Battle of Actium - Prelude

Prelude

The alliance commonly known as the Second Triumvirate, renewed for a five-year term in 38 BC, broke down when Octavian came to perceive Caesarion, the son of Julius Caesar and the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII, as a major threat to his power. That occurred when Mark Antony, the other most influential member of the Triumvirate, abandoned his wife, Octavian's sister Octavia Minor, and moved to Egypt to start a long-term romance with Cleopatra, thus becoming de facto stepfather to Caesarion. Such a love affair was doomed to become a political scandal. Antony was inevitably perceived by Octavian and the majority of the Roman Senate as the leader of a separatist movement that threatened to break the unity of the Roman Republic.

Octavian's prestige and, more importantly, the loyalty of his legions, had been initially boosted by Julius Caesar's legacy of 44 BC, by which the then nineteen-year-old Octavian had been officially adopted as the only son of the great Roman general and also established as the sole legitimate heir of his enormous wealth. Mark Antony had been the most important and most successful senior officer in Julius Caesar's army (magister equitum) and, thanks to his military record, could claim a substantial share of the political support of Caesar's soldiers and veterans. Both Octavian and Mark Antony had fought against their common enemies in the civil war that followed the assassination of Julius Caesar.

After years of loyal cooperation with Octavian, Mark Antony started to act independently, eventually raising the suspicion that he was vying to become the sole master of Rome. When he openly left Octavian's sister, Octavia Minor, and moved to Alexandria to become Cleopatra's official partner, he led many Roman politicians to believe that he was trying to become the unchecked ruler of Egypt and of other eastern kingdoms, while still maintaining his command over the many Roman legions in the East. As a personal challenge to Octavian's prestige, Antony tried to get Caesarion accepted as a true heir of Julius Caesar, even though the legacy did not mention him at all. In fact, Antony and Cleopatra formally elevated to power Caesarion, then thirteen years of age, in 34 BC, giving him the vague but alarming title of "King of the Kings" (Donations of Alexandria). Being a son of Julius Caesar, such an entitlement was obviously felt as a threat to Roman republican traditions. In fact, according to a widespread belief, Mark Antony had once offered a crown to Julius Caesar. Thereafter, Octavian started a propaganda war, denouncing Antony as an enemy of Rome, asserting that he was seeking to establish a personal monarchy over the entire Roman Empire on the behalf of Caesarion, completely circumventing the Roman Senate. It was also said that Antony intended to move the capital of the empire to Alexandria.

As the Second Triumvirate formally expired on the last day of 33 BC, Antony wrote to the Senate that he did not wish to be reappointed. He hoped that he might be regarded by them as their champion against the ambition of Octavian, who he presumed would not be willing to abandon his position in a similar manner. The causes of mutual dissatisfaction between the two had been continually accumulating. Antony complained that Octavian had exceeded his powers in deposing Lepidus, in taking over the countries held by Sextus Pompeius, in enlisting soldiers for himself without sending half to him. Octavian complained that Antony had no authority for being in Egypt; that his execution of Sextus Pompeius was illegal; that his treachery to the king of Armenia disgraced the Roman name; that he had not sent half the proceeds of the spoils to Rome according to his agreement; that his connection with Cleopatra and the acknowledgment of Caesarion as a legitimate son of Julius Caesar were a degradation of his office and a menace to himself.

During 32 BC, a third of the Senate and both consuls allied with Antony. The consuls of that year had determined to conceal the extent of Antony's demands. Gnaeus Ahenobarbus seems to have wished to keep quiet; but Gaius Sosius on 1 January made an elaborate speech in favor of Antony, and would have proposed the confirmation of his act had it not been vetoed by a tribune. Octavian was not present, but at the next meeting made a reply of such a nature that the consuls both left Rome to join Antony; and Antony, when he heard of it, after publicly divorcing Octavia, came at once to Ephesus with Cleopatra, where a vast fleet was gathered from all parts of the East, of which Cleopatra furnished a large proportion. After staying a time with his allies at Samos, Antony removed to Athens. His land forces which had been in Armenia were brought down to the coast of Asia, and embarked under L. Canidius Crassus.

Octavian was not behind in his strategic preparations. Indeed, military operations began in 31 BC, when Octavian's general Agrippa captured Methone, a Greek town allied to Antony. But, by the publication of Antony's will, which had been put into his hands by the traitor Plancus, and by carefully letting it be known at Rome what preparations were going on at Samos, and how entirely Antony was acting as the agent of Cleopatra, Octavian produced such a violent outburst of feeling that he easily obtained Antony's deposition from the consulship of 31, for which he had been designated, and a vote for a proclamation of war against Cleopatra, well understood to mean against Antony, though he was not named. In doing this, the Senate issued a war declaration and deprived Antony of any legal authority.