Lepidus

Lepidus profile on a coin

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Lepidus ( Latin : M AEMILIVS M F Q Nr LEPIDVS ^Biography

A great admirer of Julius Caesar , he began his course honorum in 49 BC. J. C.en as praetor Urban. When Caesar pursues Pompey in Spain , it is responsible to Rome and runs so well that he was elected Senate relations consul with Caesar in -46 when it defeated the last troops loyal to Pompey in the East of Italy. When the dictatorship began in -44 , Caesar appointed him master of the horse.

The ruling alliance was short-lived however, because his mentor is murdered in -44 , on March 15 (during the Ides of March ). Gaius Longinus , one of the conspirators, also proposed to kill Lepidus and Mark Antony , but Marcus Junius Brutus retorted that it was an execution, not a political stunt. This choice will prove wrong, as both men will be defeated in -42 by Octavian and Mark Antony at the Battle of Philippi where they will lose both life.

After the assassination, Lepidus, who was elected pontifex maximus (great Pontiff) to replace Caesar, allied with Mark Antony to hold the Senate. But they learn that Caesar made of Octavian , his grand-nephew, his adopted son and sole heir. They must now reckon with him. The three men met on an island, therefore, on a river near Mutina , where their armies face each other on both sides and form the second triumvirate. Their marriage was legalized as the Triumvirs for the Organization of the People by the lex Titia , unlike compound of Julius Caesar , Crassus and Pompey , who had not been formally legalized. They have indeed rejected the Senate and consuls while announcing the death of the Republic. The legal duration of this triumvirate of five years, it was renewed for the image -38 by the Treaty of Tarentum.

After the pacification in the east and defeat the last faction of Republicans in the battle of Philippi , the division of provinces gave him the Roman Africa and Hispania , where he launched a concerted attack with Marcus Agrippa Vipsanius cons Sicily and Sextus Pompey. After the Battle of Nauloque , it is defeated, flees to Miletus , but was finally caught and executed the following year, -35.

Lepidus managed to stay out of the frequent quarrels of Octavian and Mark Antony. However, after a political mistake, he was dismissed from her office by Triumvir Octavian, on charges of understanding with Sextus Pompey. He will retain his title of Grand Pontiff, since that office is entrusted to life than who is honored. The future Augustus , became the sole ruler of Rome after the death of Mark Antony , was able to access the supreme power and establish a new regime, the Principality. Lepidus died a natural death so in 13 BC. AD.

Family

He is the son of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , consul of Rome, which opposed the Senate and fomented a rebellion that ended in his death after being defeated by Pompey.

His brother, Lucius Aemilius Paullus , a former consul and staunch Republican, opposed him and just missed to enforce. Yet his tormentors left him escape and join Brutus. He was later pardoned by Augustus.

Lepidus was married to Junia Seconda who bore him a son, the young Lepidus. Being the sister of Marcus Junius Brutus , Lepidus had to protect her and Caepio Servilia , mother, after the Battle of Philippi. They might in fact be executed after the death of the last republicans.

Family tree and magistrates

Leave a Reply