“’Twill but serve to legalize the things that I now do covertly,” he responded.
“Perchance, in his increasing years, Tiberius will make thee co-emperor?” suggested Livilla.
“Long since should I have seized the throne,” said Sejanus. “I have been too lenient towards him. But thou must marry me at once, my love. Then usurpation will seem less harsh to the people.”
“Are the soldiers still loyal to thee?” asked Livilla.
“Ay, my love, loyalty is easily bought with gold,” he replied.
“But if thou becomest emperor, what will become of Tiberius?” she inquired.
“On the day we wed, he dies,” contemptuously responded Sejanus.
“Then there are Agrippina and her sons Drusus and Caligula?” she added.
“They shall also die,” he said with cold-blooded indifference. “Now, my Livilla, thou shalt become an empress! Thy little son, Tiberius, shall be brought from Capri, and educated as the future ruler. Therefore hail to thee, O mother of a line of emperors! Hail to thee! Our lives, my love, must be united in matrimony. Our ambitious plans have been too intricately interwoven for us longer to live separated.”
“Be it as thou wishest, my love,” she acquiesced, dazzled by the promise of so much glory.