Clive Riche

Vorenus returns to the Collegium with his rescued daughters and son Lucius. Denied a triumph in Rome, Octavian urges Cicero to embrace his request to be made consul. To gain advantage over Brutus and Cassius' army, two adversaries patch up their differences.

As Brutus and Cassius struggle to raise money for an army, Mark Antony's designs on Gaul elicit a shocking edict from Cicero to the Senate. Vorenus provokes an all-out gang war in the Collegium, and a duplicitous youth sets in motion a deadly plan hatched by Servilia.

Brutus and Cassius see their military advantage vanish in the wake of Octavian's new alliance with Mark Antony. In Rome, Vorenus receives orders to prune the ranks of Rome's elite. With the future of Rome at stake, the two armies clash on the plains of Philippi.

Cleopatra arrives in Rome to pay her respects to Caesar, and to get her son legitimised. Erastes' death plunges the Aventine Collegium, and Rome's river commerce, into chaos. Octavian wins over the masses by taking out a loan to pay off Caesar's promise to the people.