After years of civil war, Augustus became the first emperor of Rome. His only child was Julia, not what he needed for an heir
When Julia was 15 he married her to his nephew Marcellus, not unwelcomed by Julia. But his plan for grandchildren she did find unwelcome.
A scene from a father-daughter encounter on Julia's 16th birthday follows:
Augustus found his daughter in the garden, dancing with abandon around the statue of Apollo. He approached her:
"My princess looks happy on the occasion of her sixteenth birthday" he said
"You remembered. OhTata, I knew you would. Marcellus is so big headed now that he's an aedile, he forgets I am alive. But you brought me a present. What is it? Come on Tata. I know it's behind you. Give it to me."
"Julia, you're incorrigibile, and yes I have a present" He handed her the seal skin amulet on a long leather throng. It was without question the ugliest thing she had ever seen, a wrinkled brown leather disk the size of an egg, suspended on the ugly thong. Julia's first thought was it belonged on the neck of a dog.
She stared at it. "It's horrid. What is it?"
"My pet, it will ward off all evil and assure you great luck. It has served me on many occasions, and I am told that soon after you put it on you will become pregnant."
:But Tata, it's so ugly, and besides I don't want to be pregnant. Pregnant women are so fat an ugly."
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