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After the battle, the Senate tried to take Octavian's army away and hand it over to one of Caesar's assassins.<ref> Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, xxiv</ref> The Senate's miscalculation persuaded Octavian to enter an alliance with Anthony and Lepidus. This became the Second Triumvirate. The Triumvirate seized power and then divided the legions and provinces among the three men. The aim of the Triumvirate was to consolidate control of Rome and avenge the assassination of Caesar. They soon occupied Rome and launched a campaign of terror in the city, summarily killing their enemies. However, the ''Optimates'' and Caesar's assassins rejected the Triumvirate's authority and started a second civil war.<ref>Galinsky, Karl. <i>Augustan Culture</I>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998), p. 89</ref>
====The How did Augustus win the Civil War==against the Optimates? ==
Those who were involved in the assassination of Caesar were placed under the command of Cassius and Brutus. They controlled much of the eastern 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. The two armies clashed and after two decisive battles, the followers of Caesar prevailed. The battles had been closely 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, <i>Lives of the Caesar</i>, vii</ref> Brutus and Cassius committed suicide in the aftermath of the defeat.
The defeat at Philippi was decisive and it effectively ended the Optimates as a military force. The Senate was also effectively neutered by the Triumvirate's victory. Successive defeats and a series of proscriptions had decimated the old Republican elite and they lost most of their power. Those who wanted to preserve the old ideas of the Republic no longer had the means or perhaps even 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 restore the influence of the Senate. In essence, the assassination was a spectacular failure. Instead of restoring the republic, the old Roman Republic was destroyed.
====The Second Triumvirate====
