Octavius, Caesar's adopted son, was in Greece when he heard of his inheritance. He return to Rome and noticed that Antony was in control of Rome. People feared that Antony was going to take Caesar's place and keep dictatorship. The senate wanted to use Octavius to get the republic to rise and not follow into Antony's ambitions. However, Cyserro, a senator, wanted to temporarily use Octavius and get ride of him after the senate regained control of the people. Octavius had a different mindset and told the senate that he wanted to protect Rome from farther monarchy and dictatorship. The senate ignored Octavius' ideas and made him a senate. The people noticed Antony's immaturity from his criticism of Octivan. This should was on the reasons people felt he should not be a politician. The senate sent an army lead by Octavius against Antony in Northern Italy. In the following battles, Antony's army was defeated. This allowed the senate to believe they had saved the republic but they still had to deal with Octavius original ambitions. He had similarities to Caesar and kept his army with him to keep his power. This lead to him marching on Rome as if they were his enemy to ask if he could become council. Due to his power, the senate could not refuse his offer. After gaining his biggest goal, he looked to Mark Antony to be his alley because they both wanted revenge of Caesar’s death. They planned to divide the empire and eliminated any competition. They began by edging Leviticus out of relevance and split Rome into half. Mark Antony got the east while Octavius got the west. Both knew that one day, they would fight for it all. Octavius had become ruthless and found ways to remove anyone who had the means to go against him. Also, he used his power to move about with women. He began with a marriage and a child before quickly being divorced. This was followed by finding another married women, forcing her husband to divorce her and reminding with her until he died. He used his sister, Octivia, to smooth over the relationship with Antony but Antony had fallen for Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. She had seduced him for ambitions of using his army to help create an empire in Egypt. Likewise, Antony wanted to use her money to help him take over Rome in its entirety. Therefore, he sent Octavia back home and married Cleopatra without even divorcing Octivia. That reignited the feud between Octavius and Anthony. Octavius began to prepare for war because he felt Antony was now considered an Egyptian. At the Battle of Actium, Octavius lead the Italians while Antony stood with his wife and his powers. The war was won by Antony's general but many of the people had lost their lives. This left Antony with guilt and lead him to kill himself once he returned to Egypt. Cleopatra then feared for her life and tried to remind Octavius about her love for Caesar, but he was not convinced Therefore, it lead to her killing herself with a bite of a snake and Octavius killing her son so that he could not grow and raise against him. Octavius was unsure how he could rule Rome and remain alive. He wondered how he could seem like everyone's friend without removing his power. He began providing many gifts to try and gain the acceptance of the people. He used this to make the people believe that he respected the republic values. Four years after Actium, he offered to give up his power back to the senate. However, the senate feared another civil war and could not accept his offer. This lead to his power to become increased because the people felt that his presence was still needed. Octavius created the title, Precaps, to make it seem like he was not the sole ruler. He felt that his decisions were restoring the ways of the empire. After five years, he received the name August because of his devotion to peace, stability, and restorations. In his later age, now called Augustus, he wanted to live the ways of simple people. Everybody he encounter said that he was delightful, generous, and listened to what they had to say. He dictated how people viewed him and only asked that younger versions of him was shipped out to the public. All statues, coins, and paintings went spain, greece, and other places showed him being ageless. He begin being considered a God and the month August was named after him. Even though, he created many laws and fines that help keep peace within the empire, Augustus was considered a hypocrite because he often broke his own laws. As he grew older, he began looking for a successor. He felt that he could create a dynasty instead of chosen an exact successor because it would not require that he give up his status until his death. He sons were often considered a successor but they all died young. After many more years of expansion, Tyburius' was chosen as his successor. August later died at the age of 77 in his bed. After his death, he was officially considered a God.
The film was constructed well and very informative. The chronological timeline help the viewer follow what was happening throughout the film. However, the quick switch of calling Octavius, Augustus caused much confusion. It required an extra couple minutes to noticed that they were taking about the same person. However, the narrator were just trying to express how the Octavius had officially become legend in the eyes of people hints the name change.