"Octavius, I’m older and wiser than you are. And although
we’re giving these honors to this man so that he
shares some of the blame for what we’re doing,
he’ll carry these honors like a jackass
arries gold—groaning and sweating under the load,
either led or pushed, as we direct him. Once
he’s carried our treasure where we want it, we’ll
free him of the load and turn him loose like a
jackass, to shake his ears and graze in the public pastures."

This quote is important because Antony is telling Octavius that he knows more than he does and knows that Lepidus is no smarter than Antony's horse. Also because Antony wants Octavius to look up to him instead of Lepidus by saying he is weak. Antony is trying to manipulate Octavius and says "Don’t think about Lepidus except as a means to an end." By this he meant they were just using Lepidus just to raise an army and expand their resources to make their army bigger and better. He also tries to make as many allies as possible and find out the enemy's secrets.


-AsianMafia01