In 42 BC Rome is in the middle of a civil war. Together with his friend AGRIPPA, the young Augustus goes to Spain in order to help JULIUS CAESAR in his struggle against the troops of POMPEY. Even though they are outnumbered, they manage to defeat Pompey. Caesar honours his adopted son Augustus with a triumphal entry into Rome and then sends him to Greece together with his friends Agrippa and Maecenas. There, Augustus hears the news of Caesar's assassination and he returns to Rome with his friends. Back in Rome, he is able to gain both the support of the people and political power.

In his struggle with the conspirators against Caesar he finds an ally in MARC ANTONY. Marc Antony not only pursues BRUTUS and CASSIUS, he also initiates a wave of executions which practically eliminates the old Roman ruling class. Among those who are killed is the husband of LIVIA DRUSILLA, a woman with whom Augustus had been in love as a young man. Through a combination of good luck and chance, Augustus and Marc Antony are able to defeat the forces of Brutus and Cassius at the battle of Phillipi. But now Augustus has to share his empire with Marc Antony who, in the meantime, has become the lover of the Egyptian queen CLEOPATRA.

Augustus declares war on both of them and after a successful military campaign he becomes the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. During his rule, Rome not only experiences a period of peace and prosperity, it is also an age in which both art and culture flourish. His new wife Livia Drusilla becomes his most important political advisor. It is she who discovers that IULLUS (the son of Marc Antony and lover of Augustus' daughter JULIA) is plotting to murder the emperor.

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