Alex Wyndham

Her treachery exposed by Duro, Servilia finds herself in Atia's villa at the mercy of Timon. Searching for Vorenus in the Mutina countryside, Pullo runs into Octavian, who has just won a bloody battle against Mark Antony. The new Caesar has decided to return to Rome with his army, and sends Marcus Agrippa to tell Octavia and Cicero the news. Meanwhile, encamped with a new army of mercenaries in Western Turkey, Brutus and Cassius have plans of their own. Vorenus and Pullo arrive at a slave camp in search of Vorenus's children, and are shocked to discover their fates.

Against Pullo's advice, Vorenus returns to the Collegium with his rescued daughters and Lucius, who are soon reunited with Lyde and undergo a cleansing ritual for past sins. Denied a triumph in Rome, Octavian urges Cicero to embrace his request to be made Consul; in exchange, Octavian promises not to make a move without consulting Cicero first. Octavian is reunited with Atia and Octavia; while the former begs for forgiveness, the latter doesn't like what her brother has become. Octavian's first act as Consul takes Cicero and the Senate by surprise. Vorenus attempts to make peace with Memmio and Cotta, who wonder if he's gone soft. To gain advantage over Brutus and Cassius's army, two adversaries patch up their differences.

Brutus and Cassius see their military advantage vanish in the wake of Octavian's new alliance with Mark Antony. In Rome, Vorenus receives orders to execute scores of Rome's elite, dividing the task among the Collegium's gang captains. Cicero attempts to warn Brutus of his army's danger, but is foiled by the arrival of Pullo at his villa. Mark Antony adds a few names to the list of condemned, as does Atia; Octavia and Vorena the Elder find themselves enchanted by unlikely suitors; Eirene shares some domestic news with Pullo; Levi and Timon precipitate a synagogue melee; and Atia gets Octavia to reveal a secret as Octavian heads out of Rome. On the plains of Philippi, two armies clash, with the future of Rome at stake.

Servilia's incessant cries for justice drive Atia to distraction, and result in an unfortunate public denouement. Meanwhile, Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus agree to divvy up Rome's territories, sharing a common treasury. The coalition is immediately tested when Mark Antony fails to report a substantial bribe. At the Collegium, Eirene insists that Pullo punish Gaia for insubordination, but the slave turns the flogging to her advantage. Levi urges a reluctant Timon to help him kill Herod, who has arrived from Judea with a secret agenda. While the newly freed Posca takes a bride, Octavian turns a more public wedding into a political statement of unity.

Rome is facing a dire shortage of grain, forcing Octavian to barter with Mark Antony to get new shipments sent from Egypt. But instead of agreeing to Octavian's price--money and territory--Mark Antony flatly turns him down, pointing towards an inevitable conflict between the two former allies and, perhaps, Vorenus and Pullo. As a last resort, Octavian sends Atia and Octavia to Alexandria, knowing their reception will most likely be a chilly one. At the Collegium, where Pullo is rationing out grain to increasingly restless Romans, Gaia saves her master from a caged animal's wrath, but can't save herself. After fleeing a deteriorating situation in Egypt, Posca gives Octavian the ammunition he needs to turn the people against Mark Antony, setting in motion the wheels of war.