Octavian Marches on Rome and Demands the Consulship at 19
Octavian marched on Rome at nineteen in August 43 BC and demanded the consulship. He had arrived in Italy the previous year as a private citizen of eighteen with a will naming him Caesar's heir, no army and no office, and had raised troops from his adoptive father's veterans by paying them out of his inheritance — which was illegal and which the senate accepted because it needed soldiers against Antony. Cicero's speeches had built him up as the young man who would save the Republic, and had contained the remark about praising him and raising him up in a phrase that also meant getting rid of him. He fought for the senate at Mutina in April 43, both consuls were killed, and he found himself in command of their armies as well as his own. He then asked for a consulship, was refused on the grounds of his age, and sent a delegation of centurions, one of whom put his hand on his sword and said that this would make him consul if the senate would not. He entered the city with eight legions, held an election, and took the office at nineteen with a relative as colleague. He immediately established a court to try Caesar's assassins, revoked the outlawry of Antony, and met him and Lepidus on an island near Bononia in November. The triumvirate they formed proscribed some 300 senators and 2,000 equestrians, and Cicero was among the first. The consulship also gave him the lex curiata confirming his adoption, which is what he had come to Rome for. He was Caesar's son in law as well as in the will, and every soldier who had served under his father knew it.
- Year: 43 BCE
- Category: Political
