that's my point. At the time of the assassination, Antony had control, in theory, of the armies, but the main forces in Rome were those ( 1 legion? 2?) led by Lepidus, and everyone agrees it took a couple of days minimum before they were even begun to be utilized.

And at this point, Octavius was still in Apollonia, blissfully ignorant of what had happened until at least the first-second week in April. He wouldn't really have any serious legionary muscle until the fall of that year and his abortive first march on Rome, when all he really accomplished was to give a speech to the Assembly.

Don't get me wrong, it's accepted wisdom that the Republic was past saving - and perhaps after decades of mismanagement by the Senate, the people of Rome literally didn't give a damn as to who was supposedly at the head of their government any more.

But it does strike me that there was an opportunity. I was re-reading Cicero's Phillipics the other night, and while much in them makes me cringe, he DOES seem to be the only voice for returning a Republic, however corrupt and stupid I personally think that Republic had become. But Brutus & Co. simply appear to have lost all their nerve.