refully educated in Rome under the
guardianship of his mother and his step-father; and his talents
recommended him to his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, who adopted him as his
son and heir. At the time of Caesar's assassination (44 B.C.), Augustus
was a student under the celebrated orator Apollodorus, at Apollonia in
Illyricum, whither, however, he had been sent chiefly to gain practical
instruction in military affairs. He returned to Italy, and now first
learning that he was his uncle's heir, assumed the name of Julius Caesar
Octavianus. The soldiers at Brundusium saluted him as Caesar, but he
declined their offers, and entered Rome almost alone. The city was at
this time divided between the republicans and the friends of Mark
Antony, but the latter, by adroit manoeuvres, had gained the ascendency,
and enjoyed almost absolute power. At first, Augustus was haughtily
treated by Antony, who refused to surrender Caesar's property; but after
some fighting, in which Antony was worsted and forced to flee across the
Alps, Augustus, who had made himself a favorite with the people and the
army, obtained the consulship and carried out Caesar's will. He found an
able advocate in Cicero, who at first had regarded him with contempt. To
himself the great orator seemed to be laboring in behalf of the
republic, whereas he really was only an instrument for raising Augustus
to supreme power. When Antony returned from Gaul with Lepidus, Augustus
threw off the republican mask, and joined them in establishing a
triumvirate. He obtained Africa, Sardinia, and Sicily; Antony, Gaul; and
Lepidus, Spain. Their power was soon made absolute by the massacre of
those unfriendly to them in Italy, and by the victory at Philippi over
the republicans under Brutus and Cassius. The Perusian war, excited
by Fulvia, wife of Antony, seemed likely to lead to a contest between
Augustus and his rival; but was ended by Fulvia's death, and the
subsequent marriage of Antony with Octavia, sister of Augustus. Shortly
afterward the Roman world was divided anew, Augustus taking the western
half, and Antony the eastern. The contest for supremacy commenced. While
Antony was lost in luxurious dissipation at the court of Cleopatra,
Augustus was industriously striving to gain the love and confidence of
the Roman people, and to damage his rival in public estimation. War was
at length declared against the Egyptian queen, and at the naval battle
of Actium (31 B.C.) Augustus was vic