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==The Civil War==
Those who were involved in the assassination of Caesar under the command of Cassius and Brutus controlled much of the Easter portion of the Empire. Antony and Octavian sailed with an army to confront their enemies and the two armies confronted each other at Phillipa in modern Macedonia or Northern Greece. Here the two armies clashed and over two battles the followers of Caesar prevailed. The battles had been close fought and it was the personal bravery of Mark Anthony and the general Agrippa that ensured victory for the Second Triumvirate. The liberators and their ''Optimates '' allies all died in the battle or its aftermath<ref> Suetonius, Lives of the Caesar, vii</ref>. Brutus and Cassius committed suicide in the aftermath of the defeat. The defeat at Philippi was a decisive one and it effectively ended the Optimates as a military force. While there were to be more civil conflicts the Senatorial elite were no longer active participants. Successive defeats and a series of proscriptions had decimated the old Republican elite and they were no longer able to influence events in Romehad most of their power. Those who wanted to preserve the old ideas of the Republic no longer had the means or perhaps the will to prevent the concentration of power in the lands of one or two men<ref> Osgood, p 227</ref>. The assassination of Caesar was motivated by a desire to restore the old Republican system and especially the influence of the Senate. In fact, the civil war that ensued in the aftermath of the death of Caesar was to result in the side-lining of the Senate and those who believed in the ideals of the Republic.
==The Second Triumvirate==
The Second Triumvirate saw the rise of Octavian and Mark Anthony, who became the most powerful man in Rome. Lepidus was decidedly a junior partner in the political arrangement. Octavian Mark Anthony and Octavian divided the Roman Empire between them and deftly side-lined Lepidus. Anthony assumed responsibility for the pacification of the east which had become restive after the civil wars. Anthony successful reimpose Roman control over the Eastern section of the Roman Empire. The relationship between Mark Anthony and Octavian was sealed by a series of marriages. However, in truth the two men were never really allies and both knew that there would be a day of reckoning. The Second Triumvirate allowed Octavian and Mark Anthony to rule the Roman Empire. Both paid only scant regard to the Senate. Octavian was the real power in Rome and he observed the forms of the Republican system <ref>Holland, Tom, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic (London, Anchor Books, 2003), p. 207 </ref>. In the east Mark Anthony began a relationship with the Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra IV. For a brief period, the Roman territories were divided between Octavian who presented himself as champion old fashioned Roman values and beliefs and Mark Anthony who seemed to be creating a personal domain for himself and Cleopatra in the east. For the entire duration of the Second Triumvirate, the Senate was subservient to the demand of especially Octavian. The Second Triumvirate that was made possible by the assassins who sought to preserve the Republic, did much to undermine the old system of governance and politics<ref> Holland, p 298</ref>.
