Ides of March, Roman Empire

Caesar is dead and chaos reigns throughout the city. Though Brutus, Cassius and the other liberators expect widespread support for their actions, little is forthcoming, and the anger from the populace and the veterans in the city is palpable. The assassins barricade themselves on the Capitol Hill, but even the Senate abandons them. The people, for their part, fly into a rage, public buildings are burnt, statues torn down, blood runs in rivulets through the cobblestoned streets of Rome.

Word comes through to the Julii, Caesar's clan, the wailing of the mourners echoes through their halls, and the household prepares for the worst. All but young Octavian, just eighteen years old. He is Caesar’s adopted son and heir, and if he wants to claim his rights, he must act.

Mark Antony, one of Caesar's closest allies, acts quicker. Holding a public meeting, he reads Caesar’s will to the populace. Much of his wealth will be left to the poor in Rome, and, as a final gift, his luscious gardens are gifted to the people. At Caesar’s funeral oration, he holds up the dictator’s bloody toga, inflaming public opinion. The assassins, now rebranding themselves as the 'Liberators', flee to the East of the empire, hoping to raise an army sympathetic to their cause. 

Three men meet secretly: Mark Antony, the grizzled veteran of Caesar’s wars, Marcus Lepidus, a powerful ally of Caesar, and Octavian, his heir. A second Triumvirate is formed, officially (and dubiously) tasked with the restoration of the Republic and the hunting down of the Liberators. The Triumvirs grant themselves extraordinary powers with the Lex Titia: they can now issue laws without senatorial oversight, they are the highest court in the land, and they have the authority to issue proscription lists. The Senate meekly acquiesces.

However, not all in the city are sympathetic to the mourning Caesarions. Marcus Tullius Cicero, a staunch advocate of the Republic, sees the situation for what it is: a power vacuum. He looks to Mark Antony, who is popular, experienced, and backed by many of Caesar’s former soldiers and sees a tyrant in the making.

Cicero launches a concerted political attack on Antony in a series of speeches called the Philippics (modelled after speeches by the Athenian orator Demosthenes against Philip II of Macedon, who eventually took that city’s freedom). He exhorts the elites of the city to rise up and defend their liberty and lambasts Antony with a series of bombastic charges. Underestimating Octavian’s ambition, he names him as the counterpoint to Antony, believing that the young man, talented but inexperienced, may be moulded into the saviour of the Republic. 

The Second Triumvirate raises its legions and sets off to Greece. They meet the army of the Liberators at Philippi. Octavius faces Brutus, Antony marches against Cassius. At first, Brutus manages to get the upper hand over Octavian, pushing his legions back to their camp. Then, Cassius hears a rumour: Brutus has died and his legions have been destroyed. In despair, he takes his own life. His legions panic, and Antony can break through the demoralised enemy line.
 
Antony’s forces turn around from their victory over Cassius and hit the Liberator’s flank, saving Octavian and carrying the day. Brutus, still alive and believing victory is within his grasp, looks on in horror as his legions slip like sand through his fingers. He chooses to end his life rather than surrender.

Antony and Octavian return to Rome victorious. For now, the Second Triumvirate rules. Cicero continues his attacks, increasing their intensity in the hope of driving a wedge between the Triumvirs and delivers a dangerous and deadly charge: he calls Antony a public enemy of the Roman people. 

But he has overplayed his hand. The alliance remains firm, and in the proscriptions placed on the allies of the Liberators, Cicero’s name is mentioned. He is ambushed en route to his villa in the countryside and murdered. His head is carried to Rome and presented personally to Antony's household. Antony's wife, Fulvia, removes a long hairpin and pushes it through Cicero's bloated tongue.

The Liberators aimed to restore the traditional rule of the Republic, but in reality, only succeeded in accelerating its demise. Through the chaos surrounding Caesar’s death, his allies were able to completely circumvent a Senate already humbled and demoralised by Caesar’s dictatorship. Even the Liberators seem to have recognised the new reality, minting coins bearing their likeness, hinting at their own desire to capture the Roman state. But, just as the Roman world was too small for Pompey and Caesar to share, so it is for Antony and Octavian. The two men look at each other with suspicion, Antony at the young upstart with nothing to recommend him but his name, Octavian at the domineering and popular soldier who seeks to strip him of his birthright.