The Second Triumvirate
In November, 43 BC, Octavian met with Antony and Lepidus in Bononia, and they entered into an official five-year autocratic post, the Triumviri Rei Publicae Constituendae Consulari Potestate ("Triumvirs for Confirming the Republic with Consular Power") or the Second Triumvirate. To cement this, Octavian agreed to marry Clodia, a daughter of Antony's wife Fulvia (by her former husband Publius Clodius Pulcher). The triumvirs took the powers of a dictator.
In order to refill the now depleted treasury, the Triumvirate decided to launch proscriptions - their plan was to raise money by confiscating the land from those proscribed and selling it to raise money. 130 senators and 2,000 equites were allegedly considered as outlaws. As Suetonius says, Octavian "prosecuted them for murder" of Caesar. However, the proscriptions did not raise the funds that they had hoped for as land prices fell and people did not want to buy land that had been confiscated from those they deemed innocent of crime. Octavian's co-consul, Pedius, attempted to stop this and only reluctantly submitted 17 names to be proscribed. At this point, he pledged himself to protect the citizens of Rome but not long after he died.
The triumvirs swore an oath that Caesar was in fact a god and that all his acts were binding and legal; they also made the Senate swear this oath, thus making Octavian the "son of a god". They started the construction of the Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar on the spot on which he was cremated and made his birthday a public holiday with celebrations in which all must attend; those senators, or sons of senators, who did not attend would face a fine of 1 million sesterces.
In order to refill the now depleted treasury, the Triumvirate decided to launch proscriptions - their plan was to raise money by confiscating the land from those proscribed and selling it to raise money. 130 senators and 2,000 equites were allegedly considered as outlaws. As Suetonius says, Octavian "prosecuted them for murder" of Caesar. However, the proscriptions did not raise the funds that they had hoped for as land prices fell and people did not want to buy land that had been confiscated from those they deemed innocent of crime. Octavian's co-consul, Pedius, attempted to stop this and only reluctantly submitted 17 names to be proscribed. At this point, he pledged himself to protect the citizens of Rome but not long after he died.
The triumvirs swore an oath that Caesar was in fact a god and that all his acts were binding and legal; they also made the Senate swear this oath, thus making Octavian the "son of a god". They started the construction of the Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar on the spot on which he was cremated and made his birthday a public holiday with celebrations in which all must attend; those senators, or sons of senators, who did not attend would face a fine of 1 million sesterces.