personality to the family and its interests,--these, in the great
families, were the traditional feminine virtues which lived again in
Livia to the admiration of her contemporaries. But with these virtues
were associated also the need and the pride of participating in the
affairs and work of her husband, that interest in politics which had
been common to the intelligent women of the nobility. No one at Rome
was astonished, especially in the upper classes, that Livia should
occupy herself actively with politics; that Augustus should frequently
come to her for counsel, or that he should not make any serious
decision without having consulted her; that, in short, she should at
the same time attend to her husband's clothes and aid him in governing
the empire. For so had done from time immemorial all the great ladies
of the aristocracy, mindful of their good repute and the prosperity of
their families. And Livia must have tried the more earnestly to fulfil
all that her education had taught her to consider a sacred duty, since
to a woman of her old-fashioned breeding the times must have appeared
especially difficult and perilous.
The civil wars had greatly reduced in numbers the historic aristocracy
of Rome, and the peace which followed after so long a time and which
had been so anxiously invoked, very soon began to threaten the
prosperity of the remnant of that nobility with a more insidious but
more inevitable ruin. About 18 B.C., when Livia was approaching her
fortieth year, the men of the new generation who had not seen the civil
wars, for when these ended they were either unborn or only in their
infancy, were already beginning to come to the front. They brought
with them a previously unknown spirit of luxury, of enjoyment, of
dissipation, of rebellion against discipline, of egotism and fondness
for the new, which rendered very difficult, not to say impossible, the
continuation of the aristocratic régime. Women submitted with more and
more repugnance to those obligatory marriages, arranged for reasons of
state, which had formerly been the tradition and the sure bulwark of
dominion for the aristocracy. The increase of celibacy was rendering
sterile the most celebrated stocks; the most lamentable vices and
disorders became tolerated and common in the most illustrious families,
and ruinous habits of extravagance spread generally among that
aristocracy, once so simple and austere. All this had grown up after
the conquest of Egypt, which had established more points of contact
with the East; and it increased in proportion as those industries and
the commerce in articles of luxury which had flourished at Alexandria
under the Ptolemies were gradually transplanted to Rome, where the
merchants hoped to establish among their conquerors the clientele which
had been lost with the fall of the Kingdom of the Nile. The ladies
especially took up with the new oriental customs, and, preferring
expensive stuffs and jewels, turned from the loom, which Livia had
wished to preserve as the emblem of womanhood. Many young men of the
great families were beginning to show a distaste for the army, for the
government of the state, for jurisprudence, for all those activities
which had been the jealous privilege of the nobility of the past. One
gave himself up to literary pursuits, another cultivated philosophy,
another busied himself only with the increase of his inherited fortune,
while another lived only in pleasure and idleness. So it happened that
there began to appear descendants of great houses who refused to be
senators; every year an effort had to be made to find a sufficient
number of candidates for the more numerous positions like the
questorship, and in the army it was no easy matter to fill all the
posts of the superior officers which were reserved for members of the
nobility.
[Illustration: The Emperor Augustus. This statue was found in 1910 in
the Via Labicana, not far from the Colosseum.]
The Roman aristocracy then, that glorious Roman aristocracy which had
escaped the massacres of the proscriptions and of Philippi, ran grave
danger of dying out through a species of slow suicide, if energetic
measures were not taken to supply the necessary remedies. It is
certain that Livia had a conspicuous part in the policy of restoring
the aristocracy, to which Augustus was impelled by the old nobility,
especially toward the year 18 B.C., when with this purpose in view he
proposed his famous social laws. The _Lex de maritandis ordinibus_
attempted by various penalties and promises to constrain the members of
the aristocracy to contract marriage and to found a family, thus
combatting the increasing inclination to celibacy and sterility. The
_Lex de adulteriis_ aimed to reestablish order and virtue in the
family, by threatening the unfaithful wife and her accomplice with
exile for life and the confiscation of a part of their substance. It
obliged the husband to expose the crime to the tribunals; if the
husband could not or would not make the accusation, it provided that
the father should do so; and in case both husband and father failed, it
authorized any citizen to step forth as accuser. Finally the _Lex
sumptuaria_ was designed to restrain the extravagance of wealthy
families, particularly that of the women, prohibiting them from
spending too large a part of the family fortune in jewels, apparel,
body slaves, festivities, or buildings, especially in the building of
sumptuous villas, then a growing fashion. In short, it was the purpose
of these laws to bring the ladies of the Roman aristocracy to a course
of conduct patterned upon the example of Livia. In the protracted
discussions concerning these laws, which took place in the senate,
Augustus on one occasion made a long speech in which he cited Livia as
a model for the ladies of Rome. He set forth minutely the details of
her household administration, telling how she lived, what relations she
had with outsiders, what amusements she thought proper for a person of
her rank, how she dressed and at what expense. And no one in the
senate judged it unworthy of the greatness of the state or contrary to
custom thus to introduce the name and person of a great lady into the
public discussion of so serious a matter of governmental policy.
Livia, then, about 18 B.C. personified in the eyes of the Romans the
perfect type of aristocratic great lady created by long tradition.
Having been safely preserved by good fortune through the long civil
wars, this model was now set back again upon a fitting pedestal in the
most powerful and richest family of the empire. She was the living
example of all the virtues which the Romans most cherished, a beloved
wife and a heeded counselor to the head of the state, honored with that
veneration which power, virtue, nobility of birth, and the dignified
beauty of face and figure drew from every one; furthermore, there were
her two sons, Tiberius and Drusus, both intelligent, handsome, full of
activity, docile to the traditional education which she sought to give
them in order that they might be the worthy continuators of the great
name they bore. Livia, with all this in her favor, might have been
expected to live a happy and tranquil life, serenely to fulfil her
mission amid the admiration of the world.
[Illustration: A silver denarius of the Second Triumvirate. The
portrait at the right (obverse) is of Caesar Octavianus (Augustus),
with a slight beard to indicate mourning, and at the left (reverse), of
Mark Antony. The date is 41 B.C.]
[Illustration: Silver coin bearing the head of Julius Caesar. This
coin, a denarius, worth about seventeen cents, represents Caesar as
Pontifex Maximus. Together with all the other Roman coins bearing
Caesar's image, it was struck in the year before his death--44-45 B.C.
The fact that Caesar placed his image on these coins may have
strengthened the suspicion of his enemies that he wished to make
himself king.]
But opposition and difficulties sprang up in her own family. In 39
B.C. Augustus had had by Scribonia a daughter, Julia. Following in the
government of his family, as in so large a part of his politics, the
traditions of the old nobility, Augustus gave his daughter in marriage
when very young,--she was not yet past seventeen,--just as he early
gave wives to Livia's two sons, whose guardian he was. In each case in
order to assure within his circle harmony and power, he chose the
consort in his own family or from among his friends. To Tiberius he
gave Agrippina, a daughter of Agrippa, his close friend and most
faithful collaborator; to Drusus he gave Antonia, the younger daughter
of Mark Antony and Octavia, sister of Augustus. To Julia he gave
Marcellus, his nephew, the son of Octavia and her first husband. But
while the marriages of Drusus and Tiberius proved successful and the
two couples lived lovingly and happily, such was not the case with the
marriage of Julia and Marcellus. As a result, disagreeable
misunderstandings and rancors soon made themselves felt in the family.
We do not know exactly what were the causes of these disagreements. It
seems that Marcellus, under the influence of Julia, assumed a tone
somewhat too haughty and insolent, such as was not becoming in a youth
who, although the nephew of Augustus, was still taking his first steps
in his political career; and it seems too that this conduct of his was
especially offensive to Agrippa, who, next to Augustus, was the first
person in the empire.
In short, at seventeen, Julia desired that her husband should be the
second personage of the state in order that she might come immediately
after Livia or even be placed directly on an equality with her.
According to the Roman ideas of the family and of its discipline, this
was a precocious and excessive ambition, unbecoming a matron, much less
a young girl. For the duty of the woman was to follow faithfully and
submissively the ambitions of her lord and not to impart to him her own
ambitions or make him her tool. In contrast to Livia, who was so
docile and placid in her respect for the older traditions of the
aristocracy, so firm and strong in her observance of the duties, not
infrequently grievous and difficult, which this tradition imposed,
Julia represented the woman of that new generation which had grown up
in the times of peace--a type more rebellious against tradition, less
resigned to the serious duties and difficult renunciations of rank;
much more inclined to enjoy its prerogatives than disposed to bear that
heavy burden of obligations and sacrifices with which the previous
generations had balanced privilege. Beautiful and intelligent, even in
the early years of her first marriage she showed a great passion for
studies, and a fine artistic and literary taste, and with these a
lively inclination toward luxury and display which hardly suited with
the spirit or the letter of the _Lex sumptuaria_ which her father had
carried through in that year. But fraught with greater danger than all
this was her ardent and passionate temperament, which both in the
family and in politics was altogether too frequently to drive her to
desire and to carry through that which, rightly or wrongly, was
forbidden to a woman by law, custom, and public opinion.
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that a young woman endowed with
so fiery and ambitious a nature did not become in the hands of Augustus
as docile a political instrument as Livia. Julia wished to live for
herself and for her pleasure, not for the political greatness of her
father; and indeed, Augustus, who had a fine knowledge of men, was so
impressed by this first unhappy experiment that when Marcellus, still a
very young man, died in 23 B.C., he hesitated a long time before
remarrying the youthful widow. For a moment, indeed, he did think of
bestowing her not upon a senator but upon a knight, that is, a person
outside of the political aristocracy, evidently with the intention of
stifling her too eager ambitions by taking from her all means and hope
of satisfying them. Then he decided upon the opposite expedient, that
of quieting those ambitions by entirely satisfying them, and so gave
Julia, in 21 B.C., to Agrippa, who had been the cause of the earlier
difficulties. Agrippa was twenty-four years older than she and could
have been her father, but he was in truth the second person of the
empire in glory, riches, and power. Soon after, in 18 B.C., he was to
become the colleague of Augustus in the presidency of the republic and
consequently his equal in every way.
Thus Julia suddenly saw her ambitions gratified. She became at
twenty-one the next lady of the empire after Livia, and perhaps even
the first in company with and beside her. Young, beautiful,
intelligent, cultured, and loving luxury, she represented at Livia's
side and in opposition to her, the trend of the new generation in which
was growing the determination to free itself from tradition. She
lavished money generously, and there soon formed about her a sort of
court, a party, a coterie, in which figured the fairest names of the
Roman aristocracy. Her name and her person became popular even among
the common people of Rome, to whom the name of the Julii was more
sympathetic than that of the Claudii, which was borne by the sons of
Livia. The combined popularity of Augustus and of Agrippa was
reflected in her. It may be said, therefore, that toward 18 B.C., the
younger, more brilliant, and more "modern" Julia began to obscure Livia
in the popular imagination, except in that little group of old
conservative nobility which gathered about the wife of Augustus. So
true is this that about this time, Augustus, wishing to place himself
into conformity with his law _de maritandis ordinibus_, reached a
significant decision. Since that law fixed at three the number of
children which every citizen should have, if he wished to discharge his
whole duty toward the state, and since Augustus had but a single
daughter, he decided to adopt Caius and Lucius, the first two sons that
Julia had borne to Agrippa. This was a great triumph for her, in so
far as her sons would henceforth bear the very popular name of Caesar.
But the difficulties which the first marriage with Marcellus had
occasioned and which Augustus had hoped to remove by this second
marriage soon reappeared in another but still more dangerous form, for
they had their roots in that passionate, imperious, bold, and imprudent
temperament of Julia. This temperament the Roman education had not
succeeded in taming; it was strengthened by the undisciplined spirit of
the times. And with it Julia soon began to abuse the fortune, the
popularity, the prestige, and the power which came to her from being
the daughter of Augustus and the wife of Agrippa. Little by little she
became possessed by the mania of being in Rome the antithesis of Livia,
of conducting herself in every case in a manner contrary to that
followed by her stepmother. If the latter, like Augustus, wore
garments of wool woven at home, Julia affected silks purchased at great
price from the oriental merchants. These the ladies of the older type
considered a ruinous luxury because of the expense, and an indecency
because of the prominence which they gave to the figure. Where Livia
was sparing, Julia was prodigal. If Livia preferred to go to the
theater surrounded by elderly and dignified men, Julia always showed
herself in public with a retinue of brilliant and elegant youths. If
Livia set an example of reserve, Julia dared appear in the provinces in
public at the side of her husband and receive public homage. In spite
of the law which forbade the wives of Roman governors to accompany
their husbands into the provinces, Julia prevailed upon Agrippa to make
her his companion when in the year 16 B.C. he made his long journey
through the East. Everywhere she appeared at his side, at the great
receptions, at the courts, in the cities; and she was the first of the
Latin women to be apotheosized in the Orient. Paphos called her
"divine" and set up statues to her; Mitylene called her the New
Aphrodite, Eressus, Aphrodite Genetrix. These were bold innovations in
a state in which tradition was still so powerful; but they could
scarcely have been of serious danger to Julia, if her passionate
temperament had not led her to commit a much more serious imprudence.
Agrippa, compared to her, was old, a simple, unpolished man of obscure
origin who was frequently absent on affairs of state. In the circle
which had formed about Julia there were a number of handsome, elegant,
pleasing young men; among others one Sempronius Gracchus, a descendant
of the famous tribunes. Julia seems toward the close to have had for
him, even in the lifetime of Agrippa, certain failings which the _Lex
de adulteriis_ visited with terrible punishments.
[Illustration: The great Paris Cameo. This is the largest ancient
cameo known, and is said to have been sent from Constantinople by
Baldwin II. to Louis IX. It represents the living members of the
imperial family protected by the deified Augustus. In the center
Tiberius is shown seated, as Jupiter, with his mother, Livia, at his
left, as Ceres. In front of them stand Germanicus and his mother
Antonia.]
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if from this time on there
should have been fostered between Julia and Livia a half-suppressed
rivalry. The fact is, in itself, very probable and several indications
of it have remained in tradition and in history. We know also that two
parties were already beginning to gather about the two women. One of
these might be called the party of the Claudii and of the old
conservative nobility, the other the party of the Julii and of that
youthful nobility which was following the modern trend. As long as
Agrippa lived, Augustus, by holding the balance between the two
factions, succeeded in maintaining a certain equilibrium. With the
death of Agrippa, which occurred in 12 B.C., the situation was changed.
Julia was now for the second time a widow, and by the provisions of the
_Lex de maritandis ordinibus_ should remarry. Augustus in the
traditional manner sought a husband for her, and, seeking him only with
the idea of furthering a political purpose, he found for her Tiberius,
the elder son of Livia. Tiberius was the stepbrother of Julia and was
married to a lady whom he tenderly loved; but these were considerations
which could hardly give pause to a Roman senator. In the marriage of
Tiberius and Julia, Augustus saw a way of snuffing out the incipient
discord between the Julii and the Claudii, between Julia and Livia,
between the parties of the new and of the old nobility. He therefore
ordered Tiberius to repudiate the young, beautiful, and noble Agrippina
in order to marry Julia. For Tiberius the sacrifice was hard; we are
told that one day after the divorce, having met Agrippina at some
house, he began to weep so bitterly that Augustus ordered that the
former husband and wife should never meet again. But Tiberius, on the
other hand, had been educated by his mother in the ancient ideas, and
therefore knew that a Roman nobleman must sacrifice his feelings to the
public interest. As for Julia, she celebrated her third wedding
joyfully; for Tiberius, after the deaths of Agrippa and of his own
brother Drusus, was the rising man, the hope and the second personage
of the empire, so that she was not forced to step down from the lofty
position which the marriage with Agrippa had given her. Tiberius,
furthermore, was a very handsome man and for this reason also he seems
not to have been displeasing to Julia, who in the matter of husbands
considered not only glory and power.
The marriage of Julia and Tiberius began under happy auspices. Julia
seemed to love Tiberius and Tiberius did what he could to be a good
husband. Julia soon felt that she was once more to become a mother and
the hope of this other child seemed to cement the union between husband
and wife. But the rosy promises of the beginning were soon
disappointed. Tiberius was the son of Livia, a true Claudius, the
worthy heir of two ancient lines, an uncompromising traditionalist,
therefore a rigid and disdainful aristocrat, and a soldier severe with
others as with himself. He wished the aristocracy to set the people an
example of all the virtues which had made Rome so great in peace and
war: religious piety, simplicity of customs, frugality, family purity,
and rigid observance of all the laws. The luxury and prodigality which
were becoming more and more wide-spread among the young nobility had no
fiercer enemy than he. He held that a man of great lineage who spent
his substance on jewels, on dress, and on revels was a traitor to his
country, and no one demanded with greater insistence than he that the
great laws of the year 18 B.C., the sumptuary law, the laws on marriage
and adultery, should be enforced with the severest rigor. Julia, on
the other hand, loved extravagance, festivals, joyous companies of
elegant youths, an easy, brilliant life full of amusement.
[Illustration: Octavia, the sister of Augustus.]
For greater misfortune, the son who was born of their union died
shortly after and discord found its way between Julia and Tiberius.
Sempronius Gracchus, who knew how to profit by this, reappeared and
again made advances to Julia. She again lent her ear to his bland
words and the domestic disagreement rapidly became embittered.
Tiberius,--this is certain,--soon learned that Julia had resumed her
relations with Sempronius Gracchus, and a new, intolerable torment was
added to his already distressed life. According to the _Lex de
adulteriis_, he as husband should have made known the crime of his wife
to the pretor and have had her punished. He had been one of those who
had always most vehemently denounced the nobility for their weakness in
the enforcement of this law. Now that his own wife had fallen under
the provisions of the terrible statute, to which so many other women
had been forced to submit, the moment had come to give the weak that
example of unconquerable firmness which he had so often demanded of
others. But Julia was the daughter of Augustus. Could he call down,
without the consent of Augustus, so terrible a scandal upon the first
house of the empire, render its daughter infamous, and drive her into
exile? Augustus, though he desired his daughter to be more prudent and
serious, yet loved and protected her; above all, he disliked dangerous
scandal, and Julia dared to do whatever she wished, knowing herself
invulnerable under his protection and his love.
To this hard and false situation Tiberius, fuming with rage, had to
adjust himself. He lived in a separate apartment, keeping up with
Julia only the relations necessary to save appearances, but he could
not divorce her, much less publish her guilt. The situation grew still
worse when political discontent began to use for its own ends the
discord between Julia and Tiberius. Tiberius had many enemies among
the nobility, especially among the young men of his own age; partly
because his rapid, brilliant career had aroused much jealousy, partly
because his conservative, traditionalist tendencies toward authority
and militarism disturbed many of them. More and more among the
nobility there was increasing the desire for a mild and easy-going
government which should allow them to enjoy their privileges without
hardship and which should not be too severe in imposing its duties upon
them.