In 76 BC, Pompey (106-48 BC), who had served under Sulla, sought a command in Spain against Sertorius, but the Senate refused. So Pompey disobeyed the Senate’s orders to disband his legions until he got control in Spain. Eventually, Pompey won a victory in Spain in 71 BC, and cleared the Mediterranean of pirates in 66 BC. For this, he was rewarded with a campaign against Mithridates. Crassus (155-53 BC), who was the richest man in Rome, and suppressed Spartacus’s slave revolt, joined Pompey as one of two consuls in 70 BC. 

Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) served as quaestor in Spain and threw support to Pompey in 67 BC. The consuls elected in 65 BC were condemned for electoral bribery after Catiline, who had served under Sulla, tried to start an uprising against the consuls after he lost an election. Caesar was rewarded with a command in Gaul after helping defeat Catiline. Pompey married Caesar’s daughter and in return Pompey’s soldiers were given a land grant. 

Backed by the Senate, Pompey later had Crassus killed while Caesar was in Gaul, and started a civil war against his former ally Caesar. Caesar won the conflict, declared himself dictator for life in 48 BC, and filled the Senate with his supporters. Although most Senators were loyal, the old Senate members still resented him and in 44 BC Julius Caesar was assassinated.

After Julius Caesar’s reign, Marc Antony was one of the only surviving associates of Caesar, and declared that Caesar’s decrees would be respected. Antony got much of Caesar’s wealth, and the Senate, which was warned by Cicero, was concerned about Antony’s power. Octavian was given the task of defeating Antony. He was successful and marched on Rome to declare himself consul. In 43 BC, Octavian declared himself “Caesar Augustus”. 

In 43 BC, the traditional process of lawmaking was disbanded, and the empire was divided up into three sections, each controlled by Augustus, Antony, and Lepidus. Augustus also killed members of the Senate who had conspired against Julius Caesar. Antony then married Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, and tried to move the capital of the empire to Alexandria, an act which caused Augustus and Lepidus to worry about him trying to take over the empire. At the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Augustus defeated Antony and Cleopatra, who fled to Egypt and both commitied suicide. 

By 29 BC Caesar Augustus was back in Rome and spent the wealth he got from Egypt on Roman building plans. In 27 BC he told the Senate that Rome was safe and tried to give up his power. However, the Senate instead made him consul and gave him the power to override governors and exercise vetos. Caesar Augustus implemented many new reforms such as encouraging marriage, discouraging childlessness, and making marriage mandatory for men and women of a certain age. He also installed new shrines to the gods to make people more religious. 

During the first century BC, known as the Golden Age of Latin Literature, many of the greatest Roman writers composed their work. Horace (65-8 BC) was a playwright who wrote mostly satire. His most famous work was Odes, a short lyrical poem that was a great success. Virgil (born 70 BC) created two books about country life and how to have a well-maintained farm. Virgil is best known for the Aeneid, which was about the legend of Aeneas and the Trojan War. Livy (born 59 BC) wrote the entire history of Rome over 142 books. Ovid (43 BC-17 AD) wrote romantic novels and was banished to Romania by Caesar Augustus because of his writings. 

At the same time Rome’s greatest writers were doing their work, Rome changed from a republic into a dictatorship ruled by Caesars and continued to conquer land until their peak in 117 AD.