Triumvirate to Empire

After defeating the senate using military force, Octavian met with Antony and Lepidus, one of the governors in the western Gallic provinces, to form what would become known as the Second Triumvirate, commonly viewed as a revival of a dictatorship similar in scope to Caesar’s. The new political alliance had the ability to appoint its nominees directly into political office, circumventing any type of democratic process. Each nominee had to swear allegiance to the triumvirs. In addition, the triumvirate introduced their own supporters into the senate, diluting the power of that governmental body. Octavian removed the amnesty given to the assassins and in a trial that he controlled announced that they were all guilty of killing Caesar.

Most importantly, the triumvirs took the extreme and authoritarian action of approving proscriptions, a form of sanctioned murder, against their political enemies. The triumvirs killed most of their political opponents in the senate, including Cicero, and confiscated all wealth or property belonging to those proscribed. This action destroyed the remains of the republican faction that advocated for a restoration of the republic. Brutus and Cassius had no more support base within the government or aristocratic class to continue their plans. The final defeat of the assassins removed all hope of restoring the republic.

Rather than a revived republic envisioned by Cicero or the conspirators, an authoritarian system emerged from the power struggle after the death of Caesar and spelled the end of the republic. In the upcoming decades, this system eventually evolved into the imperial form of Roman government that would last for several hundred years[1].