Family Affairs story
Rome, 9-8 BC. Nine years have passed. Agrippa is dead and Tiberius has been forced to marry Julia, divorcing his wife Vipsania Agrippina. Still deeply in love, he continues to meet Vipsania secretly, enraging Augustus, but Livia defends him by claiming that he had informed her of the meetings. Tiberius is briefly comforted by the presence of his brother Drusus, who quarrels with Livia before leaving once again on campaign. Drusus soon writes to Tiberius, asking for his brother's help in convincing Augustus to retire and return Rome to a Republic, but the letter is intercepted and read by both Livia and Augustus. Augustus dismisses the letter as youthful impetuousness, but Livia is clearly worried. Drusus falls from his horse and crushes his leg, and his condition worsens under the oversight of Livia's personal physician. He dies in the presence of his wife, Antonia, and their recently born son Claudius. A year later, a drunken Julia enrages Tiberius with taunts about Vipsania, and he strikes her across the face, resulting in his banishment from Rome. Augustus looks forward to sharing his power with his grandsons Lucius and Gaius when they come of age.
28 total · 2 choice · 6 major · 20 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| courtly intrigues | choice | The plot turns on people of influence jockeying for power in the imperial court of Caesar Augustus. Livia plotted to have her son, Tiberius, named heir to Augustus. Livia relished exercising supreme power through Augustus. |
| life in Ancient Rome | choice | The drama is mainly set in 9-8 BC within the imperial court of Caesar Augustus in Rome. |
| controlling family member | major | Tiberius was under the heel of his controlling mother, Livia. In particular, Tiberius resented that Livia compelled him to marry Julia. When Livia's son Drusus refused to follow in line behind her, she even contributed to his premature death. |
| coping with a failing marriage | major | Tiberius and Julia had a wagon wreck of a marriage. |
| divorce | major | Tiberius was compelled to divorce his beloved wife, Vipsania, to marry Julia. Julia wanted a divorce from Tiberius after he called her a "fat drunken cow" and struck her. |
| family dispute | major | Tiberius' troubled marriage to Julia was the source of much strife for Augustus and his close family members, not to mention the unhappy couple themselves. |
| husband and wife | major | Livia plotted and schemed behind Augustus' back. Tiberius and Julia's marriage was falling apart. Drusus and Antonia were in a happy enough marriage. |
| mother and son | major | Livia made Tiberius miserable by forcing him to marry Julia. Livia, alarmed by her son Drusus' republican leanings, dispatched her personal physician to Germania to hasten his death. |
| arranged marriage | minor | Livia arm-twisted Tiberius into marrying Julia for political advantage. |
| brother and brother | minor | The story explores the relationship between Tiberius and his younger brother and confidant, Drusus. |