oth husband and father failed, it
authorized any citizen to step forth as accuser. Finally the _Lex
sumptuaria_ was designed to restrain the extravagance of wealthy
families, particularly that of the women, prohibiting them from
spending too large a part of the family fortune in jewels, apparel,
body slaves, festivities, or buildings, especially in the building of
sumptuous villas, then a growing fashion. In short, it was the purpose
of these laws to bring the ladies of the Roman aristocracy to a course
of conduct patterned upon the example of Livia. In the protracted
discussions concerning these laws, which took place in the senate,
Augustus on one occasion made a long speech in which he cited Livia as
a model for the ladies of Rome. He set forth minutely the details of
her household administration, telling how she lived, what relations she
had with outsiders, what amusements she thought proper for a person of
her rank, how she dressed and at what expense. And no one in the
senate judged it unworthy of the greatness of the state or contrary to
custom thus to introduce the name and person of a great lady into the
public discussion of so serious a matter of governmental policy.

Livia, then, about 18 B.C. personified in the eyes of the Romans the
perfect type of aristocratic great lady created by long tradition.
Having been safely preserved by good fortune through the long civil
wars, this model was now set back again upon a fitting pedestal in the
most powerful and richest family of the empire. She was the living
example of all the virtues which the Romans most cherished, a beloved
wife and a heeded counselor to the head of the state, honored with that
veneration which power, virtue, nobility of birth, and the dignified
beauty of face and figure drew from every one; furthermore, there were
her two sons, Tiberius and Drusus, both intelligent, handsome, full of
activity, docile to the traditional education which she sought to give
them in order that they might be the worthy continuators of the great
name they bore. Livia, with all this in her favor, might have been
expected to live a happy and tranquil life, serenely to fulfil her
mission amid the admiration of the world.

[Illustration: A silver denarius of the Second Triumvirate. The
portrait at the right (obverse) is of Caesar Octavianus (Augustus),
with a slight beard to indicate mourning, and at the left (reverse), of
Mark Antony. The date is 41 B.C.]

[I