History - Renassiance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History - Renassiance - Essay Example Despite Senate sanction, the triumvirate was in realty a military junta and the Senate was completely cut off from power. In the proscription that followed, political rivals, including 300 Senators, were executed and their property seized. Julius Caesar was officially deified, further strengthening Octavian’s position as the divi filius, or son of God. The forces of Brutus and Cassius, Caesar’s assassins, were defeated by Octavian and Antony at Philippi in 42 B.C. This can be viewed as the end of any hope of resurrecting the Roman Republic. The final blow against the forces of the old Republic was struck when Octavian’s general, Agrippa, defeated Sextus Pompeius in 36 B.C. at the Battle of Naulochus. Octavian used Antony’s Egyptian connection with Cleopatra to manipulate Roman public opinion against him, culminating in Antony’s defeat at Actium in 31 B.C. Octavian shrewdly adopted the role of defender of the Republic. He brilliantly portrayed Actium as a triumph for the Senate and the Republic, rather than his defeat of a hated rival. He was now in absolute control of Rome. Octavian maintained the elaborate fiction of restoring the Roman Republic by retaining the traditional practices such as consuls, senate and tribunes. By remaining Consul from 31 – 23 B.C., holding the tribunician authority and controlling all the important provinces, Octavian firmly kept the reins of power in his own hands. At the same time, he avoided all external trappings of dictatorship or monarchy. He announced the end of the civil wars with the Pax Romana, executed an ambitious building program and strengthened the economy. In 27 B.C. Octavian brilliantly orchestrated the First Settlement, under which he apparently surrendered his powers to the Senate and was ‘persuaded’ to take them back! He was bestowed the title of ‘Augustus,’ or revered, but claimed to be content to