On his return to Rome Cæsar was appointed dictator for ten years and exercised absolute power. The Senate paid him divine honors, and it is possible that Cæsar desired the title of king. He was assassinated by certain of his favorites who aimed to reëstablish the sovereignty of the Senate (44).
End of the Republic.—The people of Rome, who loved Cæsar, compelled Brutus and Cassius, the chiefs of the assassins, to flee. They withdrew to the East where they raised a large army. The West remained in the hand of Antony, who with the support of the army of Cæsar, governed Rome despotically.
Cæsar in his will had adopted a young man of eighteen years, his sister's son,[143] Octavian, who according to Roman usage assumed the name of his adoptive father and called himself from that time Julius Cæsar Octavianus. Octavian rallied to his side the soldiers of Cæsar and was charged by the Senate with the war against Antony. But after conquering him he preferred to unite with him for a division of power; they associated Lepidus with them, and all three returned to Rome where they secured absolute power for five years under the title of triumvirs for organizing public affairs. They began by proscribing their adversaries and their personal enemies. Antony secured the death of Cicero (43). Then they left for the East to destroy the army of the conspirators. After they had divided the empire among themselves it was impossible to preserve harmony and war was undertaken in Italy. It was the soldiers who compelled them to make terms of peace. A new partition was made; Antony took the East and Octavian the West (39). For some years peace was preserved; Antony resigned himself to the life of an oriental sovereign in company with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt; Octavian found it necessary to fight a campaign against the sons of Pompey. The two leaders came at last to an open breach, and then flamed up the last of the civil wars. This was a war between the East and West. It was decided by the naval battle of Actium; Antony, abandoned by the fleet of Cleopatra, fled to Egypt and took his own life. Octavian, left alone, was absolute master of the empire. The government of the Senate was at an end.
Need of Peace.—Everybody had suffered by these wars. The inhabitants of the provinces were plundered, harassed, and massacred by the soldiers; each of the hostile generals forced them to take sides with him, and the victor punished them for supporting the vanquished. To reward the old soldiers the generals promised them lands, and then expelled all the inhabitants of a city to make room for the veterans.
Rich Romans risked their property and their life; when their party was overthrown, they found themselves at the mercy of the victor. Sulla had set the example for organized massacres (81). Forty years later (in 43) Octavian and Antony again drew up lists of proscription.
The populace suffered. The grain on which they lived came no longer to Rome with the former regularity, being intercepted either by pirates or by the fleet of an enemy.
After a century of this régime all the Romans and provincials, rich and poor, had but one desire—peace.
The Power of the Individual.—It was then that the heir of Cæsar, his nephew[144] Octavian, one of the triumvirs, after having conquered his two colleagues presented himself to the people now wearied with civil discord. "He drew to himself all the powers of the people, of the Senate, and of the magistrates;" for twelve years he was emperor without having the title. No one dreamed of resisting him; he had closed the temple of Janus and given peace to the world, and this was what everybody wished. The government of the republic by the Senate represented only pillage and civil war. A master was needed strong enough to stop the wars and revolutions. Thus the Roman empire was founded.