“ Whatever the fact was, Tiberius as he was just entering Illyria was summoned home by an urgent letter from his mother, and it has not been thoroughly ascertained whether at the city of Nola he found Augustus still breathing or quite lifeless. For Livia had surrounded the house and its approaches with a strict watch, and favourable bulletins were published from time to time, till, provision having been made for the demands of the crisis, one and the same report told men that Augustus was dead and that Tiberius Nero was master of the State” (Book 1). 

The angle many seem to take from this is that Livia was being secretive and ‘deceiving’ to the public so that Tiberius could return in time to become Emperor. Or that she had some kind of motive to surround the house- like not wanting people to find out she harmed Augustus.

However, I read this…