1-Acest articol copiat !
2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr 1!
3-Octavian il bate pe Marcus Antonius intr-o ultima batalie in desert.
4-20 de legiuni ale sale vs 4 ale lui Antonius .
“Two Caesars are one too many.”
Rather than showing Caesar’s vigour and pursuing Antony immediately, Octavian visited Greece and Asia Minor, earning the loyalty of Antony’s former provinces. Wintering at Samos, he received a gold crown and throne from Cleopatra, offering to abdicate in favour of her sons, believing she would be well treated, though Octavian wanted her in chains for his triumph. Antony failed to seize the legions garrisoned at Paratonium, then sent his eldest son to Octavian asking if he could live as a private citizen in Athens. When legions advanced on him from one direction and Octavian landed on the other he found himself surrounded, and fled back to Egypt.
The following year saw Octavian set off in pursuit, taking nine legions across the Mediterranean to conclude the war with Cleopatra. Antony managed to raise five legions of his own, along with around 6,000 Egyptian auxiliaries, and prepared for a defence of Alexandria. Octavian’s army spent July launching fruitless attacks against the well defended city without finding a weakness, his men now wanting to launch an all-out assault. When they did, however, Antony’s legions were able to drive them back from the city hippodrome. The fighting was brutal though, and both sides lost around 10,000 men, losses Antony could not sustain.
In early August Octavian launched a second attack from the city, from east and west, and this time was successful. Failing to escape by ship, Antony then received misinformation from Cleopatra that she had killed herself. He thus removed his sword, and plunged it into his midriff. Mark Antony, who had begun his career in Syria, served under Julius Caesar during the conquest of Gaul, and in the aftermath of his death had become the most powerful man in the world, was dead.
Cleopatra, however, was not. She sent emissaries to Octavian, again pleading for mercy with her son ruling in lieu of her. He was well aware of the dangers of allowing Caesar’s son to live though, proclaiming: “Two Caesars are one too many.” She was allowed to bury Antony, though when she knew there would be no mercy, Cleopatra committed suicide, either by the bite of a cobra carried to her in a bowl of figs, or merely by taking poison. Octavian had Caesarion killed later that month, securing his legacy as Caesar’s only son. He was merciful to Antony’s children, save for his eldest son Alexander Helios, who he also had killed. Having previously been unpopular for being ruthless to his enemies after battle, he won plaudits for his leniency after Actium in pardoning many of his enemies. The death of Cleopatra brought to an end Ptolemaic Egypt, the last of the Diadochi kingdoms to succeed Alexander, and ended the Hellenic era.
In Rome, Young Cicero (the son of the orator) removed statues and busts of Antony, and declared none of his clan could be called Marcus again. Octavian was now left as the master of Rome, and began consolidating his hold over all of the republican institutions as he began the transition to empire. Octavian worked carefully to preserve republican traditions, aware the people would not accept a simple switch to a monarchy. Marching to the city with Agrippa, the duo were named Consuls for 29 BC.
Octavian now looked to return law and order to Rome, as years of civil war had reduced the republic to near anarchy. He was also keen to maintain his own iron grip on power, though needed to move carefully while maintaining the façade of republic. For Octavian had no intention of returning Rome to its former oligarchy, where the ambitions of rival generals left it forever on the precipice of war. Instead he would forge the Principate, maintaining one, powerful autocrat at the centre of the state to ensure peace.
As with Caesar, Octavian found most of his support from the Plebs, many of whom would not have understood the political complexities as he eroded the republic. He merely followed the precedents that had been set in the preceding years by the likes of Marius, Sulla, Pompey and Caesar, who had all amassed power to themselves.
Most of all, the Roman world was crying out for peace. The republic had been in a perpetual state of civil war for almost 70 years, and an unimaginable loss of life. With around 150,000 dying in the last conflict betwixt Antony and Octavian alone, the number to have died throughout the preceding century from conflict must have been in the millions. Many history pages describe the woes of people being born in 1900 and living through two world wars and the Cold War. Imagine being born around 110 BC, and living into old age. Your youth saw the Cimbric invasions and defeats and the Jugurthine War, your young adulthood saw the Social War, Pontic genocide and Mithridatic War, before Sulla’s marches on Rome and the war betwixt the Optimates and Populares. Your middle age then saw the proscriptions of Sulla, the Spartacus revolt, the Sertorius revolt, and the Third Mithridatic War seeing Lucullus and then Pompey lead huge armies east. As you got old, you experienced Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, the disaster at Carrhae, and then the epic civil war pitting Caesar against Pompey. Your old age then saw degradation into further war, first with Octavian and the Senate against Antony, then Octavian and Antony against the Liberatores, then Octavian against Fulvia, then Antony’s disastrous retreat from Parthia, then the naval war with Sextus Pompey, and finally the war against Antony and Cleopatra. All this time would have seen you losing parents, siblings and children to the conflicts, and all the time allegiances will have kept changing. This was all before modern medicine and communication, when half of children would die in infancy, and even healthy adults could die from common illnesses. Add into that mix not just the battles, but the wars’ effects on civilian populations and the general violence that often erupted betwixt the rival political factions in Rome, and it truly was a horrific time to live through. Fortunately for the Roman world, now that Octavian had cleared the deck of his opponents, his tenure was about to lead them into the Pax Romana – a two centuries’ long period of peace and stability.
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