VITA
de vita eiusher lifeLivia Drusilla anno LVIII a.C.n. nata est, M. Livii Drusi Claudiani filia, qui pro re publica pugnavit et post proelium Philippense mortem sibi conscivit. Ti. Claudio Neroni nupta Tiberium, postea principem, peperit, et post bellum Perusinum cum marito et infante per Siciliam et Graeciam fugit. Anno XXXVIII, Drusum alterum filium gravida, a Nerone discessit et Octaviano, postea Augusto, nupsit.
Livia Drusilla was born in 58 B.C., the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, who fought for the Republic and killed himself after Philippi. Married young to Tiberius Claudius Nero, she bore him the future emperor Tiberius and fled with husband and child through Sicily and Greece after the war of Perusia. In 38 B.C., while pregnant with her second son Drusus, she left Nero and married Octavian, the future Augustus.
Per duos et quinquaginta annos uxor Augusti et consiliorum particeps fuit; ille de rebus gravioribus cum ea non nisi scripto loqui solebat. Seneca narrat eam Augusto persuasisse ut Cinnae coniurato ignosceret, et Dio ipsius de auctoritate sua responsum refert: se castam fuisse, quae marito placerent libenter fecisse, negotiis eius se non immiscuisse. Porticum Liviae cum aede Concordiae aedificavit et templa cultuum muliebrium refecit.
For fifty-two years she was Augustus' wife and closest counsellor; on serious matters, Suetonius says, he spoke with her only from written notes. Seneca tells how she persuaded him to pardon the conspirator Cinna, and Dio reports her own account of her influence: she had been chaste, had gladly done what pleased her husband and had not meddled in his affairs. She built the Porticus Liviae with its shrine of Concord and restored temples of the women's cults.
Augustus testamento eam in familiam Iuliam adoptavit Iuliamque Augustam appellavit, et sacerdos divi Augusti facta est. Cum Tiberio filio, iam principe, saepe dissensit, qui multos ei honores negavit. Anno XXIX p.C.n. octoginta sex annos nata mortua est, et anno XLII a Claudio inter divos relata est. Tacitus aliique infesti scriptores eam criminibus insimulaverunt; pauca eius verba, et ea per historicos tantum, servantur.
In his will Augustus adopted her into the Julian family as Julia Augusta, and she became priestess of his cult. Her relations with her son Tiberius, now emperor, were strained, and he refused her many honours. She died in A.D. 29, aged eighty-six, and Claudius had her deified in A.D. 42. Tacitus and other hostile writers accused her of crimes; few of her own words survive, and only through historians.
TEMPORA
res gestaetimeline- 58 a.C.n.58 B.C.Nascitur.Born.
- 42 a.C.n.42 B.C.Tiberius filius nascitur.Her son Tiberius is born.
- 38 a.C.n.38 B.C.Octaviano nubit.Marries Octavian.
- 35 a.C.n.35 B.C.Sacrosancta et sui iuris fit.Granted sacrosanctity and the right to manage her own affairs.
- 7 a.C.n.7 B.C.Porticus Liviae dedicatur.The Porticus Liviae is dedicated.
- 14 p.C.n.A.D. 14Augustus moritur; ipsa Iulia Augusta fit.Augustus dies; she becomes Julia Augusta.
- 29 p.C.n.A.D. 29Moritur.Dies.
SENTENTIAE
verba ipsiusin {his(p)} own wordsAdmittis, inquit, muliebre consilium? Fac quod medici solent, qui ubi usitata remedia non procedunt, temptant contraria.
'Will you take a woman's advice?' she said. 'Do as physicians do: when the usual remedies fail, they try the opposite.'
Sen. Clem. 1.9.6
Interrogata quomodo tantum apud Augustum posset, respondit se castam fuisse, quae ei placerent libenter fecisse, rebus eius se non immiscuisse, amores eius neque audire neque sentire simulasse. (Latine redditum)
Asked how she had gained such influence over Augustus, she answered that it was by being scrupulously chaste herself, doing gladly whatever pleased him, not meddling with any of his affairs, and pretending not to hear of or notice the favourites of his passion.
Cass. Dio 58.2.5 (Latine redditum)
Viros nudos sibi obvios, qui ob id morte puniendi erant, servavit, dicens castis feminis tales nihil a statuis differre. (Latine redditum)
When naked men crossed her path and were to be put to death for it, she saved them, saying that to chaste women such men are no different from statues.
Cass. Dio 58.2.4 (Latine redditum)
SCRIPTA IN ACTISHER PIECES IN THE ACTA
—Nondum in Actis scripsit — mox scribet.She has not written for the Acta yet — her turn is coming.