 Seven years have passed since Antony s departure from Rome, and the former commander, dissipated and debauched - held in thrall by the charms and sexual prowess of his new bride, Cleopatra, withholds precious shipments of grain from Rome, where people die in the streets from hunger. Unable to incite a war with Antony and Egypt without committing political suicide, Octavian sends Atia and Octavia to Alexandria to mediate and reason with Antony; a strategy which proves predictably unsuccessful, yet provides him with all the ammunition he needs to bring about Antony and Cleopatra s imminent downfall. The horrific fate of a principal character is revealed, and a fatal blow is stricken to the torrid affair that has continued between Pullo and Gaia, as karmic debt comes to call. Octavian asks Pullo to join him in the campaign against Egypt, and Pullo agrees without question, hoping to reunite and redeem his blood brother, Vorenus. Octavian calls for war against Antony in the Senate, and is met with thunderous approval.