Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Born around 89 BC, Lepidus rose as a close ally of Julius Caesar and proved himself an able military commander. After Caesar's assassination, he joined Octavian and Mark Antony to form the Second Triumvirate during the Republic's final convulsions. He held the office of pontifex maximus and was the last interrex and magister equitum to wield military command before the Empire. But his partners didn't let him keep pace. Cicero painted him as a useful partisan, nothing more; Augustus later framed the story his way. Lepidus became the marginal man in every retelling, most famously in Shakespeare.…