that the populace of Rome were extremely clamorous for the government of
a single person, and for that of Claudius in particular. This partiality
for a monarchical government proceeded from two causes. The commonalty,
from their obscure situation, were always the least exposed to
oppression, under a tyrannical prince. They had likewise ever been
remarkably fond of stage-plays and public shows, with which, as well as
with scrambles, and donations of bread and other victuals, the preceding
emperor had frequently gratified them. They had therefore less to fear,
and more to hope, from the government of a single person than any other
class of Roman citizens. With regard to the partiality for Claudius, it
may be accounted for partly from the low habits of life to which he had
been addicted, in consequence of which many of them were familiarly
acquainted with him; and this circumstance likewise increased their hope
of deriving some advantage from his accession. Exclusive of all these
considerations, it is highly probable that the populace were instigated
in favour of Claudius by the artifices of his freedmen, persons of mean
extraction, by whom he was afterwards entirely governed, and who, upon
such an occasion, would exert their utmost efforts to procure his
appointment to the throne. From the debate in the senate having
continued during (333) two days, it was evident that there was still a
strong party for restoring the ancient form of government. That they
were in the end overawed by the clamour of the multitude, is not
surprising, when we consider that the senate was totally unprovided with
resources of every kind for asserting the independence of the nation by
arms; and the commonalty, who interrupted their deliberations, were the
only people by whose assistance they ever could effect the restitution of
public freedom. To this may be added, that the senate, by the total
reduction of their political importance, ever since the overthrow of the
republic, had lost both the influence and authority which they formerly
enjoyed. The extreme cruelty, likewise, which had been exercised during
the last two reigns, afforded a further motive for relinquishing all
attempts in favour of liberty, as they might be severely revenged upon
themselves by the subsequent emperor: and it was a degree of moderation
in Claudius, which palliates the injustice of his cause, that he began
his government with an act of amnesty respecting the public transactions
which ensued upon the death of Caligula.
Claudius, at the time of his accession, was fifty years of age; and
though he had hitherto lived apparently unambitious of public honours,
accompanied with great ostentation, yet he was now seized with a desire
to enjoy a triumph. As there existed no war, in which he might perform
some military achievement, his vanity could only be gratified by invading
a foreign country, where, contrary to the advice contained in the
testament of Augustus, he might attempt to extend still further the
limits of the empire. Either Britain, therefore, or some nation on the
continent, at a great distance from the capital, became the object of
such an enterprize; and the former was chosen, not only as more
convenient, from its vicinity to the maritime province of Gaul, but on
account of a remonstrance lately presented by the Britons to the court of
Rome, respecting the protection afforded to some persons of that nation,
who had fled thither to elude the laws of their country. Considering the
state of Britain at that time, divided as it was into a number of
principalities, amongst which there was no general confederacy for mutual
defence, and where the alarm excited by the invasion of Julius Caesar,
upwards of eighty years before, had long since been forgotten; a sudden
attempt upon the island could not fail to be attended with success.
Accordingly, an army was sent over, under the command of Aulus Plautius,
an able general, who defeated the natives in several engagements, and
penetrated a considerable way into the country. Preparations for the
emperor's voyage now being made, Claudius set sail from Ostia, at the
mouth of (334) the Tiber; but meeting with a violent storm in the
Mediterranean, he landed at Marseilles, and proceeding thence to Boulogne
in Picardy, passed over into Britain. In what part he debarked, is
uncertain, but it seems to have been at some place on the south-east
coast of the island. He immediately received the submission of several
British states, the Cantii, Atrebates, Regni, and Trinobantes, who
inhabited those parts; and returning to Rome, after an absence of six
months, celebrated with great pomp the triumph, for which he had
undertaken the expedition.
In the interior parts of Britain, the natives, under the command of
Caractacus, maintained an obstinate resistance, and little progress was
made by the Roman arms, until Ostorius Scapula was sent over to prosecute
the war. He penetrated into the country of the Silures, a warlike tribe,
who inhabited the banks of the Severn; and having defeated Caractacus in
a great battle, made him prisoner, and sent him to Rome. The fame of the
British prince had by this time spread over the provinces of Gaul and
Italy; and upon his arrival in the Roman capital, the people flocked from
all quarters to behold him. The ceremonial of his entrance was conducted
with great solemnity. On a plain adjoining the Roman camp, the pretorian
troops were drawn up in martial array: the emperor and his court took
their station in front of the lines, and behind them was ranged the whole
body of the people. The procession commenced with the different trophies
which had been taken from the Britons during the progress of the war.
Next followed the brothers of the vanquished prince, with his wife and
daughter, in chains, expressing by their supplicating looks and gestures
the fears with which they were actuated. But not so Caractacus himself.
With a manly gait and an undaunted countenance, he marched up to the
tribunal, where the emperor was seated, and addressed him in the
following terms:
"If to my high birth and distinguished rank, I had added the virtues of
moderation, Rome had beheld me rather as a friend than a captive; and you
would not have rejected an alliance with a prince, descended from
illustrious ancestors, and governing many nations. The reverse of my
fortune to you is glorious, and to me humiliating. I had arms, and men,
and horses; I possessed extraordinary riches; and can it be any wonder
that I was unwilling to lose them? Because Rome aspires to universal
dominion, must men therefore implicitly resign themselves to subjection?
I opposed for a long time the progress of your arms, and had I acted
otherwise, would either you have had the glory of conquest, or I of a
brave resistance? I am now in your (335) power: if you are determined to
take revenge, my fate will soon be forgotten, and you will derive no
honour from the transaction. Preserve my life, and I shall remain to the
latest ages a monument of your clemency."
Immediately upon this speech, Claudius granted him his liberty, as he did
likewise to the other royal captives. They all returned their thanks in
a manner the most grateful to the emperor; and as soon as their chains
were taken off, walking towards Agrippina, who sat upon a bench at a
little distance, they repeated to her the same fervent declarations of
gratitude and esteem.
History has preserved no account of Caractacus after this period; but it
is probable, that he returned in a short time to his own country, where
his former valour, and the magnanimity, which he had displayed at Rome,
would continue to render him illustrious through life, even amidst the
irretrievable ruin of his fortunes.
The most extraordinary character in the present reign was that of Valeria
Messalina, the daughter of Valerius Messala Barbatus. She was married to
Claudius, and had by him a son and a daughter. To cruelty in the
prosecution of her purposes, she added the most abandoned incontinence.
Not confining her licentiousness within the limits of the palace, where
she committed the most shameful excesses, she prostituted her person in
the common stews, and even in the public streets of the capital. As if
her conduct was already not sufficiently scandalous, she obliged C.
Silius, a man of consular rank, to divorce his wife, that she might
procure his company entirely to herself. Not contented with this
indulgence to her criminal passion, she next persuaded him to marry her;
and during an excursion which the emperor made to Ostia, the ceremony of
marriage was actually performed between them. The occasion was
celebrated with a magnificent supper, to which she invited a large
company; and lest the whole should be regarded as a frolic, not meant to
be consummated, the adulterous parties ascended the nuptial couch in the
presence of the astonished spectators. Great as was the facility of
Claudius's temper in respect of her former behaviour, he could not
overlook so flagrant a violation both of public decency and the laws of
the country. Silius was condemned to death for the adultery which he had
perpetrated with reluctance; and Messalina was ordered into the emperor's
presence, to answer for her conduct. Terror now operating upon her mind
in conjunction with remorse, she could not summon the resolution to
support such an interview, but retired into the gardens of Lucullus,
there to indulge at last the compunction which she felt for her crimes,
and to meditate the entreaties by which she should endeavour to soothe
the resentment (336) of her husband. In the extremity of her distress,
she attempted to lay violent hands upon herself, but her courage was not
equal to the emergency. Her mother, Lepida, who had not spoken with her
for some years before, was present upon the occasion, and urged her to
the act which alone could put a period to her infamy and wretchedness.
Again she made an effort, but again her resolution abandoned her; when a
tribune burst into the gardens, and plunging his sword into her body, she
instantly expired. Thus perished a woman, the scandal of whose lewdness
resounded throughout the empire, and of whom a great satirist, then
living, has said, perhaps without a hyperbole,
Et lassata viris, necdum satiata, recessit.--Juvenal, Sat. VI.
It has been already observed, that Claudius was entirely governed by his
freedmen; a class of retainers which enjoyed a great share of favour and
confidence with their patrons in those times. They had before been the
slaves of their masters, and had obtained their freedom as a reward for
their faithful and attentive services. Of the esteem in which they were
often held, we meet with an instance in Tiro, the freedman of Cicero, to
whom that illustrious Roman addresses several epistles, written in the
most familiar and affectionate strain of friendship. As it was common
for them to be taught the more useful parts of education in the families
of their masters, they were usually well qualified for the management of
domestic concerns, and might even be competent to the superior
departments of the state, especially in those times when negotiations and
treaties with foreign princes seldom or never occurred; and in arbitrary
governments, where public affairs were directed more by the will of the
sovereign or his ministers, than by refined suggestions of policy.
From the character generally given of Claudius before his elevation to
the throne, we should not readily imagine that he was endowed with any
taste for literary composition; yet he seems to have exclusively enjoyed
this distinction during his own reign, in which learning was at a low
ebb. Besides history, Suetonius informs us that he wrote a Defence of
Cicero against the Charges of Asinius Gallus. This appears to be the
only tribute of esteem or approbation paid to the character of Cicero,
from the time of Livy the historian, to the extinction of the race of the
Caesars. Asinius Gallus was the son of Asinius Pollio, the orator.
Marrying Vipsania after she had been divorced by Tiberius, he incurred
the displeasure of that emperor, and died of famine, either voluntarily,
or by order of the tyrant. He wrote a comparison between his father and
Cicero, in which, with more filial partiality than justice, he gave the
preference to the former.
FOOTNOTES:
[465] A.U.C. 714.
[466] Pliny describes Drusus as having in this voyage circumnavigated
Germany, and reached the Cimbrian Chersonese, and the Scythian shores,
reeking with constant fogs.
[467] Tacitus, Annal. xi. 8, 1, mentions this fosse, and says that
Drusus sailed up the Meuse and the Waal. Cluverius places it between the
village of Iselvort and the town of Doesborg.
[468] The Spolia Opima were the spoils taken from the enemy's king, or
chief, when slain in single combat by a Roman general. They were always
hung up in the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius. Those spoils had been
obtained only thrice since the foundation of Rome; the first by Romulus,
who slew Acron, king of the Caeninenses; the next by A. Cornelius Cossus,
who slew Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, A.U. 318; and the third by M.
Claudius Marcellus, who slew Viridomarus, king of the Gauls, A.U. 330.
[469] A.U.C. 744.
[470] This epistle, as it was the habit of Augustus, is interspersed
with Greek phrases.
[471] The Alban Mount is the most interesting feature of the scenery of
the Campagna about Rome, Monti Cavo, the summit, rising above an
amphitheatre of magnificent woods, to an elevation of 2965 French feet.
The view is very extensive: below is the lake of Albano, the finest of
the volcanic lakes in Italy, and the modern town of the same name. Few
traces remain of Alba Longa, the ancient capital of Latium.
[472] On the summit of the Alban Mount, on the site of the present
convent, stood the temple of Jupiter Latialis, where the Latin tribes
assembled annually, and renewed their league, during the Feriae Latinae,
instituted by Tarquinus Superbus. It was here, also, that Roman
generals, who were refused the honours of a full triumph, performed the
ovation, and sacrificed to Jupiter Latialis. Part of the triumphal way
by which the mountain was ascended, formed of vast blocks of lava, is
still in good preservation, leading through groves of chestnut trees of
vast size and age. Spanning them with extended arms--none of the
shortest--the operation was repeated five times in compassing their
girth.
[473] CALIGULA. See c. v. of his life.
[474] A.U.C. 793. Life of CALIGULA, cc. xliv., xlv., etc.
[475] A.U.C. 794.
[476] The chamber of Mercury; the names of deities being given to
different apartments, as those "of Isis," "of the Muses," etc.
[477] See the note, p. 265.
[478] The attentive reader will have marked the gradual growth of the
power of the pretorian guard, who now, and on so many future occasions,
ruled the destinies of the empire.
[479] See AUGUSTUS, cc. xliii., xlv.
[480] Ib. c. ci.
[481] Germanicus.
[482] Naples and other cities on that coast were Greek colonies.
[483] This arch was erected in memory of the standards (the eagles) lost
by Varus, in Germany, having been recovered by Germanicus under the
auspices of Tiberius. See his Life, c. xlvii.; and Tacit. Annal. ii. 41.
It seems to have stood at the foot of the Capitol, on the side of the
Forum, near the temple of Concord; but there are no remains of it.
[484] Tacitus informs us that the same application had been made by
Tiberius. Annal. iii. The prefect of the pretorian guards, high and
important as his office had now become, was not allowed to enter the
senate-house, unless he belonged to the equestrian order.
[485] The procurators had the administration of some of the less
important provinces, with rank and authority inferior to that of the pro-
consuls and prefects. Frequent mention of these officers is made by
Josephus; and Pontius Pilate, who sentenced our Lord to crucifixion, held
that office in Judaea, under Tiberius.
[486] Pollio and Messala were distinguished orators, who flourished
under the Caesars Julius and Augustus.
[487] A.U.C. 795, 796.
[488] A.U.C. 800, 804.
[489] "Ad bestias" had become a new and frequent sentence for
malefactors. It will be recollected, that it was the most usual form of
martyrdom for the primitive Christians. Polycarp was brought all the way
from Smyrna to be exposed to it in the amphitheatre at Rome.
[490] This reminds us of the decision of Solomon in the case of the two
mothers, who each claimed a child as their own, 1 Kings iii. 22-27.
[491] A most absurd judicial conclusion, the business of the judge or
court being to decide, on weighing the evidence, on which side the truth
preponderated.
[492] See the note in CALIGULA, c. xix., as to Suetonius's sources of
information from persons cotemporary with the occurrences he relates.
[493] The insult was conveyed in Greek, which seems, from Suetonius, to
have been in very common use at Rome: kai su geron ei, kai moros.
[494] A.U.C. 798, or 800.
[495] There was a proverb to the same effect: "Si non caste, saltem
caute."
[496] Ptolemy appointed him to an office which led him to assume a
foreign dress. Rabirius was defended by Cicero in one of his orations,
which is extant.
[497] The Sigillaria was a street in Rome, where a fair was held after
the Saturnalia, which lasted seven days; and toys, consisting of little
images and dolls, which gave their name to the street and festival, were
sold. It appears from the text, that other articles were exposed for sale
in this street. Among these were included elegant vases of silver and
bronze. There appears also to have been a bookseller's shop, for an
ancient writer tells us that a friend of his showed him a copy of the
Second Book of the Aeneid, which he had purchased there.
[498] Opposed to this statement there is a passage in Servius Georgius,
iii. 37, asserting that he had heard (accipimus) that Augustus, besides
his victories in the east, triumphed over the Britons in the west; and
Horace says:--
Augustus adjectis Britannis
Imperio gravibusque Persis.--Ode iii. 5, 1.
Strabo likewise informs us, that in his time, the petty British kings
sent embassies to cultivate the alliance of Augustus, and make offerings
in the Capitol: and that nearly the whole island was on terms of amity
with the Romans, and, as well as the Gauls, paid a light tribute.--
Strabo, B. iv. p. 138.
That Augustus contemplated a descent on the island, but was prevented
from attempting it by his being recalled from Gaul by the disturbances in
Dalmatia, is very probable. Horace offers his vows for its success:
Serves iturum, Caesarem in ultimos Orbis Britannos.--Ode i. 35.
But the word iturus shews that the scheme was only projected, and the
lines previously quoted are mere poetical flattery. Strabo's statement
of the communications kept up with the petty kings of Britain, who were
perhaps divided by intestine wars, are, to a certain extent, probably
correct, as such a policy would be a prelude to the intended expedition.
[499] Circius. Aulus Gellius, Seneca, and Pliny, mention under this
name the strong southerly gales which prevail in the gulf of Genoa and
the neighbouring seas.
[500] The Stoechades were the islands now called Hieres, off Toulon.
[501] Claudius must have expended more time in his march from Marseilles
to Gessoriacum, as Boulogne was then called, than in his vaunted conquest
of Britain.
[502] In point of fact, he was only sixteen days in the island,
receiving the submission of some tribes in the south-eastern districts.
But the way had been prepared for him by his able general, Aulus
Plautius, who defeated Cunobeline, and made himself master of his
capital, Camulodunum, or Colchester. These successes were followed up by
Ostorius, who conquered Caractacus and sent him to Rome.
It is singular that Suetonius has supplied us with no particulars of
these events. Some account of them is given in the disquisition appended
to this life of CLAUDIUS.
The expedition of Plautius took place A.U.C. 796., A.D. 44.
[503] Carpentum: see note in CALIGULA, c. xv.
[504] The Aemiliana, so called because it contained the monuments of the
family of that name, was a suburb of Rome, on the Via Lata, outside the
gate.
[505] The Diribitorium was a house in the Flaminian Circus, begun by
Agrippa, and finished by Augustus, in which soldiers were mustered and
their pay distributed; from whence it derived its name. When the Romans
went to give their votes at the election of magistrates, they were
conducted by officers named Diribitores. It is possible that one and the
same building may have been used for both purposes.
The Flaminian Circus was without the city walls, in the Campus Martius.
The Roman college now stands on its site.
[506] A law brought in by the consuls Papius Mutilus and Quintus
Poppaeus; respecting which, see AUGUSTUS, c. xxxiv.
[507] The Fucine Lake is now called Lago di Celano, in the Farther
Abruzzi. It is very extensive, but shallow, so that the difficulty of
constructing the Claudian emissary, can scarcely be compared to that
encountered in a similar work for lowering the level of the waters in the
Alban lake, completed A.U.C. 359.
[508] Respecting the Claudian aqueduct, see CALIGULA, c. xxi.
[509] Ostia is referred to in a note, TIBERIUS, c. xi.
[510] Suetonius calls this "the great obelisk" in comparison with those
which Augustus had placed in the Circus Maximus and Campus Martius. The
one here mentioned was erected by Caligula in his Circus, afterwards
called the Circus of Nero. It stood at Heliopolis, having been dedicated
to the sun, as Herodotus informs us, by Phero, son of Sesostris, in
acknowledgment of his recovery from blindness. It was removed by Pope
Sixtus V. in 1586, under the celebrated architect, Fontana, to the centre
of the area before St. Peter's, in the Vatican, not far from its former
position. This obelisk is a solid piece of red granite, without
hieroglyphics, and, with the pedestal and ornaments at the top, is 182
feet high. The height of the obelisk itself is 113 palms, or 84 feet.
[511] Pliny relates some curious particulars of this ship: "A fir tree
of prodigious size was used in the vessel which, by the command of
Caligula, brought the obelisk from Egypt, which stands in the Vatican
Circus, and four blocks of the same sort of stone to support it. Nothing
certainly ever appeared on the sea more astonishing than this vessel;
120,000 bushels of lentiles served for its ballast; the length of it
nearly equalled all the left side of the port of Ostia; for it was sent
there by the emperor Claudius. The thickness of the tree was as much as
four men could embrace with their arms."--B. xvi. c. 76.
[512] See AUGUSTUS, c. xxxi. It appears to have been often a prey to
the flames, TIBERIUS, c. xli.; CALIGULA, c. xx.
[513] Contrary to the usual custom of rising and saluting the emperor
without acclamations.
[514] A.U.C. 800.
[515] The Secular Games had been celebrated by Augustus, A.U.C. 736.
See c. xxxi. of his life, and the Epode of Horace written on the
occasion.
[516] In the circus which he had himself built.
[517] Tophina; Tuffo, a porous stone of volcanic origin, which abounds
in the neighbourhood of Rome, and, with the Travertino, is employed in
all common buildings.
[518] In compliment to the troops to whom he owed his elevation: see
before, c. xi.
[519] Palumbus was a gladiator: and Claudius condescended to pun upon
his name, which signifies a wood-pigeon.
[520] See before, c. xvii. Described is c. xx and note.
[521] See before, AUGUSTUS, c. xxxiv.
[522] To reward his able services as commander of the army in Britain.
See before, c. xvii.
[523] German tribes between the Elbe and the Weser, whose chief seat was
at Bremen, and others about Ems or Lueneburg.