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Page 13
It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that a young woman endowed with
so fiery and ambitious a nature did not become in the hands of Augustus
as docile a political instrument as Livia. Julia wished to live for
herself and for her pleasure, not for the political greatness of her
father; and indeed, Augustus, who had a fine knowledge of men, was so
impressed by this first unhappy experiment that when Marcellus, still a
very young man, died in 23 B.C., he hesitated a long time before
remarrying the youthful widow. For a moment, indeed, he did think of
bestowing her not upon a senator but upon a knight, that is, a person
outside of the political aristocracy, evidently with the intention of
stifling her too eager ambitions by taking from her all means and hope
of satisfying them. Then he decided upon the opposite expedient, that
of quieting those ambitions by entirely satisfying them, and so gave
Julia, in 21 B.C., to Agrippa, who had been the cause of the earlier
difficulties. Agrippa was twenty-four years older than she and could
have been her father, but he was in truth the second person of the
empire in glory, riches, and power. Soon after, in 18 B.C., he was to
become the colleague of Augustus in the presidency of the republic and
consequently his equal in every way.
Thus Julia suddenly saw her ambitions gratified. She became at
twenty-one the next lady of the empire after Livia, and perhaps even
the first in company with and beside her. Young, beautiful,
intelligent, cultured, and loving luxury, she represented at Livia's
side and in opposition to her, the trend of the new generation in which
was growing the determination to free itself from tradition. She
lavished money generously, and there soon formed about her a sort of
court, a party, a coterie, in which figured the fairest names of the
Roman aristocracy. Her name and her person became popular even among
the common people of Rome, to whom the name of the Julii was more
sympathetic than that of the Claudii, which was borne by the sons of
Livia. The combined popularity of Augustus and of Agrippa was
reflected in her. It may be said, therefore, that toward 18 B.C., the
younger, more brilliant, and more "modern" Julia began to obscure Livia
in the popular imagination, except in that little group of old
conservative nobility which gathered about the wife of Augustus. So
true is this that about this time, Augustus, wishing to place himself
into conformity with his law _de maritandis ordinibus_, reached a
significant decision. Since that law fixed at three the number of
children which every citizen should have, if he wished to discharge his
whole duty toward the state, and since Augustus had but a single
daughter, he decided to adopt Caius and Lucius, the first two sons that
Julia had borne to Agrippa. This was a great triumph for her, in so
far as her sons would henceforth bear the very popular name of Caesar.
But the difficulties which the first marriage with Marcellus had
occasioned and which Augustus had hoped to remove by this second
marriage soon reappeared in another but still more dangerous form, for
they had their roots in that passionate, imperious, bold, and imprudent
temperament of Julia. This temperament the Roman education had not
succeeded in taming; it was strengthened by the undisciplined spirit of
the times. And with it Julia soon began to abuse the fortune, the
popularity, the prestige, and the power which came to her from being
the daughter of Augustus and the wife of Agrippa. Little by little she
became possessed by the mania of being in Rome the antithesis of Livia,
of conducting herself in every case in a manner contrary to that
followed by her stepmother. If the latter, like Augustus, wore
garments of wool woven at home, Julia affected silks purchased at great
price from the oriental merchants. These the ladies of the older type
considered a ruinous luxury because of the expense, and an indecency
because of the prominence which they gave to the figure. Where Livia
was sparing, Julia was prodigal. If Livia preferred to go to the
theater surrounded by elderly and dignified men, Julia always showed
herself in public with a retinue of brilliant and elegant youths. If
Livia set an example of reserve, Julia dared appear in the provinces in
public at the side of her husband and receive public homage. In spite
of the law which forbade the wives of Roman governors to accompany
their husbands into the provinces, Julia prevailed upon Agrippa to make
her his companion when in the year 16 B.C. he made his long journey
through the East. Everywhere she appeared at his side, at the great
receptions, at the courts, in the cities; and she was the first of the
Latin women to be apotheosized in the Orient. Paphos called her
"divine" and set up statues to her; Mitylene called her the New
Aphrodite, Eressus, Aphrodite Genetrix. These were bold innovations in
a state in which tradition was still so powerful; but they could
scarcely have been of serious danger to Julia, if her passionate
temperament had not led her to commit a much more serious imprudence.
Agrippa, compared to her, was old, a simple, unpolished man of obscure
origin who was frequently absent on affairs of state. In the circle
which had formed about Julia there were a number of handsome, elegant,
pleasing young men; among others one Sempronius Gracchus, a descendant
of the famous tribunes. Julia seems toward the close to have had for
him, even in the lifetime of Agrippa, certain failings which the _Lex
de adulteriis_ visited with terrible punishments.
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