Their conference lasted three days; and, in this period, they settled a division of the government, and determined the fate of thousands. 4. The result of this conference was, that the supreme authority should be lodged in their hands, under the title of the Trium'virate, for the space of five years; that Antony should have Gaul; Lep'idus, Spain, and Augustus, Africa and the Mediterranean islands. As for Italy, and the eastern provinces, they were to remain in common, until their general enemy should be subdued; and, among other articles of union, it was agreed that all their enemies should be destroyed, of which each presented a list. 5. In these were comprised, not only the enemies but the friends of the Trium'virate, since the partisans of the one were found among the opposers of the other. Thus Lep'idus gave up his brother AEmil'ius Paulus to the vengeance of his colleague; Antony permitted the proscription of his uncle Lucius; and Augustus delivered up the great Ci'cero, who was assassinated shortly after by Antony's command.[8] 6. In the mean time Brutus and Cassius, the principal of the conspirators against Caesar, being compelled to quit Rome, went into Greece, where they persuaded the Roman students at Athens to declare in the cause of freedom; then parting, the former raised a powerful army in Macedonia, while the latter went into Syria, where he soon became master of twelve legions, and reduced his opponent, Dolabella, to such straits as to force him to lay violent hands on himself. 7. Both armies joined at Smyr'na: the sight of such a formidable force began to revive the declining spirits of the party, and to reunite the two generals still more closely, between whom there had been, some time before, a slight misunderstanding. In short, having quitted Italy like distressed exiles, without having one soldier or one town that owned their command, they now found themselves at the head of a flourishing army, furnished with every necessary for carrying on the war, and in a condition to support a contest on which the empire of the world depended.