Murder+of+Augustus?

Tacitus, _Annales_, I.5-6:

While these topics and the like were under discussion, the malady of Augustus began to take a graver turn; and some suspected foul play on the part of his wife. For a rumour had gone the round that, a few months earlier, the emperor, confiding in a chosen few, and attended only by Fabius Maximus, had sailed for Planasia on a visit to Agrippa. "There tears and signs of affection on both sides had been plentiful enough to raise a hope that the youth might yet be restored to the house of his grandfather. Maximus had disclosed the incident to his wife Marcia; Marcia, to Livia. It had come to the Caesar's knowledge; and after the death of Maximus, which followed shortly, possibly by his own hand, Marcia had been heard at the funeral, sobbing and reproaching herself as the cause of her husband's destruction." Whatever the truth of the affair, Tiberius had hardly set foot in Illyricum, when he was recalled by an urgent letter from his mother; and it is not certainly known whether on reaching the town of Nola, he found Augustus still breathing or lifeless. For house and street were jealously guarded by Livia's ring of pickets, while sanguine notices were issued at intervals, until the measures dictated by the crisis had been taken: then one report announced simultaneously that Augustus had passed away and that Nero was master of the empire.

6 The opening crime of the new principate was the murder of Agrippa Postumus; who, though off his guard and without weapons, was with difficulty dispatched by a resolute centurion. In the senate Tiberius made no reference to the subject: his pretence was an order from his father, instructing the tribune in charge to lose no time in making away with his prisoner, once he himself should have looked his last on the world. It was beyond question that by his frequent and bitter strictures on the youth's character Augustus had procured the senatorial decree for his exile: on the other hand, at no time did he harden his heart to the killing of a relative, and it remained incredible that he should have sacrificed the life of a grandchild in order to diminish the anxieties of a stepson. More probably, Tiberius and Livia, actuated in the one case by fear, and in the other by stepmotherly dislike, hurriedly procured the murder of a youth whom they suspected and detested. To the centurion who brought the usual military report, the emperor rejoined that he had given no instructions and the deed would have to be accounted for in the senate. The remark came to the ears of Sallustius Crispus. A partner in the imperial secrets — it was he who had forwarded the note to the tribune — he feared the charge might be fastened on himself, with the risks equally great whether he spoke the truth or lied. He therefore advised Livia not to publish the mysteries of the palace, the counsels of her friends, the services of the soldiery; and also to watch that Tiberius did not weaken the powers of the throne by referring everything and all things to the senate:— "It was a condition of sovereignty that the account balanced only if rendered to a single auditor."

=How close did Maximus, Agrippa, and Augustus die?= =Who were Fabius and Maximus?= =Did Augustus exile Tiberius?=

=== **When reading the article __Murder of Augustus?__ I didn’t quite understand what the writer was talking about. There was a lot of background history that I was missing from the story. The answers to the questions that I had about the article ended up helping me to better understand the background story and then to better understand the passage.** === === **In reading the passage I didn’t quite understand who exactly was banished from Rome I thought they were talking about Tiberius being exiled. From my research I found that it was in fact not Tiberius because he would later take over as emperor of Rome after the death of Augustus. The man exiled was Agrippa Postumus. Augustus did not have any children of his own and so he adopted Gaius and Lucius sons of his friend Agrippa, Agrippa had another son born after Agrippa’s death in 12 B.C, Agrippa Postumus. Augustus did not adopt Agrippa because he wanted the family of Agrippa to go on. After the death of Augustus’s two adopted sons Gaius and Lucius he adopted his third wife Livia’s son Tiberius. It was clear that Tiberius was going to be emperor after his father’s death, though mysteriously in 9 A.D Agrippa was exiled to a remote island Pianosa.** === === **According to the rumors Augustus along with a very close friend Fabius Maximus went to the island of Pianosa to apologize to Agrippa for sending him into exile. Upon return Maximus told his wife who then told Liva, wife of Augustus; very soon after his return he was dead. After Augustus’s death on August 19, 14 A.D Agrippa was executed. It is believed that Livia was responsible for both of these deaths. She was afraid that Agrippa would stand in the way of her son Tiberius becoming emperor after Augustus was dead.** ===


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