d the Parthians and drove the latter beyond the
Euphrates. He now resolved to carry out the plan of Julius Caesar for the
conquest of the Parthian kingdom. This necessitated his return to Italy to
secure reinforcements. But, his landing was opposed by Octavian who was
angry because Antony had not supported him against Sextus Pompey, whom
Antony evidently regarded as a useful check upon his colleague's power.
However, Octavia managed to reconcile her brother and her husband, and the
two reached a new agreement at Tarentum. Here it was arranged that Antony
should supply Octavian with one hundred ships for operations against
Pompey, that Lepidus should cooeperate in the attack upon Sicily, and that
both he and Octavian should furnish Antony with soldiers for the Parthian
war. As the power of the triumvirs had legally lapsed on 31 December, 38
B. C., they decided to have themselves reappointed for another five years,
which would terminate at the close of 33 B. C. This appointment like the
first was carried into effect by a special law.

*The defeat of Sextus Pompey, 36 B. C.* Octavian now energetically pressed
his attack upon Sicily, while Lepidus cooeperated by besieging Lilybaeum.
At length, in September, 36 B. C., Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Octavian's
ablest general, destroyed the bulk of Pompey's fleet in a battle off
Naulochus. Pompey fled to Asia, where two years later he was captured by
Antony's forces and executed. After the flight of Sextus, Lepidus
challenged Octavian's claim to Sicily, but his troops deserted him for
Octavian and he was forced to throw himself upon the latter's mercy.
Stripped of his power and retaining only his office of chief pontiff, he
lived under guard in an Italian municipality until his death in 12 B. C.
His provinces were taken by Octavian. The defeat of Sextus Pompey and the
deposition of Lepidus gave Octavian sole power over the western half of
the empire, and inevitably tended to sharpen the rivalry and antagonism
which had long existed between himself and Antony. In the same year
Octavian was granted the tribunician sacrosanctity and the right to sit on
the tribune's bench in the Senate.

III. THE VICTORY OF OCTAVIAN OVER ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

*The Parthian war, 36 B. C.* After the Treaty of Tarentum Antony proceeded
to Syria to begin preparations for his campaign against the Parthians
which he began in 36 B. C. Avoiding the Mesopotamian desert, he marched to
the north