They were three; and, from the
distinguished fidelity of their governors, and incorruptible chastity of
Agrippina, could not be all circumvented by poison. He therefore chose to
attack her another way; to raise alarms from the haughtiness and contumacy
of her spirit; to rouse the old hatred of Livia the elder, and the guilty
mind of his late accomplice, Livia the younger; that to the Emperor they
might represent her "as elated with the credit and renown of her
fruitfulness; and that confiding in it, and in the zeal of the populace,
she grasped with open arms at the Empire." The young Livia acted in this
engagement by crafty calumniators; amongst whom she had particularly
chosen Julius Posthumus, a man every way qualified for her purposes; as he
was the adulterer of Mutilia Prisca, and thence a confidant of her
grandmother's; (for over the mind of the Empress, Prisca had powerful
influence) and by their means the old woman, in her own nature tender and
anxious of power, was rendered utterly irreconcilable to the widow of her
grandson. Such too as were nearest the person of Agrippina, were promoted
to be continually enraging her tempestuous heart by perverse
representations.
Pages:
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298