Octavian and Mark Anthony were two members of the second triumvirate - an alliance which initially proved to be mutually beneficial to them. However, the relationship between Octavian and Anthony started to decline after the battle of Philippi. The brother and wife of Mark Anthony, Lucius Antonius and Fulvia, attacked Octavian and temporarily declared Anthony the sole leader of the Roman empire. Subsequently, Octavian attempted to take Anthony's province of transalpine Gaul. Anthony and Octavian then came to an agreement through the pact of Brundisium. Through this pact, Anthony married Octavia, Octavian's sister. But when Anthony went east and began his relationship with Cleopatra, he sent Octavia back to Italy. He also declared Caesarion the true heir to the Roman empire, a direct affront to Octavian. The breaking point for Octavian was the "Donations of Alexandria", a ceremony during which which the eastern provinces of Rome were distributed by Anthony to Cleopatra and her children. This demonstrated Anthony prioritizing Egypt over Rome, and by extension, Cleopatra over Octavia. This provided Octavian with material to use as propaganda to sow mistrust of Anthony in the western Roman empire. This also provided Octavian with justification to carry out the illegal act of reading Anthony's will in public.

Sulla's answer to the envoys inquiring why he was marching against his country was "To deliver her from tyrants". This is an incredible statement from Sulla, as he is referring to Marius and Sulpicius, who were both populist leaders in Rome at the time. Sulpicius, a tribune of the plebs, gave political say to the newly incorporated Italian allies, which the senate opposed to the point that a justitium was declared by the consuls. This was only changed when a mob attacked Sulla, one of the consuls at the time, and after Sulla sought refuge with Marius, Marius made him lift the justitium. Sulla himself was a traditionalist who wanted to stabilize the Republic by giving power back to the Senate. His oligarchical goals even caused him to bring back the position of dictator, when Rome had not had one in over a century. Though he may have claimed to want to save Rome from tyranny, he arguably brought Rome much closer to it. He would eventually institute proscriptions to kill political rivals, remove his own term limits and give himself the power to enact laws.

Livy's recounting of history tends to use a lot of superstition to justify a decision or an event taking place. An earlier example of this was the use of the augury to determine whether Romulus or Remus should be King of Rome, during which Romulus saw double the amount of birds that Remus did. This indirectly justified the killing of Remus by Romulus - and Romulus going on to rule Rome. In the same way, this account about Lucumo solidifies the decision made by Tanaquil to move to Rome. An incredible event is described by Livy, an eagle swooping down, picking up Lucumo's cap, and then "carefully" replacing it on his head. This is so improbable, that to Livy this is a sign of favor from heaven, rather than just an extremely unlikely event. Livy's background likely contributes significantly to his emphasis on superstition. From the Wikipedia article, Livy was known to be proud of his home town of Patavium, which was known for being morally and politically conservative. His conservative viewpoint likely made him use a traditional "storytelling" style for his historical accounts, valuing the effects of heaven and the Gods on the events that he described.