skasion posted:

This is probably a case of bullshit gossip getting passed down from antiquity as if it were real. It's possible that she did intrigue against some members of the family and she certainly was rumored to have poisoned people, but a lot of that could have been just malicious talk and it's extremely difficult for me to see what she would have gained by poisoning Augustus specifically: they had been married for 50 years (it was a love match also, not arranged), during which time they had consistently had a strong working relationship despite a consistent failure to produce an heir of his body, and Augustus was old and had never been in robust health to begin with.

I do love Sian Phillips' Livia in I Claudius though, it's a great performance. If you want to see Livia that way you should check it out, great piece of TV.