On Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus

We are faced with another challenge, unfortunately on the heels of many others. Gaius Julius Caesar has taken nine legions and left Rome without protection. Our few legions that are still loyal to Rome are far a field and are being recruited to aid our wise Consul Dolabella which leaves our city with no nearby legions. We are caught between a rock and a hard place. Do we demand that Caesar Octavianus return his legions to Rome, risking him taking other rash actions and possibly driving him to joining with Lepidus, putting no less than FOURTEEN legions against our fair city? Or do we try to save our city by retroactively giving Caesar our permission to command the legions and ask him to aid Dolabella against Lepidus before continuing the Parthian campaign.
Gaius Julius has already shown that he is prone to rash actions due to his youth when he left to gather his legions after we did not bring Brutus to trial. He immediately left to gather legions that had already pledged loyalty to him. We must remember that these legions pledged loyalty to Gaius Julius BEFORE he returned to Rome, if we try to forcibly take command from Gaius then the legions will not necessarily listen to the senate. Also, currently he is paying his legions, a situation that gives them greater ties to him and something that the senate would have to take over if we even could get the legions’ loyalty back.
As unfortunate as it sounds the senate must tread carefully to avoid another civil war. If we anger Caesar then he will likely join his forces with Lepidus who is now an enemy of Rome and they will over power Dolabella and the senate’s forces. At the least we must delay any actions that would send Caesar to join with Lepidus until after Dolabella has defeated Lepidus’s legions and can turn his attentions to protecting Rome.
The senate has caused this problem and we must solve it calmly and rationally. If we had brought Caesar’s father’s killer to trial then the man who had the loyalties of NINE of our legions would have stayed in Rome and we would still have control of those legions. We already turned Lepidus against us by not taking action against murderers in our midst, and now we are driving Caesar the same direction. We cannot afford to be divided while the Republic is still recovering. If the squabbling and division in the Senate continues in this fashion more valuable men will leave Rome making the Republic weak and vulnerable. Gaius Julius Caesar has great potential to be as great a leader as his father; already he has skilled soldiers who are loyal to him before he has even been in battle. We should use his potential and hone his skills so that there might be another great general to add to the glory of Rome.
Let us not compound our mistakes in our treatment of Lepidus and write off Caesar when he has the potential to be as great a general as his father. We must find a way to ensure that he stands with us in our time of need and not drive him off as we did with Lepidus. Rome needs all of her strength and her leaders united. We must send Caesar our support and try to cultivate him to be the great general he can become. Send him somewhere other than Parthia, history has shown that it is a futile battle and we cannot afford to loose so many men on their constant annoyance at this time. We must find a better outlet for his eagerness for battle.