in a speech to the roman senate on the first day of his consulship on 1 january 33 bc, octavian accused antony of attempting to subvert roman freedoms and authority as a slave to his oriental queen, who he said was given lands that rightfully belonged to the romans. before antony and octavian's joint "imperium" expired on 31 december 33 bc, antony declared caesarion as the true heir of julius caesar in an attempt to undermine octavian. on 1 january 32 bc the antonian loyalists gaius sosius and gnaeus domitius ahenobarbus were elected as consuls. on 1 february 32 bc sosius gave a fiery speech condemning octavian, now a private citizen without public office, introducing pieces of legislation against him. during the next senatorial session, octavian entered the senate house with armed guards and levied his own accusations against the consuls. intimidated by this act, the next day the consuls and over two-hundred senators still in support of antony fled rome and joined his side. antony established his own counter roman senate. although he held military office and his reputation was still largely intact, antony was still fundamentally reliant on cleopatra for military support. the couple traveled together to ephesus in 32 bc, where cleopatra provided him with 200 naval ships of the 800 total he was able to acquire.