdone in the shifting loyalties between Caesarians and Republicans - sought a similar tie. He married Scribonia, daughter of Pompeius' father-in-law, Lucius Libo. After the wedding in 40, the political marriage lasted hardly a year but would result in Octavian's only child, his daughter Julia.

Antony returned with his troops to Italia and another brief confrontation between Octavian and Antony's forces took place at Brundisium in the autumn of 40. Another 'arrangement' was reached that would have far-reaching consequences for Octavian's future. The provinces awarded to the two men (Lepidus was now largely powerless) split the Roman world, with Octavian receiving all provinces in the West, Antony those in the East, and Lepidus fobbed off with northern Africa. To cement the treaty, Antony (whose affair with Cleopatra had been notorious) agreed to marry Octavian's sister, Octavia. For a time, the fragile peace was patched up.

Coin issued by Sextus Pompeius

If Italian conflict was over, inevitable war with Pompeius was merely deferred. Pompeius, who had taken to calling himself the "son of Neptune" due to his Sicilian fleets, was now in charge of Rome's grain supply. In the summer of 39, Octavian and Antony signed the Treaty of Misenum with Pompeius, in which the Republican pirate was promised a legitimate share in the evolving Triumvirate. He was to be Consul in 35 BC, he was granted a territorial base of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and (later) the Peloponnese. Accordingly, he agreed to stop the blockade of the grain supply and cease attacking Rome's ships. This accommodation with the last Republican leader had unintended consequences.

After the Treaty of Misenum, many Republican refugees finally felt safe enough to return to their family homes in Rome. One of these was a Republican patrician, Tiberius Drusus Nero, married for several years to his teenage wife, Livia Drusilla, who had born him one son, Tiberius, and was now pregnant with his second, Drusus. Livia was probably 20 years old when she met Octavian in Rome. Livia had sterling patrician credentials; she was a Claudian, one of the oldest patrician families, as well as granddaughter of the famous Drusus who was killed in 91 BC for trying to integrate the Italian city-states into the Empire. Thus, through her family, she was strongly connected with the best Optimate families in Rome. She was also beautiful.

Livia Drusilla

On January 17, 38 BC - only months after they had met - Octavian married Livia. Because she was pregnant with another man's child, he had first to obtain special permission from the college of priests for the marriage to occur. Tiberius apparently was more than willing to trade his wife to Octavian for future benefits, and Octavian had promptly divorced his own wife, Scribonia - allegedly on the very day she presented him with his daughter, Julia. Livia brought excellent political and social connections with her, but Octavian's unusual haste and determination seems to have been sparked by one of the few human weaknesses he ever displayed. If he was passionately in love with his beautiful wife, he was still able to judge her political value. The marriage caused a scandal at the time, not least because Octavian was marrying into a family much higher on the social scale than his own.

Three months after the wedding, Livia bore a son, Drusus; both he and the four-year-old Tiberius lived with their father, under the standard divorce decree. After Tiberius died, however, both boys would return to the household of their mother and Octavian and were raised largely as his own children.

The marriage would endure until Octavian's death 53 years later.

The Son of Neptune

Octavian lost no time in repudiating the Treaty of Misenum and going after Sextus Pompeius. It would turn out to be years-long and heartbreaking struggle that only Octavian's indomitable determination could win. Pompeius, promised the Peloponnese, had not received it and used this as an excuse to fall back to his piratical ways, blockading Rome's food supply of Sicilian grain.

Octavian had long planned an invasion of Sicily, and the fact that Pompeius 'broke' the treaty gave him the proper excuse. His first efforts at sea warfare were disastrous. An initial attack, using as admirals C. Calvisius and L. Cornificius, was soundly defeated off Cumae by Pompeius, who had become perhaps the greatest fighting admiral in Rome's history. Those warships not destroyed in the battle were lost in a violent storm the next day. His fleet in pieces, Octavian had seek help from Antonius. Antonius sent off helpfully from Athens to meet Octavian at Brundisium, but Octavian was delayed - when Antony sailed off again, he gave Octavian a weapon for later complaints. With the pleas of Octavia in his ears (and the persuasion of Maecenas, Octavian's right-hand diplomat), Antony agreed again to meet Octavian at Tarentum. There, it was agreed in the summer of 37 BC. that Antony would give Octavian a fleet of 120 ships and their crews, in return for Octavian's providing Antony's armies with an additional 20,000 legionaries for his planned invasion of Parthia. The Triumvirate, which had more than run its initial five years, was extended. No effort was made to use Roman law as a cover for this blatantly illegal - and dictatorial - extension. Apparently neither Antony nor Octavian were worried about the reactions of the Senate and People of Rome, although Octavian - typically - covered himself by formally confirming the decision in law, when he had the time.

For the second effort, Octavian had the aid of his loyal Agrippa, who had now returned from service in Gaul. Although a good general on land, Agrippa became a remarkably taut admiral in the next few months. He took charge of the task of building yet another fleet, a task made far more difficult by the chaos of the economy and Pompeius' stranglehold on Rome's grain supply. As the Caesarian sailors had been soundly trounced by the experienced Pompeius, Agrippa came up with the remarkable idea of building an artificial harbor called Portus Julius, having engineers join the Lucrine lake to lake Avernus and cutting through the thin land strip separating them. After dredging, he had an ideal naval locale for training and war games. The pool of pro-Caesarian manpower had been so drained that over 20,000 slaves were freed just for the purpose of rowing the newly-built fleet of galleys.

In addition, Agrippa came up with a new technological weapon that would prove critically useful to Octavian's amateur fleet. He is said to have invented a harpax, a sort of catapult-thrown harpoon that would land on the bridge of an enemy vessel and, using ropes, winch his vessels close enough to board and destroy.

Making haste slowly, Octavian had allowed many months to properly rebuild his navy: it is supposed that the rest of 37, and half of 36 BC, went to training. When he again sailed for Sicily in July, 36 BC, it was to use both Agrippa's new navy and Lepidus' armies. Lepidus was to bring his African legions north to Sicily; Statilius Taurus would come from Tarentum, and Octavian and his fleet from Puteoli. It was agreed to attack on the kalends of Julius, in honor of dead Caesar. However, just as Caesar had neared disaster in Britain when his fleets were destroyed by storms, so, again, a horrific storm on July 3 battered Octavian's new fleet; Octavian had again to withdraw and lick his wounds, patching up the fleet and touring Italy desperately seeking more men and money.

By August, Octavian was able to land three legions to the island while Agrippa held off Pompeius' ships at Mylae; but the sea battle was indecisive and Pompeius, returning to Sicily, was able to pounce on the few legions Octavian had managed to land there, before the rest of his forces could be brought over. Once again Octavian left his soldiers to fight at sea; once again, Octavian's ships were destroyed and Octavian, himself, was nearly killed, only reaching the shore with one surviving companion, half-drowned, his army besieged, his fleet in tatters.

Mosaic of Roman galley

If there is a single nadir to Octavian's early career, the debacle in Sicily was likely that point. Three times Octavian had tried to dislodge Pompey; three times his fleets were destroyed, his men killed, and his forces without funds to rebuild. Literally picked out of the water by the legions of M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus, Octavian soon received good news. Agrippa and L. Cornificius' fleets had won a victory against Pompeius, taking Tyndaris, one of his important bases. Once again the Caesarians flung themselves at Pompeius fleet, and this time, risking everything on one battle, Pompeius lost so decisively that he could only flee (eventually, to the Parthians, after which Antonius arranged his murder). The Battle of Naulochus in September 36, breathed new life into Octavian's ambitions.

With his main enemy down, now the ineffectual Lepidus - who commanded troops near Messana - suddenly fell to mutiny. He accepted the surrender of Messana on his own terms without reference to Octavian. Apparently, the least of the Triumvirs was tired of taking orders from Octavian; with 20 legions behind him, Lepidus dictated terms to Octavian when he finally landed on Sicily. Lepidus was to be left with his legions in control of the island, while Octavian was banished to Italy. Apparently Lepidus' soldiers, when informed of their new enemy, deserted to Octavian en masse and Lepidus was left alone to face Octavian. In the event, Octavian was surprisingly merciful, perhaps because he realized that, by his ineffectual rebellion, Lepidus had lost all credibility with the legions. Lepidus was removed from the Triumvirate and all political offices and banished to one of his homes in Italy. He would live out the next 25 years under essential house arrest, although his position as Pontifex Maximus was not taken from him; when he died, the then-Augustus quietly assumed it.

Octavian showed his harshness to his own troops when, Lepidus removed, they agitated for booty and payment. After making promises of future largesse, Octavian quietly but mercilessly purged the army of malcontents and returned all those ex-slaves who had fought so loyally for him to their former owners. Any sailors whose former owners could not be located, were summarily executed.

Returning to Italy in triumph (with grain now once again flowing to the capital), the Senate voted Octavian numerous honors, including the grant that his person should hereafter be as "sancrosanct" as a Tribune; his person was inviolate and no political harm could come to him. Scholars debate at just what point in this decade or the next, Octavian received the important powers of Roman tribunes; Cassius Dio suggests that it was a gradual process, and Augustus himself dated his assumption of tribunician powers in 23 BC. However, the honors awarded showed strong senatorial support. As Ronald Syme cynically notes,

For eight turbulent years, Octavianus had survived the worst that could be thrown at him. He was finally coming to appear to Romans who had hated the violations of the Triumvirate, as the strong man who could guarantee peace and prosperity. Antony - now for many years, invisible in the East - was another quantity. Having removed Pompeius from his path, Octavian would now turn his implacable attention to Marc Antony.

The Triumvir: Part 2