Scenes from I, Claudius

[Octavia]

Thanks for that info. That's very helpful. I have another question. Octavia only said one line which was I think you're very kind, but was there any other place in the felm that you all could see her? Got another line for you all as well. "So, father asked me to see his own person physician and just to please him I did. And you know what he told me? He told me not to eat so much."

[Nephele]

Thanks for that info. That's very helpful. I have another question. Octavia only said one line which was I think you're very kind, but was there any other place in the felm that you all could see her? Got another line for you all as well. "So, father asked me to see his own person physician and just to please him I did. And you know what he told me? He told me not to eat so much."

 

 

Wasn't that Julia, talking to Antonia? While stuffing her face with figs. And then Antonia, in exasperation, says to Julia something like: "Not another fig, Julia!" To which Julia (between mouthfuls) replies: "(mmph, munch) Figs are good for you!"

 

I don't remember seeing Octavia anywhere else except for the scene with young Nero, when Octavia stands up for Nero after Britannicus offends him.

 

I see you got your screen name changed okay, Octavia! The new name looks good on you!

 

-- Nephele

[The Augusta]

I see you got your screen name changed okay, Octavia! The new name looks good on you!

 

-- Nephele

 

Hear, hear! Nice to have my ....erm.... ever-so-sweet sister-in-law on board! We ladies of the early Principate must stick together.

 

But seriously, as Nephele says, we didn't see that much of Cheryl Johnson as Octavia. She was present for the dinner scene where Nero upset Britannicus but little else, and she certainly didn't have many lines at all. But to help draw the picture for you, Octavia, Cheryl Johnson was a very pretty young actress in the 70's - and fitted the part well.

 

And forgive me, Octavia, but I did not realise that you were blind. When you first wrote this in answer to one of my quiz questions, I thought you were meaning it metaphorically. My apologies.

[Octavia]

That's alright, the augusta. No problem at all. I actually got my user name from the daughter of Claudius. Anyway, as for my blindness, feel free to ask anything you like. Okay, another line from the felm! "Yes. Piso is dead, but plancina goes feree. And you call that justice?"

[The Augusta]

That's alright, the augusta. No problem at all. I actually got my user name from the daughter of Claudius. Anyway, as for my blindness, feel free to ask anything you like. Okay, another line from the felm! "Yes. Piso is dead, but plancina goes feree. And you call that justice?"

 

Ah - It's Agrippina, isn't it? Followed by Claudius' line: 'Well, it's some justice, I suppose...' (and that is the title of the episode: 'Some Justice'). I think this was one of the best episodes of the entire series. I can watch what I call 'the Piso episode' over and over and over.... I also love the kick-back from it that happens in the next episode when Tiberius says to Agrippina: 'I will never forget what you made me do to Piso'. A lot of viewers often miss these little gems from Tiberius.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, Ladies!

The VI is an episode with a strong support from the primary sources, mainly C. Tacitus (Annales Liber III, Ch. XV-XVI):

"Plancina was equally detested, but had stronger interest. Consequently it was considered a question how far the emperor would be allowed to go against her. While Piso's hopes were in suspense, she offered to share his lot, whatever it might be, and in the worst event, to be his companion in death. But as soon as she had secured her pardon through the secret intercessions of Augusta, she gradually withdrew from her husband and separated her defence from his. When the prisoner saw that this was fatal to him, he hesitated whether he should still persist, but at the urgent request of his sons braced his courage and once more entered the Senate. There he bore patiently the renewal of the accusation, the furious voices of the Senators, savage opposition indeed from every quarter, but nothing daunted him so much as to see Tiberius, without pity and without anger, resolutely closing himself against any inroad of emotion. He was conveyed back to his house, where, seemingly by way of preparing his defence for the next day, he wrote a few words, sealed the paper and handed it to a freedman. Then he bestowed the usual attention on his person; after a while, late at night, his wife having left his chamber, he ordered the doors to be closed, and at daybreak was found with his throat cut and a sword lying on the ground.

I remember to have heard old men say that a document was often seen in Piso's hands, the substance of which he never himself divulged, but which his friends repeatedly declared contained a letter from Tiberius with instructions referring to Germanicus, and that it was his intention to produce it before the Senate and upbraid the emperor, had he not been deluded by vain promises from Sejanus. Nor did he perish, they said, by his own hand, but by that of one sent to be his executioner. Neither of these statements would I positively affirm; still it would not have been right for me to conceal what was related by those who lived up to the time of my youth.

 

The emperor, assuming an air of sadness, complained in the Senate that the purpose of such a death was to bring odium on himself, and he asked with repeated questionings how Piso had spent his last day and night. Receiving answers which were mostly judicious, though in part somewhat incautious, he read out a note written by Piso, nearly to the following effect:--

"Crushed by a conspiracy of my foes and the odium excited by a lying charge, since my truth and innocence find no place here, I call the immortal gods to witness that towards you C

[Octavia]

That's an interesting letter that he had written. Very sad that Piso had died and that he was innoscent. The question is, who killed Germanicus then?

[CiceroD]

I think that the best line of the miniseries was in one of the next episodes. It was the scene where Tiberius was exiling Agrippina.

 

Tiberius: My dear you look like a Greek Tragedy

 

Agrippina: You look like a Roman Farce!

 

or somthing to that effect

makes me smile every time

[Drusus Nero]

That's an interesting letter that he had written. Very sad that Piso had died and that he was innoscent. The question is, who killed Germanicus then?

 

 

Of course it can't be proved "beyond reasonable doubt", as the lawyers say, but my money's on Livia.

Now obviously she couldn't have murdered him herself, but, it is/was possible for her to have had someone on the inside .

Maybe working as one of Germanicus' household staff?, it's something we can never be 100% sure about, but it's one method worth considering.

[ASCLEPIADES]

That's an interesting letter that he had written. Very sad that Piso had died and that he was innoscent. The question is, who killed Germanicus then?

 

 

Of course it can't be proved "beyond reasonable doubt", as the lawyers say, but my money's on Livia.

Now obviously she couldn't have murdered him herself, but, it is/was possible for her to have had someone on the inside .

Maybe working as one of Germanicus' household staff?, it's something we can never be 100% sure about, but it's one method worth considering.

Suetonius' forensic evidence for Germanicus' poisoning is not very convincing to modern eyes; probably it wasn't even to the ancients:

(De Vita XII Caesarum, Gaius, Ch. I, sec. II):

 

"Germanicus... died of a lingering illness at Antioch, in the thirty-fourth year of his age. There was some suspicion that he was poisoned; for besides the dark spots which appeared all over his body and the froth which flowed from his mouth, after he had been reduced to ashes his heart was found entire among his bones; and it is supposed to be a characteristic of that organ that when steeped in poison it cannot be destroyed by fire."

[Marius Romilius]

Salve Civii -

 

Here's some little bits to keep us occupied:

 

Name the 2 heads of the Praetorian Guard under Tiberius' reign, and the actor's names.

 

What is the name of the slave who Tiberius asked to throw Thrysyllus off the cliff in Rhodes?

 

What is the name of Augustus' friend who accompanies him to visit Posthumus on the island he was banished to (Pandeteria, or was it Planasia)?

 

What is the woman poisoner's name who Livia got to before Agrippina's people did during Piso's trial?

 

Let's give it a spin!

 

Marius

[JGolomb]

What is the woman poisoner's name who Livia got to before Agrippina's people did during Piso's trial?

 

Martina?

[Marius Romilius]

What is the woman poisoner's name who Livia got to before Agrippina's people did during Piso's trial?

 

Martina?

 

Yes, it is Martina. Take a crack at the others?

[Marius Romilius]

Edited August 31, 2009 by Marius Romilius

[Marius Romilius]

Salve -

 

Let's keep the Claudius Trivia coming!

 

Here's one for you.....

 

Whose wife has a horn on her nose (Livia compared it to the Rhinoceros being paraded at the Games of Marcellus)?

 

Marius

Edited August 31, 2009 by Marius Romilius