Editing Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (section)

===Battle of Actium===
Agrippa was again called away to take command of the fleet when the war with Antony and Cleopatra broke out. He captured the strategically important city of [[Methoni, Messenia|Methone]] at the southwest of the [[Peloponnese]], then sailed north, raiding the Greek coast and capturing Corcyra (modern [[Corfu]]). Octavian then brought his forces to Corcyra, occupying it as a naval base.<ref>Orosius, ''History Against the Pagans'' [http://www.attalus.org/latin/orosius6B.html#19 6.19.6–7]; Dio [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/50*.html#11 50.11.1–12.3]; Reinhold, pp. 53–54.</ref> Antony drew up his ships and troops at [[Actium]], where Octavian moved to meet him. Agrippa meanwhile defeated Antony's supporter [[Quintus Nasidius]] in a naval battle at [[Patrae]].<ref>Dio [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/50*.html#13.5 50.13.5].</ref> Dio relates that as Agrippa moved to join Octavian near Actium, he encountered [[Gaius Sosius]], one of Antony's lieutenants, who was making a surprise attack on the squadron of [[Lucius Tarius Rufus|Lucius Tarius]], a supporter of Octavian. Agrippa's unexpected arrival turned the battle around.<ref>Dio [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/50*.html#14 50.14.1–2]; cf. Velleius Paterculus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/2C*.html#84.2 2.84.2] ("Agrippa ... before the final conflict had twice defeated the fleet of the enemy"). Dio is wrong to say that Sosius was killed, since he in fact fought at and survived the [[Battle of Actium]] (Reinhold, p. 54 n. 14; Roddaz, p. 163 n. 140).</ref>

As the decisive battle approached, according to Dio, Octavian received intelligence that Antony and Cleopatra planned to break past his naval blockade and escape. At first he wished to allow the flagships past, arguing that he could overtake them with his lighter vessels and that the other opposing ships would surrender when they saw their leaders' cowardice. Agrippa objected, saying that Antony's ships, although larger, could outrun Octavian's if they hoisted sails, and that Octavian ought to fight now because Antony's fleet had just been struck by storms. Octavian followed his friend's advice.<ref>Dio [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/50*.html#31 50.31.1–3].</ref>

[[File:Pantheon (Rome) front 2.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The facade of the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] with the inscription of Agrippa]]

On 2 September 31 BC, the [[Battle of Actium]] was fought. Octavian's victory, which gave him the mastery of Rome and the empire, was mainly due to Agrippa.<ref>Reinhold, pp. 57–58; Roddaz, pp. 178–181.</ref> Octavian then bestowed upon him the hand of his niece [[Claudia Marcella Major]] in 28 BC. He also served a second consulship with Octavian the same year.<ref name=Degrassi-3>[[Attilio Degrassi]], ''I fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo'' (Rome, 1952), p.&nbsp;3</ref> In 27 BC, Agrippa held a third consulship with Octavian,<ref name=Degrassi-3/> and in that year, the Senate also bestowed upon Octavian the imperial title of ''[[Augustus (honorific)|Augustus]]''.

In commemoration of the Battle of Actium, Agrippa built and dedicated the building that served as the Roman [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] before its destruction in AD 80. Emperor [[Hadrian]] used Agrippa's design to build his own Pantheon, which survives in Rome. The inscription of the later building, which was built {{circa|125}}, preserves the text of the inscription from Agrippa's building during his third consulship. The years following his third consulship, Agrippa spent in Gaul, reforming the provincial administration and taxation system, along with building an [[Via Agrippa|effective road system]] and aqueducts.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mottershead |first1=Geoffrey |title=THE CONSTRUCTIONS OF MARCUS AGRIPPA IN THE WEST |date=March 2005 |publisher=The University of Melbourne |location=Melbourne |url=http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000275/01/Mottershead__THESIS_Vol_1_2005.pdf |access-date=19 December 2024 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926234627/http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000275/01/Mottershead__THESIS_Vol_1_2005.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-26}}</ref>