The downfall of Julia’s surviving children, Agrippa Postumus and Julia the Younger.

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* The food shortages lasted for several months.

* Including Augustus’s birthday, so he refused permission for public feats to be held to celebrate.

* He appointed several consuls to improve the grain supply system and spend his own money to get additional rations of food to people receiving the public dole in Rome.

* Gradually the food situation was sorted out, and it was more acceptable to hold some celebrations.

* Gladiatorial games were held in memory of Drusus and were presided over by Germanicus… and Claudius.

* Claudius, remember, is the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor.

* He was weak and twitched and stammered.

* Which made him unfit for the military.

* His mother described him as a ‘prodigy, left unfinished by nature’ and was fond of insulting people by saying that they were ‘as stupid as my son Claudius’.

* MOTHER OF THE YEAR

* Claudius is about 16.

* Born 10 BCE.

* Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus

* BTW – Germanicus’s praenomen is unknown.

* but he was probably named Nero Claudius Drusus after his father (conventionally called “Drusus”), or possibly Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle

* He took the agnomen Germanicus, awarded posthumously to his father in honor of his victories in Germania, when he became head of the family in 9 BC

* Claudius at this stage was considered capable of appearing in public,

* although at the games he was swathed in a heavy cloak rather than the usual toga, probably to conceal his appearance.

* I AM NOT AN ANIMAL

* Drusus was again invoked when Tiberius dedicated his rebuilt Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum, giving his name in this case as Tiberius Julius Caesar Claudianus to celebrate his former family as well as the name of Caesar.

* But something else happened in these years – Tiberius used his new power to get rid of his two remaining competitors: his ex-wife’s surviving children, her daughter Julia, and her son, now also Augustus’ adopted son – Agrippa Postumus. * We don’t know much about Posthumus’ life after his adoption.

* He came of age in 5 CE, without much fanfare

* Which was better than Claudius, who was whisked to and from the Temple of Mars Ultor for his ceremony in the dark of night

* They didn’t want him exposed to the public gaze

* A bit like Ray keeps his mysterious second daughter hidden

* Unlike her, Claudius was obviously a little deformed

* Posthumus was strong and healthy, but it seems like he might have had temper issues.

* He was only ten when his mother was sent away in disgrace and he watched his older brothers get rapid promotions and lots of attention, so both of those things might have affected him emotionally

* Also in 5 CE, Augustus reformed the Comitia centuriata, the Centuriate Assembly

* It was was one of the three voting assemblies in the Roman constitution

* It was named the Centuriate Assembly because it originally divided Roman citizens into groups of one hundred men by classes.

* There was originally 193 groups, but it was reduced a couple of times, eventually Sulla set the number at 31.

* The group you ended up in was determined by how much wealth you had.

* They voted for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes.

* It decided on war and peace, passed laws, elected consuls, praetors, and censors, and considered appeals of capital convictions.

* And included plebeians as well as patricians

* The majority of votes in any Century decided how that Century voted.

* Each Century received one vote, regardless of how many electors each Century held.

* Once a majority of Centuries voted in the same way on a given measure, the voting ended, and the matter was decided

* Each century’s vote was supposed to carry equal weight, but those of the wealthier classes voted first and it was often the case that a decision had already been reached before the poorest centuries had had their say.

* And now in 5 CE, Augustus creates ten new groups, made up of the highest classes, named in honour of Caius and Lucius

* So now these centuries are going to vote first.

* And hopefully they are going to vote properly, not like the centuiata voted back in 6 BCE when they tried to make young Caius a consul.

* It MIGHT be that Augustus had concerns that they would try the same stunt with Postumus.

* And he was nipping it in the bud by creating new centuries who would set the standard for how to vote.

* In 7 CE, Postumus was 17 and he was expected to be given a command of some new troops to march on Pannonia, the land of the grilled sandwich.

* Sorry, that was Paninia.

* And why am I suddenly hungry?

* Speaking of hungry…

* Pannonia was modern Hungary and Austria.

* Instead the job was given to Germanicus. * Things seem to have gone from bad to worse for Postumus.

* Whatever he did to piss Augustus off, he was first sent into exile to Sorrento on the Bay of Naples where he spent his time just fishing.

* And then Augustus revoked his adoption!

* Instead of being a Caesar, he’s back to being a Vipsanius Agrippa.

* The property inheritance he got from Agrippa was taken away from him and Augustus gave it to the aerarium militare, the military treasury

* Augustus had set it up as a “permanent revenue source” for pensions (praemia) for veterans of the Imperial Roman army.

* The treasury derived its funding from new taxes, an inheritance tax and a sales tax.

* Postumus was pissed and complained, especially blaming Livia.

* So he was sent into exile on the island of Planasia near Corsica.

* Where we’ll be in this July!

* Should we assume Tiberius and Livia got rid of Postumus as a threat?

* Or should we give Augustus the credit of knowing the boy all his life and being a good judge of character?

* He was, after all, Julia’s son.

* Why was Claudius tolerated, with his physical and mental weaknesses, but not Postumus?

* Well for a start, Claudius wasn’t considered as one of the successors.

* And he wasn’t Caesar’s son. * So what did Postumus do?

* We don’t know.

* Tacitus writes that he committed no actual crime.

* Maybe he was just wild and Augustus had hoped that the adoption and a few years would calm him down.

* It didn’t, he was a liability, and had to be removed from site. * Germanicus took his troops to Panini Land in 7 CE and began to prove himself as a soldier.

* But of course he was still just a junior commander.

* Paterculus the historian tells us he was the commander of another contingent of troops.

* Tiberius was in charge of the campaign which was tough and long.

* Like my penis.

* But fortunately Moroboduus, aka Bodacious, is still keeping the peace. * As mentioned in an earlier episode, the Romans are fighting against troops who had served in the past as auxiliaries in the Roman army so they know Roman tactics.

* And they understood Latin and were more disciplined than most tribal armies.

* On a few occasions the Romans were beaten back and had to withdraw.

* And a couple of Roman garrisons were relieved just in time to save them.

* As we mentioned in an earlier episode, at one point Tibbo found himself at the head of the largest Roman army since the civil wars.

* Not bad for a guy who was in exile a couple of years ago.

* It took him three years to suppress the rebellion in a single province. * It’s the most serious war since Actium and the fighting was a lot tougher too.

* The challenge for Augustus is that for nearly 40 years he’s been saying the gods had his back because of his piety and virtue.

* And now he might lose a province AND he’s saying that Rome itself might be attacked.

* So what’s that mean about the gods?

* And, mind you, this was 25 years before Jesus is even fake-born. * Augustus turned 70 in 7 CE and his health was failing.

* He’d reduced his workload.

* And he had three former consuls taking on the lion’s share of the day to day work of meeting with embassies and people presenting petitions.

* He rarely attended the Senate and judicial hearings were held at his house instead of in public buildings.

* He stopped attending elections to support his favourite candidates and instead just sent a tweet from his golden toilet.

* No wait that’s Trump.

* But he can still get up the energy to travel – and deflower maidens – when he has to.

* in 8 CE he traveled to the border of Illyricum so he could look over Tibbo’s shoulder and find out what was taking him so fucking long.

* ARE WE THERE YET?

* There are food shortages in Rome in 7 CE which helps set off civil disturbances.

* Along with the whole “we’re going to be invaded!” thing

* The elections were so badly disrupted by riots that they couldn’t be held and Augustus just appointed all of the magistrates.

* And then in 8 CE, Julia the Younger, Aug’s granddaughter, the daughter of Julia the Elder and Agrippa, was publicy comdenmed for adultery and exiled to an island just like her mother had been.

* This time where was only one lover named – the senator, Decimus Junius Silanus.

* He was told to go into voluntary exile.

* But the story gets even stranger.

* Her husband, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, who had been consul in 1 CE, is supposedly still in the picture, which is why the charge against her is adultery.

* He was the son of Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus (suffect consul 34 BC and later censor) and Cornelia, the elder daughter of Scribonia, Aug’s second wife and Julia the Elder’s mother.

* So Paullus was Scribonia’s grandson and married to her granddaughter.

* DAYS OF OUR LIVES

* But at some time during the period, he is also accused of some kind of plotting against Augustus

* And he gets executed.

* So perhaps her exile had something to do with involvement in that conspiracy?

* While she’s in exile on the island of Tremirus, a small Italian island, she gave birth to a child.

* Augustus rejected the infant and ordered it to be exposed, or left on a mountainside to die.

* WTF?

* Paullus didn’t get any senior command after being consul in 1 CE, and Suetonius says he was one of the conspirators.

* But No dates, and no details.

* But what does it mean if Augustus’ grandaughter and her husband were plotting against him?

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