Summary

The novel’s third chapter begins with another letter from Maecenas to Livius, written in 13 B.C, and is a continuation Maecenas’s narrative from the previous chapter. Octavius and Agrippa go to the south to look for support from Caesar’s old allies, while Maecenas stays back and writes letters to the legions under Antonius’s control. It is at this point that Antonius makes the his first serious mistake: he has more than 300 officers and men put to death. This angers his remaining supporters, many of whom defect to Octavius’s cause instead.

Maecenas then details the beginnings of Octavius’s army: he and Agrippa are able to raise nearly 3,000 men; however, many of the soldiers end up dispersing, leaving Octavius with fewer than a thousand in his army. At this point, Antonius is marching toward Gaul, supposedly to punish...