Augustus

==== Battle of Philippi and division of territory ====
{{Further|Liberators' civil war}}
[[File:S0484.4.jpg|thumb|300px|A [[denarius]] minted {{circa}} 18&nbsp;BC. Obverse: CAESAR AVGVSTVS; reverse: comet of eight rays with tail upward; DIVVS IVLIV[S] (DIVINE JULIUS).]]
On 1 January 42&nbsp;BC, the Senate posthumously recognized Julius Caesar as a divinity of the Roman state, ''divus Iulius''. Octavian was able to further his cause by emphasizing the fact that he was ''divi filius'', "Son of the Divine".{{Sfn|Syme|1939|page=202}} Antony and Octavian then sent twenty-eight legions by sea to face the armies of Brutus and Cassius, who had built their base of power in Greece.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=17}} After two [[Battle of Philippi|battles at Philippi]] in Macedonia in October 42, the Caesarian army was victorious and Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. Mark Antony later used the examples of these battles as a means to belittle Octavian, as both battles were decisively won with the use of Antony's forces. In addition to claiming responsibility for both victories, Antony branded Octavian as a coward for handing over his direct military control to [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]] instead.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=17–18}}

After Philippi, a new territorial arrangement was made among the members of the Second Triumvirate. [[Gaul]] and the province of Hispania were placed in the hands of Octavian. Antony traveled east to Egypt where he allied himself with Queen [[Cleopatra]], the former lover of Julius Caesar and mother of Caesar's son [[Caesarion]]. Lepidus was left with the province of Africa, stymied by Antony, who conceded Hispania to Octavian instead.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=18}}

Octavian was left to decide where in Italy to settle the tens of thousands of veterans of the Macedonian campaign, whom the triumvirs had promised to discharge. The tens of thousands who had fought on the republican side with Brutus and Cassius could easily ally with a political opponent of Octavian if not appeased, and they also required land.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=18}} There was no more government-controlled land to allot as settlements for their soldiers, so Octavian had to choose one of two options: alienating many Roman citizens by confiscating their land, or alienating many Roman soldiers who could mount a considerable opposition against him in the Roman heartland. Octavian chose the former.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=18–19}} There were as many as eighteen Roman towns affected by the new settlements, with entire populations driven out or at least given partial evictions.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=19}}