tween Julia and Livia a half-suppressed
rivalry. The fact is, in itself, very probable and several indications
of it have remained in tradition and in history. We know also that two
parties were already beginning to gather about the two women. One of
these might be called the party of the Claudii and of the old
conservative nobility, the other the party of the Julii and of that
youthful nobility which was following the modern trend. As long as
Agrippa lived, Augustus, by holding the balance between the two
factions, succeeded in maintaining a certain equilibrium. With the
death of Agrippa, which occurred in 12 B.C., the situation was changed.

Julia was now for the second time a widow, and by the provisions of the
_Lex de maritandis ordinibus_ should remarry. Augustus in the
traditional manner sought a husband for her, and, seeking him only with
the idea of furthering a political purpose, he found for her Tiberius,
the elder son of Livia. Tiberius was the stepbrother of Julia and was
married to a lady whom he tenderly loved; but these were considerations
which could hardly give pause to a Roman senator. In the marriage of
Tiberius and Julia, Augustus saw a way of snuffing out the incipient
discord between the Julii and the Claudii, between Julia and Livia,
between the parties of the new and of the old nobility. He therefore
ordered Tiberius to repudiate the young, beautiful, and noble Agrippina
in order to marry Julia. For Tiberius the sacrifice was hard; we are
told that one day after the divorce, having met Agrippina at some
house, he began to weep so bitterly that Augustus ordered that the
former husband and wife should never meet again. But Tiberius, on the
other hand, had been educated by his mother in the ancient ideas, and
therefore knew that a Roman nobleman must sacrifice his feelings to the
public interest. As for Julia, she celebrated her third wedding
joyfully; for Tiberius, after the deaths of Agrippa and of his own
brother Drusus, was the rising man, the hope and the second personage
of the empire, so that she was not forced to step down from the lofty
position which the marriage with Agrippa had given her. Tiberius,
furthermore, was a very handsome man and for this reason also he seems
not to have been displeasing to Julia, who in the matter of husbands
considered not only glory and power.

The marriage of Julia and Tiberius began under happy auspices. Julia
seemed to love Tiberius and Tibe