Summary

The first chapter of the Book 2 opens with a statement from a woman named Hirtia, dictated to her son Quintus, because she can no longer write. Hirtia speaks about her experience taking care of Octavius when he was young, alongside her mother. She also writes of a recent encounter with Octavius on the street, and her wonder at the fact that he remembered her.

After this statement is a section from the journal of Julia, Octavius’s daughter by Scribonia, written in A.D. 4. Julia now lives with her mother outside of Italy. She is 43, and her mother is 75, and she feels that she barely knows her mother, as she did not grow up with her, for the most part. Julia also writes that her sons Gaius and Lucius are dead.

Following this is a letter from Lucius Varius Rufus to Publius...