The conspirators thought the death of Caesar would bring about the restoration of the Roman Republic, and they were wrong. For one thing, Caesar's reforms were really popular with the Roman people, who were quick to hail his adopted son Octavian, as well as his second-in-command, Mark, I am the wrong horse Antony, and a dude named Lepidus, as a second triumvirate. This triumvirate was an awesome failure, degenerating into a second civil war. Octavian and Antony fought it out, Antony being the wrong horse lost. Octavian won, changed his name to Caesar Augustus, became sole ruler of Rome, attached a baby to his leg, adopted the title emperor, and started printing coins identifying himself as Divini Filius, the son of God. More on that next week. Although Augustus tried to pretend that the forms of the Roman Empire were still intact, the truth was he made the laws and the Senate had become nothing more than a rubber stamp.