Editing Agrippa Postumus (section)

==Exile==
[[File:Augustus Bevilacqua Glyptothek Munich 317.jpg|thumb|left|{{lang|la|Augustus Bevilacqua}}, a bust of Emperor Augustus wearing the [[civic crown]]]]
In AD 6, an uprising began in the Roman province of [[Illyricum (Roman province)|Illyricum]]. Augustus sent Tiberius to crush the revolt with his army, and after a year of delayed results, he sent Germanicus in his capacity as [[quaestor]] to assist in bringing the war to a swift end.<ref>Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/55*.html#31 LV.31]</ref> The reason, Dio says, that Germanicus was chosen over Postumus is because Postumus was of an "illiberal nature".<ref>Cassius Dio, ''Roman History'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/55*.html#32 LV.32]</ref>

Postumus was known for being brutish, insolent, stubborn and potentially violent. He possessed great physical strength and reportedly showed little interest in anything other than fishing. He resisted all efforts to improve his behavior, which forced Augustus to "abdicate" him from the {{lang|la|Julii}} in AD 6 and banish him to a villa at [[Surrentum]], near [[Pompeii]].<ref name=Vagi111/><ref name=Mudd116/> As an abdicated adoptee ({{lang|la|adoptatus abdicatus}}), he lost the Julian name and returned to the {{lang|la|gens Vipsania}}. The ancient historian [[Velleius Paterculus]] had this to say of the banishment:<ref name=Powell193>{{harvnb|Powell|2015|p=193}}</ref>{{Verse translation|lang=la|Hoc fere tempore Agrippa... mira pravitate animi atque ingenii in praecipitia conversus patris atque eiusdem avi sui animum alienavit sibi, moxque crescentibus in dies vitiis dignum furore suo habuit exitum.|About this time Agrippa... alienated from himself the affection of his father who was also his grandfather, falling into reckless ways by an amazing depravity of attitude and intellect; and soon, as his vices increased daily, he met the end which his madness deserved.|attr1=Velleius Paterculus 2.112.7|attr2={{harvnb|Pettinger|2012|p=103}}}}

The following year, in 7 AD, Augustus had the Senate make Postumus' banishment permanent and had him moved to [[Planasia]] (now [[Pianosa]], Italy), a small island between Italy and [[Corsica]]. Augustus bolstered the natural inaccessibility of the rocky island by having an armed guard installed there. The Senate was ordered never to allow his release.<ref name=Vagi111/><ref>{{harvnb|Mudd|2012|pp=116–117}}</ref>

No consensus has emerged as to why Augustus banished Postumus. [[Tacitus]] suggests that Augustus' wife, Livia, had always disliked and shunned Postumus, as he stood in the way of her son Tiberius succeeding to power after Augustus since Postumus was a direct biological descendant of Augustus, unlike Tiberius. Some modern historians theorise that Postumus may have become involved in a conspiracy against Augustus.<ref>{{harvnb|Norwood|1963|p=153}}</ref> Postumus was held under intense security.<ref>Suetonius, ''The Lives of the Twelve Caesars'', Life of Augustus 65</ref>

Postumus' sister Julia was banished around the same time (AD 8), and her husband, [[Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 1)|Lucius Aemilius Paullus]], was executed for allegedly plotting a conspiracy against Augustus. There was later a conspiracy to rescue Julia and Postumus by Lucius Audasius and Asinius Epicadus. Audasius was an accused forger of advanced age, and Asinius was half-Illyrian. According to [[Suetonius]], Audasius and Epicadus had planned to take Julia and Postumus by force to the armies. It is unclear what their exact plan was or even to which armies Suetonius was referring because the conspiracy was discovered early in its planning, possibly before they had even left Rome.<ref>Suetonius, ''The Lives of the Twelve Caesars'', Life of Augustus 19</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Pettinger|2012|pp=138–141}}</ref>

===Events of AD 14===
[[File:Tiberius bust.jpg|thumb|right|A bust of Tiberius conserved in Paris at the [[Louvre]]]]
Augustus made no effort to contact Postumus until AD 14. In the summer of that year, Augustus left Rome, never to see the capital again. The main ancient sources of information about the period, Tacitus and Cassius Dio, suggest that Augustus left Rome in the company of only one trusted friend, the senator [[Paullus Fabius Maximus]]. They left for Planasia to pay Augustus' banished grandson a highly-controversial visit.<ref name=Fox471>{{harvnb|Fox|2006|p=471}}</ref>

Fabius and then Augustus died on their return without revealing what they had been doing.<ref name=Fox471/> Tacitus reports their visit to Planasia as a rumour although Dio reports it as fact. According to the historian [[Robin Lane Fox]], the alleged visit has sometimes been dismissed by modern scholars. However, it has been shown that Augustus and Fabius were absent from Rome in mid-May of AD 14. Augustus' adopted grandson, [[Drusus the Younger]], was then being admitted into the [[Arval Brethren]], and an inscription (''[[Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae|ILS]]'', 5026) shows that both Augustus and Fabius voted {{lang|la|in absentia}} to admit him into the priesthood.<ref>{{harvnb|Fox|2006|pp=471–472}}</ref>

There was much gossip over the outcome of their expedition. Tacitus recounts the rumour that Augustus had decided to reverse his decision and make Postumus his successor. In his account, Fabius indiscreetly told his wife what had occurred during the trip, and that cost him his life. Augustus' wife, Livia, too was said to have poisoned her husband to prevent Postumus from becoming the successor and thus supplanting her son Tiberius. While modern historians, including Fox, agree that such stories are highly unlikely, there is evidence that Augustus' journey was historical. "It is the last act in Augustus' long marathon of finding and keeping an heir to the new Empire".<ref name=Fox472>{{harvnb|Fox|2006|p=472}}</ref>

===Deaths of Augustus and Postumus===
Augustus died on 19 August AD 14. Despite being banished, Postumus had not legally been disinherited and so could claim a share in Augustus' inheritance. According to Augustus' will, sealed on 3 April AD 13, Tiberius would inherit two thirds of his estate and Livia one third. There is no mention of Postumus in the document.<ref>{{harvnb|Levick|1976|p=45}}</ref> Tiberius gave the eulogy at Augustus' funeral and made a show of reluctantly accepting the title of {{lang|la|princeps}}.<ref name=Powell193/>

At almost the same time as Augustus' death, Postumus was killed by the [[centurion]] Gaius Sallustius Crispus, the great-nephew and adopted son of the historian [[Sallust]]. When Crispus reported to Tiberius that "his orders have been carried out", Tiberius threatened to bring the matter before the Senate and professed that he had given no such orders. Tiberius denied any involvement, argued that he had been ''en route'' to Illyricum when he was recalled to Rome, and later issued a statement that it was Augustus who had given the order that Agrippa Postumus not survive him. It is not clear if the killing was carried out before or after Tiberius became emperor.<ref name=Powell193/><ref name=Fox472/><ref>{{harvnb|Levick|1976|p=46}}</ref>