sentences:  In the west, Octavian and Lepidus had first to deal with Sextus Pompeius, the surviving son of Pompey, who had taken control of Sicily and was running pirate operations in the whole of the Mediterranean, endangering the flow of the crucial Egyptian grain to Rome.In 36 BC, Lepidus, while besieging Sextus's forces in Sicily, ignored Octavian's orders that no surrender would be allowed.Octavian then bribed the legions of Lepidus, and they deserted to him.