From The Roman Revolution (1939):
The official version of the cause of the War of Actium is quite simple, consistent and suspect—a just war, fought in defence of freedom and peace aganst a foreign enemy: a degernate Roman was striving to subvert the liberties of the Roman People, to subjugate Italy and the West under the rule of an oriental queen. An expedient and salutary belief. Octavianus was in reality the aggressor, his war was preceded by a coup d’état: Antonius had the consuls and the constitution on his side. It was therefore necessary to demonstrate that Antonius was ‘morally?’ in the wrong and ‘morally’ the aggressor. The situation and the phraseology recur in the history of war and politics whenever there is a public opinion worth persuading or deceiving (270f.).