Dio's Rome Volume IV Part 19

C. Pompeius Longinus Gallus, Q. Veranius. (A.D. 49 = a. u. 802 = Ninth of Claudius.)

C. Antistius Vetus, M. Suillius Nervilia.n.u.s. (A.D. 50 = a. u. 803 = Tenth of Claudius.)

Claudius Caesar Aug. (V), Ser. Cornelius Orfitus. (A.D. 51 = a. u. 804 = Eleventh of Claudius.)

Cornelius Sulla Faustus, L. Salvius Otho t.i.tia.n.u.s. (A.D. 52 = a. u. 805 = Twelfth of Claudius.)

Dec. Iunius Sila.n.u.s 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 accomplis.h.i.+ng 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 a.s.sume 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 rulers.h.i.+p.

[-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 quaestor 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 a.s.sociated; 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 s.e.xual 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 antic.i.p.ated 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 t.i.tle "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 a.s.sa.s.sinating 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 praetors 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 doc.u.ments 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 inst.i.tutions 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 wors.h.i.+ping 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 praetors' 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 att.i.tude toward other departments of life. For instance, when this year he betrothed one of his daughters to Lucius Junius Sila.n.u.s and gave the other in marriage to Gnaeus 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 Feriae. 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 t.i.tle _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 t.i.tle 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 a.s.sociates 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 mult.i.tude 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 a.s.semble in numbers.--The clubs inst.i.tuted 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 citizens.h.i.+p 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 cla.s.ses 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 a.s.signed to them. [-8-] It was at this time that Claudius marked off the s.p.a.ce 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 t.i.tle 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-praetors, overran their country as far as the Atlantic. Gnaeus 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 G.o.ds were a.s.sisting 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 Caesarea, 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 praetors 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 praetors, 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-praetors to collect debts owing the government, granting them lictors and the usual force of a.s.sistants.

[-11-] On the occasion of a severe famine he considered the problem of abundant provisions not only for that particular crisis, but for all succeeding time. Practically all food used by the Romans was imported, and yet the region near the mouth of the Tiber had no safe landing-places nor suitable harbors, so that their mastery of the sea was rendered useless. Save for such staples as were brought in during their season and stored in warehouses nothing from abroad could be had in the winter season; and if any one risked a voyage, he was almost sure to meet with disaster. Being cognizant of these facts Claudius undertook to build a harbor and would not be turned aside, though the architects on his enquiring how great the expense would be replied: "You don't want to do this." So sure were they that the great disburs.e.m.e.nts necessary would cause him to rein in his ambition if he should learn beforehand the exact amount. He, however, desired a work worthy of the dignity and greatness of Rome, and he brought it to a successful conclusion. In the first place he excavated a very considerable piece of land, constructed quays on all sides of it, and let the sea into it. Next in the sea itself he heaped huge mounds on both sides of the entrance to this place,--mounds that enclosed a large body of water. Between these breakwaters he reared an island and planted on it a tower with a beacon light.--This harbor, then, still so called in local parlance, was created by him at this period. He had another project to make an outlet into the Liris from Lake Fucina, in the Marsian country, to the end that the land around it might be tilled and the river be rendered more navigable. But the expenditure was all to no purpose.

He made a number of laws, most of which I have no need to mention; but here are some of the regulations that he introduced. He had the governors who were chosen by lot set out before the first day of April; for it was their habit to delay a long time in the City. And he would not permit those chosen by election to express any thanks to him in the senate,--this had been a kind of custom with them,--but he said: "These persons ought not to thank me, as if they were so eager for office, but I them, because they cheerfully help me bear the burden of government: and if they acquit themselves well in office, I shall praise them still more." Such men as by reason of insufficient means were not able to be senators he allowed to ask permission to retire, and he admitted some of the knights to tribunes.h.i.+ps: the rest of them, without exception, he forced to attend the senate as often as notice was sent them. He was so severe upon those who were remiss in this matter that some killed themselves.

[-12-] In other respects he was sociable and considerate in his dealings with them. He would visit them when sick and be a partner in their merrymakings. A certain tribune beat a slave of his in public, but Claudius did the offender himself no harm, only depriving him of his a.s.sistants, and these he restored not long afterward. Another of his slaves was sent to the Forum and severely scourged, because he had insulted a prominent man. In the senate the emperor would himself regularly rise in case the rest had been standing for a long time. On account of his ill health, as I related, he frequently remained seated and read his advice, if asked for it. He allowed Lucius Sulla to sit on the praetors' bench because this man, being unable by reason of age to hear anything from his own seat, had stood up. The day on which a year previous he had been declared emperor he did nothing unusual, except to give the Pretorians twenty-five denarii, and this he continued to do every year thereafter. Some of the praetors, however, of their own free will and not by any decree publicly celebrated that day and also the birthday of Messalina. Not all of them did this, but as many as chose.

This shows what freedom they had. You may see how really moderate Claudius was in all such matters from the fact that when a son was born to him,--called at that time Claudius Tiberius Germanicus but later also _Britannicus_,--he did not make the occasion in any way conspicuous and would not allow him to be named Augustus nor Messalina Augusta.

[-13-]He was constantly arranging gladiatorial games, taking a degree of pleasure in them that aroused criticism. Very few beasts were destroyed, but a great many human beings, some of whom fought with one another whereas others were devoured by animals. The emperor hated vehemently the freed slaves who in the reigns of Tiberius and Gaius had conspired against their masters, as well as those who extorted blackmail from people or had borne false witness against any persons. The majority of these he got rid of in the manner mentioned, though some of them he punished by other methods. A great many he delivered up to the vengeance of their masters. So great did the number become of those who died a public death that the statue of Augustus, erected on the scene, was turned to face in another direction, both to prevent its being thought that _he_ was viewing the slaughter and to avoid having the statue always covered up. For this act Claudius was well laughed at when people reflected how he sated himself with the sights that he did not think proper for even the inanimate bronze to behold. It might be noted particularly that he used to delight greatly even at lunch time in watching those who were incidentally cut down in the middle of the spectacle. Yet a lion that had been trained to eat men and on this account greatly pleased the crowd he ordered killed on the principle that it was not fitting for Romans to gaze on such a sight. He received abundant praise, however, for appearing in the people's midst at the spectacle, for giving them all they wanted, and for his employing a herald so very little and announcing most events by notices written on boards.

[-14-] After he had become accustomed, then, to feast his fill on blood and slaughter, he had recourse more readily to other kinds of killings.

The Caesarians and Messalina were really responsible for this. Whenever they desired to obtain any one's death, they would terrify him, with the result that they would be allowed to do everything they chose. Often, when in a moment of sudden alarm his momentary terror had led him to order some one's death, afterward, when he recovered and came to his senses, he would search for the man and on learning what had happened would be grieved and repent. He began this series of slaughters with Gaius Appius Sila.n.u.s. This man, who was of very n.o.ble family and at the time was governor of Spain, he had sent for, pretending that he wanted to see him about something, had married him to Messalina's mother, and had for some time held him in honor among his dearest and closest friends.

Then he suddenly killed him. The reason was that Sila.n.u.s had offended Messalina, the most abandoned and l.u.s.tful of women, in refusing to lie with her, and by the slight shown the empress had alienated Narcissus, the emperor's freedman. As they had no true charge to bring against him, nor even one that would be believed, Narcissus invented a dream in which he declared he had seen Claudius murdered by the hand of Sila.n.u.s. So just before dawn, while the emperor was still in bed, he came all of a tremble to tell him the dream, and Messalina by expatiating on it made it worse.

Thus Sila.n.u.s perished just because of a vision.

[-15-] After the latter's death the Romans at once lost confidence in Claudius, and Annius Vinicia.n.u.s with some others formed a plot against him. The chief conspirator had been one of those proposed at the death of Gaius for the imperial office, and it was partly fear inspired by this fact that caused him to rebel. As he possessed no considerable force, however, he sent to Furius Camillus Scribonia.n.u.s, governor of Dalmatia, who had a large body of native and foreign troops. Camillus, who was inclined to the project of his own accord, was induced to revolt at the same time, particularly because he had been spoken of for emperor. When so much had been accomplished, many senators and knights joined the ranks of Annius. They did him no good, however,[5] for the soldiers, because Camillus proffered them the name of _populus_ and promised that he would restore to them their ancient freedom, suspected that they should have troubles and changes of government again and would therefore no longer obey him. Then in terror he fled from them, and coming to the island Issa he there met a voluntary death. Claudius for a time was quite cowed with fear and was ready at a demand from Camillus to withdraw from his sovereignty voluntarily. Later he recovered courage and rewarded his soldiers among other methods by having the citizen legions (the seventh and the eleventh) named the Claudian, and the Faithful, and the Pious, by the senate itself. Then he made reprisals upon those who had plotted against him and on this charge put many to death, among them a praetor, who first had to resign his office. Numbers, of whom Vinicia.n.u.s was one, committed suicide, for Messalina and Narcissus and all the latter's fellow freedmen seized this opportunity to wreak their direst vengeance.

They employed slaves and liberti, for instance, and informers against their own masters. These masters and others of undoubted n.o.bility, foreigners and citizens alike, not only plebeians, but some of the knights and senators, were put to the torture in spite of the fact that Claudius at the very beginning of his reign had sworn not to torture any free citizen.

[-16-] Many men therefore at this time and many women incurred punishment. Some of the latter met their fate right in the prison, and when they were to die were actually led in chains upon a scaffold, like captives, and their bodies like those of others were thrown down the Scalae Gemoniae. Of those who were executed outside the prison only the heads were exhibited in that place. Some of the most guilty, nevertheless, either through favoritism or by the use of money saved their necks with the help of Messalina and of the Caesarians following Narcissus. All the children of those who perished were granted immunity and some received money. Trials were held in the senate-house in the presence of Claudius, his prefects, and his freedmen. With a consul on each side he made his report to the senators while seated upon a chair of state or on a bench. Next he himself went to his accustomed seat and chairs were set for his escort. This same program was followed also at the other most important functions.

It was at this time that a certain Galaesus, a freedman of Camillus, was brought into the senate and talked with the utmost frankness on a variety of subjects. The following remark of his is worth instancing. Narcissus had taken the floor and said to him: "What would you have done, Galaesus, if Camillus had become monarch?" He replied: "I should have stood behind him and said nothing." So he became famous for this speech, and Arria for something quite different. The latter, who was wife of Caecina Paetus, refused to live after he had been put to death, although, being on very intimate terms with Messalina, she might have occupied a position of some honor. Moreover, when her husband showed cowardice, she strengthened his resolution. She took the sword and gave herself a wound, then handed it to him, saying: "See, Paetus, I feel no pain."--These two persons, then, were accorded praise, for by reason of the long succession of woes matters had now come to such a pa.s.s that excellence no longer meant anything else than dying n.o.bly.

The att.i.tude of Claudius in bringing destruction upon them and others is indicated by his forever giving to the soldiers as a watchword this verse about its being necessary "In one's first anger to ward off the foe." [6]

He kept throwing out many other hints of that sort in Greek both to them and to the senate, with the result that those who could understand any of them laughed at him. These were some of the happenings of that period.--And the tribunes at the death of one of their number themselves convened the senate for the purpose of appointing a tribune to succeed him,--this in spite of the fact that the consuls were accessible.

[A.D. 43 (_a. u._ 796)]