I Am Livia Quotes
"In Rome, a woman’s power, however circumspectly exercised, arouses revulsion."
"It is necessary that I prepare to explain myself before the gods."
"But inside of me the girl Livia Drusilla still lives."
"I had been taught to regard him as Rome’s enemy."
"I will not command you but talk to you as if you were my equal."
"Perhaps Tiberius Nero is not the man you deserve."
"I hated it when he rebuked me, though he always did it gently."
"I made myself add, 'If it’s for the liberty of Rome, I’ll do it gladly.'"
"I’m sorry to hear that you do not like your future husband."
"I think you will be in danger even if it doesn’t fail."
"You must not only marry him but be a good influence on him."
"What you can do for our cause is marry this man."
"It’s because you’re young and small, and so innocent."
"Women carry the burden of the family’s survival on their backs."
"I don’t see how it’s possible to make a stand."
"I promise you my daughter is neither a liar nor a fool."
"Nature forbids me either to set eyes on or talk to Decimus Brutus."
"He was a wealthy nobleman, though smaller than the house I had grown up in."
"I was part of the inducement—that is, my dowry was."
"Would the Senate put up a fight when Caesar tried to enter the city? Everyone knew who would win such a fight."
"I would go as a supplicant to Caesar, clasp his knees, and hope he remembered that I had once done him a kindness."
"Despite his keen intellect, he had followed Brutus’s lead and then Cicero’s, even when they acted foolishly."
"There are no words. For a Roman to march on Rome, demanding to be consul! What kind of man could do such a thing?"
"I imagined afterward, that the baby, having received a hint of what the world was like, thought better of the idea of being born."
"I had felt little pleasurable excitement anticipating the birth of my child, yet I felt the loss keenly, as if a part of me had been ripped away."
"I decided that if I survived I would never do what Father had done, never defer to anyone’s judgment or refuse to look clear-eyed at the world."
"The whole Senate was there? Yes, certainly. The whole Senate."
"Caesar said he has sworn never to shave until he has avenged his so-called father."
"They came at him, fifty against one, men who received only good from him. They stabbed him and stabbed him and stabbed him."
"But it’s not all a matter of love with you. That’s not the only reason you seek revenge."
"I felt no sympathy for Caesar Octavianus now, or so I believed."
"We in Rome had had a government based on law, in which the people elected magistrates, and from these magistrates senators were selected."
"I never heard Mother question Father’s decision to join Brutus and fight for the Republic."
"I never realized my danger but lay in a stupor of pain."
"I think we should both stay here until the master gets back."
"If it were possible to keep what has happened from you until your son is born, we would do it."
"I ask myself now, was what I felt then for Caesar pure loathing?"
"It’s a shame no one informed me of what was happening in Italy."
"We can spend a couple of hours entertaining Caesar, if it helps secure our future."
"Perhaps I did not wish to know what I would feel when I saw him."
"I’m afraid my wife is unable to attend this evening."
"You think Rome is Greece, and you are the light bringer."
"I must swallow the drink the gods have put in my mouth."
"Livia, do you think things have happened the way they have because I’m ambitious?"
"I want to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that I’m no Lucretia."
"I had come to Tiberius Nero a girl and grown into a woman as his wife."
"If you care nothing for me, say it, and I’ll leave you alone."
"Anyone looking at us might have imagined he was writing me a poem. But no. ‘Show me the world as you see it,’ I had asked him."
"‘Should I worry about them?’ I asked. ‘No. Agrippa will defeat them. But I’ll have to keep an eye on that border forever.’"
"Are you sure you want to wait until the baby is born to consummate our marriage?"
"I just love you. Everyone else has interests of their own, which are separate from yours."
"I want people to talk about how great and good you are, not because they’re afraid not to but because they mean it from their hearts."
"‘You don’t believe that symbols can be potent in politics?’ ‘I believe they can be.’"
"It’s a joy to be appreciated for the thing you want to be appreciated for."
"I engaged a wet nurse for Drusus, just as I had for little Tiberius."
"‘You’re a being of light.’ The being of light kissed me."
"We will have to try again. I am coming home. Please, however disappointed you may be by this news, keep a cheerful countenance when you are among others."
"We will not die. Neither of us will die. Somehow. I will not allow him to be destroyed. I will not."
"Think of it this way: It’s beneath your notice."
"He’s not. When we were younger I used to stand vigil at his sickbeds and go home and weep. But he would always come bounding up again."
"I’m sure of it. Watch. The war is about to turn in your favor."
"I will win this war even if Neptune doesn’t want me to!"
"This is only a testing time. It befalls heroes on the path to their destiny."
"I will not allow him to be destroyed. I will not."
"Romans liked victors. They didn’t like commanders who lost fleets."
"I half expected people to rush us in our box."
"They’re free Romans. Who am I to tell them not to chant for Neptune?"
"I want the people to love you, as I love you."
"I keep telling you, you don’t pay enough attention to your popularity with the people."
"You truly believe that the gods favor the merciful?"
"We are going to sit here and watch this contest."
"I would rather you let someone else conquer Britannia."
"If I sometimes granted people’s requests, at other times I had to turn them down."
"Once we were so united we were like twin souls."
"Children can be cruel, but it’s unthinking cruelty. So we have to forgive them."
"Physicians could do little. At night, one heard wagons rolling through the streets, collecting bodies."
"Do you think you can control life and death?"
"I felt such a deep dread that we could lose each other."
"I won’t declare war on Antony but on Egypt—on Cleopatra."
"To think of you as anything other than a friend would spoil so many good memories."
"I’ll write and let you know how the children are."
"You remind me of your father in so many ways."
"I think of never seeing him or hearing his voice again, and my eyes burned with tears."
"I felt a cold prickle on the back of my neck and almost said, What about Antony?"
"I still care about pleasing you. Isn’t that odd?"
"I would prefer never to look at another corpse."