An Underestimated Teenager
While everybody underestimated Octavius, he paid for public games in honor of his adoptive father to gain recognition and popularity. He also wooed Caesar’s veteran soldiers to his side. When Octavius secured a military force under his command, Cicero’s faction sought the young man’s aid. They bent the rules to appoint him a senator despite his youth, and sent him against Mark Antony, who was forced to retreat from Italy to Gaul. Then the consuls in official command of the forces arrayed against Mark Antony were killed. Octavius seized the opportunity, and got the Senate to appoint him to a vacant consulship despite his youth.
The youthful politician then double crossed the Senate, reached an agreement with Mark Antony, and joined him in a power sharing dictatorship. They then exacted a terrible revenge upon their foes with a massive purge that executed thousands of opponents, actual and suspected, including Cicero. Next, they went after Julius Caesar’s assassins, and defeated them in a final battle. Octavius and Antony then swore friendship, sealed the bargain with the marriage of Antony and Octavius’ sister, and divided the Roman Empire. Antony was given the east, while Octavius stayed in Rome and ruled the west.
