By agreement, Italy was to be a common recruiting ground for Antony and Octavian, but Octavian blocked him from landing by stationing troops at the port of Brundisium. Frustrated, Antony laid siege to Octavian’s troops while Pompey struck at southern Italy. Octavian hastened to Brundisium, but Caesar’s old legions refused to fight each other. The Triumvirate was therefore renegociated, with Octavian receiving Illyricum. To seal the deal, Antony married Octavia, Octavian’s only sister. All of Italy celebrated the peace it hoped the alliance would bring, but the celebration would be premature.

In 39 BCE, the triumvirs met Pompey at Misenum and officially gave him Sicily and Sardinia as well as Corsica and the Peloponnesus and promised him positions of honor such as the consulship. In return, he stopped blockading Italy, agreed to supply Rome with grain, and stop his pirate fleet.

Antony’s Zenith
From 39 to 37 BCE Antony reached his peak of power. The richest class down to the Republicans (often the same thing) all preferred him to Octavian. Octavian only held the veterans and the plebians. Time would not be on his side, as his absence from the West would diminish his influence, but for now things seemed to be going his way. And with his generals winning battles in the East, he was preparing for the Parthian invasion.

Peace meant that those people it would be most useful for Octavian to count as allies- Republican patricians of good families- came home. In 39 BCE, Pompey, who was upset at not having been given the Peloponnesus yet and in general feeling slighted, resumed blockading Italy. To make matters worse, Octavian then divorced Scribonia.