(chapters 24-31).
Agrippina is wed: she at once enacts the role of a Messalina: at length
she murders Claudius (chapters 32-35).
These events occurred during the remainder of the consulship of C. Cæsar
(4th) and Cn. Sentius Saturninus, together with 13 other years in which
the following held the consulship.
Claudius Cæsar Aug. (II), C. Cæcina Largus. (A.D. 42 = a. u. 795 = Second
of Claudius, from Jan. 24th.)
Claudius Cæsar Aug. (III), L. Vitellius (II). (A.D. 43 = a. u. 796 =
Third of Claudius.)
L. Quinctius Crispinus (II), M. Statilius Taurus. (A.D. 44 = a. u. 797 =
Fourth of Claudius.)
M. Vinicius (II), T. Statilius Taurus Corvinus. (A.D. 45 = a. u. 798 =
Fifth of Claudius.)
Valerius Asiaticus (II), M. Iunius Silanus. (A.D. 46 = a. u. 799 = Sixth
of Claudius.)
Claudius Cæsar Aug. (IV), L. Vitellius (III). (A.D. 47 = a. u. 800 =
Seventh of Claudius.)
A. Vitellius, L. Vipsanius. (A.D. 48 = a. u. 801 = Eighth of Claudius.)
C. Pompeius Longinus Gallus, Q. Veranius. (A.D. 49 = a. u. 802 = Ninth of
Claudius.)
C. Antistius Vetus, M. Suillius Nervilianus. (A.D. 50 = a. u. 803 = Tenth
of Claudius.)
Claudius Cæsar Aug. (V), Ser. Cornelius Orfitus. (A.D. 51 = a. u. 804 =
Eleventh of Claudius.)
Cornelius Sulla Faustus, L. Salvius Otho Titianus. (A.D. 52 = a. u. 805 =
Twelfth of Claudius.)
Dec. Iunius Silanus Torquatus, Q. Haterius Antoninus. (A.D. 53 = a. u.
806 = Thirteenth of Claudius.)
M. Asinius Marcellus, Manius Acilius Aviola. (A.D. 54 = a. u. 807 =
Fourteenth of Claudius--to October 13th.)
_(BOOK 60, BOISSEVAIN.)_
[A.D. 41 (_a. u._ 794)]
[-1-] When Gaius perished in the manner described, the consuls despatched
guards to every quarter of the city and gathered the senate on the
Capitol, where many diverse opinions were uttered. Some favored a
democracy, some a monarchy; some were for choosing this man, and others
that. Therefore they spent the rest of the day and the whole night
without accomplishing anything. Meanwhile some soldiers who had entered
the palace for the purpose of making spoil of something or other found
Claudius hidden away in a dark corner. He was attending Gaius when the
latter came out of the theatre, and at this time through fear of the
confusion had crouched down out of the way. At first, the men thinking
that he was some one else and perhaps had something worth taking dragged
him out. Afterwards, on recognizing him, they hailed him as emperor and
conducted him to the camp. Then in company with their comrades they
delivered to him the entire power of government, inasmuch as he was of
the imperial race and was regarded as suitable. In spite of his shrinking
and remonstrance the more he attempted to avoid the honor and to resist
the more did the soldiers in turn insist upon not accepting an emperor
from others but upon their own right to establish such a sovereign over
the entire world. Hence, with a show of reluctance, he yielded. The
consuls for a time sent tribunes and others forbidding him to assume any
such authority and to submit to the jurisdiction of the people and the
senate and the laws; but, when their attendant soldiers left them in the
lurch, then finally they too yielded and voted him all the remaining
privileges pertaining to sole rulership.
[-2-] So it was that Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, the son of
Drusus child of Livia, obtained the imperial power without having been
previously tested at all in any position of authority, save only that he
had been consul. He was fifty years of age. In mental development he was
by no means inferior, having been through a sufficient education to do
a little history writing, but physically he was frail, and his head and
hands shook a little. Hence his voice was also faltering and he did not
himself read all the measures that he introduced before the senate but
would give them to the quæstor to read,--though at first, at least,
he was regularly present. Whatever he did read in person he generally
recited sitting down. He was the first of the Romans, too, to employ a
covered chair,--which has led to the present custom which prescribes that
not only the emperors be carried in chairs but we ex-consuls, as well.
Before this time, Augustus, Tiberius, and some others used to be carried
sometimes in litters such as women even at the present day affect. These
infirmities, however, were not the cause of nearly so much trouble to
him as were the freedmen and women with whom he associated; for more
conspicuously than any of his peers he was ruled by slaves and by women.
From a child he had been reared with careful nursing and in the midst of
terror and had for that reason feigned simplicity to a greater extent
than was really true this fact he himself admitted in the senate: and as
he had lived for a long time with his grandmother Livia and for another
long period with his mother Antonia and again with liberti, and moreover
had had several amours with women, he had acquired no qualities becoming
a freeman, but although ruler of all the Romans and their subjects he was
himself nothing more nor less than a slave. They would take advantage of
him particularly when he was inclined to drink and sexual intercourse,
for in both these directions he was quite insatiable and on such
occasions was exceedingly easy to master. Moreover, he was afflicted by
cowardice, which frequently roused in him so great alarm that he could
not calculate anything as he ought. They anticipated this failing of his,
too, and it was no inconsiderable help toward getting the better of him.
By frightening him half to death they would reap great benefits, and in
other people they inspired so much fear that--to give an epitome of the
situation--once when a number were on the same day invited to dinner by
Claudius and again by his dependents, the guests neglected him on
some indifferent pretext and presented themselves at the feast of his
companions.
[-3-] Though, generally speaking, he was the sort of character described,
still he performed not a few valuable services whenever he was free from
the influences mentioned and was master of himself. I shall take up his
acts in detail.
All honors voted to him he immediately accepted, except the title
"Father," and this he afterward took: yet he did not at once enter the
senate, but delayed as late as the thirtieth day. The fact that he had
seen Gaius perish as he did and now learned that some other candidates,
presumably superior to himself, had been proposed for emperor by the
senatorial body made him a little timid. Therefore he exercised great
caution at all points and caused all men and women who approached him to
be searched, for fear they might have a dagger. At banquets he made sure
there were some soldiers present,--a custom which, set by him, continues
to this day. That of invariable search was brought to an end by
Vespasian. He put to death Chairea and some others in spite of his
pleasure at the death of Gaius. In other words he looked far ahead to
ensure his own safety, and was not so much grateful to the man for having
by his deed enabled him to get the empire as he was displeased at the
idea of any one assassinating an emperor. He acted in this matter not as
an avenger of Gaius but as one who had caught a person plotting against
himself. As a sequel to this murder Sabinus also died by his own hand,
not choosing to survive after his comrade had been executed.
As for all other citizens who had openly shown their eagerness for
a democracy or had been regarded as eligible for the supreme power.
Claudius so far from bearing malice toward them gave them honors and
offices. In plainer terms than any ruler that ever lived he promised
them immunity,--therein imitating the example of the Athenians,[1] as
he said,--and it was no mere promise, but he afforded it in fact. He
abolished complaints of maiestas alike for things written and things
done and punished no one on any such charge for either earlier or later
offences. He invented no complaint for the sake of persecuting those who
had wronged or insulted him when he was a private citizen; and there were
many who had done this, particularly as he was deemed of no importance,
and to please either Tiberius or Gaius. If, however, he found them guilty
of some other crime, he would take vengeance on them also for their
former abuse. [-4-] The taxes introduced in the reign of Gaius and
whatever other measures had led to denunciation of the latter's acts were
done away with by Claudius, not all at once but as opportunity offered.
He also brought back such persons as Gaius had unjustly exiled,---among
others the latter's sisters Agrippina and Julia,--and restored to them,
their property. Of those imprisoned,--and a very great number were in
this predicament,--he liberated such as were suffering for maiestas or
any similar complaints, but real criminals he punished.
He investigated the cases very carefully, in order that those who had
committed crimes should not be released on account of the victims of
blackmail, nor yet the latter be ruined on account of the former. Nearly
every day either in company with the entire senate or alone he would sit
on a platform trying cases, generally in the Forum, but occasionally
elsewhere. In fact, he renewed the custom of having men sit as his
colleagues, which had been abandoned ever since Tiberius withdrew to the
island. Very often he joined the consuls and the prætors and especially
those having charge of the finances in their investigations, and some few
matters he turned over entirely to the various courts. He destroyed the
poisons (which were found in great variety among the effects of Gaius);
and the books of Protogenes (who was put to death) together with the
documents which Gaius pretended to have burned but which were actually
found in the imperial archives he showed to the senators and gave them to
the latter, to the very men who had written them, no less than to those
against whom they had been written, to read: afterward he burned them up.
Yet, when the senate manifested a desire to dishonor Gaius, he personally
prevented such a measure from being voted, but on his own responsibility
caused all of his predecessor's images to disappear by night. Hence the
name of Gaius does not occur in the list of emperors whom we mention
in oaths and prayers any more than that of Tiberius. Neither of them,
however, suffered any official disgrace.
[-5-] Accordingly, the unjust institutions set up by Gaius and by others
on his account Claudius overturned. To Drusus his father and Antonia
his mother he offered horse-races on their birthdays, putting off to
different days the festivals which would occur on the same dates, in
order that there should not be two celebrations at once. His grandmother
Livia was not only honored by equestrian contests, but was deified, and
he set up a statue to her in the temple of Augustus, charging the vestal
virgins with the duty of offering sacrifice in proper form. He also
ordered that women should use her name in taking oaths.
Though he paid such reverence to his ancestors, he himself would accept
nothing beyond the names pertaining to his office. On the first day of
August, to be sure,--his birthday,--there were equestrian contests, but
not on his account: it was because the temple of Mars had been dedicated
on that day, which had consequently been distinguished thereafter by
annual contests.
Beside moderation in this respect he further forbade any one's worshiping
him or offering him any sacrifice; he checked the many excessive
acclamations accorded him; and he accepted only one image,--of
silver,--and two statues, of bronze and stone, that had been voted to
him at the start. All such expenditures, he declared, were useless and
furthermore inflicted great loss and great annoyance upon the city. All
the temples and all the rest of the public works had been filled with
statues and votive offerings, so that he said he should have to make it
a matter of thought what to do with them. He forbade the prætors' giving
gladiatorial games and ordained that any one else who superintended them
in any place whatsoever should not allow to be written or reported the
statement that such games were being held for the emperor's preservation.
He became so used to settling all these matters by considering the merits
of each case rather than according to the dictates of custom that he
adopted the same attitude toward other departments of life. For instance,
when this year he betrothed one of his daughters to Lucius Junius Silanus
and gave the other in marriage to Gnæus Pompeius Magnus, he did nothing
out of the common to commemorate the occasion, but attended the courts
in person on those days and convened the senate as usual. He ordered his
sons-in-law temporarily to hold office among the viginti viri, and later
to act as prefects of the city at the Feriæ. After a long interval he
gave them the right to stand for the other offices five years sooner than
was customary.
Gaius had despoiled this Pompeius of his title _Magnus_ and came very
near killing him because he was so named. Yet out of contempt for him,
since he was still but a boy, he did not go to such extremes, and merely
abolished the offending epithet, saying that it was not safe for any one
to be called Magnus. Claudius now restored to him this title and gave him
his daughter to wife.
[-6-] These were certainly commendable actions. In addition, when at one
time in the senate the consuls came down from their seats to talk with
him, he rose in turn and went to meet them. In Naples he lived entirely
like a private citizen. He and his associates while there adopted the
Greek manner of life invariably; at the musical entertainments he would
wear cloak and military boots, and at the gymnastic exercises a purple
robe and golden crown. His action, moreover, in regard to money was
remarkable, for he forbade any one to bring him contributions, as had
been customary in the reigns of Augustus and of Gaius, and he refused
to allow any person to name him as heir if such person possessed any
relatives whatever. Indeed, the funds that had been confiscated by
government order during the period of Tiberius and Gaius he gave back
either to the victims themselves, if they still survived, or otherwise to
their children.
It had been the custom[2] that if any slightest detail were carried out
contrary to precedent on the occasion of the games these should be given
over again, as I have stated. But since such occasions were frequent,
occurring a third, fourth, fifth, and sometimes tenth time, and this
partly by accident but generally by intention on the part of those
benefited by these happenings, he enacted a law that on only one day
should the equestrian contests take place a second time; in fact,
however, he usually abrogated this privilege also. The schemers
henceforth easily avoided falling into irregularities, as they gained
very little by so doing.
In the matter of the Jews, who had again increased so greatly that by
reason of their multitude it would have been hard without raising a
tumult to bar them from the City, he decided not to drive them out, but
ordered them to follow that mode of life prescribed by their ancestral
custom and not to assemble in numbers.--The clubs instituted by Gaius he
disbanded.--Also, seeing that there was no use in forbidding the populace
to do certain things unless their daily life should be reorganized,
he abolished the taverns where they were wont to gather and drink and
commanded that no dressed meat nor warm water[3] should be sold. Some who
disobeyed this ordinance were punished.
He restored to the various cities the statues which Gaius was in the
habit of requiring them to send, restored also to the Dioscuri
their temple and to Pompey the right of naming the theatre. On the
stage-building of the latter he inscribed also the name of Tiberius,
because that emperor had rebuilt the structure when it was burned. His
own name he had chiseled there likewise (not because he had reared it
but because he had dedicated it), but on no other part of the edifice.
Likewise he did not wear the triumphal garb the entire time of the games,
though permission was voted to him, but appeared in it merely to
offer sacrifice; the rest of the festival he superintended in the
purple-bordered garment.
[-7-] He introduced in the orchestra among others knights and women who
were his peers, who had been accustomed in the reign of Gaius so to
appear regularly. The reason was not that he liked their performance,
but that he wanted a proof of their past behavior. Certainly none of them
was again marshaled on the stage during the era of Claudius. The Pyrrhic
dance, which the boys sent for by Gaius were practicing, they were
allowed to perform once, were honored with citizenship for it, and were
then dismissed. Others, in turn, chosen from among the retinue, then gave
exhibitions.--This was what took place in theatrical circles.
In the hippodrome twelve camels and horses had one contest, and three
hundred bears together with an equal number of Libyan beasts were
slaughtered. Previous to this time the different classes in attendance
had watched the spectacle each from its own special location,--senators,
knights, and populace; thus it had come to be a regular practice, yet no
definite positions had been assigned to them. [-8-] It was at this time
that Claudius marked off the space which still belongs to the senate,
and furthermore he allowed those senators who chose to view the sights
somewhere else and even in citizen's dress. After this he banqueted the
senators and their wives, the knights, and likewise the tribes.
Next he restored Commagene to Antiochus, for Gaius, though he had himself
given him the district, had taken it away again; and Mithridates the
Iberian, whom Gaius had summoned only to imprison, he sent home again to
resume his sovereignty. To another Mithridates, a lineal descendant of
Mithridates the Great, he granted Bosporus, giving to Polemon some land
in Cilicia in place of it. He enlarged the domain of Agrippa of Palestine
(who, happening to be in Rome, had helped him become emperor), and
bestowed on him consular honors. To the latter's brother Herod he gave
pretorial dignities and some authority. They were allowed to enter the
senate and to express their thanks to him in Greek.--Now these were the
acts of Claudius himself, and they were lauded by all.
But certain other deeds were done at this time of an entirely different
nature by his freedmen and by his wife, Valeria Messalina. She became
enraged at her niece Julia because the latter neither paid her honor nor
flattered her; and she was also jealous because the girl was extremely
beautiful and had been the only one to enjoy the favor of Claudius
several times. Accordingly, she had her banished by bringing against her
among other complaints that of adultery (for which Annius Seneca was also
exiled) and after a while she succeeded in procuring Julia's death. As
for the freedmen, it was they who persuaded Claudius to accept triumphal
honors for his deeds in Mauretania, though he had not been successful and
had not yet attained imperial power when the end of the war came. This
same year, however, Sulpicius Galba overcame the Chatti, and Publius
Gabinius conquered the Cauchi[4] beside winning fame in other ways; for
instance, he recovered a military eagle, the only one left among the
enemy from the catastrophe of Varus. Through the exploits of both of
these men Claudius received a title of imperator that had some foundation
in fact.
[A.D. 42 (_a. u._ 795)]
[-9-] The next year the same Moors were again subdued in fighting with
him. Suetonius Paulinus, one of the ex-prætors, overran their country
as far as the Atlantic. Gnæus Hosidius Geta, one of the peers, making a
subsequent campaign, advanced at once against their general Salabus and
conquered him two separate times. And when the latter after leaving a few
soldiers near the frontier to hold back any who might pursue took refuge
in the sandy part of the country, Geta ventured to follow him. First
stationing a part of his army opposite the hostile detachment that was
awaiting him he provided himself with as much water as was feasible, and
pushed forward. When this supply gave out and no more could be found,
he was caught in an exceedingly unpleasant position. The barbarians,
especially since through habit they can endure thirst an exceedingly long
time, and through knowledge of the country can always get _some_ water,
had no trouble in maintaining themselves. The Romans, for the opposite
reasons, found it impossible to advance and difficult to withdraw. While
Geta was in a dilemma as to what he should do, one of the natives who was
at peace with the invaders persuaded him to make use of incantations and
enchantments, telling him that as a result of such procedure abundant
water had frequently been granted them. No sooner had he taken this
advice than so much rain burst from heaven as to allay the soldiers'
thirst entirely, beside scaring the enemy, who thought the gods were
assisting the Roman. Consequently they came to terms voluntarily and
ended their warfare.--After these events Claudius divided the Moors who
were in subjection into two districts, namely, the country about Tengis
and that about Cæsarea, these cities giving their names to the whole
region; and he appointed two knights as governors. At this same period
certain parts of Numidia also were involved in warfare by neighboring
barbarians, and when the latter had been conquered returned to a state of
repose.
[-10-] The office of consul Claudius held in conjunction with Gaius
Largus. He allowed the latter to continue consul for a whole year, but as
for himself he remained a magistrate only two months at this time. He had
the rest swear to the deeds of Augustus, and was himself sworn, but in
regard to his own deeds he allowed no such procedure on the part of any
one. On leaving the office he took the oath again, like other people.
This was always his practice, every time he was consul.
About this period certain speeches of Augustus and Tiberius were being
read according to decree on the first of the month, and when they had
kept the senators busy till evening he ended the reading, declaring that
it was sufficient for them to be engraved on tablets.
Some prætors who were entrusted with the administration of the funds
having incurred charges, he did not take legal measures against them, but
made the rounds of those who sold goods and let buildings, and corrected
whatever he deemed to be abuses. This he did also on numerous other
occasions.--There were likewise peculiarities in the appointment of the
prætors, for their number was now fourteen or eighteen or somewhere
between, just as it happened.--Beside this action with reference to the
finances he established a board of three ex-prætors to collect debts
owing the government, granting them lictors and the usual force of
assistants.