Livia had become priestess of Augustus’ cult and was thereafter accompanied by a lictor—a bearer of bundled rods, symbolizing the right to use force as an instrument of control. Agrippina, in fact, saw to it that she would outstrip her predecessor. The senatorial acts that deified Claudius awarded her two lictors to Livia’s one. They also set aside funds for a colossal new temple in central Rome, to be superintended by Agrippina as flamen or head priestess.
