Even more politically aware were the two imperial consorts Livia wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius, and Agrippina the Younger, wife of Claudius and mother of Nero implies that both poisoned their husbands. Whether or not suggestions of strings of other murders and, in the case of Agrippina, of lovers too, including her own son, are justified, both women undoubtedly manipulated the system to ensure that their sons by an earlier marriage became emperor, and both sons grew actively to demonstrate distaste for their mothers. Livia had a distinguished aristocratic pedigree. At 19, however, and six months pregnant, she was forced to divorce, or be divorced by, her husband, in order to marry Octavian, who had conveniently divorced his own wife.
