My friends, you must leave me now. Go. Do not weep, I will never abandon you. I suspect I shall be seated amongst the Gods in little time at all. Now go, my breath is ebbing and we must be alone.
If I have played my part well, clap your hands, and dismiss me with applause from the stage.

Oh my dear and faithful wife, did you like the performance? Did I play my part well? Oh Livia, not you too! Cease your tears, is one not allowed his deathbed humour? Please, I cannot bear to see you like this. Livia my love, my dear sweet dutiful wife! You and you alone have made me what I am. No, do not deny it! You know the truth of it as well as I do. Where would I be now without you? I would have been slain long ago, in some revolution or some ambitious man's proscriptions. Instead I am here, at the end of my natural life. An old man, Livia. And I am grateful for it. You remember how everytime I heard that an eminent man had died peacefully in his bed, how I used to pray to the Gods I might one day taste that delight? Well I thank them now, Livia, with all my heart! Please do not cry for me, it will not be too long before we shall see each other again.

Ah but it was a performance, was it not? Rome was my stage and the Senators and People my audience. And we fooled them, did we not? We made them believe the performance was real! We deceived them, my love. No, it is not too strong a word! Yet, some days I wish I'd had the strength to step down. We had a glorious Republic once. We had Liberty once, though I do not remember those days. No my love, I am not delirious. I see things clearer than ever. Oh it was selfish of me! I always put my safety first, my power above all else. The Republic will never live again and long from now men will say it was because of me. Not my father, not Marcus Antonius, but me. How will they look on me, Livia? Will they praise me or condemn me? Oh I know the Senate will deify me, but men shall not always be so pious. There will come a time when they shall speak openly and with irreverence of the Gods, then what shall such men say of the Divine Augustus?

It is true, they say I rebuilt Rome, refounded the Republic. Yes, that is what they say now, but shall they always? Your son Tiberius is not like me, he lacks the same subtlety. I fear he may trip on stage, Livia. I fear he may fall before the People and tear the curtain from before their eyes, exposing a despot. You've always bade me hold on to my power, but why? Surely I could have retired. Men of any status would not have dared attack me. The Roman People would always have cherished me in their hearts. I would have been assured of my legacy! Look at the Dictator Sulla Felix! Men may accuse him of being ruthless and cruel, but how could anyone call him power-hungry? He laid down his Dictatorship after one year and walked unguarded through the Forum to pass his last days in merriment and peace, and yet for how many decades have I clung on to my own powers in cowardice and fear?

For I am a coward, my love! You know that better than anyone. All the Triumphs I have ever been decreed were earned for me by better men. Every power or office I have ever accumulated has been by guile and deceit. And sometimes I think no one sees that but you. Sometimes I think the whole world is blind. It disgusts me. No, do not interrupt me! Your son shall bring out the worst of this whole situation. He shall bare the face of tyranny, I swear! If Rome must be ruled by a King, there are a hundred men better and fitter to fill that post than him. And yet you pushed for him all your life, and why? Answer me! Where are my sons? My beautiful Gaius and Lucius! Why did they have to die so young? God of the Capitol, why did you take them from me? And where is my dear Drusus? My sweet Marcellus, so full of hope and promise? Where is my daughter Julia?

Yes, but she was my daughter! Yes, you say it again and again! She was unchaste and immoral but she was still my daughter! Now she lives her life in exile, deprived of human company. Like her son Postumus, cast away on that island. I went to see him, you know. Yes well I did not tell you, I knew how you'd react. I did some research on this matter, the charges against him were lies. Complete fabrications! But however hard I looked I could not trace their source. Anyway, I saw him. I visited him on that wretched isle and we wept together. No man deserves that punishment, all alone on that barren rock. I have given orders to have him freed, messengers have been sent already. Where are you going? Do not leave me, my love! Not lying as I am on the very brink of death!

Please, stay until I breathe my last. I am filled with regret, my love. I am overcome with remorse for what I have done. They say I saved Rome but what have I really done? Men will come who are not fit to rule, to hold sway over a people once proud and free. We were once renowned among the world for our liberty! Now Eastern despots sneer at our hypocrisy. Perhaps in these dreadful days a barbarian sees things clearer than the Romans. No, this is not nonsense! I know what I am saying. Soon the world will worship me as a God. As Romulus is worshipped. Romulus the King. Augustus Imperator. I cannot do it! Fetch my scribes! I must rescind this while the Fates allow me to live!

Livia, do you hear me? Fetch my scribes! I haven't got long! Livia, what are you doing? My love!... It was you, wasn't it? It was you all along! All those I've loved have fallen before their time or been exiled. All at your instigation. All at your own considered advice. Do you see what you have done? You conjurer, you witch! You have outplayed me. This fatal sickness, this is your doing, isn't it? You would rule yourself if Rome would allow it! Instead... instead you have chosen to rule through your fickle son. You... you loved power, not I! I would have given it up in an instant but you... you made me keep and accumulate it. You... my love for you... it kept me blind! Well now I see... Guards!! My friends, return to me! Guards, I have been betrayed! Help me! I cannot breathe... you murderess... you're choking me! Gu-ards!...