Amy Marston

Cleopatra arrives in Rome to pay her respects to Caesar--and to attempt to get her son legitimized. Frustrated by Mark Antony in his attempt to secure his inheritance, Octavian takes out a loan to pay off Caesar's promise to the people. Mark Antony orders Vorenus to assume Erastes' captaincy, and he and Pullo bully the warring gangs into an uneasy truce.

As Brutus and Cassius struggle to raise foreign money for an army, Mark Antony changes his post-consul itinerary from Macedonia to Gaul. The plan is derailed when Cicero delivers an in-absentia message to the Senate, then throws his support to Octavian, the new Caesar. Vorenus, meantime, is in a battle of his own.

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.

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.

Octavian proclaims a new era of virtue in Rome, issuing a stern mandate that proves impossible for his family and subordinates to obey. A shipment of gold is mysteriously hijacked while en route to the Roman treasury, casting suspicion everywhere and sending Vorenus on a mission to learn who betrayed whom. In the wake of personal tragedy, Pullo turns his grief into fury at Memmio, Omnipor and their henchmen. After courting an "appropriate" bride named Livia, Octavian turns his attentions to more important matters, issuing to Mark Antony an ultimatum he knows he can't refuse.