during the spring of 32 bc antony and cleopatra traveled to samos and then athens, where cleopatra was reportedly well received. she persuaded antony to send octavia an official declaration of divorce. this encouraged munatius plancus to advise octavian that he should seize antony's will, invested with the vestal virgins. although a violation of sacred customs and legal rights, octavian forcefully acquired the document from the temple of vesta. it was a useful tool in the propaganda war against antony and cleopatra. in the selective public reading of the will, octavian highlighted the claim that caesarion was heir to caesar, that the donations of alexandria were legal, that antony should be buried alongside cleopatra in egypt instead of rome, and that alexandria would be made the new capital of the roman republic. in a show of loyalty to rome, octavian decided to begin construction of his own mausoleum at the campus martius. his legal standing was also improved by being elected consul in 31 bc, reentering public office. with antony's will made public, octavian had his "casus belli" and rome declared war on cleopatra, not antony. the legal argument for war was based less on cleopatra's territorial acquisitions, with former roman territories ruled by her children with antony, and more on the fact that she was providing military support to a private citizen now that antony's triumviral authority had expired. octavian's wish to invade egypt also coincided with his financial concern of collecting the massive debts owed to caesar by cleopatra's father ptolemy xii. these were passed on to cleopatra and were now the prerogative of octavian, caesar's heir.