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.She was associated with the spirits ofmotherhood, marriage and femininity, and was always por-trayed with a traditional hairstyle, little jewellery and conser-vative attire, wearing the stola, a matronly gown.Augustuswould boast that she weaved the cloth for their own clothes.They lived together in the same modest townhouse through-out his reign, a period during which they were one of the mostpowerful couples in history.It seems likely that Livia played asmuch of a role as Augustus in orchestrating all this.Together they also ensured that she was awarded unusualofficial power for a Roman woman.Her person was madesacrosanct given the official protection of the state and shewas given personal control of her own finances, eventuallybecoming fabulously wealthy.She was awarded honours andwas allowed to commission and dedicate public buildings (thefirst woman to do so).She received embassies and clients,which meant that she was officially involved in the adminis-tration of the empire.Augustus was referred to as princeps ruler in respect for his authority; Ovid referred to Livia asprinceps femina.Above all she was Augustus counsellor andtrusted ally.When he travelled abroad he would leave his198 Secret History Book 23/9/04 4:08 pm Page 199S ECRET R ULERSpersonal seal in her hands; in his absence she was ruler ofRome.Her shrewd guidance and careful diplomacy helpedAugustus to overcome centuries of entrenched traditions andcliques, forge a new ruling system and extend Roman hege-mony over a still greater area.But there was also a darker side to her reputation, with laterRoman historians such as Suetonius and Plutarch suggestingdark plots and conspiracies.It is this image that was popu-larised in Robert Graves epic I, Claudius, subsequently a pop-ular television mini-series, in which Livia is portrayed as anarch-schemer who coldly disposes of anyone who stands in theway of her plans to make Tiberius, her first son emperor afterAugustus.Augustus was much concerned with the succession, whichwas a thorny problem because he and Livia never had any chil-dren together.He favoured the children of his daughter Julia(from his first marriage) and their offspring, adopting a suc-cession of them as his heirs, but they had a habit of dying.While there is no proof that Livia was responsible, she made nosecret of her prominent role in securing the crown forTiberius, constantly reminding him that she was responsiblefor his accession to the throne.She probably had a network ofagents, and many men owed their careers to her patronage;men who would later prove to be quite capable of conspiracyand murder in the turbulent history of late 1st-century Rome.Her grandson Caligula, later to win infamy as the mad emper-or, allegedly called her Ulixes stolatus Ulysses in a dress after the legendary Greek famous for his schemes and plots.In Augustus twilight years Livia constantly pushed him toacknowledge Tiberius as his heir.His more favoured candidate,Postumus (his grandson), had been exiled to a tiny island aftercharges of rape, which may have been orchestrated by Livia.InGraves I, Claudius Livia tricks a Vestal Virgin into showing hera copy of Augustus revised will, realises that he intends to par-don Postumus and reinstate him as heir, and poisons her own199 Secret History Book 23/9/04 4:08 pm Page 200S ECRET H I STORYhusband before he can publicise his intentions.The will is sup-pressed, and Postumus and anyone in the know are then mur-dered.Tiberius becomes emperor.Whether this lurid tale is anything more than far-fetchedfantasy will never be known, but after the accession ofTiberius, he and his mother ruled as virtual co-emperors.Hetried never to cross her and made the senate award her hon-ours for instance, it was made treason to speak against her.When her grandson Germanicus, a former favourite ofAugustus and rival claimant to the imperial throne, started togain popularity, both mother and son became alarmed.Germanicus promptly met a mysterious and untimely death.Although there was no proof that Livia or Tiberius wereresponsible, they were openly delighted.Eventually Livia s hand on his shoulder became burdensomefor Tiberius and he moved to Capri, never to return to Rome.He also had her stripped of many of her privileges, and, whenshe eventually died in 29 CE at the age of 86, he vetoed the hon-ours voted to her and refused to attend her funeral.It wasn tuntil the accession of her grandson Claudius to the throne thatshe was deified (as she and Augustus had intended).Despite the later damage done to her reputation by Romanhistorians uneasy with her unusual combination of power andvirtue, Livia was popular and respected during and after herlifetime.She had played a vital role in creating and consolidat-ing the Roman Empire, an entity that was to last for centuries.What was all the more remarkable was that, because of the lim-itations placed on her by a chauvinistic society, she had to doit from behind the scenes
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