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succeed him. Then, Marcellus mysteriously died. So his widow Julia married again, this time to Agrippa. The pair had two sons, Gaius and Lucius, that Augustus then named as his heirs. But strangely enough, each of those young men fell ill and died too. It seemed that being first in line for the throne was a dangerous place to be, especially if you stood in front of Livia’s son. Every time Augustus named an heir who was not Tiberius, he seemed to keel over prematurely. Was Livia lucky or what?
    Seems that Rome was no different from modern times when it comes to conspiracy theories. Romans and other historians from classic times onward declared that Livia poisoned off Augustus’s heirs until he was forced to tapTiberius to be the next emperor. They even go so far as to claim that after Tiberius’s appointment as heir, Livia killed Augustus himself with poisoned figs. Augustus did mysteriously become ill and was called to that great marble palace in the sky.
    Everyone seemed to bite the Roman dust except Livia and her son. Hmm. Mighty suspicious.
    Only lately have some historians said that Livia got a bum rap and was no murderess. They say that the biographers in ancient times blamed Livia for all those deaths because she was such a powerful woman and much resented by all those men, especially her own son Tiberius.
THIS IS THE THANKS SHE GOT?
    However she got it, Livia enjoyed the authority that came her way when Tiberius came to power, but her son didn’t necessarily enjoy it. Tiberius, who by this time was 46, resented her interference and did not welcome her help in the way Augustus had. Rumor has it that he left Rome and moved to Capri to get away from her. He visited her once in the last three years of her life, and only for an hour or two then. Tiberius’s resentment even lasted beyond the grave. After Livia’s death, he refused to honor her will or attend her funeral.
    But not everyone had as bad an opinion of Livia as her son. When she died at age 86, the Roman senate dedicated an arch to her, honoring her “acts of kindness and generosity.” It was the first and last time ancient Rome gave that honor to a woman.

Honor Thy Stepmom
    It’s only natural. Just ask Honest Abe.
    T hanks to fairy tales, we’ve all heard of the wicked stepmother. But how about the wonderful step-mother or blessed stepmother? Unfamiliar as those phrases sound, they made perfect sense to Abraham Lincoln. Few people realize that as far as mothers of presidents go, one of the most important First Mothers in American history was in fact First Stepmother Sarah Bush Lincoln. Without her loving assistance, one of the country’s greatest presidents might never have made it into politics—he might not have even survived.
    A celebrity in life and death, Lincoln’s life has been thoroughly examined by historians. Scholars have worked harder than the National Enquirer to dig up Honest Abe’s secrets and scandals. There are wrangles over Abe’s true parentage, whether or not he was faithful to his wife, and even whether or not he had a boyfriend! But no one argues about one vital fact in Lincoln’s bio. The future president adored his stepmother, Sarah Bush Lincoln, and she was a huge factor in his success.
LIFE WITHOUT MAMA AIN’T NO LIFE AT ALL
    In 1818, when Abe was nine years old and his sister Sarah was 11, the Lincoln family lived in tough frontier conditions in a log cabin in the southern Indiana woods near a community called Pigeon Creek. The Lincolns’ windowless cabin had a dirt floor and no door so the winter wind could whistle right on through. But a tough life turned unbearable when Abe’s hardworking mother, Nancy, fell ill and died.
    While young Abe and his sister, Sarah, grieved for their mother, they labored harder than ever. The family struggled to put food on the table and keep the cabin warm. But Thomas knew that his motherless family was floundering, so he returned to Kentucky to find a wife and left the children under