View source for Lepidus

===Ally of Caesar===
{{further|First Triumvirate}}
[[File:DisegnoMonetaBasilicaEmiliaRoma.gif|thumb|left|One of the coins minted by Lepidus, celebrating his family's achievements. This depicts the [[Basilica Aemilia]].]]

Lepidus joined the [[College of Pontiffs]] as a child.  He started his ''[[cursus honorum]]'' as ''[[triumvir monetalis]]'', overseeing the minting of coins, from c.&nbsp;62 to 58 BC. Lepidus soon became one of [[Julius Caesar]]'s greatest supporters. He was appointed as a [[praetor]] in 49 BC, being placed in charge of Rome while Caesar defeated [[Pompey]] in Greece.<ref>Holland, Tom, ''Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic'', Abacus, 2004, {{ISBN|0-349-11563-X}}, 316.</ref> He secured Caesar's appointment as [[Roman dictator|dictator]], a position that Caesar used to get himself elected as consul, resigning the dictatorship after eleven days. Lepidus was rewarded with the position of propraetor in the Spanish province of [[Hispania Citerior]]. Lepidus was also nominated ''[[interrex]]'' by the Senate in 52, being the last known Roman to hold this office.<ref>{{Cite journal|last= Koptev, Aleksandr |url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-quarterly/article/abs/fiveday-interregnum-in-the-roman-republic/0EBEC44DCC8C90C719A8FBE08E7F4189|title=The Five-Day Interregnum in the Roman Republic|journal= The Classical Quarterly|date=2016|volume= 66|pages= 205–221|publisher=Cambridge University|doi= 10.1017/S000983881600032X|s2cid= 170900670|oclc=|url-access= subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Bauman, Richard A.|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=15MDF-5_qaoC&dq=lepidus+interrex&pg=PA28|title= Lawyers in Roman Transitional Politics: A Study of the Roman Jurists in Their Political Setting in the Late Republic and Triumvirate|date=1985|publisher= Beck, C.H.|isbn = 9783406304859|oclc=}}</ref>

In Spain, Lepidus was called upon to quell a rebellion against [[Quintus Cassius Longinus]], governor of neighbouring [[Hispania Ulterior]]. Lepidus refused to support Cassius, who had created opposition to Caesar's regime by his corruption and avarice. He negotiated a deal with the rebel leader, the quaestor Marcellus, and helped to defeat an attack by the Mauretanian king [[Bogud]]. Cassius and his supporters were allowed to leave and order was restored. Caesar and the Senate were sufficiently impressed by Lepidus's judicious mixture of negotiation and surgical military action that they granted him a [[Roman triumph|triumph]].

Lepidus was rewarded with the [[consul]]ship in 46 after the defeat of the [[Pompey|Pompeians]] in the East. Caesar also made Lepidus ''[[magister equitum]]'' ("[[Master of the Horse#The Roman Master of the Horse|Master of the Horse]]"), effectively his deputy.<ref name="Holland, Rubicon, 346">Holland, ''Rubicon'', 346.</ref> Caesar appears to have had greater confidence in Lepidus than in [[Mark Antony]] to keep order in Rome, after Antony's inflammatory actions led to disturbances in 47. Lepidus appears to have been genuinely shocked when Antony provocatively offered Caesar a crown at the [[Lupercalia]] festival, an act that helped to precipitate the conspiracy to kill Caesar.<ref>Lepidus was probably sitting next to Caesar at the time. According to Cicero, he groaned, turned away, and had tears in his eyes. See Weigel, ''Lepidus: The Tarnished Triumvir'', p. 40.</ref>

When in February 44 Caesar was elected dictator for life by the Senate, he made Lepidus ''magister equitum'' for the second time.<ref name="Holland, Rubicon, 346"/> The brief alliance in power of Caesar and Lepidus came to a sudden end when Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 (the [[Ides of March]]). Caesar had dined at Lepidus's house the night before his murder. One of the ringleaders of the conspiracy, Gaius Cassius Longinus, had argued for the killing of Lepidus and Mark Antony as well, but [[Brutus the Younger|Marcus Junius Brutus]] had overruled him, saying the action was an execution and not a political [[coup d'état]].<ref>Holland, ''Rubicon'', 347.</ref>