Livia is able to rule Augustus just as she had wanted, using subtle suggestions and her iron-clad will to shape him into a king. This is only the first of many murders that Claudius will eventually tie to Livia. After Livia discovers that her former husband is teaching the boys about his republican beliefs, Claudius’ grandfather dies suddenly while dining with friends. When the child, Claudius’s father, is born, he is sent to the household of his natural father to be raised with his brother, Tiberius. Livia is actually pregnant by Claudius’ grandfather, but she lies in order to force his hand and allow her to marry Augustus. Livia selects the up-and-coming Augustus as the ideal man for her plots and, by claiming she is pregnant by him, forces Claudius’ grandfather to divorce her. Unable to manipulate her legal husband, Livia decides to take matters into her own hands and find a husband who she would be able to control. Extremely manipulative and ambitious, Livia attempts to convince Claudius’ grandfather to seize power and become king, but he refuses to listen to her anti-republican sentiments.
At first, Livia is married to Claudius’ grandfather, a man who Claudius describes as one of the best of the Claudians. One of the worst crab apple of the Claudians is Claudius’ grandmother, Livia, a woman whose intrigues and plots will dominate the first half of Claudius’ autobiography.
In Chapter 2, Claudius begins to describe his family tree, explaining that the Claudian line has always produced two kinds of fruit: good apples and crab apples. Claudius takes the latter part of the prophecy as a sign that he is meant to write an autobiography only through his writing will he finally be free of the stammer that plagues him in his life. The Sibyl informed him that he would eventually become Emperor of Rome and, more importantly, promised him that he would “speak clear” in nineteen hundred years. Claudius also explains his decision to write this text as a fulfillment of a prophecy given to him by the Sibyl at Cumae. If there is any doubt as to his suitability for the task, Claudius assures the reader that he is an experienced historian who is writing the memoirs in a strictly confidential manner. As a historian, Claudius intends for his account to transcend the political intrigues of his day and allow future generations to understand the truth of what actually happened to the Julio-Claudian line. 41 to his entanglement in the “golden predicament” at age fifty-one. He outlines the time period from the book, describing it as a factual account of his life from his earliest memories in A.D. The novel opens with the adult Claudius introducing himself to the readers.
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