Second Triumvirate
The lex Titia legally establishes the Second Triumvirate
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗Antony and Octavian each brought five legions to the negotiations but left their escorts at opposite bridges. Only the three leaders sat together on the island.
27 November 43 BCE: a magistracy by statute
The lex Titia, passed on 27 November 43 BCE, created a new five-year magistracy for Mark Antony, Lepidus and Octavian: the triumviri rei publicae constituendae, triumvirs for settling the state.
The plebeian tribune Publius Titius introduced the measure at a public assembly held amid the triumvirs' armed forces. The three had entered Rome on three successive days beforehand, each accompanied by a praetorian cohort and a legion.
What the law actually granted
It let them make or annul laws without first consulting Senate or people, exercise jurisdiction without appeal, and nominate magistrates.
Unlike the informal coalition retrospectively called the First Triumvirate, this was a statutory office. And the promise to settle the state did not mean restoring competitive republican government — the law concentrated extraordinary authority in three men.
Agreed on an island, before the vote
The statute gave legal form to a bargain negotiated over a two-day conference on a river island in northern Italy, with Lepidus providing security. Octavian sat between the other two; the initial provincial division gave Antony most of Gaul, Lepidus Spain and Narbonese Gaul, and Octavian Africa, Sicily, Sardinia and nearby islands.
The bargain covered more than provinces. Eighteen prosperous Italian cities were promised to the soldiers — land and buildings, as though captured enemy territory — and the proscriptions were planned at the conference, with executioners sent ahead before the triumvirs formally entered Rome. Appian estimated about 300 senators and 2,000 equestrians sentenced to death and confiscation.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 4 sources 2 audit passes Date corrected
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Date corrected. The research places this at -0043-11-27.