In return for his success, Vatinius was rewarded with the consulship in 47 BC. In 46 BC he was sent to Illyricum with three legions and defeated Marcus Octavius, a Pompeian partisan with a large fleet, for which he received an "ovatio". As Vatinius's troops had declared in favor of Marcus Junius Brutus, he was forced to turn over command of his army to the latter in 44 BCE, after the death of Caesar, when Brutus went to Macedonia to take command of his province.