Adrienne
4-20-98
pd.G, Mr.Burnett
I-Livia
This is a piece of creative writting. The thoughts, statements, and characters are inspired by historical reseach, but are not necessarly part of the historical record.
I, Livia Drusilla, was born in 58 to a noble family. In 43, I married Tiberius Claudius Nero with whom I bore two children, Tiberius and Drusus Sr. When I was nineteen, Octavian ordered Nero and I to divorce and ordered me to marry him. Little did I know that Octavian was soon to be the next emperor of Rome and I, the first Roman empress. Though I did not know this at the time I had a good feeling he might. And then my son would become the second emperor of Rome.
I devised a plan so that I could exterminate all the male offspring of Julia, daughter of Octavian, so that my son, Tiberius, could take over. My memory is shaky but I will try to recall all of the events that lead up to the succession of the throne by my son, Tiberius.
Since Tiberius was not a fruit of Augustus, only adopted by him, there were other men ahead of Tiberius for the throne. Gaius, Lucius and Agrippa Postumus, the sons of Julia, were before him. Gaius and Lucius were getting older but Agrippa Postumus was still very young and were the grandsons of Augustus. The only way Tiberius could become the next emperor was if he divorced his wife, Vipsania, and married Augustus' daughter, Julia. Therefore. I made Tiberius divorce Vipsania and marry Julia against his will.
At first the marriage was going well and my plan for his succession was working. But after he found out about Julia's promiscuous behavior he learned to despise her. I forbid him to ask for a divorce thinking that Augustus might get outraged and banish Tiberius for going against his wife. Since family meant so much to Augustus, he could not let his daughter divorce again. Through many talks with Tiberius, I convinced him that his former wife Vipsania didn't love him and that he had to stay with Julia for political reasons.
Still. Gaius and Lucius were still in the way of Tiberius becoming the second emperor of Rome. Gaius and Lucius were not liked that much by Augustus but he still felt that they should come next in line for the throne. I had to find a way for Augustus to despise them and banish them from the empire for good. At first, I sent many spies to look after them and to report back to me if they were up to something. Then if I found anything, I could immediately report what they did to Augustus and he would get mad. This method was not totally unsuccessful but I only found out little things that they did that were not enough to get Augustus outraged. So I had to conjure up a plan that would not fail.
One day when Gaius was in school, I obtained some poison and had
one of my spies cook him a meal and slip some of it in his food . This poison would not let him die right away. This poison would let Gaius get sick gradually and no one would suspect that he was poisoned. Unlike the other plan, this one worked. Gaius slowly got sick and was in poor health within a month. I told Augustus in confidence that I new nothing about Gaius' ill health so he would not suspect me of wrong doing. One day, I insisted that he go for a boat ride to get some fresh air. When he was on the boat, the poison made him so dizzy that he fell off the boat. There was some suspicion that I might have poisoned him because my spies turned out to be unfaithful and told Lucius. I dealt with the spies but I had lost Lucius' trust and he was now going to keep an eye out for me. Getting rid of Lucius was going to be a more difficult job with him already suspecting me of devious behavior. This was going to be one of the hardest things that I have ever done in my life.
Months went by and I finally thought of a plan to exterminate Lucius. One day when the kids were frolicking in the lake, I asked Lucius to stay behind because his father had to talk to him. I left Lucius awaiting Augustus but little did he know that one of my slaves was waiting in the bushes for Lucius to be alone. When the coast was clear, the slave jumped him from the back and pushed him into the lake. I watched from above as Lucius was pushed under the water gasping for air. I said to myself it was all for the best and closer to ensuring Tiberius would become Emperor.
Augustus was beside himself with grief, mourning the deaths of two of his heirs. He realized that Agrippa Postumus was too young and mentally ill to take the throne. Agrippa Postumus had to be locked away because of his horrible behavior and his inability to cope with the pressures of political power. The only heir left was Tiberius.
During the mourning of his sons, Augustus bonded with Tiberius and they became closer than ever before. Augustus was finally able to open up to someone other than me because I purposely did not make myself available to him in his time of mourning. I forced the two of them close by my absence. Everything had worked out great and my son could finally rule Rome. I hardly had to do any convincing. The hateful relationship that they once had had withered and they were finally on good terms. Tiberius did not trust me very much because he might have known what was going on. But all that mattered to me was that my son would become the second emperor of Rome.
When Tiberius finally became emperor of Rome in 14 it was the happiest day of my life. I had much influence on the way he ruled and governed. I wanted to act more like his partner in power. Tiberius was the object of most of my efforts. Since I had a passion for politics, I enjoyed helping him in any way possible.
Throughout Tiberius' reign, he showed great skills and leadership. He had learned well from his mother and was idolized by the people of Rome which gave me great pleasure. I knew I had done the right things as first empress to secure his position on the throne.
"Adrienne R. '02, Germantown Academy".