LIVIVS Information by Nikhil Marius and Tanaquil Sergius Several important members of the Livius family have been handed down by Roman historiography: Marcus Livius Drusus: he lived from c. 124 until 91 BCE and he was a Roman statesman. He attempted to unite the nobility with the equestrian order and to reconcile the cities of Italy to the rule of Rome. Drusus was a member of a great plebeian family, the son and grandson of consuls. Drusus' mother belonged to the great patrician family of the Cornelii; his wife was Servilia, daughter of the Optimate leader Q. Servilius Caepio; and his sister Livia was married to Servilia's brother, also named Q. Servilius Caepio. Political Career: It was inevitable that a man of Drusus' wealth and family connections should enter politics. He was elected a military tribune (ca. 105 B.C.), became one of the decemviri stilitibus judicandis, a court of 10 which decided cases as to whether a man was free or a slave (ca. 104), and was chosen a quaestor (ca. 102), the first step on the ladder of public office for aspiring Roman politicians. He was aedile in 94 and became a pontifex at some unknown time, an office which he held until his death. Domestic Reforms: On Dec. 10, 92, Drusus became a plebeian tribune and used his own influence and the powers of this office to propose an extraordinary series of reforms designed to solve the major domestic problems of the day. He proposed to placate the poor citizens by suggesting the establishment of 12 colonies in Italy to which they could migrate, with a free distribution of land. To smooth relations between the Senate and the equestrian order (equites), Drusus wanted to restore to the senators the right, taken from them by C. Gracchus and given to the equites, of sitting on the juries which decided cases of alleged corruption in office. Equestrian opposition was to be overcome by doubling the size of the Senate by adding 300 equites to it. The restive cities of Italy Drusus wanted to conciliate by extending Roman citizenship to all Italians. These proposals were adopted into law by the assembly of all citizens, but they violated Roman law providing that one bill of proposals could not contain several unrelated topics; force had been used as well. This gave an opportunity to Drusus' opponents to reopen the question. His brother-in-law Caepio, who had quarreled with him and had divorced his sister Livia, and the consul Marcus Philippus led the opposition. After violent agitation and threats of mass movements in support of Drusus by the Italians, Drusus' enemies persuaded a majority of the Senate to declare all of these laws invalid. The results were tragic: Drusus was murdered in his home, his supporters were subjected to prosecution in the law courts, and the Italians rose in open rebellion in the Social War (91-87). Source: http://www.bookrags.com/biography-marcus-livius-drusus Titus Livius: 59 BCE - 17 CE. Titus Livius' History of Rome became a classic in his own lifetime and exercised a profound influence on the style and philosophy of historical writing down to the 18th century. His family apparently did not belong to the senatorial class and Livy does not seem to have embarked on a political or forensic profession. He is first heard of in Rome after Augustus had restored stability and peace to the empire by his decisive naval victory at Actium in 31 BC. Most of his life must have been spent at Rome, and at an early stage he attracted the interest of Augustus and was even invited to supervise the literary activities of the young Claudius (the future emperor). In one of the few recorded anecdotes about him, Augustus called him a "Pompeian", implying an outspoken and independent turn of mind. Livy began by composing and publishing in units of five books, the length of which was determined by the size of the ancient papyrus roll. As his material became more complex, however, he abandoned this symmetrical pattern and wrote 142 books. Books 11-20 and 46-142 have been lost. The later books after Book 45 are known only from summaries. In his letters the statesman Pliny the Younger records that Livy was tempted to abandon the enterprise but found that the task had become too fascinating to give it up; he also mentions a citizen of C\'e1diz who came all the way to Rome for the sole satisfaction of gazing at the great historian. Livy was unique among Roman historians in that he played no part in politics. This deprived him of firsthand access to much material that was preserved in official quarters. The chief effect is that Livy did not seek historical explanations in political terms. The novelty and impact of his history lay in the fact that he saw history in personal and moral terms. In looking at history from a moral standpoint, Livy was at one with other thinking Romans of his day. Augustus attempted by legislation and propaganda to inculcate moral ideals. Horace and Virgil in their poetry stressed the same message - that it was moral qualities that had made and could keep Rome great. The earliest Roman historians had written in Greek, the language of culture. Their successors had felt that their own history should be written in Latin, but Latin possessed no ready-made style that could be used for the purpose. Livy evolved a varied and flexible style that the ancient critic Quintilian characterized as a "milky richness." It is recorded that the audiences who went to his recitations were impressed by his nobility of character and his eloquence. Source: http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/livy.htm Livia Drusilla: 58 BC - 29 AD Like Augustus, Livia stands alone in the history of Rome and of Roman women. If he was the Pater Patriae (Father of his country), surely she qualified as its Mater Patriae. She was the first woman in Roman history to be actively and influentially involved, although artfully behind the scenes, in almost all major decisions of Augustus' extraordinary 45 years of absolute power. He trusted her to such an extent that he left his personal seal - the most powerful "signature" in the ancient world - to her to use use when he traveled abroad. She was the first woman deified in Roman history by the Emperor Claudius, her grandson. She was the mother of Emperor Tiberius, grandmother of Caligula and Claudius, great-grandmother of Nero. The fact that, thanks to Tacitus and Suetonius, unsavory rumors about her use and abuse of power have circulated for 1900 years only adds to her unique mystery. However disguised her use of power, Cassius Dio could write of Livia, in the second century AD: " For she occupied a very exalted station, far above all women of former days, so that she could at any time receive the senate and such of the people as wished to greet her in her house; and this fact was entered in the public records. The letters of Tiberius bore for a time her name, also, and communications were addressed to both alike. Except that she never ventured to enter the senate-chamber or the camps or the public assemblies, she undertook to manage everything as if she were sole ruler. For in the time of Augustus she had possessed the greatest influence and she always declared that it was she who had made Tiberius emperor; consequently she was not satisfied to rule on equal terms with him, but wished to take precedence over him. " Cassius Dio, Roman History , LVII, 12. Source: http://dominae.fws1.com