Unanimously proclaimed Dictator by the Senate, Caesar pronounces the war over, and proclaims a "triumph", five days of military pomp, feasting, and games honoring his victories. No longer an enlisted soldier, Pullo eyes a pastoral future with Eirene; Vorenus runs for municipal magistrate, with Posca's help; Octavian retrieves Octavia from her self-imposed exile; and Servilia invites a revenge-minded Quintus Pompey into her home, to Brutus' dismay.

As the senate gathers to sanction Caesar as dictator, Cicero and Brutus put honor aside and stand in support the man they once fought, urging their fellow senators to follow them. "He has shown himself to be as wise and merciful in victory as he was invincible in battle," says Brutus. "Let this be an end to division and civil strife." After a unanimous vote in his favor, Caesar declares the war over and announces five days of feasts and games honoring his 'triumph.'

In the working-class neighborhood of Aventine, days before municipal elections are to be held, a nervous Vorenus makes his first campaign speech - Niobe standing demurely by his side as Posca coaches him from the wings. "The dark times are behind us..." he says to a mostly indifferent crowd, forcing a politician's smile. "Caesar has put an end to patrician tyranny and will ensure that the voice of the common people be heard." With this statement a crowd begins to gather. But when a heckler denounces the rhetoric as 'cac,' an angered Vorenus suddenly seems to embrace his own words. "I wouldn't be standing here on Caesar's slate if I didn't believe, if I didn't know, that Caesar has only the Republic's best interests at heart." Posca also dispatches a number of nearby thugs to drag the heckler off: without further interruptions, Vorenus soon has the crowd hanging on his every word.

Atia pays a visit to a fragile Servilia, who appears catatonic since her brutal attack. She declines Atia's invitation to sit with her family during the celebrations, her steely reserve still intact. She changes the subject to Octavia. "She is staying at a cousin's villa," Atia gloats, "mooning over some young fool of a poet."

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Wikipedia