He defeated his rivals, ending the civil wars that took place after Julius Caesar’s assassination, and extended the Empire through conquest. During the course of a marriage that lasted 52 years, Augustus seized and consolidated power from the crumbling Roman republic to become Rome’s first Emperor. “If his oddity and mine did not take precisely the same form, still the edges of one seemed to fit those of the other, like two sides of a split piece of pottery.”Ĭaesar Octavianus Augustus and Livia Drusilla were the original power couple. But her sharp intellect-and her heart-will lead Livia to make an unbelievable choice: one that will give her greater sway over Rome than she could have ever foreseen. In time, his fortunes will rise as Livia’s family faces terrible danger. A young wife by that point, Livia finds herself drawn to the golden-haired boy. At only eighteen, he displays both power and modesty. Her mother tells her, “It is possible for a woman to influence public affairs,” reminding Livia that-while she possesses a keen sense for the machinations of the Roman senate-she must also remain patient and practical.īut patience and practicality disappear from Livia’s mind when she meets Caesar’s heir, Octavianus. Proving herself an astute confidante, she becomes her father’s chief political asset-and reluctantly enters into an advantageous marriage to a prominent military officer. Her life would be marked by scandal and suspicion, worship and adoration…Īt the tender age of fourteen, Livia Drusilla overhears her father and fellow aristocrats plotting the assassination of Julius Caesar.
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