The Destiny of Rome (Le Destin de Rome)

44BC, the vast Roman Empire stretched

around the entire Mediterranean.

Julius Caesar proclaimed dictator in perpetuity

assumed full powers and governed like a king.

The new regime was despised by the majority of senators

who remained faithful to the Republic.

Cassius and Brutus, leaders of the

discontented, prepared to repost.

On the Ides of March, the 15th,

Caesar's right-hand man Mark Antony accompanied

the dictator to a meeting at the Senate.

In an attempt to save the threatened Republic

Brutus and Cassius assassinated Caesar.

Antony, the second most powerful man in the empire,

had good reason to fear for his life.

Meanwhile Rome was plunged into panic, the city divided

between Republicans and supporters of Caesar.

According to the Plebs a god had been

murdered and Rome was doomed, people feared a bloodbath.

Cleopatra, renowned mistress of Caesar

and pregnant with his son,

discovered the terrible news

and like Antony saw her world crumble.

A few hours after the assassination Antony learned that

Caesar's murderers had foreseen no replacement system of governance,

the Senators plan stopped at killing the tyrant.

Rome's seat of power was vacant,

an opportunity Antony had to seize.

The city slept beneath a blanket of fear, of civil war.

Antony we managed to call a meeting

at a very agitated Senate.

Tension was palpable between

the assassins and supporters of Caesar.

Antony had avoided a civil war, making him

in the eyes of many the man who reestablished public peace.

Filled with great confidence he

demanded the reading of Caesar's will.

Antony had lived and fought alongside Caesar.

He was a military genius who Caesar had left to govern

Italy in his absence, he therefore had good reason to

hope to be strongly favored in Caesar's will.

Caesar's funeral would serve as the ideal occasion for Antony

to convince Rome

that he was the rightful guardian of Caesar's heritage.

At the end of his speech Antony

approached the improvised funeral pyre.

Swept up in a fervor the crowd set fire

to the pyre and threw on arms, clothes and jewelry,

setting the premises of Caesar worship.

Faced with a vindictiveness of the people

Brutus and Cassius were forced to flee Rome

leaving the path clear for Antony.

But they weren't the only ones to depart,

someone else had already gone before them.

Cleopatra returned to Egypt.

The kingdom of Egypt

was the most important country in the East,

the granary of the Mediterranean.

Alexandria was rivaled by Rome alone

and was proud of its port, the biggest in the world.

Cleopatra was free thinking and intelligent,

she knew she was under threat.

At the same time Caesar's heir arrived in Rome.

Octavian was ambitious.

He launched propaganda against Antony,

flattered senators, bought off veterans

and sat to the morale of the legions.

He handed out donations financed by his father's inheritance

to form his own party and army,

asserting his qualities as an adopted son.

Octavian was just 19 years old.

For a year and a half Brutus and Cassius,

still wary of Rome, rallied their legions in the east.

Brutus took control in Greece and Macedonia,

Cassius in Syria.

They hired all the old soldiers they met,

raised heavy tributes and established a

domain which would enable them

to see off their enemies in case of conflict.

Faced with a growing Republican threat

Antony joined forces with Octavian,

despite their marked differences.

They formed a triumvirate with

Marcusemelius Lepidus, Caesar's main lieutenant.

This the so-called second triumvirate

was a legally established authority with power to be shared between the three men

for a period of five years.

Avenging Caesar was the surest

way of maintaining this power.

Many of the proscribed were stripped of their assets

and new taxes were levied, which provided

the money needed to confront the Republicans.

Panic swept through the aristocracy

causing many of them to flee Rome.

The alliance between Antony and Octavian

unleashed a reign of terror.

From then on they would be known as the Caesarians.

They went in search of Brutus and Cassius

across the Adriatic

from Brundisium to Dyrrachium, then onwards to

the plain west of Philippi in Greece.

Antony and his legions were first

to seek out the Republicans,

quick marching his men over 500 kilometers in 10 days,

to the great surprise of their enemies.

Treated as brothers in arms,

his troops pushed on, surpassing their limits.

Antony, Rome's greatest warrior,

was therefore ready to cross swords

with a powerful legions of Caesar's assassins

and to deliver a merciless battle on the plain of Philippi.

Urged on by their leader, a model of high esteem and worthiness,

Antony's legions eagerly embraced the cause

in spite of facing fellow Romans.

Brutus and Cassius took up position

on high ground close to the town of Philippi.

Brutus's camp was protected

by dense forests and steep embankments.

While that of Cassius was bordered

by a seemingly impassable marsh.

Antony set up camp two kilometers away

making do with a desolation of a plain.

The two Republican camps sat either side

of the Via Anyatta, the only road that crossed

the eastern Roman Empire.

From one camp to the other Brutus and Cassius blocked

the road with a rampart and ditch.

About 10 kilometers away was the port of Neapolis,

facilitating communications and refitting.

The well supplied and well protected Republicans

would be capable of waging a drawn-out war, while the

Caesarians had no water and no nearby towns.

Antony asked Cleopatra for help.

She was to send a hundred ships

to Neapolis with reinforcements.

Antony couldn't establish access to the sea

which was indispensable for resupplying his troops.

Cassius built a huge palisade ahead of his camp

to protect his forces.

He believed the natural lie of the marshland

offered further protection to the south.

Antony knew he had to breach Cassius's palisade.

In under 10 days he secretly

built a causeway across the supposedly

impassable marshes, which would enable

him to go round the palisade

and attack Cassius on several fronts.

But Antony wasn't alone, he had been joined

by the young Octavian and his legions.

His mission was to lead a charge on Brutus's camp.

If only he hadn't felt so weak.

Octavian had arrived on a stretcher two days earlier.

Antony gave out battle orders, Octavian was to attack Brutus

but Octavian showed no signs of recovering

from the illness he was stricken with