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Rome... the greatest empire
the world has ever seen.

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With our grip on the Mediterranean,
we conquer all.

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Deep into Africa
and as far north as Britannia,

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and all under the ultimate control
of one man, the Emperor.

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Or so it seems.

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HORSE WHINNIES

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Let emperors strut the world stage,

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and let us, the humble women in
the wings, build our dynasties.

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For the first time,

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we are seeing women altering
the history of the Western world.

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Julia,

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Messalina,

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Agrippina,

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and of course, me, Livia.

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All women who can shape the world,
changing it forever.

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The empresses
are the ones that actually

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push the emperors into position.

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Driven by sex, power and violence.

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But if you slip for even an instant,
you're gonna be torn to shreds.

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My name is Livia Drusilla.

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I nurture
the first great imperial dynasty.

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Augustus, Tiberius,

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Caligula, Claudius, and Nero,

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One way or another,
they are all men under my control.

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Without Livia pulling the strings,

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would any of them have reached
the heights that they did?

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There's nothing she won't do
to protect her dynasty.

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This is the strangest, baddest
family that history has ever known.

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It may take a Caesar
to lead an empire,

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but it takes a woman
to make it work.

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Everyone thinks they know
the true story of Rome,

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but nobody knows it like me
because I lived it.

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And it was I who ruled Rome.

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When I was young,
I was so beautiful.

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I was the greatest prize in Rome.

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But I was just
a humble senator's daughter,

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yet I still became the most
powerful woman in the world.

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Forget what you think
you already know,

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I am about to tell you
the real story

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of the world's greatest,
bloodiest dynasty.

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In this first act
of the story of Rome,

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dear old Julius Caesar,
the great disrupter,

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is cut down in his prime.

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He sets it all up
for the first emperor,

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my beloved husband, Augustus.

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Now I, Livia Drusilla,
ever the dutiful empress,

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must remove every obstacle in our
path to ensure our dynasty survives,

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and with my own son at its head.

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Before Augustus and I,
there is the Roman Republic.

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Five centuries
of no kings and queens,

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no emperors and empresses,

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just a ruling class of infighting,
self-important blue bloods

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calling themselves the Senate.

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The Roman republican system
is really not functioning very well.

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This is a system that had
been developed very effectively

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to run a city state in Rome.

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It's now running
the whole Mediterranean world,

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and the systems that had worked
so well when it was just a city

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are really breaking down.
It's simply not

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a system that's built for
the running of a vast empire.

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The Senate, all men, of course,
and fond of their own voices,

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is no longer fit for purpose.

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Thankfully,
one great man sees his chance.

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A brilliant general and leader
of men puts a cat among the pigeons.

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His name is Julius Caesar.

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So Julius Caesar was one of a number
of essentially warlords

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that emerged during
the late Republic,

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when the kind of old republican
system of Rome

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is somewhat breaking down.

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SHOUTING

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Over the course of his many years,
he's risen, he's fallen.

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He's had alliances
with other prominent figures,

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but he's also won this great success
recently in the Gallic Wars.

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And it's very clear from
his personality that he believes

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he is destined for greatness.

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To a teenage daughter of a senator,

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watching this dashing war hero
bring his swagger

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to the dithering forum
is quite a thrill.

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A wonderful lesson in getting things
done with a mixture of charm,

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charisma, and utter ruthlessness.

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It's hard not to be
a little bit infatuated.

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He wins military glory for himself.
He becomes Pontifex Maximus,

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the most important
religious figure at Rome,

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and he holds the consulship.

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So he has
this glorious public career,

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and he really gets a taste
for holding that power.

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So he just keeps essentially
trying to maintain his position

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at the top
of the Roman political system.

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And I think it eventually gets
to a point where he thinks,

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"Why would I ever give this up?"

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He defeats a lot of his enemies,

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and he makes himself
dictator of Rome.

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Brilliant, but a little too far,
too fast, I fear.

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He ignores the golden rule of power
and forgets to watch his back.

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In modern terms,

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I think we'd refer to Caesar
as a populist.

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And the problem with populists
is that they're popular

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with the people,
but unpopular with politicians.

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They try to take him to court,
they try to indict him.

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But ultimately
the only method they could see

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as a way out was,
of course, to murder him.

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A word of advice, if you're going
to plot an assassination,

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do try to consider
all the consequences.

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The Ides of March,
the 15th of March, 44 BC.

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One of the most famous days,
or shall we say infamous days,

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in ancient history.

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Julius Caesar was due to attend
a meeting of the Senate

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in the theatre of Pompey in Rome.

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There had been a number
of ill omens

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about his attendance
at this meeting.

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His wife begs him not to go.

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And then, one of the conspirators
sends him a letter

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and says, you know, "We really
need you at the Senate today.

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"There's all this really important
stuff that's gonna happen."

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And so Caesar changes his mind.
He says, "OK, I'm being ridiculous.

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"Of course, I'm just gonna go
to this senatorial meeting."

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And there was a seer,
a sort of clairvoyant,

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who'd warn Caesar
to beware this very day.

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He said to beware the Ides of March.

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When he's on his way to the Senate's
meeting, he sees the soothsayer,

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and Julius Caesar
was boasting, saying,

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"Hey, the Ides of March are here,
and I'm still here."

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And Spurinna basically goes,

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"Ah, yes, they're not finished
quite yet."

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He's led towards
the temporary senate,

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at which point
he's separated from his guards

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and led to a place that is very
easy for him to be murdered.

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One of the senators
approaches Caesar.

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He grabs Caesar's toga
and pulls it off of his shoulder,

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and that is the sign to strike.

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Suddenly he feels a stab
in his back.

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A man called Casca stabs him
from behind,

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but botches the job -
doesn't do it very well.

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Caesar turns around
and basically expletive Casca,

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"What do you think you're
playing at?" Is what he says.

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And then as soon as one has stabbed
him, it is an absolute frenzy.

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He's stabbed, I think, 23 times.

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It's shameful. Not only Casca,

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but Cassius,
Bucilianus, and Decimus,

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many of them Caesar's own men.

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Traitors, the lot of them.

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Not fit to lick his boots.

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And Caesar was a hardened soldier,
one of the best Rome had ever had.

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And he actually put up
a really good fight.

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Cornered as he was, he grabbed
a stylus, which is like a metal pen.

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He stabs one
of the senators in the eye.

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But it's when he realises
that Brutus,

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who's supposedly his illegitimate
son, is amongst the conspirators,

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he gives up.

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And famously, he says, in Greek,
"And you, my child."

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If even Brutus wants him dead,

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it seems that Caesar's
willing to go.

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Caesar then kind of
covers himself with his toga,

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and falls, and bleeds out.

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And I think that's the moment
in which he realises, you know,

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it's-it's really game over.

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Everyone that I believed
supported me has now turned on me.

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Over 60 conspirators plunged
the knife. Shame on them.

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But what is their plan?

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It's very clear to me
that they have no plan.

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All the foresight
of naughty children.

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People flee in every direction, and
there is just utter chaos in Rome.

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Eventually his body is-is taken out.

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One arm allegedly falls
off the bier.

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There is this absolute sense
that everything is to play for now.

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But so begins the history
of Western civilisation.

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Caesar's brutal murder
unleashes 17 years

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of power-grabs and bloodshed
as never seen before.

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Frankly, it's utter chaos.

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But this is also my chance.

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Back the right horse,
and my future is made.

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Then I can make sure my own son
Tiberius is next in line...

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whatever the price.

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Julius Caesar,

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the greatest general
Rome has ever known,

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has just been brutally murdered
by a sickly bunch of senators,

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supposedly his friends.

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Vermin, every last one of them.

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But I, Livia Drusilla,
your narrator, am about to rise

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to the most powerful position
any woman has ever reached.

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When Caesar died,
he left a power vacuum,

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and so it had to be filled.

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There was really a moment in which
Rome as we know it didn't happen.

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No doubt I'm biased,
but only one man can fill this void.

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Only 19 years old
when civil war kicks off,

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his name is Octavian, Caesar's
nephew and my future husband.

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He has brains and youth on his side.

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Oh, and he also has
his uncle's blessing and his money.

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Julius Caesar is Octavian's uncle.

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And Julius Caesar, I think,
sees something potentially

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in the young Octavian
and takes him under his wing.

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Caesar names him
his principal heir in his will,

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which means he gets his money.

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And not only does he say that,
"I'm going to accept this legacy.

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"And when I come to Rome,
I will declare

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"that I am not just Caesar's heir,
I am his son."

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Every move Octavian makes is smart.

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He buddies up with Mark Antony,

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Caesar's greatest friend
and favourite general.

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The brawn for his brains.

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Together, they are unstoppable.

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00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,920
One by one, they take out
the traitors who killed Caesar.

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And all the time,
he watches his back.

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But the greatest power moves
play out

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not on the battlefield,
but in the bedroom.

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00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:58,200
Whenever the sources talk
about Octavian having affairs,

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they suggest that his affairs
are all politically motivated.

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That he is sleeping
with the wives of senators

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00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:09,320
in order to procure information
or strengthen his position.

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One day,
when he's entertaining a senator,

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he takes a fancy to his wife,
and he takes her to bed.

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00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,760
And then they come back a bit later,

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and supposedly,
her hair is all over the place

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00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:22,600
and very much giving an indication
of what's going on.

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00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:31,640
This is the young me.
Aren't I pretty?

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When Octavian's eyes find mine,
I am far too clever to resist,

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and he knows it, too.

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It's win-win for us from the start.

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And my existing marriage
is a detail easily fixed.

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Octavian and Livia meet for the
first time in the summer of 39 BC.

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He is about 24 and one
of the most powerful men in Rome.

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She is about 20.

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And the sources all kind of claim

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that this is love at first sight,

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and he is immediately obsessed
by Livia.

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What happens
is extraordinarily strange.

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And it's not what you expect
from Octavian

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because he forces Livia's husband
to divorce her.

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00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:23,920
And then within a couple of days,
he marries her.

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He is in need
of some social credibility

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with the old Roman aristocracy.

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00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,240
Livia can provide that for him,

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00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:35,920
and Octavian can provide Livia
with security and a route to power.

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00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,280
After 17 tiresome years,

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the civil war is reaching
its climactic ending.

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My darling husband, Octavian,
controls the west of the empire,

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and Mark Antony the east,
cosying up to his new queen,

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00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,280
the former lover of Julius Caesar,
Cleopatra.

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A beautiful woman,
but a dreadful narcissist.

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00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,560
As ever, when there's
this much power at stake,

241
00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:09,760
there's only room for one winner.

242
00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:16,520
Augustus and Mark Antony go from
brothers-in-arms to bitter rivals.

243
00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:18,200
Each one wants Rome for himself.

244
00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,640
By the time Octavian clashes
with Antony at the Battle of Actium,

245
00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,360
he is no longer
the gauche 19-year-old,

246
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:30,920
but a seasoned warrior.

247
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,520
Now it's his time.

248
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:34,920
Our time.

249
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:38,920
Mark Antony and Cleopatra,
they're defeated,

250
00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,040
and they realise at this point
that there is no way back for them.

251
00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:46,280
They have lost this war, and so both
of them end up committing suicide.

252
00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:54,280
And Octavian is now
the undisputed sole ruler of Rome.

253
00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:01,720
Well, Caesar didn't adopt my husband
for nothing.

254
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,880
He knew a ruthless winner
when he saw one.

255
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,720
Now we have peace.

256
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,640
This is where I can help
cement his power.

257
00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,560
It's the beginning of 27 BC.

258
00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:18,120
Octavian, he's just been consul,

259
00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:20,800
the leading figure in Rome
for the last two years.

260
00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:22,560
And he's very much promoting himself

261
00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:26,960
as the man who is restoring peace
and stability in the ways of old

262
00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:28,480
to the Romans.

263
00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:30,920
And the Senate,
they gather and decide

264
00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,280
what honours they can heap
on Octavian,

265
00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,000
to thank him for all that he's done.

266
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,640
And one of the honours that they
decide is to give him a new name.

267
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:40,760
Augustus.

268
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:47,560
Augustus, leader of the Republic.

269
00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:50,640
How far we have come
in such a short time.

270
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,040
Not long ago, they were sneering
at his gaucheness.

271
00:16:56,040 --> 00:16:59,280
Now watch them bow and scrape.

272
00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:03,360
Never underestimate my husband.

273
00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:04,800
Young Octavian was very lucky

274
00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,520
because he got a masterclass
by Caesar in politics,

275
00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:11,080
in how to accrue power,
but also how to maintain it.

276
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:15,400
He used that formula of power
and pleasure to seduce people.

277
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,480
He gave them what Caesar gave them -

278
00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:21,440
games, distraction, wealth,
abundance, extravagance,

279
00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:23,720
and all these things
seduced the populace

280
00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:25,200
to such that they decided,

281
00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,640
"Why do I need democracy?
Actually, I don't."

282
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,720
With me at his side,
Augustus is not going to make

283
00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:36,920
the same mistakes as Uncle Julius.

284
00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,480
The Republic secretly yearns
for the strong man,

285
00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:46,920
but is squeamish about titles
like "king" or "dictator".

286
00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,800
It's all really just semantics.

287
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,360
Augustus's real genius
is that he pretends,

288
00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:54,840
he maintains to the end

289
00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,480
this fiction
that he is not an autocrat.

290
00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,200
You see, Rome had
an allergic reaction to kings.

291
00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:03,960
I mean, the Republic was born
out of the fact

292
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:05,800
that the Romans
no longer wanted kings.

293
00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,640
And I think what is really key
to Augustus's success,

294
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:14,080
where Julius Caesar had failed,
is his public relations.

295
00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:16,760
He essentially maintains
this fiction,

296
00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:19,120
despite all the evidence
to the contrary,

297
00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:21,480
that this is not really
an autocratic system.

298
00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:23,920
This is actually a restoration
of the old Republic.

299
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:25,200
Everyone is equal,

300
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:30,200
he just happens to be the one who
holds literally all of the power.

301
00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:32,840
He develops a new word with no
negative connotations around it,

302
00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:34,440
the word of "princeps",

303
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:36,800
which might be saying
"first amongst equals."

304
00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:39,560
But unlike words like "rex",
meaning "king",

305
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:42,400
which a very dirty word,
the title of princeps

306
00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,600
has less negative, if any, negative
connotations surrounding it.

307
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,920
Really, it's genius.

308
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,280
Augustus has ultimate say,
however the Senate vote.

309
00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,120
They call him "first among equals".

310
00:18:58,120 --> 00:19:00,400
You may know it by another name.

311
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:01,440
Emperor.

312
00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:05,680
And as an old-fashioned,
virtuous wife

313
00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,680
living only to serve her husband,

314
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,920
I am the key to unlocking the hearts
of the Roman public.

315
00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:16,280
Livia made
whatever Augustus was wearing.

316
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:19,880
He would let people see her
weaving clothes for him.

317
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,320
She'd make these simple,
modest garments

318
00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,080
so that people didn't think
they were too ostentatious.

319
00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:29,880
He didn't want people thinking
they were showy and they were rich.

320
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,720
I think it's remarkable testament

321
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,080
to the fact
that Augustus clearly views Livia

322
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,440
as an indispensable life partner.

323
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,080
They say the way to a man's heart
is through his stomach.

324
00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:47,960
But some of us know better.

325
00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,280
Livia recognises Augustus
has manly needs,

326
00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,400
and she provides him
with virgins to sleep with.

327
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:56,760
Why virgins?
Because they're untainted,

328
00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,760
and she doesn't want him
to fall into relationships

329
00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:02,560
with the more elite women
who might get their claws into him

330
00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,440
and see themselves
as the next empress.

331
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,240
You may ask yourself, "What kind
of a wife would do such a thing?"

332
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,440
But again, here, we see
the intelligence of Livia.

333
00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,280
She's there for the long game.

334
00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:17,200
She knows that she has
to keep Augustus happy.

335
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,720
Oh, please, don't be so provincial.

336
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:26,440
The odd, energetic virgin
is not going to shake our marriage.

337
00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,880
Let him have his fun.
There are bigger games to play.

338
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:32,440
That's why she stays in power.

339
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,240
She plays a blinder
in the role of empress,

340
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,840
and nobody really can copy her.

341
00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,040
Livia is very much on view.

342
00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,640
She sits with her husband
in the imperial box

343
00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:48,840
to watch the gladiatorial shows.

344
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,480
She is very, very active as well,

345
00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,280
writing letters
to important dignitaries.

346
00:20:55,280 --> 00:21:00,120
She is part of the internal
administration with Augustus,

347
00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:03,800
but she is also sort of
taking on this mantle

348
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,000
of being this virtuous wife.

349
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:18,480
Together, we bring Roman citizens
prosperity, peace and food for all.

350
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,720
By uniting Rome, we win the hearts
of the grateful citizens...

351
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:27,480
..only for the gods
to threaten it all.

352
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:31,560
Suddenly, in 23 BC,
Augustus falls ill,

353
00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:33,320
and it really looks
for a couple of months

354
00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:35,880
like this is the end,
that he's gonna die.

355
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:37,600
Everything was going great -

356
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:41,280
the empire was growing,
prosperity, political stability.

357
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:44,560
And then everything changed
because Augustus becomes ill.

358
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:50,160
As he lies on his sick bed,
I grasp a terrible truth.

359
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,480
We broke all the rules
to make him emperor,

360
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,920
which means there are no rules
to decide who succeeds him.

361
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,760
But every cloud has a silver lining.

362
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:06,080
You just have to see it and act.

363
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:09,800
So it looks like
Augustus is going to die,

364
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:13,160
but he makes a miraculous recovery,
and so all is good again.

365
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:22,000
From then on, Augustus realises
that he needs to solidify further

366
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,080
the succession of what's going
to happen after him.

367
00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:28,120
Augustus,
obviously, doesn't have a son.

368
00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:31,560
It's become clear by now that Livia
is not going to give him a son.

369
00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:33,160
And so the question becomes,

370
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:37,560
who is going to take on this power
when Augustus dies?

371
00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:44,560
Rome needs a successor,
or the empire will fall.

372
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,120
For my bloodline to survive,
blood must be spilt.

373
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:05,840
Darling Augustus has been the first
emperor of Rome for four years now.

374
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,560
I love him, the people love him.

375
00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,160
With my guiding hand, some say,

376
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:16,120
he's put an end to civil war
and brought stability to Rome.

377
00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,840
Now we must become a dynasty.

378
00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:21,560
Augustus must name an heir,

379
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,000
and that's where it gets tricky.

380
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,440
I can only bring him a stepson,

381
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:28,640
another man's blood.

382
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,040
Augustus isn't happy.

383
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,600
He starts considering
his daughter, Julia,

384
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:37,920
a frightful little whore
with terrible hair.

385
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,480
So, all of his focus now fell
upon his daughter

386
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,120
and his sole surviving offspring,
Julia.

387
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:53,720
She is the only conduit
for Augustus's heredity.

388
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,040
His first choice of person
to succeed him

389
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:58,680
would be a descendant of Julia.

390
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:04,480
The daughters of powerful figures
are used basically as pawns.

391
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:06,880
This is exactly what happens
to Julia.

392
00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:10,640
She's very young, and she
is married to Augustus's nephew,

393
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:12,480
and he is called Marcellus.

394
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:17,040
That makes Marcellus first in line.

395
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,800
Not my plan at all.

396
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,600
My son Tiberius
is what the empire needs.

397
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,160
That is going to take some doing.

398
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,360
But I've always liked a challenge.

399
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,040
It looks like Marcellus
has this crown-prince role,

400
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:33,640
that Augustus is lining him up.

401
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:38,800
But it's not for very long,
because, soon after, Marcellus dies.

402
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,160
This is a total shock.

403
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:42,720
It comes completely
from out of the blue,

404
00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:45,240
and it really hammers home the fact

405
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,680
that succession
is going to be a problem.

406
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,320
Augustus is heartbroken

407
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:56,880
to have his closest male heir
snatched away so young.

408
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:01,040
Of course, the blame game begins.

409
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:04,240
And who do you think
is in the cross hairs?

410
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:08,960
Why is it always the wives
that people point the finger at?

411
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:13,360
And so the thinking emerges that,
"Ooh, maybe because, look,

412
00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:15,720
"he was a young man, he may
well have been in the prime of life.

413
00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,880
"Surely he didn't just die
of disease. Maybe it was poison."

414
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,160
And that means, maybe, did someone
in that imperial family poison him?

415
00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:24,720
And goodness forbid that
that was a woman.

416
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:26,760
And there are later rumours
that emerge

417
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:30,000
that supposedly
Livia poisoned Marcellus.

418
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,560
Poisoning was very common
in ancient Rome.

419
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:37,880
It was the most commonly used way
of getting rid of political rivals,

420
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:39,880
jealous husbands,

421
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,840
people you didn't want around,
predominantly because it was subtle.

422
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,560
You didn't go
and openly stab somebody.

423
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:46,920
So when that person died,
you could put your hands up

424
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,440
and deny you had any involvement
in it.

425
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:56,760
With Marcellus dead, the prospects
for my Tiberius are improving.

426
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:01,880
But Augustus will insist on looking
to Julia to give him a grandson.

427
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,200
Augustus couldn't afford
to waste any time.

428
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,160
He felt it was really important
that she was married off once again.

429
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:15,440
So Augustus had Julia betrothed to
his right-hand man, Marcus Agrippa.

430
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:22,880
Again, that wretched daughter of his
keeps side-lining my Tiberius

431
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,560
with the prospect of a grandson.

432
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,120
I have no choice but to be patient.

433
00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:30,040
This is a long game.

434
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,480
Meanwhile, there's an empire to run.

435
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,080
Rome's armies have brought us peace,

436
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:43,760
give or take
the odd, unruly German tribe.

437
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,520
And together,
Augustus and I bring moral reforms

438
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,240
and a new sense of discipline
to the empire.

439
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:51,960
Peace and decorum.

440
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,760
It's a fine time
to grow old together.

441
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,000
Decades go by,
and now Augustus is old...

442
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:05,440
..as am I.

443
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,840
But I have worked my way
into the heart of the empire.

444
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:11,600
Whereas when other women tried
to do this,

445
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:13,360
it doesn't tend to go so well.

446
00:27:13,360 --> 00:27:15,720
Livia is known
throughout the empire.

447
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,160
She gets revered
throughout the empire early on.

448
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:21,800
And even though they're childless,
Augustus doesn't divorce her.

449
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:30,800
Granted, being popular
with the people has its uses,

450
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,160
but now Julia delights Augustus

451
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:37,560
with grandsons -
priceless direct descendants.

452
00:27:39,360 --> 00:27:42,320
This is bad news for me,

453
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:47,920
but fortunately, Julia has
what we might call a reputation.

454
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,440
Augustus was scared
from the very beginning,

455
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,640
when she married Agrippa,
that she would be unfaithful.

456
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,000
Augustus was actually relieved
when she had her first children

457
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,840
and they bore some resemblance
to their father, Agrippa.

458
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,600
This was proof that these
were indeed her husband's children.

459
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,520
But rumours start to swirl
about Julia's fidelity,

460
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:13,160
and it's said
that she even openly jokes

461
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:15,120
about being unfaithful
to her husband,

462
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:16,960
that her friends kind of say to her,

463
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,600
"How come all your children
look so like Agrippa

464
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,960
"when, you know, you're cheating
on him all the time?"

465
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,320
And she makes this comment
that's like,

466
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:28,520
"Oh, because I'm very careful
only to take on passengers

467
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,400
"when the ship's hold is full."

468
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:32,360
So as in, she only sleeps
with other men

469
00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:34,560
when she's already pregnant
with Agrippa's child.

470
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,000
Well, that sort of behaviour
would not sit well

471
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,040
with Daddy's trademark decorum.

472
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,800
And then the poor, forsaken husband,
Agrippa, dies.

473
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,000
The emperor loses another heir.

474
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,840
They are remarkably careless
with their young men.

475
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:56,440
There is just... Every single man

476
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:58,840
that Augustus makes his heir
seems to die.

477
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,040
Time to make my move.

478
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:04,720
Julia is a widow.

479
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:10,640
If my son Tiberius divorces his
wife, he can marry into the family.

480
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:14,640
Julia is being passed around
from one figure to the next,

481
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,160
and ultimately,
she has to marry Tiberius,

482
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:19,440
and Tiberius has to marry her.

483
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,440
Their marriage is not a happy one.

484
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,640
Tiberius's nature
is taciturn and surly

485
00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:28,000
and ungiving and undemonstrative.

486
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,640
And what these two people discover
once they're married

487
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,480
is they're almost
entirely incompatible.

488
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,160
So what you see is a very natural
rebellion to her position.

489
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,840
She exudes that rebellion
through being promiscuous,

490
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,280
through drinking,
through wild parties.

491
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,960
The stories
become increasingly colourful,

492
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:47,360
including the idea

493
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:51,240
that Julia offers herself at night
in the forum

494
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:55,640
as a sexual partner
to any passing willing fellow.

495
00:29:55,640 --> 00:30:00,320
And so there is a story of her
having sex on rostrum in the forum,

496
00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:02,960
in full view
of anybody who may be passing.

497
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,640
Tiberius is well aware
of these rumours,

498
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,640
and he's humiliated by them.

499
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:11,360
He's not in control of his wife.

500
00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,120
Tiberius decides that he has
absolutely just had it up to here

501
00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:15,600
with life at Rome.

502
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,360
He does something that is
a complete shock to Augustus

503
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:21,000
and to a lot of people in Rome.
He resigns.

504
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,520
My foolish boy withdraws
from the race.

505
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:29,880
If only he had my patience,

506
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:33,760
he would see that Julia's shameful
behaviour may yet be our gain.

507
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,120
Livia knows that Julia's nature
is the way it is.

508
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,840
Sooner or later,
she's going to make a huge mistake.

509
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,880
As this is all going on,
Augustus, in fact,

510
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,160
is promoting these morality laws

511
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:50,840
where adultery is made a crime.

512
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:55,600
Augustus's moral legislation imposed
requirements on cuckolded husbands

513
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,840
to divorce their wives at once
or face a penalty of pimping.

514
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:06,240
If the law forces my Tiberius
to divorce the adulterous Julia,

515
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:10,640
he will be back out of the family,
out of the line of succession.

516
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:17,800
And when Augustus dies,
his heirs will cast me aside, too.

517
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,520
And you have the story
of Julia telling Livia,

518
00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:22,920
"Well, you know, that's fine.
You're married to Augustus,

519
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,120
"but I'm the daughter of Augustus.
That's a bigger deal."

520
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,400
That is a silly mistake.

521
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:33,880
Julia is forcing my hand.

522
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:36,200
If I do nothing,
she may ruin us all.

523
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:42,440
Augustus has
a really difficult position here.

524
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,760
Does his loyalty lie with his wife,
Livia?

525
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,760
Or does his loyalty lie with Julia?

526
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,280
And we all know
that father-daughter relationship

527
00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:53,080
is a very special relationship.

528
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,600
Dear old, deluded Augustus
is blind to it all.

529
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,800
If only he could see
the real Julia.

530
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:10,080
Soon enough, a list of lovers
was passed to Augustus,

531
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:15,000
and at least five men were named
as being Julia's lovers

532
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,760
while she's married to Tiberius.

533
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:23,880
So, in 2 BC, Augustus takes
this extraordinary step

534
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,600
of writing a letter to the Senate
in which he denounces Julia

535
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,240
for having done all of this
kind of scandalous stuff.

536
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:31,600
And he's said to be so ashamed

537
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:34,120
that he can't actually appear
in the Senate to read it himself.

538
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:40,200
Julia shamed my son
into self-imposed exile.

539
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:44,640
Now, her arrest
means she reaps what she sows.

540
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,960
The punishment for Julia
is one of the most severe

541
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,000
you can possibly imagine.

542
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:56,120
Julia is sent off
to a prison island far from Rome,

543
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:57,880
near the Bay of Naples.

544
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:00,240
She's deprived
of all of her possessions.

545
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:04,320
She has no nice clothes.
She's given no nice food, no wine.

546
00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:08,560
She can't even receive visitors
unless Augustus is asked first.

547
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:13,200
He calls her a disease of his flesh.

548
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,760
And for a daughter, I don't think
you could hear anything worse

549
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,120
coming from the mouth
of your father.

550
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,240
Augustus won't relent.
He is furious.

551
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:25,240
He is so damaged
by Julia's alleged behaviour

552
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:29,200
that he actually files for divorce
from Tiberius on her behalf.

553
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,320
He says that fire
will sooner mix with water

554
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,080
than Julia be returned to Rome.

555
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,360
I couldn't have said it better
myself.

556
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:45,680
No more troublesome offspring
to get in the way of my Tiberius.

557
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,040
The plotting and scheming of Livia
has paid off.

558
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,360
Julia, her rival,
is out of the picture.

559
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,920
Her son Tiberius
is back in the picture,

560
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,480
and he's right there as the
potential successor to Augustus.

561
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:02,160
My dear Tiberius
is no longer a boy,

562
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:06,600
but at least he can now hold
his head high and return to Rome.

563
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:17,800
Now I can get busy here, looking
after the empire's interests.

564
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:22,040
But abroad, some of our generals are
meeting uncharacteristic failure.

565
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,920
Those ghastly German tribes!

566
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,720
A horde of barbarians
annihilates three of our legions

567
00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:33,920
and takes their standards.

568
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:39,960
It's a disastrous blow to morale
that shakes Rome to the core

569
00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:43,120
and calls the authority of our rule
into question.

570
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:50,560
These losses have hurt
Augustus's reputation badly.

571
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:56,040
And now all the talk on the street
is who will succeed him as emperor.

572
00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:59,600
Augustus has two grandsons,
Gaius and Lucius,

573
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:01,800
who look like they're
gonna become his successors.

574
00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:08,000
Even with Julia shamed,
it appears that my son Tiberius

575
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,320
is still a lowly third
in the line of succession,

576
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,360
behind the two young princes,
Gaius and Lucius.

577
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:20,920
But with their father dead
and mother banished,

578
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:25,560
one can only hope
the little lambs are safe.

579
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:30,280
A few years later, the joint heirs,
the intended successors of Augustus,

580
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:31,280
they both die.

581
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:39,800
One of them dies of illness
in southern France,

582
00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,200
the other in Turkey from a wound.

583
00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:47,960
Augustus's preoccupation
with dynasty,

584
00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,520
with extending his rule
beyond his own lifetime,

585
00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,000
led to more than one heir.

586
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,360
And each heir, save Tiberius,

587
00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,240
would find the same outcome -

588
00:35:58,240 --> 00:36:00,600
almost certain death.

589
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,960
Marcellus first,
Lucius, Gaius.

590
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,160
They're either
just incredibly unlucky,

591
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:10,600
or there is something more sinister
going on.

592
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:17,480
On every occasion, the finger
of rumour pointed to Livia.

593
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,080
I would say that Livia's
a pretty good inspiration

594
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:21,600
for Game Of Thrones.

595
00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,720
One by one, she gets rid
of all the competition

596
00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:28,440
until the only viable heir is,
of course, her son Tiberius.

597
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:35,000
I will not deny I have ambitions
for my son.

598
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:39,560
But murder, poisoning
and character assassination?

599
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,840
I will not dignify
these accusations with a denial.

600
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:47,880
However, I will say this...

601
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:50,520
once more, the door is now ajar

602
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,320
for my poor, cuckolded,
exiled Tiberius.

603
00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:58,760
Tiberius is recalled to Rome
because really

604
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,000
he has become Augustus's only hope
at having a successor.

605
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:03,800
At this point, it's his only option.

606
00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:11,760
And so Augustus ends up
passing on power to Tiberius,

607
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,680
who is his stepson and Livia's son
from her first marriage.

608
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,800
There is only one person
standing in my way now.

609
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:26,800
Only one man who could jeopardise
Tiberius crowning as emperor.

610
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,600
My own husband of over 40 years.

611
00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:34,560
My dear, beloved Augustus.

612
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,240
To ensure my dynasty is safe,

613
00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:38,960
he will have to go.

614
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:56,080
Rome,
the greatest empire in the world.

615
00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,960
For years, my son Tiberius has
waited to take his rightful position

616
00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:03,320
as heir to Emperor Augustus.

617
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:06,720
And his nymphomaniac daughter
Julia is banished,

618
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:09,840
but she's left offspring
all over the place.

619
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:12,240
One in particular alarms me -

620
00:38:12,240 --> 00:38:15,560
a dubious character by the name
of Postumus Agrippa.

621
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:21,720
Despite Postumus being previously
struck off the list of succession,

622
00:38:21,720 --> 00:38:24,440
Augustus now appears to be wavering.

623
00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:30,000
Could it be that Augustus
is about to change his will

624
00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:34,520
and make Agrippa Postumus his heir,
rather than Tiberius?

625
00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:39,920
The question mark is too big,

626
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:44,240
and so Livia ultimately finds
that that question mark can't exist,

627
00:38:44,240 --> 00:38:45,920
and she has to get rid of Augustus

628
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:49,640
to ensure that Tiberius is gonna
become heir to the throne.

629
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:54,080
"Get rid of my Augustus"?

630
00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:55,920
A grubby way of putting it.

631
00:38:57,720 --> 00:39:00,080
There really are
some poisonous rumours

632
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:02,280
around the imperial palace
these days.

633
00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:10,000
I have only Rome's best interests
at heart.

634
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:14,560
Augustus and I
have done great things together,

635
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:18,360
but now...
it's all about our legacy.

636
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:21,120
Nothing else matters.

637
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:25,840
There is one rumour said
that Livia poisoned Augustus,

638
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,240
and she does it
through a very ingenious way.

639
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,360
There is no fruit
my Augustus enjoys more

640
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:35,960
than the plump figs
from his own trees

641
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:38,400
growing outside his villa in Nola.

642
00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,400
He liked to pick the figs
straight off the tree

643
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:44,760
to ensure
that they hadn't been poisoned.

644
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,720
Augustus is an old man.
He's well into his 70s.

645
00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:50,760
They feared of his life
quite a few times before.

646
00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:54,080
So he'll only trust figs he picks
himself and all this sort of thing.

647
00:39:56,960 --> 00:40:00,280
Livia employs the use of poisoners

648
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,440
to actually poison the figs
on the tree before they're picked...

649
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:07,720
..so that there's no way
that she plays -

650
00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:11,640
at least from a point of view
of public perception -

651
00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:12,920
a part in his murder.

652
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:17,920
She directed Augustus
to one of the poisoned figs.

653
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:19,640
Augustus ate.

654
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:35,960
So, you've gotta imagine
you're in Tiberius's shoes.

655
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:39,480
When he receives word
that Augustus is dying,

656
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,160
he races down to Nola.

657
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:46,240
Livia refuses to publish the
information that Augustus is dying

658
00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:49,480
until her son Tiberius
can make it onto the scene.

659
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,040
This delay allows Tiberius to ensure

660
00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:57,440
that there is no kind of potential
questioning of his authority.

661
00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:00,360
He can really be asserting
his power from the outset.

662
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:06,800
Augustus's final words showed
how he thought about Roman politics.

663
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:10,440
"Acta est fabula, plaudite."

664
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:12,840
"The tale is over, applaud."

665
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,560
The Roman historian Tacitus
says that it's not sure

666
00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:21,480
whether Tiberius arrives
after Augustus has died or before.

667
00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,080
Other sources say
that Tiberius does arrive in time,

668
00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:28,640
and Augustus has a very good death,
that he talks with Tiberius

669
00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:31,360
about the succession,
about what should happen next.

670
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:33,640
He then does things
like he combs his hair,

671
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:35,840
and then he dies in his villa.

672
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:41,200
Oh, how I mourn him.

673
00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,040
We were married
for over 50 years,

674
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:47,640
most of that, building Rome
to its greatest glory yet.

675
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,960
But now I must hold fast
onto that legacy.

676
00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:58,680
Augustus dies in 14 AD
at the ripe old age of 76,

677
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:03,680
and this is obviously a moment
of potential crisis for the empire.

678
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,720
Augustus has been in power
for 45 years,

679
00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:11,760
and this could be a point
at which everything falls apart.

680
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:14,480
This is the first time that
this has happened, a succession.

681
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,280
So it's very much
brand-new territory.

682
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:22,720
Do not be so quick to judge me.

683
00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:28,600
I need to act decisively if Tiberius
is to claim the empty throne.

684
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,480
Augustus saved Rome
from destroying itself,

685
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:36,560
and together, we created an empire
unsurpassed in power and prosperity.

686
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:40,960
Leaving undisputed succession
to Tiberius

687
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:44,280
was his final act
of unwavering duty.

688
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:47,640
I am simply proud I could help,

689
00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:52,040
and I will ensure
nothing destabilises that legacy,

690
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:56,440
even if that includes
Julia's last living son.

691
00:42:56,440 --> 00:43:00,320
With Augustus out of the way,
who's left to stop Tiberius?

692
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:04,320
The other one is Postumus Agrippa,
and so guards are sent

693
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,680
to the island where he's being held
to get rid of him.

694
00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:14,000
Imagine his shock when he sees
a centurion, a Roman soldier,

695
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:16,560
approaching him and informing him
that he's been sentenced to die.

696
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:28,040
Tiberius, my son,
is Augustus's legacy.

697
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:29,920
I'm honestly lost for words.

698
00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:34,800
But I worry for my son.

699
00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:39,440
Despite all I've done for him,
he doesn't seem to share my joy.

700
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,440
I see that once again,
I have my work cut out.

701
00:43:43,440 --> 00:43:45,720
Tiberius first-hand witnessed
what his mother had to do

702
00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:47,360
to get him into that position.

703
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:50,360
He witnessed what Augustus had to do
to maintain that position.

704
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:52,760
And now, unfortunately,
he has to play the game,

705
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:54,960
and he sees danger
absolutely everywhere.

706
00:43:57,520 --> 00:43:59,360
He's waited so long.

707
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,360
But how long
will he hold this prize?

708
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:05,120
Who will get him?
Is he safe?

709
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,400
No-one is safe
in early imperial Rome,

710
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,240
not least with a family
like Tiberius's.

711
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:18,880
Next time, the reign of Tiberius
takes a darker turn...

712
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:23,360
You see
the most horrific rumours emerging.

713
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,360
A Pandora's box
of perversion is opened.

714
00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:32,200
..but his depravity is child's play
compared to his awaiting heir...

715
00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:34,560
He was savage.
He was sadistic.

716
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:37,960
Caligula had incestuous
relationships with all his sisters.

717
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:41,320
..who threatens to ruin Rome itself.

718
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:23,160
Rome... the greatest empire
the world has ever seen.

719
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:27,140
With our grip on the Mediterranean,
we conquer all.

720
00:45:27,140 --> 00:45:31,420
Deep into Africa
and as far north as Britannia,

721
00:45:31,420 --> 00:45:37,680
and all under the ultimate control
of one man, the Emperor.

722
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,020
Or so it seems.

723
00:45:41,020 --> 00:45:42,140
HORSE NEIGHS

724
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:47,920
Let emperors strut the world stage,

725
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:53,040
and let us, the humble women in
the wings, build our dynasties.

726
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:54,920
For the first time,

727
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:58,260
we are seeing women altering
the history of the western world.

728
00:45:58,260 --> 00:46:00,020
Julia.

729
00:46:00,020 --> 00:46:02,300
Messalina.

730
00:46:02,300 --> 00:46:04,180
Agrippina,

731
00:46:04,180 --> 00:46:07,840
and of course, me, Livia.

732
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:11,940
All women who can shape the world,
changing it forever.

733
00:46:13,260 --> 00:46:14,620
The empresses are the ones

734
00:46:14,620 --> 00:46:17,140
that actually push the emperors
into position.

735
00:46:17,140 --> 00:46:19,340
Driven by sex, power and violence.

736
00:46:21,020 --> 00:46:24,460
But if you slip for even an instant,
you're going to be torn to shreds.

737
00:46:24,460 --> 00:46:26,460
My name is Livia Drusilla.

738
00:46:26,460 --> 00:46:31,140
I nurture
the first great imperial dynasty.

739
00:46:31,140 --> 00:46:32,700
Augustus,

740
00:46:32,700 --> 00:46:34,020
Tiberius,

741
00:46:34,020 --> 00:46:35,540
Caligula,

742
00:46:35,540 --> 00:46:38,180
Claudius, and Nero.

743
00:46:38,180 --> 00:46:43,060
One way or another,
they are all men under my control.

744
00:46:43,060 --> 00:46:44,940
Without Livia pulling the strings,

745
00:46:44,940 --> 00:46:47,620
would any of them have reached
the heights that they did?

746
00:46:47,620 --> 00:46:51,940
There's nothing she won't do
to protect her dynasty.

747
00:46:51,940 --> 00:46:53,220
This is the strangest,

748
00:46:53,220 --> 00:46:55,900
baddest family
that history has ever known.

749
00:46:55,900 --> 00:46:59,620
It may take a Caesar
to lead an empire,

750
00:46:59,620 --> 00:47:02,860
but it takes a woman
to make it work.

751
00:47:14,620 --> 00:47:19,020
Everyone thinks they know
the true story of Rome,

752
00:47:19,020 --> 00:47:22,340
but nobody knows it like me
because I lived it.

753
00:47:22,340 --> 00:47:26,380
And it was I who ruled Rome.

754
00:47:26,380 --> 00:47:30,700
When I was young,
I was so beautiful.

755
00:47:30,700 --> 00:47:32,900
I was the greatest prize in Rome.

756
00:47:34,300 --> 00:47:36,660
But I was just
a humble senator's daughter.

757
00:47:36,660 --> 00:47:41,980
Yet I still became the most powerful
woman in the world.

758
00:47:41,980 --> 00:47:44,660
Forget what you think
you already know.

759
00:47:44,660 --> 00:47:47,380
I am about to tell you
the real story

760
00:47:47,380 --> 00:47:50,860
of the world's greatest,
bloodiest dynasty.

761
00:47:54,500 --> 00:47:56,620
It's time for my son Tiberius

762
00:47:56,620 --> 00:47:59,220
to become the second emperor
of Rome.

763
00:47:59,220 --> 00:48:01,420
Under my guiding hand, of course.

764
00:48:03,180 --> 00:48:07,620
But he's about to slip the reins
and drag the Imperial Court

765
00:48:07,620 --> 00:48:12,460
into an age of depravity
that shocks our world.

766
00:48:13,740 --> 00:48:18,340
But then his successor, my wicked,
entitled grandson Caligula,

767
00:48:18,340 --> 00:48:22,380
will put all of Tiberius' successes
in the shade,

768
00:48:22,380 --> 00:48:26,100
threatening to ruin
the Empire itself.

769
00:48:31,220 --> 00:48:33,940
I am only 15
when our beloved Republic

770
00:48:33,940 --> 00:48:38,340
sees its first great dictator,
Julius Caesar, murdered.

771
00:48:38,340 --> 00:48:41,780
Years of bloodshed
and civil war follow.

772
00:48:44,860 --> 00:48:51,220
50 years on, and my beloved husband
Augustus rules undisputed.

773
00:48:51,220 --> 00:48:54,220
The first true emperor of Rome.

774
00:48:54,220 --> 00:48:57,900
With me by his side at every step.

775
00:48:57,900 --> 00:48:59,660
Now, tragedy.

776
00:48:59,660 --> 00:49:04,220
No sooner have I charmed Augustus
to make my son Tiberius his heir

777
00:49:04,220 --> 00:49:06,220
than Augustus dies.

778
00:49:06,220 --> 00:49:08,700
Poison is to blame,

779
00:49:08,700 --> 00:49:10,460
someone very close, the poisoner.

780
00:49:10,460 --> 00:49:14,180
Who? My lips are sealed.

781
00:49:14,180 --> 00:49:18,220
Tiberius knows that he owes
his power to his mother.

782
00:49:18,220 --> 00:49:21,220
Livia knows this as well,
and because of that,

783
00:49:21,220 --> 00:49:25,740
Livia is determined
to help Tiberius on his way

784
00:49:25,740 --> 00:49:29,780
as he learns the ropes
of being a new emperor.

785
00:49:29,780 --> 00:49:32,860
And initially,
this seems to work quite well.

786
00:49:38,700 --> 00:49:43,700
My dear Tiberius woos the public
as only a great soldier can.

787
00:49:43,700 --> 00:49:46,220
He wages war against the unruly,

788
00:49:46,220 --> 00:49:49,500
unwashed Germanic tribes
who humiliated Augustus.

789
00:49:52,620 --> 00:49:55,060
He crushes them, bringing home

790
00:49:55,060 --> 00:49:59,300
the priceless eagle standards
they stole from Augustus.

791
00:50:00,180 --> 00:50:01,940
Morale is riding high.

792
00:50:01,940 --> 00:50:04,780
The people adore him.

793
00:50:04,780 --> 00:50:07,860
He's a great general.
He's a successful soldier.

794
00:50:07,860 --> 00:50:10,260
But that's very different
from being a politician.

795
00:50:10,260 --> 00:50:12,780
And above all,
he didn't play the games

796
00:50:12,780 --> 00:50:16,380
that were needed politically
to maintain power,

797
00:50:16,380 --> 00:50:18,740
which Augustus played perfectly.

798
00:50:18,740 --> 00:50:21,100
Tiberius was the opposite
of Augustus.

799
00:50:21,100 --> 00:50:23,980
Tiberius' reign starts off
quite well.

800
00:50:23,980 --> 00:50:26,300
He seems to make an effort
to treat the Senate

801
00:50:26,300 --> 00:50:28,780
with as much respect as possible,

802
00:50:28,780 --> 00:50:31,620
but quite quickly,
things start to degenerate.

803
00:50:31,620 --> 00:50:34,420
Tiberius becomes
increasingly tyrannical,

804
00:50:34,420 --> 00:50:35,620
increasingly paranoid.

805
00:50:35,620 --> 00:50:39,260
You start to see cracks
in that relationship

806
00:50:39,260 --> 00:50:41,140
between Tiberius and Livia.

807
00:50:41,140 --> 00:50:43,020
They are not
a completely solid force,

808
00:50:43,020 --> 00:50:45,820
because one of the early acts
the Senate wants to do

809
00:50:45,820 --> 00:50:50,460
is to honour Livia by giving her
the title of Mother of the Nation.

810
00:50:50,460 --> 00:50:54,260
And Tiberius says no,
he doesn't allow that honour.

811
00:50:54,260 --> 00:50:55,860
He basically vetoes it.

812
00:51:00,260 --> 00:51:04,180
The ingratitude, the paranoia,
the foolishness.

813
00:51:05,820 --> 00:51:08,700
Fear not. I won't go quietly.

814
00:51:08,700 --> 00:51:11,740
But other women are less resilient
to his cruelty.

815
00:51:13,740 --> 00:51:17,460
Within a year of coming to power,
he's settling scores.

816
00:51:17,460 --> 00:51:21,140
And the first target
is his wanton ex-wife, Julia,

817
00:51:21,140 --> 00:51:23,820
who humiliated him
with her promiscuous ways

818
00:51:23,820 --> 00:51:27,780
and now lives in exile,
banished from men and wine.

819
00:51:27,780 --> 00:51:31,260
The only punishment
that could truly hurt her.

820
00:51:31,260 --> 00:51:35,660
He actually worsens
Julia's situation in exile.

821
00:51:35,660 --> 00:51:39,100
He cuts off the allowance
that Augustus had allowed her.

822
00:51:39,100 --> 00:51:41,620
He cuts off even her supply of food.

823
00:51:44,380 --> 00:51:46,140
And lets her starve to death.

824
00:51:54,660 --> 00:51:57,660
Julia is just the start.

825
00:51:57,660 --> 00:52:00,820
My son's mission is to destroy
all his enemies,

826
00:52:00,820 --> 00:52:04,220
both real and imagined.

827
00:52:04,220 --> 00:52:06,740
It's here that things turn
really dark.

828
00:52:10,380 --> 00:52:13,580
There are a lot of infamous stories
of Tiberius' reign,

829
00:52:13,580 --> 00:52:17,900
but one that goes down in
the history books is his introducing

830
00:52:17,900 --> 00:52:19,740
of the so-called Treason Trials.

831
00:52:19,740 --> 00:52:23,980
Tiberius now makes it treason
for people to speak against him.

832
00:52:25,660 --> 00:52:30,060
He could pull you in and murder you
for any charges.

833
00:52:32,220 --> 00:52:34,500
It becomes quite quickly
a reign of terror.

834
00:52:34,500 --> 00:52:36,420
Executions are a daily occurrence,

835
00:52:36,420 --> 00:52:38,380
even on sacred days
like New Year's Day.

836
00:52:38,380 --> 00:52:41,300
No-one was spared,
even women and children.

837
00:52:41,300 --> 00:52:42,860
They were dragged with hooks

838
00:52:42,860 --> 00:52:45,220
from the Stairs of Mourning
right to the Tiber,

839
00:52:45,220 --> 00:52:47,780
and thrown away as if they were
nothing more than trash.

840
00:52:49,900 --> 00:52:51,980
No-one in Rome felt safe.

841
00:52:51,980 --> 00:52:54,860
The age of Augustus
seemed like a distant memory.

842
00:53:02,580 --> 00:53:06,060
Tiberius sees enemies everywhere

843
00:53:06,060 --> 00:53:10,140
until there is only one person
whom he really trusts, Drusus,

844
00:53:10,140 --> 00:53:13,180
his 29-year-old son
from his first marriage.

845
00:53:14,820 --> 00:53:17,940
Sadly, Drusus,
who has his father's temper,

846
00:53:17,940 --> 00:53:21,900
makes a mortal enemy
of Tiberius' right-hand man,

847
00:53:21,900 --> 00:53:25,500
the conniving, ruthless Sejanus.

848
00:53:25,500 --> 00:53:28,220
Sejanus decides to do away
with Drusus.

849
00:53:28,220 --> 00:53:31,740
He does so by seducing Drusus' wife,

850
00:53:31,740 --> 00:53:35,180
and together they slowly poison him.

851
00:53:39,140 --> 00:53:42,300
So it looks like Drusus dies
of a natural death.

852
00:53:42,300 --> 00:53:45,220
Dies of illness
over a period of time.

853
00:53:46,780 --> 00:53:51,260
His beloved son,
his priceless blood heir, murdered.

854
00:53:51,260 --> 00:53:56,540
Tiberius' reign descends into
full-blown, rage-filled tyranny.

855
00:53:59,420 --> 00:54:01,180
I think the death of Drusus

856
00:54:01,180 --> 00:54:03,380
was the last bit of humanity
left in Tiberius.

857
00:54:04,340 --> 00:54:06,980
The loss of his son,
the loss of power for someone

858
00:54:06,980 --> 00:54:10,180
who was used to being in power
and in control,

859
00:54:10,180 --> 00:54:12,580
I think absolutely broke him.

860
00:54:12,580 --> 00:54:16,180
And he goes on to become one of
the worst figures in Roman history.

861
00:54:21,700 --> 00:54:25,220
My whole life,
I worked to make him Emperor.

862
00:54:25,220 --> 00:54:28,180
And now my wretched son
is throwing it all away...

863
00:54:29,660 --> 00:54:32,380
..dragging my dynasty into
a nightmare of torture,

864
00:54:32,380 --> 00:54:35,940
paedophilia and murder.

865
00:54:37,420 --> 00:54:40,740
You see some
of the most horrific rumours

866
00:54:40,740 --> 00:54:42,940
emerging from
the whole of this period.

867
00:54:52,660 --> 00:54:56,420
LIVIA: For 12 years,
Rome is in the iron grip of my son,

868
00:54:56,420 --> 00:55:00,060
the second Emperor Tiberius.

869
00:55:00,060 --> 00:55:03,620
When he spills German blood,
the people cheer.

870
00:55:03,620 --> 00:55:08,620
He restores our pride
and secures our peace.

871
00:55:08,620 --> 00:55:12,620
Then he ignores
the hard won love of his people.

872
00:55:12,620 --> 00:55:16,620
Paranoid, he slaughters
the innocent and guilty alike.

873
00:55:16,620 --> 00:55:20,300
Worst, he turns his back on me.

874
00:55:20,300 --> 00:55:25,020
And without a woman to guide him,
there really are enemies everywhere.

875
00:55:29,140 --> 00:55:31,180
Tiberius is in his 60s now.

876
00:55:31,180 --> 00:55:34,620
He's had enough of Rome.

877
00:55:34,620 --> 00:55:36,500
Either he's paranoid
of being assassinated,

878
00:55:36,500 --> 00:55:38,900
or he's just fed up
of being in the public eye.

879
00:55:38,900 --> 00:55:43,460
And he wants a retreat
to a quiet life, to seclusion.

880
00:55:44,660 --> 00:55:46,460
Tiberius' popularity
begins to crumble.

881
00:55:46,460 --> 00:55:50,260
His mood darkens, and he becomes
tired of running the empire.

882
00:55:50,260 --> 00:55:51,460
He retires to Capri.

883
00:55:55,900 --> 00:55:59,100
Capri, I never cared for the place.

884
00:55:59,100 --> 00:56:01,460
A dreary island full of wasps,

885
00:56:01,460 --> 00:56:05,780
much like the Senate
Tiberius was desperate to escape.

886
00:56:05,780 --> 00:56:08,820
But so distant from his duties,

887
00:56:08,820 --> 00:56:11,580
a man's mind can wander
into darkness.

888
00:56:11,580 --> 00:56:13,500
Once he's vacated Rome,

889
00:56:13,500 --> 00:56:15,860
he has this additional
layer of freedom

890
00:56:15,860 --> 00:56:18,300
that he wouldn't have
when he's being looked upon

891
00:56:18,300 --> 00:56:20,500
by this very
sort of crowded population.

892
00:56:21,660 --> 00:56:23,620
So on the island of Capri,

893
00:56:23,620 --> 00:56:27,100
he really gives full rein
to his desires.

894
00:56:27,100 --> 00:56:30,060
He gets to Capri, and it's like
there's a kind of Pandora's box

895
00:56:30,060 --> 00:56:33,340
of perversion is opened
and something flies out.

896
00:56:36,540 --> 00:56:39,060
Give him credit where credit is due,

897
00:56:39,060 --> 00:56:43,380
Tiberius does his self-imposed exile
in style.

898
00:56:43,380 --> 00:56:45,660
His Villa of Jupiter is spectacular,

899
00:56:45,660 --> 00:56:48,340
perched high on the cliff tops.

900
00:56:48,340 --> 00:56:52,180
Free from prying eyes,
no excess is spared.

901
00:56:54,860 --> 00:56:58,620
Tiberius' life on Capri
is rich material

902
00:56:58,620 --> 00:57:01,700
for scandal-mongering historians.

903
00:57:01,700 --> 00:57:03,780
He didn't have an attachment

904
00:57:03,780 --> 00:57:06,460
to physical or material luxury
in Rome.

905
00:57:06,460 --> 00:57:08,220
He was much more serious minded.

906
00:57:08,220 --> 00:57:10,780
And if we believe
the ancient record,

907
00:57:10,780 --> 00:57:16,020
then Tiberius nevertheless gave in
to a life of incredible licence.

908
00:57:16,020 --> 00:57:19,100
And that situation
is the perfect environment

909
00:57:19,100 --> 00:57:20,580
for... for rumours to start to grow.

910
00:57:20,580 --> 00:57:21,700
People are like,

911
00:57:21,700 --> 00:57:24,140
"Why is Tiberius not at Rome?
What is he hiding from us?"

912
00:57:25,740 --> 00:57:29,300
The stories very quickly circulate
that he's gone to Capri.

913
00:57:29,300 --> 00:57:32,300
Not because he doesn't like
being involved in politics,

914
00:57:32,300 --> 00:57:35,180
it's to hide the depravity
that's going on.

915
00:57:37,060 --> 00:57:42,340
On Capri,
he tries to gain this isolation,

916
00:57:42,340 --> 00:57:44,620
this seclusion
from the rest of the world.

917
00:57:44,620 --> 00:57:47,020
And straight away,

918
00:57:47,020 --> 00:57:50,580
you see some of the most
horrific rumours emerging

919
00:57:50,580 --> 00:57:52,380
from the whole of this period.

920
00:57:56,420 --> 00:57:59,580
The Villa of Jupiter on Capri

921
00:57:59,580 --> 00:58:02,660
has these incredibly steep cliffs
going right down to the sea.

922
00:58:02,660 --> 00:58:07,060
And so Tiberius can take people
that he is suspicious of

923
00:58:07,060 --> 00:58:10,780
for nice little cliff-side walks,
and then throw them off.

924
00:58:12,180 --> 00:58:16,060
There's a 297 metre tall cliff

925
00:58:16,060 --> 00:58:18,580
in which he would just
push them off, get rid of them,

926
00:58:18,580 --> 00:58:21,780
and then get on with his day
as if nothing had happened.

927
00:58:23,220 --> 00:58:27,620
The Tiberius leap will be the moment
when transgressors will die,

928
00:58:27,620 --> 00:58:32,940
but only after an intensely painful
period of punishment,

929
00:58:32,940 --> 00:58:37,540
which would frequently involve,
we're told, some element of torture.

930
00:58:40,820 --> 00:58:44,100
Capri is a den of iniquity,

931
00:58:44,100 --> 00:58:47,980
and my son Tiberius
is at the centre of it all.

932
00:58:47,980 --> 00:58:50,380
And don't just take my word for it.

933
00:58:50,380 --> 00:58:54,940
Even that pedant of a historian,
Suetonius, cannot turn a blind eye.

934
00:58:56,220 --> 00:58:58,500
Suetonius is the one
who has the great line about it,

935
00:58:58,500 --> 00:59:00,180
where he says about Tiberius,

936
00:59:00,180 --> 00:59:03,700
"His criminal obscenities
are almost too vile to discuss,

937
00:59:03,700 --> 00:59:05,540
"let alone believe."

938
00:59:05,540 --> 00:59:08,540
"Almost" being the key word here,
cos Suetonius then goes

939
00:59:08,540 --> 00:59:10,580
and lists them all,
one by one by one.

940
00:59:10,580 --> 00:59:14,300
There are young children,
young boys and young girls,

941
00:59:14,300 --> 00:59:18,020
who are brought to the villa
for Tiberius' sexual pleasure.

942
00:59:19,500 --> 00:59:21,220
He has abused these small boys.

943
00:59:21,220 --> 00:59:24,380
He has a team
of what he calls his minnows.

944
00:59:24,380 --> 00:59:28,620
As he swam, they swam below him
and nibbled his genitals.

945
00:59:30,900 --> 00:59:32,780
These minnows...

946
00:59:34,180 --> 00:59:38,580
..peasant boys, most likely,
and hardly missed, I suppose.

947
00:59:38,580 --> 00:59:42,060
But there are limits
even an emperor cannot break.

948
00:59:42,060 --> 00:59:45,100
And Tiberius has crossed that line.

949
00:59:46,420 --> 00:59:49,660
These stories that, you know,
he interrupted a religious ceremony

950
00:59:49,660 --> 00:59:53,300
because he took a fancy
to the boys taking part in it.

951
00:59:53,300 --> 00:59:54,780
He rapes the boys,

952
00:59:54,780 --> 00:59:57,220
and when they complained,
he has their legs broken.

953
00:59:57,220 --> 01:00:02,260
Even being friends with Tiberius
comes with its own problems.

954
01:00:02,260 --> 01:00:04,940
My son has a very dark
sense of humour.

955
01:00:04,940 --> 01:00:06,860
Tiberius tricked male guests

956
01:00:06,860 --> 01:00:09,660
into drinking enormous quantities
of wine.

957
01:00:09,660 --> 01:00:12,100
When they were drunk beyond reason,

958
01:00:12,100 --> 01:00:16,420
he then tied their penises tightly
with string

959
01:00:16,420 --> 01:00:18,780
so that they couldn't possibly pee.

960
01:00:18,780 --> 01:00:21,700
The pain was excruciating.
They writhed on the floor.

961
01:00:21,700 --> 01:00:25,020
They begged for release,
and Tiberius laughed.

962
01:00:28,300 --> 01:00:32,140
It's three years
since Tiberius leaves Rome

963
01:00:32,140 --> 01:00:34,900
and his Imperial
responsibilities behind.

964
01:00:34,900 --> 01:00:39,900
But in an age of prosperity
and peace, the people barely notice,

965
01:00:39,900 --> 01:00:43,380
and the Senate manage the Empire
in his absence,

966
01:00:43,380 --> 01:00:46,940
under the watchful eye
of the leader of the Imperial Guard.

967
01:00:48,500 --> 01:00:51,780
Thankfully, I,
as mother of the Emperor,

968
01:00:51,780 --> 01:00:57,300
remain in Rome to maintain
a sense of Imperial control.

969
01:00:57,300 --> 01:01:00,300
Tiberius becomes quite resentful
of his mother's political status,

970
01:01:00,300 --> 01:01:03,100
but more so,
he becomes resentful of the notion

971
01:01:03,100 --> 01:01:08,060
that somehow him becoming Emperor
is her doing and not divine right.

972
01:01:08,060 --> 01:01:10,900
And so, eventually,

973
01:01:10,900 --> 01:01:13,260
this relationship
really breaks down.

974
01:01:13,260 --> 01:01:16,100
Livia's power and influence
over Tiberius declines.

975
01:01:16,100 --> 01:01:17,580
He sidelines her politically.

976
01:01:19,780 --> 01:01:23,500
The gods are loosening my grip
on my deviant son's rule.

977
01:01:25,860 --> 01:01:29,380
I sacrifice everything
to secure his throne.

978
01:01:29,380 --> 01:01:32,580
And now my 86 years
are weighing heavy.

979
01:01:34,020 --> 01:01:37,340
Livia suffered a fall
in her old age.

980
01:01:41,740 --> 01:01:44,140
Her death was certainly
protracted enough for Tiberius

981
01:01:44,140 --> 01:01:47,780
to have returned to Rome
to see her before she died.

982
01:01:49,820 --> 01:01:53,100
And she waited. And she waited.

983
01:01:53,100 --> 01:01:54,500
But he didn't come.

984
01:01:56,620 --> 01:01:58,980
Tiberius doesn't leave Capri,

985
01:01:58,980 --> 01:02:02,180
doesn't go to her deathbed
to be with her in her last moments.

986
01:02:04,220 --> 01:02:08,740
Is it too much to ask
that my ungrateful swine of a son,

987
01:02:08,740 --> 01:02:12,500
who I made Emperor,
respects his mother with a visit?

988
01:02:14,340 --> 01:02:17,980
She then died at the age of 86.

989
01:02:23,100 --> 01:02:25,460
Everyone awaited
for the Emperor's presence,

990
01:02:25,460 --> 01:02:28,900
but Tiberius cared so little
that he kept them waiting,

991
01:02:28,900 --> 01:02:30,700
to the point
that the body had decayed

992
01:02:30,700 --> 01:02:33,140
and had to be buried
out of necessity

993
01:02:33,140 --> 01:02:35,540
rather than out of funeral rites.

994
01:02:35,540 --> 01:02:37,140
When Livia died,

995
01:02:37,140 --> 01:02:42,860
the Senate agreed to build
an arch in her honour.

996
01:02:42,860 --> 01:02:45,220
And Livia would have been
the first woman in Rome

997
01:02:45,220 --> 01:02:47,300
to receive such an honour,

998
01:02:47,300 --> 01:02:51,660
but Tiberius ensured
that this arch was never built.

999
01:02:51,660 --> 01:02:54,740
Tiberius flat out refuses.

1000
01:02:54,740 --> 01:02:57,100
This is not what Tiberius wants.

1001
01:02:57,100 --> 01:02:59,500
He does not want his mother
getting further honours

1002
01:02:59,500 --> 01:03:00,660
even after she's dead.

1003
01:03:03,060 --> 01:03:05,060
Turning his back on me,

1004
01:03:05,060 --> 01:03:09,940
Tiberius now has no mother, wife,
or goddess to guide him,

1005
01:03:09,940 --> 01:03:13,500
and no son to claim his throne.

1006
01:03:13,500 --> 01:03:16,500
The fool needs to name a successor

1007
01:03:16,500 --> 01:03:19,300
if our dynasty is not to die
with him.

1008
01:03:19,300 --> 01:03:21,940
There is a big problem for Tiberius

1009
01:03:21,940 --> 01:03:25,140
in that, if he doesn't have
any sort of heir at all,

1010
01:03:25,140 --> 01:03:28,340
then what's to stop
another senator from saying,

1011
01:03:28,340 --> 01:03:31,380
"Well, look, the Emperor
is nearly dead. He's very old.

1012
01:03:31,380 --> 01:03:33,860
"He's going to go away soon,
one way or the other.

1013
01:03:33,860 --> 01:03:36,500
"Nature will do it.
Why don't I get in first?"

1014
01:03:38,380 --> 01:03:42,220
Tiberius invites,
under conditions of utmost secrecy,

1015
01:03:42,220 --> 01:03:46,940
a member of his family to share
his self-imposed exile with him.

1016
01:03:46,940 --> 01:03:50,020
A teenage boy called Caligula.

1017
01:03:52,620 --> 01:03:56,140
An odd choice,
but he has good blood.

1018
01:03:56,140 --> 01:03:58,420
After all, he is my great-grandson.

1019
01:03:59,940 --> 01:04:02,300
Unfortunately, Tiberius,

1020
01:04:02,300 --> 01:04:04,900
thinking Caligula's parents
are plotting against him,

1021
01:04:04,900 --> 01:04:06,460
has them killed,

1022
01:04:06,460 --> 01:04:08,740
and his brothers too
for good measure.

1023
01:04:10,460 --> 01:04:14,540
Leaving poor little Caligula
the last man standing

1024
01:04:14,540 --> 01:04:18,340
and the very last choice
as a successor to Tiberius.

1025
01:04:19,500 --> 01:04:22,260
Tiberius takes in Caligula
because he doesn't have a son,

1026
01:04:22,260 --> 01:04:23,580
and he's aware that he,

1027
01:04:23,580 --> 01:04:25,940
like Augustus before him,
is going to need a successor.

1028
01:04:25,940 --> 01:04:28,620
The mind of a tyrant
is always hard to understand.

1029
01:04:28,620 --> 01:04:30,140
To everyone's surprise,

1030
01:04:30,140 --> 01:04:32,500
Caligula was taken
under Tiberius' wing,

1031
01:04:32,500 --> 01:04:34,860
probably because he needed company,

1032
01:04:34,860 --> 01:04:37,420
but most importantly
because he needed an accomplice.

1033
01:04:37,420 --> 01:04:39,340
So Caligula goes to Capri,

1034
01:04:39,340 --> 01:04:41,980
and he basically now has to stay
with the man

1035
01:04:41,980 --> 01:04:46,380
who has ordered the executions
of several members of his family,

1036
01:04:46,380 --> 01:04:49,660
and just stay there
and basically be emotionless,

1037
01:04:49,660 --> 01:04:53,420
to not fight Tiberius,
to be his heir,

1038
01:04:53,420 --> 01:04:56,260
and to just kind of
be there passively

1039
01:04:56,260 --> 01:04:58,820
and watch what Tiberius is doing.

1040
01:04:58,820 --> 01:05:00,300
He was a teenager,

1041
01:05:00,300 --> 01:05:02,340
and it's said that Caligula,
actually, there,

1042
01:05:02,340 --> 01:05:05,820
is witnessing things
he'd never seen before in Rome.

1043
01:05:05,820 --> 01:05:10,060
Increasingly depraved way of life
for both men.

1044
01:05:11,460 --> 01:05:13,980
The decision to bring
Caligula to Capri

1045
01:05:13,980 --> 01:05:17,260
would turn out to be
one of Tiberius' worst.

1046
01:05:23,140 --> 01:05:25,140
Tiberius needs Caligula

1047
01:05:25,140 --> 01:05:27,740
because he needs someone to say
there's a future,

1048
01:05:27,740 --> 01:05:29,860
and Caligula is all that's left now.

1049
01:05:29,860 --> 01:05:33,660
And I think witnessing the murder
of his family members,

1050
01:05:33,660 --> 01:05:35,620
and then being brought up

1051
01:05:35,620 --> 01:05:38,620
in this incredibly
strange environment

1052
01:05:38,620 --> 01:05:41,660
by the uncle that had murdered them,

1053
01:05:41,660 --> 01:05:44,740
maybe contributes to Caligula
not being...

1054
01:05:44,740 --> 01:05:47,740
the most well-adjusted man.

1055
01:05:47,740 --> 01:05:51,020
That's bound to make you look around
pretty nervously and think,

1056
01:05:51,020 --> 01:05:53,540
"Well, I've got to tow the line
very, very carefully."

1057
01:05:55,180 --> 01:05:57,900
The saying "keep your friends close
and your enemies closer"

1058
01:05:57,900 --> 01:05:59,660
is usually good advice.

1059
01:05:59,660 --> 01:06:02,620
Tiberius is about to realise
that keeping his family close

1060
01:06:02,620 --> 01:06:05,140
is probably the worst advice
that anyone could give him.

1061
01:06:05,140 --> 01:06:08,340
Tiberius, he's a very old man.

1062
01:06:08,340 --> 01:06:10,860
Hardly anybody has seen him
for a long, long time.

1063
01:06:10,860 --> 01:06:13,860
And it shouldn't really
surprise anybody when he falls ill.

1064
01:06:16,980 --> 01:06:19,980
Least surprised
is cunning little Caligula,

1065
01:06:19,980 --> 01:06:21,660
watching from the wings.

1066
01:06:21,660 --> 01:06:24,340
As my son's grip on power falters,

1067
01:06:24,340 --> 01:06:27,780
this is a golden opportunity
to seize the crown.

1068
01:06:27,780 --> 01:06:29,820
Tiberius appears to die,

1069
01:06:29,820 --> 01:06:33,260
and the people around him
rush to acclaim Caligula

1070
01:06:33,260 --> 01:06:35,300
as the next Emperor.

1071
01:06:35,300 --> 01:06:37,740
And everyone is excited
because Caligula,

1072
01:06:37,740 --> 01:06:40,020
he's seen as young blood,
a fresh face.

1073
01:06:40,020 --> 01:06:41,700
This is the dawn of a new era.

1074
01:06:41,700 --> 01:06:46,420
The old, boring, pretty infamous
Emperor Tiberius is dead.

1075
01:06:46,420 --> 01:06:51,020
And then it turns out
that Tiberius isn't dead after all.

1076
01:06:51,020 --> 01:06:54,140
Rather than let this word spread,

1077
01:06:54,140 --> 01:06:57,300
as they're already celebrating
the accession of Caligula,

1078
01:06:57,300 --> 01:07:00,940
the head of the Praetorian Guard,
a man called Macro,

1079
01:07:00,940 --> 01:07:04,820
he gets a pillow
and he smothers Tiberius in his bed

1080
01:07:04,820 --> 01:07:08,500
just to make sure that he's dead
and to avoid any embarrassment.

1081
01:07:08,500 --> 01:07:11,180
There's a rumour
that he's actually been smothered

1082
01:07:11,180 --> 01:07:13,660
on the orders of Caligula.

1083
01:07:13,660 --> 01:07:17,300
And by doing so,
Caligula got rid of, first of all,

1084
01:07:17,300 --> 01:07:21,060
somebody who had tortured
his family, tortured his life,

1085
01:07:21,060 --> 01:07:22,860
but also the only person

1086
01:07:22,860 --> 01:07:25,060
standing in the way
of ultimate power.

1087
01:07:27,420 --> 01:07:31,140
Caligula, to give him credit,
is our first emperor to show

1088
01:07:31,140 --> 01:07:34,100
that absolute power
corrupts absolutely.

1089
01:07:36,460 --> 01:07:39,820
But when he loses
his last female anchor,

1090
01:07:39,820 --> 01:07:44,420
a deranged torrent
of vengeance consumes Rome.

1091
01:07:53,820 --> 01:07:57,220
LIVIA: The dynasty I founded
as the first Roman empress

1092
01:07:57,220 --> 01:08:00,140
continues with
my great-grandson, Caligula,

1093
01:08:00,140 --> 01:08:04,540
the youngest and dumbest emperor
Rome has yet known.

1094
01:08:04,540 --> 01:08:07,620
Tiberius may introduce tyranny
to the Imperial Court,

1095
01:08:07,620 --> 01:08:10,940
but he is at least prudent
with the Empire's wealth.

1096
01:08:10,940 --> 01:08:13,700
Caligula? Not so much.

1097
01:08:16,300 --> 01:08:17,580
When Tiberius dies,

1098
01:08:17,580 --> 01:08:19,940
he leaves the treasury
in a really good position.

1099
01:08:19,940 --> 01:08:22,420
There is tonnes of money because
he's been really careful with it.

1100
01:08:24,220 --> 01:08:27,620
And with him dies
an accomplished bureaucrat,

1101
01:08:27,620 --> 01:08:33,180
a man of extraordinary
military record, senatorial record.

1102
01:08:33,180 --> 01:08:35,660
And he's replaced by somebody who,

1103
01:08:35,660 --> 01:08:39,020
in terms of training
in the way Rome works,

1104
01:08:39,020 --> 01:08:40,700
is effectively a child.

1105
01:08:42,020 --> 01:08:45,140
After 22 years
of Tiberius' miserly rule,

1106
01:08:45,140 --> 01:08:47,500
Rome is desperate for change.

1107
01:08:47,500 --> 01:08:51,980
Caligula, unknown, untested,
is their great new hope?

1108
01:08:51,980 --> 01:08:53,580
Oh, dear.

1109
01:08:53,580 --> 01:08:55,940
A 24-year-old boy
by the name of Caligula

1110
01:08:55,940 --> 01:08:58,300
becomes the most powerful man
in the world.

1111
01:08:58,300 --> 01:09:00,220
He hasn't had a career.

1112
01:09:00,220 --> 01:09:02,060
He hasn't done anything
by Roman standards.

1113
01:09:03,540 --> 01:09:05,460
This is a new chapter.

1114
01:09:05,460 --> 01:09:09,300
Caligula leaves Capri
and he returns to Rome.

1115
01:09:09,300 --> 01:09:12,020
He is young, he is energetic.

1116
01:09:12,020 --> 01:09:13,420
People line the streets

1117
01:09:13,420 --> 01:09:15,620
and they celebrate
Caligula's arrival.

1118
01:09:16,780 --> 01:09:19,140
He gives money out
to people in Rome. He feasts them.

1119
01:09:19,140 --> 01:09:22,940
He declares public games
on a lavish scale.

1120
01:09:22,940 --> 01:09:27,940
People are initially very excited
when Caligula becomes Emperor,

1121
01:09:27,940 --> 01:09:30,660
and the initial signs
are very promising.

1122
01:09:30,660 --> 01:09:33,660
So people are encouraged.

1123
01:09:36,020 --> 01:09:39,340
My great-grandson
loves to put on a show,

1124
01:09:39,340 --> 01:09:40,820
no matter the cost.

1125
01:09:40,820 --> 01:09:42,820
An expensive, cheap trick

1126
01:09:42,820 --> 01:09:45,340
pioneered by Caesar
to win over the masses.

1127
01:09:45,340 --> 01:09:50,460
But it works. All they need
is a little blood, bread and wine,

1128
01:09:50,460 --> 01:09:53,900
and they'll be eating
out of your hand.

1129
01:09:53,900 --> 01:09:55,580
It was an almost sure-fire way

1130
01:09:55,580 --> 01:09:58,620
of garnering at least
short-term public support

1131
01:09:58,620 --> 01:10:01,060
to stage an elaborate spectacular.

1132
01:10:01,060 --> 01:10:03,940
DOGS BARKING
He's a showman at heart.

1133
01:10:03,940 --> 01:10:06,500
He just has this urge
to put on this spectacle,

1134
01:10:06,500 --> 01:10:09,260
to make everything bigger
and gaudier and more colourful.

1135
01:10:10,700 --> 01:10:15,020
My dear great-grandson plunders
the Empire for lions and tigers

1136
01:10:15,020 --> 01:10:16,420
to fight his gladiators.

1137
01:10:18,060 --> 01:10:19,700
Feeding them
is an expensive business.

1138
01:10:19,700 --> 01:10:22,660
But Caligula, always ingenious,

1139
01:10:22,660 --> 01:10:26,980
cuts his costs by feeding them
on Rome's undesirables.

1140
01:10:26,980 --> 01:10:28,700
It's win-win.

1141
01:10:28,700 --> 01:10:30,460
He loved gladiators.

1142
01:10:30,460 --> 01:10:32,740
It just wasn't bloody enough
for him.

1143
01:10:32,740 --> 01:10:33,620
Cos, contrary to belief,

1144
01:10:33,620 --> 01:10:35,940
there are rules involved
in gladiator fights.

1145
01:10:35,940 --> 01:10:37,220
He threw all those away.

1146
01:10:37,220 --> 01:10:39,460
He wanted more bloodshed.

1147
01:10:41,020 --> 01:10:43,340
It's more exotic,
it's more spectacular.

1148
01:10:43,340 --> 01:10:45,620
It's more lethal.

1149
01:10:45,620 --> 01:10:48,300
But it's also... It's a time when,

1150
01:10:48,300 --> 01:10:52,780
in most cases, he can go there
and the crowd is loving him

1151
01:10:52,780 --> 01:10:54,660
because he's giving them
just what they want.

1152
01:10:56,100 --> 01:10:59,620
There's no doubt the young buck
knows how to play a crowd.

1153
01:10:59,620 --> 01:11:03,500
But fate has other plans.

1154
01:11:04,860 --> 01:11:07,420
People are excited about
Caligula's reign at the start,

1155
01:11:07,420 --> 01:11:10,940
but things start to go downhill
very quickly. He gets ill.

1156
01:11:12,700 --> 01:11:15,060
It does seem to be
a very serious illness,

1157
01:11:15,060 --> 01:11:17,820
to the fact that many people
believe that he won't survive.

1158
01:11:20,100 --> 01:11:22,460
It's a wake-up call to Caligula.

1159
01:11:22,460 --> 01:11:24,420
He's become Emperor
and everyone's cheered him,

1160
01:11:24,420 --> 01:11:25,980
and he's gone
and spent all his money

1161
01:11:25,980 --> 01:11:27,580
and everybody's cheered him.

1162
01:11:27,580 --> 01:11:30,140
But then he's looked as if
he was going to die,

1163
01:11:30,140 --> 01:11:31,460
and everyone's thinking,

1164
01:11:31,460 --> 01:11:33,740
"Well, OK, he's not gonna
to be here anymore.

1165
01:11:33,740 --> 01:11:35,380
"So what's next?

1166
01:11:35,380 --> 01:11:38,260
"How do I make sure that I'm
doing well under the next regime?"

1167
01:11:40,460 --> 01:11:42,820
When he gets better,
what he realises, first of all,

1168
01:11:42,820 --> 01:11:44,740
is the falsity
of everyone around him.

1169
01:11:44,740 --> 01:11:47,820
All those who, until that point,
had worshipped him,

1170
01:11:47,820 --> 01:11:49,620
had said how wonderful he was.

1171
01:11:49,620 --> 01:11:51,980
Suddenly, we're thinking
he was going to die,

1172
01:11:51,980 --> 01:11:53,900
and they were already
looking at replacing him.

1173
01:11:53,900 --> 01:11:59,580
Caligula is openly autocratic,
openly tyrannical,

1174
01:11:59,580 --> 01:12:01,620
and he wants to put that power
on display.

1175
01:12:01,620 --> 01:12:04,140
So when a senator,
during his illness,

1176
01:12:04,140 --> 01:12:06,500
sycophantically says, you know,

1177
01:12:06,500 --> 01:12:10,980
"I would give my life so Caligula
could survive this illness,"

1178
01:12:10,980 --> 01:12:14,020
Caligula makes him follow through
on that when he survives,

1179
01:12:14,020 --> 01:12:15,860
and he forces the Senator
to kill himself.

1180
01:12:21,340 --> 01:12:23,420
Poor, orphaned Caligula

1181
01:12:23,420 --> 01:12:27,420
has no mother's influence
to calm his cruel outbursts.

1182
01:12:27,420 --> 01:12:29,180
But make no mistake,

1183
01:12:29,180 --> 01:12:34,340
there are women
pulling his strings - his sisters.

1184
01:12:34,340 --> 01:12:38,020
Caligula, he had three sisters -
Drusilla, Livilla, and Agrippina.

1185
01:12:38,020 --> 01:12:40,260
He makes them very central
to his rule.

1186
01:12:41,580 --> 01:12:43,940
Believe me, they are very close.

1187
01:12:43,940 --> 01:12:47,540
So close, most believe he sleeps
with all three.

1188
01:12:47,540 --> 01:12:49,460
I'm all for keeping it
in the family,

1189
01:12:49,460 --> 01:12:51,300
but there are limits.

1190
01:12:51,300 --> 01:12:54,380
Yet Drusilla is his true soulmate.

1191
01:12:54,380 --> 01:12:57,340
His desperate need
to satisfy her whims

1192
01:12:57,340 --> 01:12:59,860
is the only thing
that's keeping him sane.

1193
01:12:59,860 --> 01:13:02,980
He gives her his ring when he's ill.

1194
01:13:02,980 --> 01:13:06,460
Kind of indicates that she
is the heir of his power.

1195
01:13:06,460 --> 01:13:09,300
He gives her unprecedented honours.

1196
01:13:09,300 --> 01:13:11,580
Caligula was very, very close
to his sisters,

1197
01:13:11,580 --> 01:13:12,780
particularly Drusilla,

1198
01:13:12,780 --> 01:13:16,180
who sadly will die
not long into Caligula's reign.

1199
01:13:16,180 --> 01:13:19,300
And this is seen as another
turning point in Caligula's story.

1200
01:13:19,300 --> 01:13:22,140
That this kind of drives him
over the edge even more.

1201
01:13:23,380 --> 01:13:26,700
When Drusilla dies,
Caligula's reaction is very extreme.

1202
01:13:26,700 --> 01:13:28,980
He completely falls to pieces.

1203
01:13:28,980 --> 01:13:31,260
He's absolutely devastated.

1204
01:13:31,260 --> 01:13:33,220
He barely functions,

1205
01:13:33,220 --> 01:13:38,260
and it just destroys him kind of
emotionally and kind of mentally.

1206
01:13:40,300 --> 01:13:43,980
His sister Drusilla
kept Caligula in check.

1207
01:13:43,980 --> 01:13:45,940
Now that she's dead,

1208
01:13:45,940 --> 01:13:49,220
he's consumed by anger
at the ruling class

1209
01:13:49,220 --> 01:13:51,180
that manage the Empire.

1210
01:13:51,180 --> 01:13:55,820
Maybe Caligula starts to realise
that these senators are sycophants.

1211
01:13:55,820 --> 01:13:59,180
They are saying
what he wants to hear.

1212
01:13:59,180 --> 01:14:04,380
But in fact, those are the figures
who ratified the order

1213
01:14:04,380 --> 01:14:07,100
for his mother to be exiled
and killed,

1214
01:14:07,100 --> 01:14:09,060
for his elder brothers to be killed.

1215
01:14:10,820 --> 01:14:15,220
His attitude towards the Senate
is dismissive, contemptuous.

1216
01:14:15,220 --> 01:14:18,580
He intends to inspire fear.
He successfully inspires fear.

1217
01:14:18,580 --> 01:14:21,380
And so the power that he has
is absolute.

1218
01:14:22,700 --> 01:14:24,140
He ruled by fear.

1219
01:14:24,140 --> 01:14:28,540
In fact, his motto
was "oderint dum metuant" -

1220
01:14:28,540 --> 01:14:31,020
let them hate
so long as they fear me.

1221
01:14:32,420 --> 01:14:38,180
He grows this insatiable desire
to humiliate them, to deride them.

1222
01:14:38,180 --> 01:14:40,540
He wants to show
how much he can get away with,

1223
01:14:40,540 --> 01:14:42,500
almost because he is the man
in charge.

1224
01:14:42,500 --> 01:14:44,180
So he dresses in clothing

1225
01:14:44,180 --> 01:14:46,900
that wasn't appropriate
for a Roman emperor.

1226
01:14:48,540 --> 01:14:50,540
What they would class as effeminate.

1227
01:14:50,540 --> 01:14:52,940
He's wearing lots of silk
and women's gowns.

1228
01:14:54,460 --> 01:14:58,700
There are even stories of him
dressing up as Venus, as a goddess.

1229
01:15:00,340 --> 01:15:02,460
Time and again, Caligula is a man

1230
01:15:02,460 --> 01:15:05,460
who is using sex
as an expression of power,

1231
01:15:05,460 --> 01:15:07,820
and I think, very definitely,

1232
01:15:07,820 --> 01:15:11,540
a way of expressing contempt
towards the Roman senate.

1233
01:15:14,780 --> 01:15:18,820
His favourite trick was inviting
senators and their wives to dinner.

1234
01:15:18,820 --> 01:15:22,500
He would walk around the couches,
take the wives off,

1235
01:15:22,500 --> 01:15:25,380
have sex with them,
return them to their husbands,

1236
01:15:25,380 --> 01:15:27,260
and then give the husbands
a detailed report

1237
01:15:27,260 --> 01:15:28,900
of how bad they were in bed,

1238
01:15:28,900 --> 01:15:31,660
which is just like
an added humiliation for them.

1239
01:15:33,380 --> 01:15:36,100
So much in the Roman world
is about sex,

1240
01:15:36,100 --> 01:15:37,700
except sex.

1241
01:15:37,700 --> 01:15:39,820
Sex is about power.

1242
01:15:39,820 --> 01:15:44,060
And there's no denying
that Caligula had a lot of power.

1243
01:15:45,180 --> 01:15:48,060
For Caligula,
sleeping with the senators' wives

1244
01:15:48,060 --> 01:15:50,660
helped him to feel great
about himself,

1245
01:15:50,660 --> 01:15:53,020
but he also knew that,
for the senators,

1246
01:15:53,020 --> 01:15:55,540
it would help them to understand
that they were powerless.

1247
01:15:55,540 --> 01:15:57,100
And he was powerful.

1248
01:15:59,900 --> 01:16:03,060
True, he is using sex
to belittle his senators,

1249
01:16:03,060 --> 01:16:05,500
but the wives can now speak
to the Emperor

1250
01:16:05,500 --> 01:16:08,140
in ways their husbands never can.

1251
01:16:08,140 --> 01:16:10,940
This twisted pillow talk
is the only way

1252
01:16:10,940 --> 01:16:15,620
the egomaniac is persuaded
to settle down and produce an heir.

1253
01:16:15,620 --> 01:16:17,620
He marries a woman who is already

1254
01:16:17,620 --> 01:16:19,180
significantly pregnant
with his child,

1255
01:16:19,180 --> 01:16:21,540
and they have a daughter together.

1256
01:16:21,540 --> 01:16:25,220
And Caligula is completely enamoured
of his child,

1257
01:16:25,220 --> 01:16:29,780
and he names her Drusilla
after his beloved dead sister.

1258
01:16:29,780 --> 01:16:32,740
When the baby was born,
he took it as good evidence

1259
01:16:32,740 --> 01:16:35,140
that he really was the father
of this little girl,

1260
01:16:35,140 --> 01:16:38,180
because this little girl
started scratching people's faces,

1261
01:16:38,180 --> 01:16:41,180
and he said, "That is a sure sign
that I am the father."

1262
01:16:44,780 --> 01:16:49,300
A daughter can melt the hardest
of hearts, but not Caligula's.

1263
01:16:49,300 --> 01:16:53,020
His contempt for the Senate
grows stronger by the day.

1264
01:16:53,020 --> 01:16:56,180
There's a story that's always
associated with Caligula

1265
01:16:56,180 --> 01:16:59,340
and this claim that he made
his favourite horse a consort.

1266
01:16:59,340 --> 01:17:01,740
And it's used as...
as an indication that,

1267
01:17:01,740 --> 01:17:04,020
you know, he's really lost the plot
and he's going mad.

1268
01:17:05,260 --> 01:17:06,660
It's saying to the Senate,

1269
01:17:06,660 --> 01:17:09,540
you've got about as much brains
as my four-legged friend,

1270
01:17:09,540 --> 01:17:11,820
and I don't care
because all the important decisions

1271
01:17:11,820 --> 01:17:13,140
I will make anyway.

1272
01:17:13,140 --> 01:17:16,580
He's saying,
"I have so little respect for you

1273
01:17:16,580 --> 01:17:19,900
"that I think that my horse
could do a better job than you are."

1274
01:17:22,580 --> 01:17:27,780
Who can blame him for needling those
impotent, self-important senators?

1275
01:17:27,780 --> 01:17:29,860
The Empire's middle managers,

1276
01:17:29,860 --> 01:17:32,900
always with their heads
in the trough.

1277
01:17:32,900 --> 01:17:35,380
But his ego is blinding him.

1278
01:17:35,380 --> 01:17:39,060
And now he picks a fight
with our magnificent army.

1279
01:17:39,060 --> 01:17:40,980
A bad mistake.

1280
01:17:40,980 --> 01:17:45,220
These soldiers are the Empire,
and they can easily break it.

1281
01:17:46,780 --> 01:17:49,820
Caligula is aware he's never won
any military victories for himself,

1282
01:17:49,820 --> 01:17:53,580
so he decides that he's going to go
campaigning in Germany and Gaul,

1283
01:17:53,580 --> 01:17:56,140
potentially even eyeing up
a conquest of Britain.

1284
01:18:00,540 --> 01:18:02,900
Caligula heads north
with his legions,

1285
01:18:02,900 --> 01:18:05,260
and they go through
what is now northern France.

1286
01:18:05,260 --> 01:18:08,100
And they prepare the ships
and the provisions

1287
01:18:08,100 --> 01:18:09,580
for an invasion of Britain.

1288
01:18:09,580 --> 01:18:11,660
They're going to cross the Channel.

1289
01:18:11,660 --> 01:18:15,980
This feared waterway to Britain,
which is still quite mysterious.

1290
01:18:19,740 --> 01:18:21,500
But then you have this odd story.

1291
01:18:23,860 --> 01:18:26,060
He gets his soldiers to attack
the sea.

1292
01:18:27,540 --> 01:18:29,740
Parades them on the beach,
and they attack Neptune.

1293
01:18:31,220 --> 01:18:33,500
And then he tells them
to go and pick up seashells

1294
01:18:33,500 --> 01:18:35,700
on the shore in their helmets.

1295
01:18:37,020 --> 01:18:39,460
And he claims
that this is the bounty

1296
01:18:39,460 --> 01:18:42,100
that the sea
owes to the glory of Rome.

1297
01:18:44,260 --> 01:18:48,140
Some people say that this is a sign
of Caligula's madness.

1298
01:18:48,140 --> 01:18:50,140
I think it may well be a sign
of Caligula

1299
01:18:50,140 --> 01:18:53,380
once again wanting
to humiliate more people.

1300
01:18:53,380 --> 01:18:55,020
He's done it with the Senate.

1301
01:18:55,020 --> 01:18:57,780
Now he's got these battle-hardened
soldiers in front of him.

1302
01:18:57,780 --> 01:19:00,700
But Caligula knows
that he's the man with the power,

1303
01:19:00,700 --> 01:19:03,420
and so he decides
to humiliate them, in what way?

1304
01:19:03,420 --> 01:19:06,980
Than by making them as if they were
children collecting seashells.

1305
01:19:10,540 --> 01:19:15,220
If only this moment on the beach
were a one-off moment of madness.

1306
01:19:15,220 --> 01:19:20,340
But no. Caligula's behaviour
is spiralling out of control.

1307
01:19:21,660 --> 01:19:26,300
In 39AD, Caligula embarked
on what might seem to us today

1308
01:19:26,300 --> 01:19:27,900
an extraordinary folly.

1309
01:19:27,900 --> 01:19:30,260
Which is the bridge to nowhere.

1310
01:19:30,260 --> 01:19:34,580
He is going to put his power on
more theatrical display

1311
01:19:34,580 --> 01:19:36,380
than he has ever done before.

1312
01:19:37,580 --> 01:19:39,540
So what he decides he's going to do

1313
01:19:39,540 --> 01:19:41,900
is create a bridge
over the Bay of Naples,

1314
01:19:41,900 --> 01:19:44,500
and he does it
by kind of finding all these boats,

1315
01:19:44,500 --> 01:19:45,900
tying them together,

1316
01:19:45,900 --> 01:19:51,340
and then having a dirt road
built on top of these boats.

1317
01:19:51,340 --> 01:19:53,900
It is incredibly expensive

1318
01:19:53,900 --> 01:19:56,260
and extravagant,
and ultimately pointless.

1319
01:19:58,140 --> 01:20:01,220
We know how helpful it could be
to any Roman leader

1320
01:20:01,220 --> 01:20:03,020
to give a display of power.

1321
01:20:04,540 --> 01:20:07,940
Here, effectively, we have somebody
riding across water,

1322
01:20:07,940 --> 01:20:11,820
and that absolutely fits
with Caligula's idea of himself

1323
01:20:11,820 --> 01:20:15,100
as somebody who is more than human.

1324
01:20:15,100 --> 01:20:16,940
He's wearing what he claims to be

1325
01:20:16,940 --> 01:20:19,300
the breastplate
of Alexander the Great,

1326
01:20:19,300 --> 01:20:21,860
and then he rides
in this exceptional procession,

1327
01:20:21,860 --> 01:20:24,860
in which he forces the Senate
to kind of take part,

1328
01:20:24,860 --> 01:20:27,460
across this bridge
that he has created

1329
01:20:27,460 --> 01:20:29,260
purely for this reason.

1330
01:20:29,260 --> 01:20:34,220
And this is just the ultimate
visualisation of Caligula's power.

1331
01:20:36,580 --> 01:20:39,220
There's also an element
of brutality in the whole thing,

1332
01:20:39,220 --> 01:20:41,580
which seems typical
of Caligula's short reign,

1333
01:20:41,580 --> 01:20:45,220
because, of course, crowds of
spectators gather on the cliffs.

1334
01:20:45,220 --> 01:20:48,700
We hear instances of spectators
who plunge to their deaths

1335
01:20:48,700 --> 01:20:51,940
when they fall from the cliffs,
straining to get a view of this.

1336
01:20:51,940 --> 01:20:55,580
And I can't imagine that Caligula
was anything but flattered

1337
01:20:55,580 --> 01:20:57,340
by that level of interest,

1338
01:20:57,340 --> 01:21:00,260
and not unduly concerned
by the outcomes.

1339
01:21:03,260 --> 01:21:08,340
Emperor or not, Caligula must pay
for his outrageous lusts.

1340
01:21:08,340 --> 01:21:11,300
They launch an attack
that is so savage

1341
01:21:11,300 --> 01:21:16,980
that people claim that they'd seen
people eat parts of Caligula's body.

1342
01:21:26,860 --> 01:21:30,740
LIVIA: My impetuous great-grandson,
Caligula, parties his way

1343
01:21:30,740 --> 01:21:33,180
into the public's affection
as their third Emperor.

1344
01:21:35,260 --> 01:21:37,980
He pays with money
that my son Tiberius

1345
01:21:37,980 --> 01:21:41,060
so carefully saved for Rome.

1346
01:21:41,060 --> 01:21:46,580
Time for the boy emperor to grow up
before he cripples our fortunes.

1347
01:21:46,580 --> 01:21:47,860
When Tiberius died,

1348
01:21:47,860 --> 01:21:53,780
he left a surplus of what
we consider billions of dollars.

1349
01:21:53,780 --> 01:21:56,300
Within a year,
Caligula had used them all up.

1350
01:21:56,300 --> 01:21:59,580
He led a very lavish,
extravagant lifestyle.

1351
01:21:59,580 --> 01:22:02,380
He loved gemstones,
he loved parties.

1352
01:22:02,380 --> 01:22:04,260
The problem is,
where's the money coming from?

1353
01:22:04,260 --> 01:22:06,940
So he resorts
to the most terrible thing.

1354
01:22:06,940 --> 01:22:09,260
He turns the palace into a brothel.

1355
01:22:10,620 --> 01:22:12,260
Not any old brothel.

1356
01:22:12,260 --> 01:22:13,940
A unique brothel,
unique to the palace,

1357
01:22:13,940 --> 01:22:17,180
in that the prostitutes you could
sleep with were freeborn women.

1358
01:22:17,180 --> 01:22:20,140
And not just freeborn women,
elite freeborn women.

1359
01:22:20,140 --> 01:22:23,180
It's a humiliation for the Senate

1360
01:22:23,180 --> 01:22:25,540
because it's their wives
and their daughters

1361
01:22:25,540 --> 01:22:28,660
who are forced into prostitution
to make money for Caligula.

1362
01:22:28,660 --> 01:22:32,660
They take us to an absolute extreme
of this sense

1363
01:22:32,660 --> 01:22:35,980
that emperors
are becoming debauched,

1364
01:22:35,980 --> 01:22:38,620
that they have lost their grasp
on morality,

1365
01:22:38,620 --> 01:22:42,060
and they've also lost
what should distinguish them

1366
01:22:42,060 --> 01:22:46,500
from the sort
of ignoble common people.

1367
01:22:48,300 --> 01:22:51,020
This is how
a debauched tyrant behaves.

1368
01:22:51,020 --> 01:22:53,580
It certainly shouldn't be
happening publicly.

1369
01:22:53,580 --> 01:22:55,420
But again,
when you're actually there,

1370
01:22:55,420 --> 01:22:56,980
do you say to the man
who's got the power

1371
01:22:56,980 --> 01:22:58,260
of life and death over you,

1372
01:22:58,260 --> 01:23:00,580
"Oh, look, this is shameful.
You shouldn't be doing that?"

1373
01:23:00,580 --> 01:23:01,740
Of course you don't.

1374
01:23:03,620 --> 01:23:07,580
Who wouldn't be seduced
by all that power and wealth?

1375
01:23:07,580 --> 01:23:12,700
But Caligula is taking his role
as first among equals too far.

1376
01:23:12,700 --> 01:23:14,620
The fool.

1377
01:23:14,620 --> 01:23:16,980
As you'd expect,
the inevitable happens,

1378
01:23:16,980 --> 01:23:20,780
and Caligula proclaims himself
a god.

1379
01:23:20,780 --> 01:23:22,820
The problem is,
it doesn't really mean much

1380
01:23:22,820 --> 01:23:25,060
when it's you doing it
and not the people.

1381
01:23:26,660 --> 01:23:30,300
That is not a way to win
people's affection in Rome.

1382
01:23:30,300 --> 01:23:34,700
Romans are religious people.
They cultivate their gods.

1383
01:23:34,700 --> 01:23:37,580
For an emperor to claim to be a god
in their own lifetime

1384
01:23:37,580 --> 01:23:38,940
is just not the done thing.

1385
01:23:41,020 --> 01:23:44,020
Perhaps, at this point,
he truly believed he was a god,

1386
01:23:44,020 --> 01:23:47,380
that he could make any decision
he wanted without ramifications.

1387
01:23:47,380 --> 01:23:49,940
But, unfortunately,
he was completely wrong.

1388
01:23:53,620 --> 01:23:57,540
Believe me, megalomania has its own
unstoppable momentum.

1389
01:23:57,540 --> 01:24:00,020
But how many enemies can you make?

1390
01:24:00,020 --> 01:24:04,620
How crazy can your decisions be
before the people snap?

1391
01:24:04,620 --> 01:24:08,500
Emperor Caligula
is about to find out.

1392
01:24:08,500 --> 01:24:11,060
Personally, I don't believe
that Caligula was mad

1393
01:24:11,060 --> 01:24:12,900
so much as he had moments
of madness.

1394
01:24:12,900 --> 01:24:15,260
He was very clever,
he was very astute,

1395
01:24:15,260 --> 01:24:17,620
but he was also very brutal,
very cruel,

1396
01:24:17,620 --> 01:24:20,700
and he was prone
to making insane decisions,

1397
01:24:20,700 --> 01:24:23,140
no more so than when he decides
that the capital of Rome

1398
01:24:23,140 --> 01:24:25,660
should no longer be Rome,
but Alexandria.

1399
01:24:28,620 --> 01:24:33,020
Throughout Caligula's short reign,
we've seen this contempt for Rome,

1400
01:24:33,020 --> 01:24:34,900
and the ultimate expression
of contempt

1401
01:24:34,900 --> 01:24:37,660
comes with Caligula's apparent plan

1402
01:24:37,660 --> 01:24:41,900
to shift the centre of power
from Rome to Alexandria.

1403
01:24:43,020 --> 01:24:45,020
That move,
that move away from Rome,

1404
01:24:45,020 --> 01:24:47,660
that rejection of Rome
and Romanness,

1405
01:24:47,660 --> 01:24:50,140
that embracing
of something Hellenic,

1406
01:24:50,140 --> 01:24:52,500
something foreign, something exotic,

1407
01:24:52,500 --> 01:24:56,420
which all Romans would regard
with deep suspicion, is a catalyst.

1408
01:24:56,420 --> 01:24:58,820
And at that point,
Caligula has to go.

1409
01:25:04,420 --> 01:25:07,980
There's a poetic irony that
the last day of Caligula's life

1410
01:25:07,980 --> 01:25:10,620
is centred around one
of his passions - blood sports.

1411
01:25:13,660 --> 01:25:16,660
Unfortunately for Caligula,
on this particular day,

1412
01:25:16,660 --> 01:25:18,540
the blood wasn't going to be
anyone else's but his.

1413
01:25:20,300 --> 01:25:22,660
Sadly, the boy doesn't realise

1414
01:25:22,660 --> 01:25:25,740
there are greater expectations
of an emperor

1415
01:25:25,740 --> 01:25:27,500
than cruelty and ridicule.

1416
01:25:27,500 --> 01:25:31,340
If you push men too far,
they will turn against you.

1417
01:25:31,340 --> 01:25:33,740
I should know.

1418
01:25:33,740 --> 01:25:36,260
There is a certain member
of the Praetorian Guard,

1419
01:25:36,260 --> 01:25:42,060
a man called Cassius Chaerea,
who Caligula mocks unforgivingly.

1420
01:25:42,060 --> 01:25:44,740
Because Chaerea,
he is a little bit past it,

1421
01:25:44,740 --> 01:25:47,900
and Caligula mocks him
for having a slightly high voice,

1422
01:25:47,900 --> 01:25:50,300
and in his eyes,
an effeminate voice.

1423
01:25:50,300 --> 01:25:53,140
And ultimately, Chaerea snaps.

1424
01:25:53,140 --> 01:25:56,740
And him and a few other officers
decide enough is enough.

1425
01:25:56,740 --> 01:25:59,620
We are going
to assassinate Caligula.

1426
01:26:01,780 --> 01:26:04,140
It's from this bloody
and violent arena

1427
01:26:04,140 --> 01:26:06,860
that Caligula begins
his final journey.

1428
01:26:06,860 --> 01:26:09,860
He leaves the games,
and you've got this tunnel

1429
01:26:09,860 --> 01:26:12,740
that takes you from the palace
to the games and back.

1430
01:26:14,420 --> 01:26:19,580
One of the guards asked Caligula
for the password of that day.

1431
01:26:19,580 --> 01:26:22,340
He responds in a contemptuous way...

1432
01:26:24,700 --> 01:26:27,060
..and the guard's response
is to raise his sword

1433
01:26:27,060 --> 01:26:29,540
and strike Caligula
with all his might.

1434
01:26:31,500 --> 01:26:33,860
Chaerea lands the first blow.

1435
01:26:33,860 --> 01:26:37,340
As it happens,
he misses the Emperor's heart,

1436
01:26:37,340 --> 01:26:38,980
strikes him on the shoulder,

1437
01:26:38,980 --> 01:26:42,060
and the Emperor's response
is to cry out, "I live. I live."

1438
01:26:44,540 --> 01:26:47,620
And then
a great slaughter fest erupts.

1439
01:26:48,820 --> 01:26:50,620
Blows rain down upon him.

1440
01:26:52,780 --> 01:26:55,540
They launch an attack
that is so savage

1441
01:26:55,540 --> 01:27:01,460
that people claim that they'd seen
people eat parts of Caligula's body.

1442
01:27:01,460 --> 01:27:05,980
That's just testament
to how brutal an attack this is.

1443
01:27:07,540 --> 01:27:09,180
The way that Caligula was murdered

1444
01:27:09,180 --> 01:27:11,740
shows you the amount of scorn
that the upper class,

1445
01:27:11,740 --> 01:27:13,380
the politicians had for him.

1446
01:27:14,620 --> 01:27:16,620
There is chaos throughout
the palace and throughout the city.

1447
01:27:16,620 --> 01:27:18,620
There is chaos throughout

1448
01:27:18,620 --> 01:27:21,260
Some people say that he's alive.
Some people say that he's dead.

1449
01:27:21,260 --> 01:27:22,420
No-one knows what's going on.

1450
01:27:23,860 --> 01:27:26,140
His bodyguard are going insane.

1451
01:27:26,140 --> 01:27:28,940
This is the end of Caligula,

1452
01:27:28,940 --> 01:27:31,980
but it isn't the end
of the bloodbath,

1453
01:27:31,980 --> 01:27:34,380
because the guards recognise

1454
01:27:34,380 --> 01:27:37,820
that there can be
no future Caligula.

1455
01:27:37,820 --> 01:27:40,180
And so, next to be killed

1456
01:27:40,180 --> 01:27:43,580
are Caligula's wife
and his young daughter.

1457
01:27:45,380 --> 01:27:49,660
Husband, wife, baby. All are dead.

1458
01:27:51,500 --> 01:27:53,780
And then they've got a problem
of what next?

1459
01:27:53,780 --> 01:27:55,220
Because there isn't an heir.

1460
01:27:55,220 --> 01:27:56,740
As news slowly seeps through,

1461
01:27:56,740 --> 01:27:58,740
the Praetorians realise
what's happening,

1462
01:27:58,740 --> 01:28:01,580
and they start searching
around the palace,

1463
01:28:01,580 --> 01:28:04,780
trying to figure out
what's going to happen next.

1464
01:28:04,780 --> 01:28:08,460
In the palace
is the figure of Claudius.

1465
01:28:08,460 --> 01:28:13,020
Claudius is the uncle of Caligula
who'd always been pushed aside

1466
01:28:13,020 --> 01:28:15,300
because he had a couple
of disabilities.

1467
01:28:15,300 --> 01:28:17,980
He had a stammer and he had a limp.

1468
01:28:17,980 --> 01:28:21,180
A member of the Praetorian Guard
is going through the palace

1469
01:28:21,180 --> 01:28:23,540
and spots the feet of Claudius

1470
01:28:23,540 --> 01:28:26,020
pointing out from behind
the curtain.

1471
01:28:27,900 --> 01:28:29,620
He tears the curtain back...

1472
01:28:31,980 --> 01:28:35,820
"Spare me. Spare me!"
shouts the man in question.

1473
01:28:35,820 --> 01:28:39,020
The guard raises his sword,
drops his sword.

1474
01:28:40,300 --> 01:28:42,860
Realises that this
is Caligula's uncle,

1475
01:28:42,860 --> 01:28:46,780
and decides that this would be
a kind of a good candidate

1476
01:28:46,780 --> 01:28:49,940
to replace Caligula,
and so falls to his knees.

1477
01:28:49,940 --> 01:28:53,620
Hails the elderly man
as Imperator, Emperor,

1478
01:28:53,620 --> 01:28:56,900
Rome's fourth Emperor, Claudius.

1479
01:28:56,900 --> 01:29:00,780
Least likely leader
of the greatest empire on earth.

1480
01:29:02,220 --> 01:29:04,980
Caligula's depraved behaviour

1481
01:29:04,980 --> 01:29:07,980
sees him cut down
in just five years.

1482
01:29:07,980 --> 01:29:11,060
This is what happens
when an emperor doesn't have

1483
01:29:11,060 --> 01:29:13,580
an empress keeping him in line.

1484
01:29:17,580 --> 01:29:21,980
Next time,
from the bizarre to the ridiculous.

1485
01:29:21,980 --> 01:29:25,020
Now is the time
for my uninspiring grandson,

1486
01:29:25,020 --> 01:29:27,420
Claudius, to rule over Rome.

1487
01:29:27,420 --> 01:29:30,540
Two women guide his reign,

1488
01:29:30,540 --> 01:29:32,620
Messalina the whore empress,

1489
01:29:32,620 --> 01:29:36,180
and Agrippina,
whose lust for succession

1490
01:29:36,180 --> 01:29:40,740
not only dooms herself
and her own son Nero,

1491
01:29:40,740 --> 01:29:45,540
but also brings my precious dynasty
to a bitter end.

1492
01:30:22,800 --> 01:30:29,160
Rome... the greatest empire
the world has ever seen.

1493
01:30:29,160 --> 01:30:33,140
With our grip on the Mediterranean,
we conquer all.

1494
01:30:33,140 --> 01:30:37,420
Deep into Africa
and as far north as Britannia,

1495
01:30:37,420 --> 01:30:42,420
and all under the ultimate control
of one man, the Emperor.

1496
01:30:44,280 --> 01:30:46,940
Or so it seems.

1497
01:30:50,200 --> 01:30:53,260
Let emperors strut the world stage

1498
01:30:53,920 --> 01:30:59,040
and let us, the humble women in
the wings, build our dynasties.

1499
01:30:59,040 --> 01:31:00,920
For the first time,

1500
01:31:00,920 --> 01:31:04,260
we are seeing women altering
the history of the Western world.

1501
01:31:04,260 --> 01:31:09,700
Julia, Messalina, Agrippina,

1502
01:31:09,700 --> 01:31:13,840
and, of course, me, Livia.

1503
01:31:13,840 --> 01:31:17,940
All women who can shape the world,
changing it forever.

1504
01:31:19,260 --> 01:31:20,620
The empresses are the ones

1505
01:31:20,620 --> 01:31:22,420
that push the emperors
into position.

1506
01:31:22,420 --> 01:31:25,260
Driven by sex, power and violence.

1507
01:31:27,020 --> 01:31:30,460
But if you slip for even an instant,
you're gonna be torn to shreds.

1508
01:31:30,460 --> 01:31:32,460
My name is Livia Drusilla.

1509
01:31:32,460 --> 01:31:37,220
I nurture the first
great imperial dynasty.

1510
01:31:37,220 --> 01:31:44,020
Augustus, Tiberius,
Caligula, Claudius and Nero.

1511
01:31:45,100 --> 01:31:48,420
One way or another,
they are all men under my control.

1512
01:31:48,420 --> 01:31:50,940
Without Livia pulling the strings,

1513
01:31:50,940 --> 01:31:53,460
would any of them have reached
the heights that they did?

1514
01:31:53,460 --> 01:31:57,980
There's nothing she won't do
to protect her dynasty.

1515
01:31:57,980 --> 01:32:01,900
This is the strangest, baddest
family that history has ever known.

1516
01:32:01,900 --> 01:32:05,620
It may take a Caesar
to lead an empire,

1517
01:32:05,620 --> 01:32:08,380
but it takes a woman
to make it work.

1518
01:32:21,060 --> 01:32:24,940
Everyone thinks they know
the true story of Rome.

1519
01:32:24,940 --> 01:32:28,620
But nobody knows it like me
because I lived it.

1520
01:32:28,620 --> 01:32:31,300
And it was I who ruled Rome.

1521
01:32:32,900 --> 01:32:35,940
When I was young,
I was so beautiful.

1522
01:32:35,940 --> 01:32:38,580
I was the greatest prize in Rome.

1523
01:32:40,420 --> 01:32:43,220
But I was just
a humble senator's daughter.

1524
01:32:43,220 --> 01:32:46,660
Yet I still became the most
powerful woman in the world.

1525
01:32:47,980 --> 01:32:50,820
Forget what you think
you already know.

1526
01:32:50,820 --> 01:32:53,180
I am about to tell you
the real story

1527
01:32:53,180 --> 01:32:56,540
of the world's greatest,
bloodiest dynasty.

1528
01:32:59,940 --> 01:33:03,420
In this final act
of the story of Rome...

1529
01:33:04,660 --> 01:33:08,300
I may be dead now,
but at last, I become a goddess.

1530
01:33:09,820 --> 01:33:12,580
Deified by my faithful grandson,
Claudius,

1531
01:33:12,580 --> 01:33:14,380
on his accession to Emperor.

1532
01:33:15,740 --> 01:33:19,620
But as ever,
it's the women running the show.

1533
01:33:19,620 --> 01:33:23,540
His shameless wife, Messalina,
the whore empress,

1534
01:33:23,540 --> 01:33:28,420
and Nero's mother,
the seemingly unkillable Agrippina

1535
01:33:28,420 --> 01:33:32,020
whose incessant scheming
ends my dynasty forever.

1536
01:33:37,140 --> 01:33:38,980
60 glorious years ago,

1537
01:33:38,980 --> 01:33:43,220
my husband Augustus and I
found the first dynasty of emperors.

1538
01:33:45,220 --> 01:33:47,900
Under five infamous rulers,

1539
01:33:47,900 --> 01:33:52,820
Rome enjoys a golden period
of prosperity and peace abroad

1540
01:33:52,820 --> 01:33:56,100
while getting its fix of blood
and violence at home

1541
01:33:56,100 --> 01:33:58,060
with bloody gladiator games.

1542
01:33:59,740 --> 01:34:04,620
But these omnipotent emperors
have a fatal Achilles heel -

1543
01:34:04,620 --> 01:34:07,860
the knives and poisons
of their nearest and dearest.

1544
01:34:09,100 --> 01:34:11,660
Not even I am beyond suspicion.

1545
01:34:15,020 --> 01:34:18,620
And as Caligula takes
his cruel streak a step too far,

1546
01:34:18,620 --> 01:34:22,340
his assassination leaves
a dangerous break in my bloodline.

1547
01:34:27,140 --> 01:34:29,420
Caligula is dead.

1548
01:34:29,420 --> 01:34:30,900
Rome no longer has an emperor.

1549
01:34:32,260 --> 01:34:35,980
What might happen at this point
is almost impossible to predict.

1550
01:34:35,980 --> 01:34:39,620
But not impossible to think
that civil strife, civil war,

1551
01:34:39,620 --> 01:34:43,500
internecine fighting among
the Senate could be a consequence.

1552
01:34:46,260 --> 01:34:49,340
In 41 AD,
it was the turn of Claudius

1553
01:34:49,340 --> 01:34:51,540
to play his role
in the production of ancient Rome.

1554
01:34:52,940 --> 01:34:56,700
Enter stage right,
Rome's next emperor.

1555
01:34:56,700 --> 01:34:59,260
Poor, bumbling Uncle Claudius,

1556
01:34:59,260 --> 01:35:01,780
surprised as anyone
to be declared emperor.

1557
01:35:02,820 --> 01:35:05,180
He becomes emperor by chance,

1558
01:35:05,180 --> 01:35:07,540
not because he's considered
the best man for the job.

1559
01:35:07,540 --> 01:35:10,700
He's made emperor because in the
wake of Caligula's assassination,

1560
01:35:10,700 --> 01:35:13,940
the Praetorian Guard, who were
the imperial guard to the emperor,

1561
01:35:13,940 --> 01:35:16,300
suddenly realised,
no emperor, no guard.

1562
01:35:16,300 --> 01:35:19,820
And they happened to find Claudius
hiding behind a curtain

1563
01:35:19,820 --> 01:35:23,020
during this kind of bloody massacre
and decided to make him emperor.

1564
01:35:23,020 --> 01:35:25,780
He's not expecting
what's going to happen to him.

1565
01:35:25,780 --> 01:35:28,140
He doesn't know at that point

1566
01:35:28,140 --> 01:35:30,820
that he is gonna
become Emperor of Rome.

1567
01:35:30,820 --> 01:35:33,940
It's a shock. It's a shock to him.
It's a shock to everybody else.

1568
01:35:36,380 --> 01:35:39,420
Claudius,
runt of the imperial litter.

1569
01:35:40,740 --> 01:35:44,260
Disrespected and ignored.
No threat to anyone.

1570
01:35:44,260 --> 01:35:47,180
Yet here he is,
thrust under the laurels,

1571
01:35:47,180 --> 01:35:49,540
simply because he is one of my own.

1572
01:35:50,900 --> 01:35:53,180
No-one ever expects
Claudius to become emperor.

1573
01:35:53,180 --> 01:35:54,500
He's incredibly well-born.

1574
01:35:54,500 --> 01:35:56,140
He's a grandson of Livia.

1575
01:35:56,140 --> 01:36:00,540
But he is born with certain
disabilities or illnesses.

1576
01:36:00,540 --> 01:36:02,460
Well, what you have
to understand about Claudius

1577
01:36:02,460 --> 01:36:03,940
is that he was mocked
his whole life.

1578
01:36:03,940 --> 01:36:07,060
He was insulted because
of his physical attributes,

1579
01:36:07,060 --> 01:36:08,220
because of his problems.

1580
01:36:08,220 --> 01:36:09,740
His own mother said
he was an abortion

1581
01:36:09,740 --> 01:36:12,060
that was never fully started
and never fully finished.

1582
01:36:13,580 --> 01:36:15,940
We know from the sources
that people say that he slobbered.

1583
01:36:15,940 --> 01:36:18,660
A lot of saliva would escape
from his mouth when he got excited.

1584
01:36:18,660 --> 01:36:23,340
He would stutter. His head would
twitch and other parts of his body.

1585
01:36:23,340 --> 01:36:26,140
So some people suggested
maybe he had Tourette's.

1586
01:36:26,140 --> 01:36:28,900
He's so far out that nobody's
ever considered killing him, really,

1587
01:36:28,900 --> 01:36:30,660
up till, you know,
when he becomes emperor,

1588
01:36:30,660 --> 01:36:32,540
because nobody's really
considered him before.

1589
01:36:35,780 --> 01:36:40,180
Is this what the bloodline
of Julius Caesar has come to?

1590
01:36:40,180 --> 01:36:43,500
Our proud legacy
of soldiering and conquering

1591
01:36:43,500 --> 01:36:46,140
falling into the hands
of a stuttering bookworm.

1592
01:36:47,420 --> 01:36:49,860
My husband, Augustus,
is turning in his mausoleum.

1593
01:36:51,220 --> 01:36:54,260
At that time,
people didn't have the understanding

1594
01:36:54,260 --> 01:36:57,700
of illness and disability
that we have today.

1595
01:36:57,700 --> 01:37:04,420
Romans were quite harsh towards
anyone who was different in any way,

1596
01:37:04,420 --> 01:37:07,220
so this was typical of the time.

1597
01:37:07,220 --> 01:37:09,860
There is an element
of utter disdain,

1598
01:37:09,860 --> 01:37:13,620
but also almost shame
in Claudius's condition.

1599
01:37:14,940 --> 01:37:16,300
When he would come to banquets,

1600
01:37:16,300 --> 01:37:19,580
people like Caligula would throw
pit stones of olives at him.

1601
01:37:19,580 --> 01:37:22,060
Augustus expresses his concern
that, essentially,

1602
01:37:22,060 --> 01:37:26,460
if they're laughing at Claudius,
they're laughing at us.

1603
01:37:30,060 --> 01:37:32,780
Caligula is in on the joke too,

1604
01:37:32,780 --> 01:37:35,940
mocking his Uncle Claudius
with the cruellest joke of all.

1605
01:37:37,580 --> 01:37:41,260
He dictates that
this infirm 47-year-old uncle

1606
01:37:41,260 --> 01:37:44,660
must marry the staggering beauty
of the court,

1607
01:37:44,660 --> 01:37:50,300
the wild and mesmerising Messalina,
30 years his junior.

1608
01:37:50,300 --> 01:37:53,180
There is a kind of teasing
to the idea

1609
01:37:53,180 --> 01:37:56,460
that the elderly Claudius
should be married to Messalina,

1610
01:37:56,460 --> 01:37:59,460
who is so much younger,
so much more vigorous.

1611
01:37:59,460 --> 01:38:03,860
But as always, this is
a political and a dynastic union,

1612
01:38:03,860 --> 01:38:06,820
and, initially, there is an element
of success to the marriage.

1613
01:38:07,980 --> 01:38:10,340
Messalina,
who is interested in power,

1614
01:38:10,340 --> 01:38:12,260
who is interested
in making this marriage work,

1615
01:38:12,260 --> 01:38:14,580
initially plays along with this.

1616
01:38:17,060 --> 01:38:18,500
Clever girl.

1617
01:38:20,140 --> 01:38:23,420
Even before Caligula meets his end,

1618
01:38:23,420 --> 01:38:25,780
Messalina is getting busy,

1619
01:38:25,780 --> 01:38:28,820
making powerful friends,
building her influence.

1620
01:38:30,140 --> 01:38:32,500
She's creating
networks of informants

1621
01:38:32,500 --> 01:38:35,140
and people who can essentially
do her bidding

1622
01:38:35,140 --> 01:38:38,460
in this world of court intrigue
and court politics.

1623
01:38:38,460 --> 01:38:41,300
She removes anyone who looks
like a potential threat to her,

1624
01:38:41,300 --> 01:38:43,420
and she establishes her position

1625
01:38:43,420 --> 01:38:45,620
as the pre-eminent woman
on the Palatine.

1626
01:38:47,740 --> 01:38:49,780
What perfect timing.

1627
01:38:49,780 --> 01:38:52,140
Just as Claudius is made emperor,

1628
01:38:52,140 --> 01:38:54,820
Messalina has him totally
under her thumb.

1629
01:38:57,460 --> 01:39:01,860
But after a lifetime in the shadows,
has he any chance of glory?

1630
01:39:03,220 --> 01:39:06,380
Before being emperor,
he doesn't hold any public positions

1631
01:39:06,380 --> 01:39:09,260
like the rest of the clan
are sent off to the provinces

1632
01:39:09,260 --> 01:39:12,420
to do various things and put
up front at the games and that.

1633
01:39:12,420 --> 01:39:14,180
He was very much
kept in the background.

1634
01:39:14,180 --> 01:39:16,060
He's got no experience
of government,

1635
01:39:16,060 --> 01:39:17,860
no experience in the military.

1636
01:39:17,860 --> 01:39:21,060
He's really coming in kind of
completely, completely blank.

1637
01:39:22,220 --> 01:39:23,420
But he is a survivor.

1638
01:39:25,820 --> 01:39:30,140
He may dribble and he may stutter,
but Claudius is no fool.

1639
01:39:30,140 --> 01:39:31,900
After all, he is one of mine.

1640
01:39:32,980 --> 01:39:34,700
To win the people's hearts,

1641
01:39:34,700 --> 01:39:37,780
He plays the oldest trick
in the book: waging war.

1642
01:39:37,780 --> 01:39:39,740
He invades a God-forsaken land

1643
01:39:39,740 --> 01:39:43,540
where Rome's greatest
have already tried and failed.

1644
01:39:43,540 --> 01:39:46,820
A drab, damp little island
full of barbarians,

1645
01:39:46,820 --> 01:39:49,100
but rich in tin and gold.

1646
01:39:49,100 --> 01:39:51,020
A place we call Britannia.

1647
01:39:52,140 --> 01:39:55,100
Julius Caesar,
he ventured to Britain twice.

1648
01:39:55,100 --> 01:39:57,460
Two invasions gained some success,

1649
01:39:57,460 --> 01:39:59,060
but they were very much
temporary successes.

1650
01:40:00,100 --> 01:40:01,340
The Romans conquer things,

1651
01:40:01,340 --> 01:40:03,340
and Claudius has
the conquest of Britain.

1652
01:40:03,340 --> 01:40:06,780
It's one of the first conquests of
new territory for many, many years.

1653
01:40:08,060 --> 01:40:10,660
So Claudius meets up with the rest
of the army north of the Thames,

1654
01:40:10,660 --> 01:40:12,500
and together,
they head up to Colchester,

1655
01:40:12,500 --> 01:40:15,460
this important centre
in late Iron Age Britain,

1656
01:40:15,460 --> 01:40:18,660
where they received the surrenders
of British chiefs, and boom.

1657
01:40:18,660 --> 01:40:21,540
With that, the province
of Britannia is declared.

1658
01:40:25,140 --> 01:40:28,900
It is remarkable that this,
of all emperors,

1659
01:40:28,900 --> 01:40:32,300
should be the man to ride
in the equivalent of triumph

1660
01:40:32,300 --> 01:40:33,900
on British shores.

1661
01:40:33,900 --> 01:40:38,660
That an elderly man of some form
of nervous and physical infirmity

1662
01:40:38,660 --> 01:40:41,340
should appear in heroic guise,

1663
01:40:41,340 --> 01:40:43,900
riding an elephant
on what is nowadays

1664
01:40:43,900 --> 01:40:45,740
the streets of modern Essex.

1665
01:40:47,780 --> 01:40:50,140
Once the British invasion
had been a success

1666
01:40:50,140 --> 01:40:52,500
and Britain was now
a Roman province,

1667
01:40:52,500 --> 01:40:55,460
a temple was built to Claudius
in Colchester,

1668
01:40:55,460 --> 01:40:56,980
and he was made a god there.

1669
01:40:56,980 --> 01:40:58,420
So he was worshipped.

1670
01:40:58,420 --> 01:41:00,420
Who would have expected it?

1671
01:41:00,420 --> 01:41:02,980
The boy unable to hold a sword,

1672
01:41:02,980 --> 01:41:05,700
acclaimed by the Praetorian Guard,

1673
01:41:05,700 --> 01:41:10,340
victor in Britain in a way
that even Julius couldn't rival.

1674
01:41:13,380 --> 01:41:16,300
And Claudius's victory
is very good news indeed

1675
01:41:16,300 --> 01:41:19,180
for his empress, Messalina.

1676
01:41:19,180 --> 01:41:22,580
Right on cue,
she delivers him a son.

1677
01:41:22,580 --> 01:41:27,140
Claudius, the all-conquering
living god, now has a male heir.

1678
01:41:27,140 --> 01:41:29,500
Messalina has her first son

1679
01:41:29,500 --> 01:41:31,260
who will come to be known
as Britannicus,

1680
01:41:31,260 --> 01:41:33,660
in honour of Claudius's invasion
of Britain.

1681
01:41:35,780 --> 01:41:40,700
And this is a cause for huge
celebration throughout the Empire.

1682
01:41:40,700 --> 01:41:44,660
There could not be a better omen
for the new regime.

1683
01:41:44,660 --> 01:41:46,940
This is the first time
that a reigning emperor

1684
01:41:46,940 --> 01:41:48,420
has had a son born to him.

1685
01:41:48,420 --> 01:41:51,180
So this is a period
of immense excitement.

1686
01:41:51,180 --> 01:41:55,580
Everything has been so difficult,
so chaotic.

1687
01:41:55,580 --> 01:41:58,740
And here is a promise
that we have this new emperor,

1688
01:41:58,740 --> 01:42:02,140
and we already have an heir
in place.

1689
01:42:04,220 --> 01:42:05,620
Who would have thought it?

1690
01:42:06,980 --> 01:42:12,220
Claudius gives his people new lands,
new wealth, a better life.

1691
01:42:12,220 --> 01:42:14,740
Best of all,
he gives them a new god.

1692
01:42:14,740 --> 01:42:17,100
A woman, no less.

1693
01:42:17,100 --> 01:42:19,740
His darling late great grandmother,
Livia.

1694
01:42:19,740 --> 01:42:23,140
In other words, me.

1695
01:42:23,140 --> 01:42:25,340
No wonder they love him.

1696
01:42:26,340 --> 01:42:29,660
He decided that he should turn her
into a goddess.

1697
01:42:29,660 --> 01:42:32,020
He decided she needed to be deified.

1698
01:42:32,020 --> 01:42:35,980
He had her image carried
by elephants through Rome.

1699
01:42:35,980 --> 01:42:37,740
This wasn't done every day.

1700
01:42:37,740 --> 01:42:40,860
This was a brand-new way
of honouring a woman.

1701
01:42:40,860 --> 01:42:43,060
It was incredibly unusual.

1702
01:42:46,100 --> 01:42:49,740
Alas, the worshipping of women
is not without its complications.

1703
01:42:50,900 --> 01:42:56,340
Claudius's devotion makes him blind
to Messalina's rampant bed-hopping,

1704
01:42:56,340 --> 01:42:59,140
and that is a real problem.

1705
01:43:00,820 --> 01:43:03,260
It takes a lot to be called
the most promiscuous woman

1706
01:43:03,260 --> 01:43:06,340
of the Roman Empire, and Messalina
managed to gain that title.

1707
01:43:15,500 --> 01:43:18,500
LIVIA: Rome, the mightiest empire
in the world,

1708
01:43:18,500 --> 01:43:22,180
is built from bloodshed,
intrigue and sex.

1709
01:43:22,180 --> 01:43:25,300
Victorious, cunning and fertile -

1710
01:43:25,300 --> 01:43:30,820
the unfancied runt of the imperial
litter, Claudius, is a triumph.

1711
01:43:30,820 --> 01:43:34,500
He scales new heights
with the conquest of Britannia,

1712
01:43:34,500 --> 01:43:37,260
a feat that eludes
even the great Julius Caesar.

1713
01:43:37,260 --> 01:43:42,260
And to top it all, he produces
a vigorous male heir, Britannicus.

1714
01:43:46,420 --> 01:43:50,060
Making up for the lost years
of Caligula's vanity,

1715
01:43:50,060 --> 01:43:52,420
Claudius gives his people more bread

1716
01:43:52,420 --> 01:43:54,620
and even the miracle
of running water.

1717
01:43:56,020 --> 01:43:58,300
Clever boy.

1718
01:43:58,300 --> 01:43:59,820
He recognises, too,

1719
01:43:59,820 --> 01:44:04,220
the power he has to do good and
the importance of public support.

1720
01:44:04,220 --> 01:44:07,060
A number of public works schemes
are carried out

1721
01:44:07,060 --> 01:44:08,620
under Claudius's rule.

1722
01:44:08,620 --> 01:44:10,380
Schemes that are successful

1723
01:44:10,380 --> 01:44:14,900
and that do win the ageing emperor
popularity among the people of Rome.

1724
01:44:14,900 --> 01:44:19,380
He was just incredibly sort of able
when it came to planning.

1725
01:44:19,380 --> 01:44:22,020
And he didn't just talk,
he actually did.

1726
01:44:22,020 --> 01:44:23,820
And that made the difference.

1727
01:44:23,820 --> 01:44:27,260
Claudius's public programme
is a successful one.

1728
01:44:27,260 --> 01:44:30,580
We need to remember that he had
a long time waiting

1729
01:44:30,580 --> 01:44:33,780
because he never anticipated
this job coming his way.

1730
01:44:33,780 --> 01:44:38,340
Claudius has given himself time
and opportunity to think about Rome,

1731
01:44:38,340 --> 01:44:40,660
to think about what works with Rome.

1732
01:44:42,340 --> 01:44:44,180
It gives me no joy to say it,

1733
01:44:44,180 --> 01:44:46,540
but there is a fly
in Claudius's ointment,

1734
01:44:46,540 --> 01:44:48,940
albeit a very beautiful fly.

1735
01:44:48,940 --> 01:44:50,260
Messalina.

1736
01:44:52,060 --> 01:44:56,460
So bewitching,
every great man in Rome desires her.

1737
01:44:56,460 --> 01:44:59,300
And thanks to her lust
for power and adoration,

1738
01:44:59,300 --> 01:45:03,020
it seems that very few
are to be disappointed.

1739
01:45:05,980 --> 01:45:07,900
Juvenal once wrote of Messalina

1740
01:45:07,900 --> 01:45:09,900
that her eyes had the ability

1741
01:45:09,900 --> 01:45:14,700
to drag the most beautiful patrician
men to the most wretched of ends.

1742
01:45:14,700 --> 01:45:16,700
In fact, by reputation,
she is known to have slept

1743
01:45:16,700 --> 01:45:19,180
with every officer
in her husband's palace.

1744
01:45:20,940 --> 01:45:24,540
Messalina knows how to use her body
to advance her position.

1745
01:45:25,940 --> 01:45:28,220
She's an insatiable empress.

1746
01:45:28,220 --> 01:45:29,820
She's never satisfied.

1747
01:45:31,220 --> 01:45:36,140
There are some very outlandish
claims about her sexuality,

1748
01:45:36,140 --> 01:45:39,020
and in fact, she's called,
in some sources,

1749
01:45:39,020 --> 01:45:41,900
The Meretrix Augusta,
the Whore Empress.

1750
01:45:46,100 --> 01:45:50,020
All noble women exploiting their
charms for pleasure or power

1751
01:45:50,020 --> 01:45:53,220
understand it is a tool
that must be used with caution.

1752
01:45:55,500 --> 01:45:57,700
All women, that is, but Messalina.

1753
01:45:58,900 --> 01:46:02,540
Sex, it turns out,
is her blunt instrument of choice,

1754
01:46:02,540 --> 01:46:05,580
and people are beginning to talk.

1755
01:46:05,580 --> 01:46:09,100
Lots of men wrote about her
prostituting herself.

1756
01:46:09,100 --> 01:46:13,420
Messalina was so insatiable

1757
01:46:13,420 --> 01:46:15,780
that she would go out in the night

1758
01:46:15,780 --> 01:46:19,340
dressed up with a blonde wig
over her dark hair.

1759
01:46:19,340 --> 01:46:22,980
She'd gild her nipples
so that they'd be shining gold,

1760
01:46:22,980 --> 01:46:26,780
and then she'd cover herself over
so she could escape to the Lupanar.

1761
01:46:26,780 --> 01:46:30,060
And the Lupanar
was the ancient brothel of Rome,

1762
01:46:30,060 --> 01:46:33,060
and it was said that she used
to spend the night there,

1763
01:46:33,060 --> 01:46:34,820
and she'd return at dawn.

1764
01:46:34,820 --> 01:46:37,220
And even then,
she wouldn't be satisfied.

1765
01:46:39,140 --> 01:46:42,220
There's also this other story
that she challenges

1766
01:46:42,220 --> 01:46:45,140
the most notorious courtesan in Rome

1767
01:46:45,140 --> 01:46:47,500
to a competition of sexual stamina.

1768
01:46:47,500 --> 01:46:49,940
It's a kind of almost
gladiatorial battle.

1769
01:46:49,940 --> 01:46:52,220
They're going to each try
and sleep with

1770
01:46:52,220 --> 01:46:54,660
as many men as possible in 24 hours.

1771
01:46:54,660 --> 01:47:00,940
And Messalina allegedly wins this
competition with a total of 25 men.

1772
01:47:06,260 --> 01:47:10,180
Claudius, in his love for Messalina,
both blind and deaf,

1773
01:47:10,180 --> 01:47:14,980
is the only citizen in Rome to see
no impropriety or hear no gossip.

1774
01:47:16,460 --> 01:47:20,100
As they say,
there's no fool like an old fool.

1775
01:47:20,100 --> 01:47:22,460
As for the insatiable Messalina,

1776
01:47:22,460 --> 01:47:26,780
she, too, is powerless
to a fatal attraction of her own.

1777
01:47:26,780 --> 01:47:29,060
I fear this will not end well.

1778
01:47:30,820 --> 01:47:34,540
The story is that Messalina
has fallen so deeply in love

1779
01:47:34,540 --> 01:47:37,300
with a man called Gaius Silius,
who is a noble man.

1780
01:47:37,300 --> 01:47:40,780
He is said to be the most
beautiful aristocrat in Rome.

1781
01:47:40,780 --> 01:47:43,140
Claudius then left town

1782
01:47:43,140 --> 01:47:46,300
to oversee the harbour
that he was building in Ostia.

1783
01:47:46,300 --> 01:47:48,180
While he was away,

1784
01:47:48,180 --> 01:47:52,580
Messalina decided
to marry Gaius Silius.

1785
01:47:52,580 --> 01:47:55,980
What does she mean by this?
Was she actually committing bigamy?

1786
01:47:55,980 --> 01:47:59,020
So, they tell Claudius
what's happened,

1787
01:47:59,020 --> 01:48:01,540
and he just kind of goes catatonic.
He can't believe it.

1788
01:48:01,540 --> 01:48:04,900
And he says a line which is really
rather sadly prophetic, which is,

1789
01:48:04,900 --> 01:48:06,620
"Am I still emperor?"

1790
01:48:09,380 --> 01:48:12,580
This wasn't just a case
of a woman committing adultery.

1791
01:48:12,580 --> 01:48:16,020
It was a case of a woman
marrying a man

1792
01:48:16,020 --> 01:48:18,820
who might actually
be a threat to Claudius

1793
01:48:18,820 --> 01:48:22,180
and want to usurp him
and become emperor himself.

1794
01:48:22,180 --> 01:48:24,860
Claudius sort of prevaricated.

1795
01:48:24,860 --> 01:48:28,180
He's like, "Oh, you know, maybe
I should talk to her the next day."

1796
01:48:28,180 --> 01:48:30,740
But his advisors would not
allow this to happen.

1797
01:48:30,740 --> 01:48:35,380
So they actually gave the orders
that she should be killed

1798
01:48:35,380 --> 01:48:38,700
before Claudius had actually
given the official word.

1799
01:48:52,300 --> 01:48:56,340
This is the first time that we see
a kind of imperial woman executed

1800
01:48:56,340 --> 01:48:58,740
for adultery
and adulterous behaviour.

1801
01:49:01,380 --> 01:49:03,740
A few days afterwards, he's like,
"Oh, where's Messalina?

1802
01:49:03,740 --> 01:49:06,540
"Where's my wife?" And they're,
like, having to keep telling him.

1803
01:49:06,540 --> 01:49:10,220
So whether it's such a shock
that he can't comprehend it,

1804
01:49:10,220 --> 01:49:13,700
but they have to keep telling him
that his wife is dead.

1805
01:49:14,940 --> 01:49:18,100
Oh, don't worry, he'll get over it.

1806
01:49:18,100 --> 01:49:20,740
Still, it's an impressive
claim to fame.

1807
01:49:20,740 --> 01:49:24,020
Claudius, the first emperor
to have his empress killed.

1808
01:49:25,380 --> 01:49:30,060
Full of contrition,
he declares he will not remarry.

1809
01:49:30,060 --> 01:49:33,660
Poor man. As if he has any choice
in the matter.

1810
01:49:33,660 --> 01:49:35,060
You have an environment

1811
01:49:35,060 --> 01:49:38,420
in which power is being transferred
dynastically.

1812
01:49:38,420 --> 01:49:42,220
And so suddenly,
you need women to produce heirs

1813
01:49:42,220 --> 01:49:44,140
so that you can pass
your power down.

1814
01:49:44,140 --> 01:49:47,140
The woman who comes out on top
is a woman called Agrippina,

1815
01:49:47,140 --> 01:49:49,860
who is actually Claudius's niece,

1816
01:49:49,860 --> 01:49:54,940
and it requires special dispensation
from the Senate for them to marry

1817
01:49:54,940 --> 01:49:58,300
because that is incest
according to Roman law.

1818
01:49:59,660 --> 01:50:03,500
She was the younger sister
of Caligula.

1819
01:50:03,500 --> 01:50:06,980
Caligula supposedly committed incest
with all three of his sisters,

1820
01:50:06,980 --> 01:50:08,460
including her,

1821
01:50:08,460 --> 01:50:11,380
but he accused her
of plotting against him,

1822
01:50:11,380 --> 01:50:13,140
so he sent her off into exile.

1823
01:50:13,140 --> 01:50:15,500
So she'd had
a really miserable time.

1824
01:50:15,500 --> 01:50:18,260
She'd seen how ruthless
men would be,

1825
01:50:18,260 --> 01:50:20,460
even with the women
they were closest to.

1826
01:50:21,500 --> 01:50:24,620
Incest is such a loaded word,

1827
01:50:24,620 --> 01:50:27,700
but this is no time
for being squeamish.

1828
01:50:27,700 --> 01:50:31,460
There is a dynasty to build
and a bloodline to preserve.

1829
01:50:31,460 --> 01:50:34,540
Agrippina, yes,
my own great granddaughter,

1830
01:50:34,540 --> 01:50:36,820
is not only the perfect choice,

1831
01:50:36,820 --> 01:50:38,940
she is the only choice.

1832
01:50:38,940 --> 01:50:40,660
Given what has happened
in recent years,

1833
01:50:40,660 --> 01:50:43,220
this is a family
that could have sprawled,

1834
01:50:43,220 --> 01:50:45,980
but its members
have been regularly culled.

1835
01:50:45,980 --> 01:50:48,820
And it's important to preserve
the health of the dynasty.

1836
01:50:50,660 --> 01:50:53,380
No doubt the shameless Messalina
plays her part

1837
01:50:53,380 --> 01:50:56,300
in keeping Agrippina in exile.

1838
01:50:57,620 --> 01:51:00,860
But the fates
have a wicked sense of humour.

1839
01:51:00,860 --> 01:51:04,220
Once outcast, now Empress,

1840
01:51:04,220 --> 01:51:07,740
Agrippina embraces her chance
to rewrite history.

1841
01:51:09,060 --> 01:51:11,340
One of the most powerful tools
you can have as an empress

1842
01:51:11,340 --> 01:51:13,620
is the destruction of reputation.

1843
01:51:13,620 --> 01:51:16,220
Agrippina did this with Messalina.

1844
01:51:16,220 --> 01:51:19,460
Focusing on a woman's sexuality
is a very classic,

1845
01:51:19,460 --> 01:51:21,740
and has always been
a very effective way,

1846
01:51:21,740 --> 01:51:23,700
of diverting attention

1847
01:51:23,700 --> 01:51:26,900
from the more serious things
that she's done in her life

1848
01:51:26,900 --> 01:51:31,500
and of, erm, making them look
less legitimate.

1849
01:51:33,780 --> 01:51:36,220
There was an order by the Senate

1850
01:51:36,220 --> 01:51:39,180
to destroy all the statues
of Messalina,

1851
01:51:39,180 --> 01:51:41,940
to scrub out her name
from inscriptions.

1852
01:51:41,940 --> 01:51:44,940
This process called
damnatio memoriae,

1853
01:51:44,940 --> 01:51:47,620
the condemnation
of that person's memory,

1854
01:51:47,620 --> 01:51:49,940
this was inflicted upon Messalina.

1855
01:51:54,700 --> 01:51:58,220
Nero is Agrippina's son
from her first marriage.

1856
01:51:58,220 --> 01:52:00,580
She's desperate for Claudius
to adopt him

1857
01:52:00,580 --> 01:52:02,860
so he can join the line
of succession

1858
01:52:02,860 --> 01:52:05,460
and potentially be the next emperor.

1859
01:52:05,460 --> 01:52:07,140
She doesn't ask for much.

1860
01:52:09,340 --> 01:52:11,860
She was determined that
that son Nero

1861
01:52:11,860 --> 01:52:15,580
should take precedence
over Messalina's son, Britannicus.

1862
01:52:15,580 --> 01:52:18,300
So even though Messalina was dead,

1863
01:52:18,300 --> 01:52:22,700
this new tension developed
between which of those bloodlines

1864
01:52:22,700 --> 01:52:26,260
should prevail within
the succession of ancient Rome.

1865
01:52:26,260 --> 01:52:28,540
It's a tangled web, indeed.

1866
01:52:28,540 --> 01:52:31,660
Both young boys descend from me.

1867
01:52:31,660 --> 01:52:35,340
Claudius's own son Britannicus,
by rights, comes first.

1868
01:52:35,340 --> 01:52:37,420
But he's only eight years old.

1869
01:52:37,420 --> 01:52:41,220
Nero, apple of Agrippina's eye,
is 12.

1870
01:52:41,220 --> 01:52:44,780
Britannicus was still
at the child's table at dinner.

1871
01:52:44,780 --> 01:52:46,380
He was sitting there
with the children.

1872
01:52:46,380 --> 01:52:47,580
He hadn't yet come of age.

1873
01:52:48,780 --> 01:52:52,020
Agrippina was determined
to accelerate Nero's role

1874
01:52:52,020 --> 01:52:55,700
through the rites of passage
that a young man undertook

1875
01:52:55,700 --> 01:52:58,380
as he went towards
his political career.

1876
01:52:58,380 --> 01:53:01,740
So Nero was dressed
in the adult toga.

1877
01:53:01,740 --> 01:53:04,780
He was sort of initiated
into the kind of life

1878
01:53:04,780 --> 01:53:06,740
that an emperor lived.

1879
01:53:07,980 --> 01:53:10,700
Here, we see the classic
evil stepmother

1880
01:53:10,700 --> 01:53:14,980
putting her biological child before
her stepchild at whatever cost.

1881
01:53:16,300 --> 01:53:19,420
Through some very good manoeuvring,
Agrippina gets what she wants.

1882
01:53:19,420 --> 01:53:23,260
In 50 AD, Claudius adopts Nero
as his son,

1883
01:53:23,260 --> 01:53:25,540
which means that he's next in line
for the throne.

1884
01:53:25,540 --> 01:53:27,100
That's the end game,

1885
01:53:27,100 --> 01:53:29,900
is that Agrippina wants Nero
to become emperor.

1886
01:53:29,900 --> 01:53:32,460
She has to make sure that
he's gonna be next in line

1887
01:53:32,460 --> 01:53:33,780
before she can make her move.

1888
01:53:33,780 --> 01:53:37,140
Once it is secured
that Nero is the heir,

1889
01:53:37,140 --> 01:53:39,660
then Claudius has no value
whatsoever.

1890
01:53:43,260 --> 01:53:46,100
Perhaps I am
Agrippina's inspiration.

1891
01:53:46,100 --> 01:53:49,180
If so, I am flattered.

1892
01:53:49,180 --> 01:53:53,500
What mother doesn't want the best
for their son?

1893
01:53:53,500 --> 01:53:55,820
And if possible, without delay.

1894
01:53:57,020 --> 01:53:58,940
But how?

1895
01:53:58,940 --> 01:54:00,860
How else?

1896
01:54:00,860 --> 01:54:02,580
Poison, of course.

1897
01:54:16,020 --> 01:54:17,500
LIVIA: Rome.

1898
01:54:17,500 --> 01:54:21,420
An empire conquering the Western
world with domination and bloodshed.

1899
01:54:23,420 --> 01:54:27,740
Even my sickly grandson Claudius
defies all expectations

1900
01:54:27,740 --> 01:54:29,820
and invades new territories.

1901
01:54:29,820 --> 01:54:34,060
Now over 60 million subjects
call him Emperor.

1902
01:54:35,420 --> 01:54:39,820
He's even restoring a sense
of decency to the family

1903
01:54:39,820 --> 01:54:43,140
by disposing of his unfaithful wife
in the Roman style.

1904
01:54:48,060 --> 01:54:52,540
But Agrippina, wife number two,
is also making her move.

1905
01:54:52,540 --> 01:54:56,460
And just like that,
Nero, Agrippina's own son,

1906
01:54:56,460 --> 01:54:59,740
leapfrogs Britannicus
to be first in line.

1907
01:54:59,740 --> 01:55:02,660
The old fool
makes himself redundant.

1908
01:55:03,740 --> 01:55:06,020
History is repeating itself,

1909
01:55:06,020 --> 01:55:08,220
and the future is all about Nero.

1910
01:55:09,460 --> 01:55:12,140
Claudius considered himself
the historian of the family.

1911
01:55:12,140 --> 01:55:14,700
He knew what happened to Augustus,
he knew the stories of Livia,

1912
01:55:14,700 --> 01:55:18,340
and he took every precaution to make
sure that he didn't meet that end.

1913
01:55:18,340 --> 01:55:21,340
He had food tasters.
He had guards around his kitchens.

1914
01:55:21,340 --> 01:55:24,180
Claudius loved his food.

1915
01:55:24,180 --> 01:55:27,500
He was a real foodie of the time.

1916
01:55:27,500 --> 01:55:29,700
He particularly liked mushrooms.

1917
01:55:30,900 --> 01:55:33,300
One day, in AD 54,

1918
01:55:33,300 --> 01:55:38,020
he sat down to a lovely,
rich dinner of mushrooms.

1919
01:55:38,020 --> 01:55:40,780
The next morning, he was dead.

1920
01:55:42,060 --> 01:55:46,620
And so ends Claudius,
the unlikeliest emperor of all,

1921
01:55:46,620 --> 01:55:51,020
achieving greatness,
matched only by my husband Augustus,

1922
01:55:51,020 --> 01:55:55,060
but brought down by a plate
of humble fungi.

1923
01:55:55,060 --> 01:55:57,740
Claudius, it was rumoured,
wasn't the first husband

1924
01:55:57,740 --> 01:56:00,420
that Agrippina had killed
by poisoning.

1925
01:56:00,420 --> 01:56:02,940
Her first husband,
filthy rich Crispus,

1926
01:56:02,940 --> 01:56:04,860
had died of something he ate.

1927
01:56:04,860 --> 01:56:06,540
What a coincidence (!)

1928
01:56:06,540 --> 01:56:10,420
Rumour quickly circulated
that his wife, Agrippina,

1929
01:56:10,420 --> 01:56:12,820
had poisoned his mushrooms,

1930
01:56:12,820 --> 01:56:14,540
and it was a result of that

1931
01:56:14,540 --> 01:56:17,660
that he died so unexpectedly
and so suddenly.

1932
01:56:20,140 --> 01:56:21,900
But in his final moments,

1933
01:56:21,900 --> 01:56:25,100
he realised that
he'd underestimated Agrippina.

1934
01:56:25,100 --> 01:56:28,620
And he uttered the words,
"Oh, dear, I've made a mess of it."

1935
01:56:28,620 --> 01:56:32,420
I think he realises
he's been manipulated again

1936
01:56:32,420 --> 01:56:35,100
in leaving Rome in the hands
of Agrippina.

1937
01:56:35,100 --> 01:56:39,540
And Nero, he's...
he's ruined everything.

1938
01:56:41,260 --> 01:56:45,980
You know the score -
Claudius is dead. Long live Nero.

1939
01:56:45,980 --> 01:56:48,980
Continuity is everything.
The empire is all.

1940
01:56:50,540 --> 01:56:53,140
And now in the hands
of a 16-year-old Nero

1941
01:56:53,140 --> 01:56:54,300
and his devoted mother.

1942
01:56:56,100 --> 01:57:00,660
She presented herself almost as
his co-ruler at the beginning.

1943
01:57:00,660 --> 01:57:05,300
And this message was really popular
across the empire.

1944
01:57:05,300 --> 01:57:06,740
They're seen as a pair.

1945
01:57:08,300 --> 01:57:10,580
Having a very, very young emperor

1946
01:57:10,580 --> 01:57:13,140
is slightly nerve-wracking for them.

1947
01:57:13,140 --> 01:57:16,620
You know,
having Agrippina by his side

1948
01:57:16,620 --> 01:57:21,100
offers potentially some confidence
in those people.

1949
01:57:23,540 --> 01:57:27,940
Agrippina may be a shockingly
bad wife, but she is no fool.

1950
01:57:27,940 --> 01:57:31,340
She schools her precious son Nero,
my great-great-grandson,

1951
01:57:31,340 --> 01:57:34,260
as it happens,
in the dark arts of power.

1952
01:57:34,260 --> 01:57:37,820
Lesson one - charm the people.

1953
01:57:37,820 --> 01:57:42,140
She really helped Nero
to cultivate this image of himself,

1954
01:57:42,140 --> 01:57:45,260
almost in the mould of Augustus.

1955
01:57:45,260 --> 01:57:50,260
From early on, he immediately
appealed to the people of Rome.

1956
01:57:50,260 --> 01:57:52,140
He put on lavish games.

1957
01:57:56,980 --> 01:58:00,340
The only danger is if the power
goes to Nero's head.

1958
01:58:01,820 --> 01:58:03,220
As if (!)

1959
01:58:05,620 --> 01:58:07,980
So, it starts very well,

1960
01:58:07,980 --> 01:58:10,420
and everything's going smoothly
and wonderfully.

1961
01:58:10,420 --> 01:58:12,780
But teenage boys
reach a certain point

1962
01:58:12,780 --> 01:58:15,060
where they don't wanna listen
to their mum any more.

1963
01:58:15,060 --> 01:58:17,140
And Nero, you know,

1964
01:58:17,140 --> 01:58:19,500
Nero's hard enough
to get to do anything

1965
01:58:19,500 --> 01:58:21,780
because he's not that interested
in being emperor.

1966
01:58:21,780 --> 01:58:23,300
He wants to be an artist.

1967
01:58:23,300 --> 01:58:26,620
He wants to be a chariot racer.
He wants to be a poet.

1968
01:58:26,620 --> 01:58:29,580
The more Nero's mother tried
to pull the reins and control him,

1969
01:58:29,580 --> 01:58:31,340
the more Nero would lash out.

1970
01:58:31,340 --> 01:58:33,700
His behaviour became
increasingly erratic.

1971
01:58:33,700 --> 01:58:35,980
He would have open brawls
in the middle of the night.

1972
01:58:35,980 --> 01:58:37,820
He would murder people.

1973
01:58:37,820 --> 01:58:40,140
He would have relationships
with men and women openly.

1974
01:58:40,140 --> 01:58:42,620
There really was no stopping him.

1975
01:58:42,620 --> 01:58:45,300
What we often see
with overbearing parents

1976
01:58:45,300 --> 01:58:49,940
is that they have the best interests
of themselves at heart,

1977
01:58:49,940 --> 01:58:53,660
and then secondary to that is
the best interest of their child.

1978
01:58:53,660 --> 01:58:56,300
It can lead us feeling very angry
and very resentful.

1979
01:58:56,300 --> 01:59:00,660
And I think this is what we've seen
here with Agrippina and Nero.

1980
01:59:00,660 --> 01:59:02,740
They fall out quite spectacularly

1981
01:59:02,740 --> 01:59:05,020
and are not speaking
for a long period of time.

1982
01:59:05,020 --> 01:59:06,700
And then she makes the mistake

1983
01:59:06,700 --> 01:59:08,900
of kind of bigging Britannicus up
a bit.

1984
01:59:10,620 --> 01:59:13,540
Now, that is a risky move.

1985
01:59:13,540 --> 01:59:15,980
No doubt Britannicus
has something about him,

1986
01:59:15,980 --> 01:59:18,180
but it's Nero who has the power.

1987
01:59:21,260 --> 01:59:24,540
Britannicus is not shy of Nero.
He's not frightened of Nero.

1988
01:59:24,540 --> 01:59:26,820
And that's probably one
of his biggest mistakes,

1989
01:59:26,820 --> 01:59:29,420
of underestimating Nero.

1990
01:59:29,420 --> 01:59:31,380
And that's probably what leads
to his downfall,

1991
01:59:31,380 --> 01:59:34,220
as well as letting
Agrippina get close to him,

1992
01:59:34,220 --> 01:59:37,420
which really puts the wedge there

1993
01:59:37,420 --> 01:59:40,060
and really makes it clear to Nero
he needs to get rid of Britannicus.

1994
01:59:41,900 --> 01:59:45,500
He doesn't openly kill him
or stab him. He has him poisoned.

1995
01:59:49,140 --> 01:59:51,340
Britannicus was poisoned at dinner.

1996
01:59:53,420 --> 01:59:56,940
Like his father Claudius,
he probably suffered from epilepsy.

1997
01:59:56,940 --> 02:00:02,140
So when he started to show the
effects of the poison taking hold,

1998
02:00:02,140 --> 02:00:04,660
people assumed
that he was having a fit.

1999
02:00:07,020 --> 02:00:09,300
And nobody moves
because Nero doesn't move.

2000
02:00:09,300 --> 02:00:10,740
Cos Nero, the emperor,

2001
02:00:10,740 --> 02:00:13,220
controls who can stand,
who can move.

2002
02:00:14,820 --> 02:00:17,620
And, yeah, Nero sits there,
and he's just drinking his wine,

2003
02:00:17,620 --> 02:00:19,140
and he's just watching.

2004
02:00:19,140 --> 02:00:22,260
And everybody else is just frozen
in horror around him

2005
02:00:22,260 --> 02:00:25,140
as Britannicus coughs and chokes.

2006
02:00:27,340 --> 02:00:30,140
And that is the point
at which Nero becomes

2007
02:00:30,140 --> 02:00:33,700
truly ruthless and frightening.

2008
02:00:34,940 --> 02:00:38,060
The boy has no subtlety,
but he is effective.

2009
02:00:38,060 --> 02:00:40,260
Surely his mother will take heed.

2010
02:00:41,660 --> 02:00:44,380
Put yourself in Agrippina's shoes.
What would you do?

2011
02:00:44,380 --> 02:00:47,260
Would you run away,
or would you stay?

2012
02:00:47,260 --> 02:00:52,140
Power is an incredible drug,
and an addictive one, too.

2013
02:00:52,140 --> 02:00:54,860
And in Agrippina's case,
irresistible,

2014
02:00:54,860 --> 02:00:56,780
which is exactly
why she didn't run away.

2015
02:00:56,780 --> 02:00:58,260
She chooses to stay instead.

2016
02:01:00,260 --> 02:01:02,980
So the story goes
is she tries to seduce her son

2017
02:01:02,980 --> 02:01:04,940
and have sex with him.

2018
02:01:04,940 --> 02:01:09,260
And the evidence is apparently
that they travel in a carriage

2019
02:01:09,260 --> 02:01:10,740
which is closed.

2020
02:01:10,740 --> 02:01:13,420
And when they open the doors
and step out,

2021
02:01:13,420 --> 02:01:16,260
there are stains on their clothes
that look like semen

2022
02:01:16,260 --> 02:01:18,820
and look like some rumpy pumpy
has gone on

2023
02:01:18,820 --> 02:01:20,180
within that carriage there.

2024
02:01:21,420 --> 02:01:25,700
Is it just me, or is there a hint
of desperation about Agrippina?

2025
02:01:27,020 --> 02:01:30,340
My rule of thumb -
never show weakness.

2026
02:01:30,340 --> 02:01:33,860
He came to a sense that it was wrong
to be manipulated by a woman,

2027
02:01:33,860 --> 02:01:36,260
any woman, including his mother.

2028
02:01:37,540 --> 02:01:39,820
Nero comes up
with an extraordinary plan,

2029
02:01:39,820 --> 02:01:41,940
which is to kill his mother.

2030
02:01:41,940 --> 02:01:44,940
And as so often happens
in ancient Rome,

2031
02:01:44,940 --> 02:01:47,140
there were people
who were willing to help him.

2032
02:01:53,180 --> 02:01:56,060
His plan is he decides he's gonna
kill her in a collapsible boat,

2033
02:01:56,060 --> 02:01:57,860
which is like a kind of...

2034
02:01:57,860 --> 02:02:00,060
a dreadful kind of Bond villain
kind of death.

2035
02:02:01,460 --> 02:02:03,420
He invites her to a dinner
down by the Bay of Naples

2036
02:02:03,420 --> 02:02:05,900
that she'll have to go to by boat.

2037
02:02:05,900 --> 02:02:09,380
He has some lead

2038
02:02:09,380 --> 02:02:13,220
put on the canopy of the boat.

2039
02:02:13,220 --> 02:02:16,940
And when she's installed there
with her serving women...

2040
02:02:16,940 --> 02:02:19,300
..she'll be crushed.

2041
02:02:19,300 --> 02:02:22,180
It's a ridiculous scheme that only
a kind of teenage boy could make up.

2042
02:02:25,140 --> 02:02:28,940
Miraculously,
Agrippina sits down on a couch

2043
02:02:28,940 --> 02:02:31,460
which has these two elevated sides.

2044
02:02:32,700 --> 02:02:34,620
A canopy crashes down...

2045
02:02:36,220 --> 02:02:38,500
..and she's actually saved
from being crushed

2046
02:02:38,500 --> 02:02:40,980
by these higher sides of the couch.

2047
02:02:42,260 --> 02:02:45,580
Wisely, she escapes from the boat
and jumps into the sea

2048
02:02:45,580 --> 02:02:47,500
with one of her attendant women.

2049
02:02:47,500 --> 02:02:51,900
The female attendant shouts out,
"I am Agrippina! I'm Agrippina!"

2050
02:02:51,900 --> 02:02:54,500
At which point, she's clubbed
to death by men in a boat

2051
02:02:54,500 --> 02:02:56,500
who have been dispatched by Nero.

2052
02:02:56,500 --> 02:02:59,620
Agrippina herself
was much cleverer than this,

2053
02:02:59,620 --> 02:03:02,100
swims silently to the shore.

2054
02:03:02,100 --> 02:03:07,700
Her return to the shore, obviously,
is the cue for panic on Nero's part.

2055
02:03:11,260 --> 02:03:14,700
Agrippina is no fool.
She knows exactly what's happened.

2056
02:03:14,700 --> 02:03:18,180
She contacts Nero and tells him
that she's had a lucky escape.

2057
02:03:19,500 --> 02:03:21,860
Nero cannot allow her to escape

2058
02:03:21,860 --> 02:03:24,740
now that he knows
that she knows what he's attempted,

2059
02:03:24,740 --> 02:03:27,380
and guards are sent
to kill Agrippina.

2060
02:03:31,140 --> 02:03:33,740
When she realises
that her time has come,

2061
02:03:33,740 --> 02:03:35,660
she looks straight in the eyes
of the soldiers,

2062
02:03:35,660 --> 02:03:39,020
she points to her womb,
and she says, "Do it there."

2063
02:03:39,020 --> 02:03:43,900
She's saying,
"Stab the origin of the evil."

2064
02:03:51,140 --> 02:03:53,180
Killing your own mother?

2065
02:03:53,180 --> 02:03:57,820
That's worse than killing your wife,
your brother, even your husband.

2066
02:03:57,820 --> 02:04:03,140
This is a new low and does not
bode well for anyone or anything.

2067
02:04:04,940 --> 02:04:09,180
With no woman to control him,
Nero spirals out of control.

2068
02:04:10,220 --> 02:04:12,500
Rome burns to the ground...

2069
02:04:13,980 --> 02:04:16,180
..and blood will be shed.

2070
02:04:28,140 --> 02:04:30,620
LIVIA:
Rome, the most powerful dynasty

2071
02:04:30,620 --> 02:04:34,380
the world has ever seen,
and all thanks to my bloodline.

2072
02:04:34,380 --> 02:04:38,060
Livia Drusilla,
first Empress of Rome.

2073
02:04:40,780 --> 02:04:43,900
My great-great-grandson,
Nero, the fifth Emperor,

2074
02:04:43,900 --> 02:04:46,500
holds the people
in the palm of his hand.

2075
02:04:46,500 --> 02:04:49,660
Guided by his mother,
the ruthless Agrippina,

2076
02:04:49,660 --> 02:04:52,340
he starts no wars for them
to die in,

2077
02:04:52,340 --> 02:04:54,620
and he gives them bread
and circuses.

2078
02:04:55,940 --> 02:04:59,380
But killing his own mother,
the power behind the throne,

2079
02:04:59,380 --> 02:05:02,940
proves to be a terrible omen
of things to come.

2080
02:05:02,940 --> 02:05:06,820
The sense that public opinion
is potentially turning,

2081
02:05:06,820 --> 02:05:09,180
this inspires a degree of fear
in Nero,

2082
02:05:09,180 --> 02:05:13,780
and his response to fear is to act
yet more viciously and violently

2083
02:05:13,780 --> 02:05:16,780
to remove yet more opposition,
real or imaginary.

2084
02:05:19,300 --> 02:05:22,660
It all starts so well
for Emperor Nero,

2085
02:05:22,660 --> 02:05:26,380
but he's descending fast
into a spree of paranoid violence.

2086
02:05:27,940 --> 02:05:30,900
Not even the people are safe
from his rage.

2087
02:05:30,900 --> 02:05:33,580
And when an emperor
turns on his people,

2088
02:05:33,580 --> 02:05:37,100
he is playing with fire,
if you'll excuse the pun.

2089
02:05:38,420 --> 02:05:43,340
So, in 64 AD, you have one of these
iconic moments of Nero's reign,

2090
02:05:43,340 --> 02:05:45,980
which is the Great Fire of Rome.

2091
02:05:48,260 --> 02:05:49,980
The city burns for days.

2092
02:05:53,060 --> 02:05:58,140
Nero happens to be outside
of the city when it began,

2093
02:05:58,140 --> 02:06:00,740
but the rumours began to circulate
very, very quickly

2094
02:06:00,740 --> 02:06:03,460
that he had purposely
caused it himself.

2095
02:06:07,180 --> 02:06:08,620
And by the end of it,

2096
02:06:08,620 --> 02:06:12,180
like, more than half of the city
is reduced to ruins.

2097
02:06:14,020 --> 02:06:16,020
So one of the things
we remember Nero for now,

2098
02:06:16,020 --> 02:06:18,620
and actually, one of his great
legacies is he's very theatrical.

2099
02:06:18,620 --> 02:06:22,060
He likes to perform
with the lion and fiddle and so on.

2100
02:06:22,060 --> 02:06:24,020
He's watching on from the distance,

2101
02:06:24,020 --> 02:06:29,820
and what he does is he stands there
and he fiddles while Rome burns.

2102
02:06:29,820 --> 02:06:32,740
And whether or not
the story is true,

2103
02:06:32,740 --> 02:06:35,700
you actually feel there's a good
chance he'd be tempted to do that.

2104
02:06:37,660 --> 02:06:41,500
Nothing is more dangerous
than a rumour, truth or lies.

2105
02:06:41,500 --> 02:06:43,140
Not even an empress can control it.

2106
02:06:44,900 --> 02:06:47,380
Your only chance
is to change the story,

2107
02:06:47,380 --> 02:06:50,620
show the people you care,
rebuild their homes.

2108
02:06:51,780 --> 02:06:55,300
So, what did Nero do?
What do you think?

2109
02:06:55,300 --> 02:06:57,700
He says, "Rather than rebuilding
all your houses,

2110
02:06:57,700 --> 02:06:59,420
"what I'm gonna do
is demolish everything

2111
02:06:59,420 --> 02:07:02,220
"and build this incredible palace
for me!

2112
02:07:02,220 --> 02:07:05,340
"Because that's great.
That's what Rome wants."

2113
02:07:05,340 --> 02:07:07,700
He's built
this wonderful golden palace,

2114
02:07:07,700 --> 02:07:11,100
which includes, in its grounds,
a 30-foot gold statue of himself,

2115
02:07:11,100 --> 02:07:12,820
because why wouldn't you have that?

2116
02:07:12,820 --> 02:07:15,900
It has hundreds of rooms,

2117
02:07:15,900 --> 02:07:19,740
vaulted ceilings,
studded with gems and jewels.

2118
02:07:19,740 --> 02:07:22,500
To build such constructions
requires money.

2119
02:07:22,500 --> 02:07:25,100
And he started using up
the state funds,

2120
02:07:25,100 --> 02:07:27,460
so he starts
impoverishing the people.

2121
02:07:27,460 --> 02:07:29,100
And that's a bad turn
because the moment

2122
02:07:29,100 --> 02:07:30,380
that people start suffering

2123
02:07:30,380 --> 02:07:32,140
is the moment
your reputation's gonna suffer.

2124
02:07:35,220 --> 02:07:38,620
For the love of Augustus, Nero,
read the room.

2125
02:07:40,260 --> 02:07:41,500
But, no.

2126
02:07:41,500 --> 02:07:46,300
As the fingers start to point
at you, you point yours at others.

2127
02:07:46,300 --> 02:07:50,140
So, Nero looks for a scapegoat,
which is what tyrants do.

2128
02:07:50,140 --> 02:07:53,820
They deflect attention
from themselves onto other people.

2129
02:07:53,820 --> 02:07:56,180
So, let's find a group of weirdos,

2130
02:07:56,180 --> 02:07:58,100
some people who are different
from everybody else.

2131
02:07:58,100 --> 02:08:02,500
So, who could he blame?
He blamed the Christians.

2132
02:08:02,500 --> 02:08:07,460
Christians at this point were seen
as almost sort of a weird cult.

2133
02:08:09,820 --> 02:08:12,940
Personally, I'm no big fan
of the followers of Christ.

2134
02:08:12,940 --> 02:08:17,340
Loving this, forgiving that,
the whole one God thing.

2135
02:08:17,340 --> 02:08:22,020
Not very Roman, but this feels
like an act of desperation.

2136
02:08:22,020 --> 02:08:24,620
So, Nero starts
to arrest Christians,

2137
02:08:24,620 --> 02:08:26,900
blame them for the fire
and execute them.

2138
02:08:26,900 --> 02:08:28,900
And a lot of public executions

2139
02:08:28,900 --> 02:08:31,180
were made as gruesome
and spectacular as possible.

2140
02:08:31,180 --> 02:08:32,540
The idea was they were a deterrent.

2141
02:08:32,540 --> 02:08:34,900
People like Nero
and many other Romans feel,

2142
02:08:34,900 --> 02:08:37,380
"If they're gonna be a deterrent,
they can also be entertainment,

2143
02:08:37,380 --> 02:08:39,380
"so let's go big."

2144
02:08:39,380 --> 02:08:43,260
One of the stories
is that he has people crucified

2145
02:08:43,260 --> 02:08:46,540
and covered in tar and set on fire
so that their body fat burns,

2146
02:08:46,540 --> 02:08:48,460
after they've screamed themselves
to death,

2147
02:08:48,460 --> 02:08:52,900
to light a nice feast
he's gonna have in the gardens.

2148
02:08:52,900 --> 02:08:56,140
And this really backfired for Nero

2149
02:08:56,140 --> 02:08:59,140
because people looked
at these people suffering,

2150
02:08:59,140 --> 02:09:01,260
and they felt really bad.

2151
02:09:01,260 --> 02:09:03,620
They felt sorry for them,
and they just took this

2152
02:09:03,620 --> 02:09:08,500
as evidence of the depravity
and the sheer evil of the Emperor.

2153
02:09:08,500 --> 02:09:12,060
So as a plan, this was disastrous
for Nero's reputation,

2154
02:09:12,060 --> 02:09:13,500
and he never recovered from it.

2155
02:09:17,540 --> 02:09:20,180
How far Nero falls.

2156
02:09:20,180 --> 02:09:23,260
Using Rome's suffering
for his own gain.

2157
02:09:24,940 --> 02:09:28,580
No longer a man of the people,
he is now their enemy.

2158
02:09:29,820 --> 02:09:32,660
Financially, the coffers run dry.

2159
02:09:32,660 --> 02:09:37,820
And when there's a time
of sort of financial desperation,

2160
02:09:37,820 --> 02:09:40,780
people become more desperate
to blame somebody.

2161
02:09:40,780 --> 02:09:43,260
Nero's the obvious person to blame.

2162
02:09:44,580 --> 02:09:48,660
He realises he's completely alone.
He's hated.

2163
02:09:48,660 --> 02:09:51,380
And in fact, the Senate
has now declared him a hostis,

2164
02:09:51,380 --> 02:09:53,420
a public enemy of the Roman people.

2165
02:09:53,420 --> 02:09:56,700
This is the final straw.
It is over for Nero.

2166
02:09:56,700 --> 02:09:59,140
No matter how powerful you are,
sooner or later,

2167
02:09:59,140 --> 02:10:01,500
you will have to face up
to the music.

2168
02:10:01,500 --> 02:10:04,460
And Nero's funeral march
was about to begin.

2169
02:10:08,940 --> 02:10:13,180
Nero is the final insult
to my once-great dynasty.

2170
02:10:14,660 --> 02:10:20,580
The ruler of 60 million people now
faces his fate practically alone.

2171
02:10:22,220 --> 02:10:24,980
He was completely abandoned.
He wakes up in the palace.

2172
02:10:24,980 --> 02:10:26,820
There's no-one around him,
he's in a panic.

2173
02:10:26,820 --> 02:10:28,780
He's not used to it.
There's always someone there.

2174
02:10:28,780 --> 02:10:30,380
He realises something's wrong,

2175
02:10:30,380 --> 02:10:32,340
and he starts to basically
make a run for it.

2176
02:10:32,340 --> 02:10:33,580
But then he gets the news

2177
02:10:33,580 --> 02:10:35,940
that he's been declared
an enemy of the state,

2178
02:10:35,940 --> 02:10:37,580
and he's gonna be killed
the ancient way.

2179
02:10:37,580 --> 02:10:40,540
And he doesn't know what this means,
so he asks one of the servants.

2180
02:10:40,540 --> 02:10:43,020
And they tell him
he's gonna be stripped naked,

2181
02:10:43,020 --> 02:10:45,380
his head is gonna be put
between branches,

2182
02:10:45,380 --> 02:10:47,060
and he's gonna be dragged
through the streets.

2183
02:10:50,180 --> 02:10:52,980
So, he decides to end his own life

2184
02:10:52,980 --> 02:10:55,860
rather than be killed
by somebody else.

2185
02:10:55,860 --> 02:10:58,660
It's very difficult for him
at that point.

2186
02:10:58,660 --> 02:11:01,220
Nero fails even to kill himself

2187
02:11:01,220 --> 02:11:04,740
at the moment when it's obvious
that his only option is suicide.

2188
02:11:04,740 --> 02:11:08,980
He invites a servant
to do it for him.

2189
02:11:12,140 --> 02:11:15,940
The fatal blow strikes him
in the throat.

2190
02:11:15,940 --> 02:11:18,020
Even at that moment,

2191
02:11:18,020 --> 02:11:21,940
Nero cannot learn the lessons
that have brought him to this point.

2192
02:11:21,940 --> 02:11:25,380
Instead of suffering in silence,
he cries out,

2193
02:11:25,380 --> 02:11:27,580
"What an artist was lost in me."

2194
02:11:37,460 --> 02:11:39,860
Supposed to have said,
"What an artist perishes in me."

2195
02:11:39,860 --> 02:11:45,340
That sense that he's almost thinking
of his singing voice, his music,

2196
02:11:45,340 --> 02:11:47,100
as the biggest thing about him,

2197
02:11:47,100 --> 02:11:50,420
which is...
it's very self-indulgent.

2198
02:11:50,420 --> 02:11:52,060
What a great line
because it just shows you

2199
02:11:52,060 --> 02:11:53,460
that, even in his final moments,

2200
02:11:53,460 --> 02:11:55,780
he's thinking
what a loss to humanity he was.

2201
02:11:58,180 --> 02:12:01,500
The last of my troubled boys
lies dead.

2202
02:12:01,500 --> 02:12:04,540
Leaving me, Livia Drusilla,

2203
02:12:04,540 --> 02:12:08,260
to grieve the pathetic end
of my great dynasty.

2204
02:12:08,260 --> 02:12:12,580
Perhaps all great houses
must fall into disrepute.

2205
02:12:12,580 --> 02:12:15,500
Perhaps. But what a legacy.

2206
02:12:16,660 --> 02:12:19,900
With the establishment
of the Julio-Claudian empire,

2207
02:12:19,900 --> 02:12:24,860
all that really matters
is that trace of blood shared

2208
02:12:24,860 --> 02:12:28,820
with Julius, Augustus and Livia.

2209
02:12:28,820 --> 02:12:32,140
Livia's genius is to do all this,
to wield this power,

2210
02:12:32,140 --> 02:12:34,340
to wield this influence,
and nobody knows.

2211
02:12:35,820 --> 02:12:38,660
People weren't known as Empress
at that time.

2212
02:12:38,660 --> 02:12:41,700
It was really Livia
who created the role.

2213
02:12:41,700 --> 02:12:45,460
She set the standard
for later women to look up to.

2214
02:12:45,460 --> 02:12:50,180
It is a period of immense
and monumental political change

2215
02:12:50,180 --> 02:12:54,580
that altered the course
of Western history forever.

2216
02:12:54,580 --> 02:12:57,180
The story of Rome is one
we can fully understand

2217
02:12:57,180 --> 02:12:59,380
because it's a story about us
at the end of the day.

2218
02:13:05,180 --> 02:13:09,500
I hope you enjoyed
the greatest story ever told.

2219
02:13:09,500 --> 02:13:11,140
I certainly did.

2220
02:13:11,140 --> 02:13:14,140
For better or worse,
the world I made lives on.

2221
02:13:15,380 --> 02:13:19,100
As legacies go,
I really shouldn't complain.

2222
02:13:19,100 --> 02:13:24,340
But has history been kind
to my unruly boys?

2223
02:13:29,500 --> 02:13:33,940
Augustus the autocrat,
Tiberius the deviant,

2224
02:13:33,940 --> 02:13:38,500
Caligula the lunatic,
Claudius the cuckold,

2225
02:13:38,500 --> 02:13:41,020
Nero the psychopath.

2226
02:13:42,940 --> 02:13:47,260
They may have had their faults,
but their names live on.

2227
02:13:48,420 --> 02:13:50,900
And isn't that immortality?

2228
02:13:55,980 --> 02:13:59,380
But who remembers me,
the mother of the Empire?

2229
02:13:59,380 --> 02:14:02,460
Some would blame me for everything.

2230
02:14:02,460 --> 02:14:06,780
Poisoner, gold-digger,
backstabber, goddess.

2231
02:14:06,780 --> 02:14:07,900
Call me what you like.

2232
02:14:07,900 --> 02:14:12,140
I confirm or deny nothing.

2233
02:14:15,820 --> 02:14:19,220
My name may not be as famous
as my boys,

2234
02:14:19,220 --> 02:14:21,900
but if you watch
the most powerful men in the world,

2235
02:14:21,900 --> 02:14:26,140
ask yourself...
who is really pulling the strings?

2236
02:14:27,140 --> 02:14:32,020
Look carefully,
and you'll see me in the shadows.