Augustus, CAIUS JULIUS CAESAR OCTAVIANUS (63 B. C.-14 A. D.), originally called Caius Octavius, Roman emperor, was the son of Caius Octavius and Atia, a daughter of Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar. After Caesar's death Octavius returned to Rome to claim Caesar's property and avenge his death, and now took, according to usage, his uncle's name with the surname Octavianus. After a struggle with Antony, in which Antony was overcome, Octavianus succeeded in getting himself chosen consul, and soon afterwards, having effected a reconciliation with Antony, he formed, with him and Lepidus, the second triumvirate. This alliance resulted in a proscription, in which three hundred senators and two thousand knights were put to death. Next year Octavianus and Antony defeated the republican army under Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, and the victors now divided the Roman world between them, Octavianus taking the West, Antony the East and Lepidus Africa. Sextus Pompeius, who had made himself formidable at sea, was now put down; and soon after, Lepidus, who had hitherto retained an appearance of power, was deprived of all authority and retired into private life. Antony and Octavianus now shared the Empire between them; but while the former, in the East, gave himself up to a life of luxury and alienated the Romans by his alliance with Cleopatra and his adoption of Oriental manners, Octavianus skillfully cultivated popularity and soon declared war against the queen of Egypt. The naval victory of Actium, in which the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra was defeated, made Octavianus master of the world, 31 B. C. He returned to Rome, celebrated a splendid triumph and caused the temple of Janus to be closed as a sign of universal peace. Gradually all the highest offices of state, civil and religious, were united in his hands, and the new title of Augustus (sacred) was formally conferred by the senate in 27 B. C. Under him successful wars were carried on in Africa and Asia, in Gaul and Spain, in Pannonia and in Dalmatia; but the defeat of Varus by the Germans under Arminius, with the loss of three legions, 9 A. D., was a great blow to him. He adorned Rome in such a manner that it was said, "He found it of brick, and left it of marble." The people erected altars to him, and by a decree of the senate, the month Sextilis was called Augustus. His death, which took place at Nola, plunged the Empire into the greatest grief. Augustus was thrice married, but had no son, and was succeeded by his stepson, Tiberius, whose mother, Livia, he had married after prevailing on her husband to divorce her.