Claudius (Suetonius)

[Close]

	Claudius Author: Suetonius	Translator: Alexander Thomson
34	Saeuum et sanguinarium natura fuisse , magnis minimisque apparuit rebus . tormenta quaestionum poenasque parricidarum repraesentabat exigebatque coram . cum spectare antiqui moris supplicium Tiburi concupisset et deligatis ad palum noxiis carnifex deesset , accitum ab urbe uesperam usque opperiri perseuerauit . quocumque gladiatorio munere , uel suo uel alieno , etiam forte prolapsos iugulari iubebat , maxime retiarios , ut expirantium facies uideret . cum par quoddam mutuis ictibus concidisset , cultellos sibi paruulos ex utroque ferro in usum fieri sine mora iussit . bestiaris meridianisque adeo delectabatur , ut et prima luce ad spectaculum descenderet et meridie dimisso ad prandium populo persederet praeterque destinatos etiam leui subitaque de causa quosdam committeret , de fabrorum quoque ac ministrorum atque id genus numero , si automatum uel pegma uel quid tale aliud parum cessisset . induxit et unum ex nomenculatoribus suis , sic ut erat togatus .	His cruel and sanguinary disposition was exhibited upon great as well as trifling occasions. When any person was to be put to the torture, or criminal punished for parricide, he was impatient for the execution, and would have it performed in his own presence. When he was at Tibur, being desirous of seeing an example of the old way of putting malefactors to death, some were immediately bound to a stake for the purpose; but there being no executioner to be had at the place, he sent for one from Rome, and waited for his coming until night. In any exhibition of gladiators, presented either by himself or others, if any of the combatants chanced to fall, he ordered them to be butchered, especially the Retiaii, that he might see their faces in the agonies of death. Two gladiators happening to kill each other, he immediately ordered some little knives to be made of their swords for his own use. He took great pleasure in seeing men engage with wild beasts, and the combatants who appeared on the stage at noon. He woul I therefore come to the theatre by break of day, and at noon, dismissing the people to dinner, continued sitting himself; and besides those who were devoted to that sanguinary fate, he would match others with the beasts, upon slight or sudden occasions; as, for instance, the carpenters and their assistants, and people of that sort, if a machine, or any piece of work in which they had been employed about the theatre did not answer the purpose for which it had been intended. To this desperate kind of encounter he forced one of his nomenclators, even encumbered as he was by wearing the toga.
35	Sed nihil aeque quam timidus ac diffidens fuit . primis imperii diebus quanquam , ut diximus , iactator ciuilitatis , neque conuiuia inire ausus est nisi ut speculatores cum lanceis circumstarent militesque uice ministrorum fungerentur , neque aegrum quemquam uisitauit nisi explorato prius cubiculo culcitisque et stragulis praetemptatis et excussis . reliquo autem tempore salutatoribus scrutatores semper apposuit , et quidem omnibus et acerbissimos . sero enim ac uix remisit , ne feminae praetextatique pueri et puellae contrectarentur et ne cuius comiti aut librario calamariae et graphiariae thecae adimerentur . motu ciuili cum eum Camillus , non dubitans etiam citra bellum posse terreri , contumeliosa et minaci et contumaci epistula cedere imperio iuberet uitamque otiosam in priuata re agere , dubitauit adhibitis principibus uiris an optemperaret .	But the characteristics most predominant in him were fear and distrust. In the beginning of his reign, though he much affected a modest and humble appearance, as has been already observed, yet he durst not venture himself at an entertainment without being attended by a guard of spearmen, and made soldiers wait upon him at table instead of servants. He never visited a sick person, until the chamber had been first searched, and the bed and bedding thoroughly examined. At other times, all persons who came to pay their court to him were strictly searched by officers appointed for that purpose; nor was it until after a long time, and with much difficulty, that he was prevailed upon to excuse women, boys, and girls from such rude handling, or suffer their attendants or writing-masters to retain their cases for pens and styles. When Camillus formed his plot against him, not doubting but his timidity might be worked upon without a war, he wrote to him a scurrilous, petulant, and threatening letter, desiring him to resign the government, and betake himself to a life of privacy. Upon receiving this requisition, he had some thoughts of complying with it, and summoned together the principal men of, the city, to consult with them on the subject.
36	quasdam insidias temere delatas adeo expauit , ut deponere imperium temptauerit . quodam , ut supra rettuli , cum ferro circa sacrificantem se deprehenso , senatum per praecones propere conuocauit lacrimisque et uociferatione miseratus est condicionem suam , cui nihil tuti usquam esset , ac diu publico abstinuit . Messalinae quoque amorem flagrantissimum non tam indignitate contumeliarum quam periculi metu abiecit , cum adultero Silio adquiri imperium credidisset ; quo tempore foedum in modum trepidus ad castra confugit , nihil tota uia quam essetne sibi saluum imperium requirens .	Having heard some loose reports of conspiracies formed against him, he was so much alarmed, that he thought of immediately abdicating the government. And when, as I have before related, a man armed with a dagger was discovered near him while he was sacrificing, he instantly ordered the heralds to convoke the senate, and with tears and dismal exclamations, lamented that such was his condition, that he was safe no where; and for a long time afterwards he abstained from appearing in public. He smothered his ardent love for Messalina, not so much on account of her infamous conduct, as from apprehension of danger; believing that she aspired to share with Silius, her partner in adultery, the imperial dignity. Upon this occasion he ran in a great fright, and a very shameful manner, to the camp, asking all the way he went, "if the empire were indeed safely his."
37	nulla adeo suspicio , nullus auctor tam leuis extitit , a quo non mediocri scrupulo iniecto ad cauendum ulciscendumque compelleretur . unus ex litigatoribus seducto in salutatione affirmauit , uidisse se per quietem occidi eum a quodam ; dein paulo post , quasi percussorem agnosceret , libellum tradentem aduersarium suum demonstrauit : confestimque is pro deprenso ad poenam raptus est . pari modo oppressum ferunt Appium Silanum : quem cum Messalina et Narcissus con spirassent perdere , diuisis partibus alter ante lucem similis attonito patroni cubiculum inrupit , affirmans somniasse se uim ei ab Appio inlatam ; altera in admirationem formata sibi quoque eandem speciem aliquot iam noctibus obuersari rettulit ; nec multo post ex composito inrumpere Appius nuntiatus , cui pridie ad id temporis ut adesset praeceptum erat , quasi plane repraesentaretur somnii fides , arcessi statim ac mori iussus est . nec dubitauit postero die Claudius ordinem rei gestae perferre ad senatum ac liberto gratias agere , quod pro salute sua etiam dormiens excubaret .	No suspicion was too trifling, no person on whom it rested too contemptible, to throw him into a panic, and inuce him to take precautions for his safety, and meditate reveng, A man engaged in a litigation before his tribunal, having saluted him, drew him aside, and told him he had dreamt that he saw him murdered; and shortly afterwards, when his adversary came to deliver his plea to the emperor, the plaintiff, pretending to have discovered the murderer, pointed to him as the man he had seen in his dream; whereupon, as if he had been taken in the act, he was hurried away to execution. We are informed, that Appius Silanus was got rid of in the same manner, by a contrivance betwixt Messalina and Narcissus, in which they had their several parts assigned them. Narcissus therefore burst into his lord's chamber before daylight, apparently in great fright, and told him that he had dreamt that Appius Silanus had murdered him. The empress, upon this, affecting great surprise, declared she had the like dream for several nights successively. Presently afterwards, word was brought, as it had been agreed on, that Appius was come, he having, indeed, received orders the preceding day to be there at that time; and, as if the truth of the dream was sufficiently confirmed by his appearance at that juncture, he was immediately ordered to be prosecuted and put to death. The day following, Claudius related the whole affair to the senate, and acknowledged his great obligation to his freedmen for watching over him even in his sleep.
38	irae atque iracundiae conscius sibi , utramque excusauit edicto distinxitque , pollicitus alteram quidem breuem et innoxiam , alteram non iniustam fore . Ostiensibus , quia sibi subeunti Tiberim scaphas obuiam non miserint , grauiter correptis eaque cum inuidia , ut in ordinem se coactum conscriberet , repente tantum non satis facientis modo ueniam dedit . quosdam in publico parum tempestiue adeuntis manu sua reppulit . item scribam quaestorium itemque praetura functum senatorem inauditos et innoxios relegauit , quod ille aduersus priuatum se intemperantius affuisset , hic in aedilitate inquilinos praediorum suorum contra uetitum cocta uendentes multasset uilicumque interuenientem flagellasset . qua de causa etiam coercitionem popinarum aedilibus ademit . Ac ne stultitiam quidem suam reticuit simulatamque a se ex industria sub Gaio , quod aliter euasurus peruenturusque ad susceptam stationem non fuerit , quibusdam oratiunculis testatus est ; nec tamen persuasit , cum intra breue tempus liber editus sit , cui index erat μωρῶν ἐπανάστασισ , argumentum autem stultitiam neminem fingere .	Sensible of his being subject to passion and resentment, he excused himself in both instances by a proclamation, assuring the public that " the former should be short and harmless, and the latter never without good cause." After severely reprimanding the people of Ostia for not sending some boats to meet him upon his entering the mouth of the Tiber, in terms which might expose them to the public resentment, he wrote to Rome that he had been treated as a private person; yet immediately afterwards he pardoned them, and that in a way which had the appearance of making them satisfaction, or begging pardon for some injury he had done them. Some people who addressed him unseasonably in public, he pushed away with his own hand. He likewise banished a person who had been secretary to a quaestor, and even a senator who had filled the office of praetor. without a hearing, and although they were innocent; the former only because he had treated him with rudeness while he was in a private station, and the other, because in his aedileship he had fined some tenants of his, for selling some cooked victuals contrary to law, and ordered his steward, who interfered, to be whipped. On this account, likewise, he took from the ediles the jurisdiction they had over cooks'-shops. He did not scruple to speak of his own absurdities, and declared in some short speeches which he published, that he had only feigned imbecility in the reign of Caius, because otherwise it would have been impossible for him to have escaped and arrived at the station he had then attained. He could not, however, gain credit for this assertion; for a short time afterwards, a book was published under the title of Anastasis, "The Resurrection of Fools," the design of which was to show "that nobody ever counterfeited folly."
39	Inter cetera in eo mirati sunt homines et obliuionem et inconsiderantiam , uel ut Graece dicam , μετεωρίαν et ἀβλεψίαν . occisa Messalina , paulo post quam in triclinio decubuit , cur domina non ueniret requisiit . multos ex iis , quos capite damnauerat , postero statim die et in consilium et ad aleae lusum admoneri iussit et , quasi morarentur , ut somniculosos per nuntium increpuit . ducturus contra fas Agrippinam uxorem , non cessauit omni oratione filiam et alumnam et in gremio suo natam atque educatam praedicare . adsciturus in nomen Neronem , quasi parum reprehenderetur , quod adulto iam filio priuignum adoptaret , identidem diuulgauit neminem umquam per adoptionem familiae Claudiae insertum .	Amongst other things, people admired in him his indifference and unconcern; or, to express it in Greek, his μετεωξία and ἀβλεφία. Placing himself at table a little after Messalina's death, he enquired, "Why the empress did not come?" Many of those whom he had condemned to death, he ordered the day after to be invited to his table, and to game with him, and sent to reprimand them as sluggish fellows for not making greater haste. When he was meditating his incestuous marriage with Agrippina, he was perpetually calling her, "My daughter, my nursling, born and brought up upon my lap." And when he was going to adopt Nero, as if there was little cause for censure in his adopting a son-in-law, when he had a son of his own arrived at years of maturity; he continually gave out in public, "that no one had ever been admitted by adoption into the Claudian family."
40	Sermonis uero rerumque tantam saepe neglegentiam ostendit , ut nec quis nec inter quos , quoue tempore ac loco uerba faceret , scire aut cogitare existimaretur . cum de laniis ac uinariis ageretur , exclamauit in curia : ' rogo uos , quis potest sine offula uiuere ?' descripsitque abundantiam ueterum tabernarum , unde solitus esset uinum olim et ipse petere . de quaesturae quodam candidato inter causas suffragationis suae posuit , quod pater eius frigidam aegro sibi tempestiue dedisset . inducta teste in senatu : ' haec ,' inquit , ' matris meae liberta et ornatrix fuit , sed me patronum semper existimauit ; hoc ideo dixi , quod quidam sunt adhuc in domo mea , qui me patronum non putant .' sed et pro tribunali Ostiensibus quiddam publice orantibus cum excanduisset , nihil habere se uociferatus est , quare eos demereatur ; si quem alium , et se liberum esse . nam illa eius cotidiana et plane omnium horarum et momentorum erant : ' quid , ego tibi Telegenius uideor ?' et : λάλει καὶ μὴ θίγγανε , multaque talia etiam priuatis deformia , nedum principi , neque infacundo neque indocto , immo etiam pertinaciter liberalibus studiis dedito .	He frequently appeared so careless in what he said, and so inattentive to circumstances, that it was believed he never reflected who he himself was, or amongst whom, or at what time or in what place, he spoke. In the debate in the senate relative to the butchers and vintners, he cried out, "I ask you, who can live without a bit of meat ?" And mentioned the great plenty of old taverns, from which he himself used formerly to have his wine. Among other reasons for his supporting a certain person who was candidate for the quaestorship, he gave this: "His father," said he, " once gave me, very seasonably, a draught of cold water when I was sick." Upon his bringing a woman as a witness in some cause before the senate, he said, "This woman was my mother's freedwoman and dresser, but she always considered me as her nraster; and this I say, because there are some still in my family that do not look upon tie as such." The people of Ostia addressing him in open court with a petition, he flew into a rage at them, and said, "There is no reason why I should oblige you: if any one else is free to act as he pleases, surely I am." The following expressions he had in his mouth every day, and at all hours and seasons: "What! do you take me for a Theogonius?" And in Greek λάλει καὶ, "Speak, but do not touch me;" besides many other familiar sentences, below the dignity of a private person, much more of an emperor, who was not deficient either in eloquence or learning, as having applied himself very closely to the liberal sciences.
41	Historiam in adulescentia hortante T . Liuio , Sulpicio uero Flauo etiam adiuuante , scribere adgressus est . et cum primum frequenti auditorio commisisset , aegre perlegit refrigeratus saepe a semet ipso . nam cum initio recitationis defractis compluribus subsellis obesitate cuiusdam risus exortus esset , ne sedato quidem tumultu temperare potuit , quin ex interuallo subinde facti reminisceretur cachinnosque reuocaret . in principatu quoque et scripsit plurimum et assidue recitauit per lectorem . initium autem sumpsit historiae post caedem Caesaris dictatoris , sed et transiit ad inferiora tempora coepitque a pace ciuili , cum sentiret neque libere neque uere sibi de superioribus tradendi potestatem relictam , correptus saepe et a matre et ab auia . prioris materiae duo uolumina , posterioris unum et quadraginta reliquit . composuit et ' de uita sua ' octo uolumina , magis inepte quam ineleganter ; item ' Ciceronis defensionem aduersus Asini Galli libros ' satis eruditam . nouas etiam commentus est litteras tres ac numero ueterum quasi maxime necessarias addidit ; de quarum ratione cum priuatus adhuc uolumen edidisset , mox princeps non difficulter optinuit ut in usu quoque promiscuo essent . extat talis scriptura in plerisque libris ac diurnis titulisque operum .	By the encouragement of Titus Livius, and with the assistance of Sulpicius Flavus, he attempted at an early age the comlpeitiQof a history; and having called together a numerous auditory, to hear and give their judgment upon it, he read it over with much difficulty, and frequently interrupting himself. For after he had begun, a great laugh was raised amongst the company, by the breaking of several benches from the weight of a very fat man; and even when order was restored, he could not forbear bursting out into violent fits of laughter, at the remembrance of the accident. After he became emperor, likewise, he wrote several things which he was careful to have recited to his friends by a reader. He commenced his history from the death of the dictator Caesar; but afterwards he took a later period, and began at the conclusion of the civil wars; because he found he could not speak with freedom, and a due regard to truth, concerning the former period, having been often taken to task both by his mother and grandmother. Of the earlier history he left only two books, but of the latter, one and forty. He compiled likewise the "'History of his Own Life," in eight books, full of absurdities, but in no bad style; also, "A Defence of Cicero against the Books of Asinius Gallus," which exhibited a considerable degree of learning. He besides invented three new letters, and added them to the former alphabet, as highly necessary. He published a book to recommend them while he was yet only a private person; but on his elevation to imperial power he had little difficulty in introducing them into common use; and these letters are still extant in a variety of books, registers, and inscriptions upon buildings.
42	Nec minore cura Graeca studia secutus est , amorem praestantiamque linguae occasione omni professus . cuidam barbaro Graece ac Latine disserenti : ' cum utroque ,' inquit , ' sermone nostro sis paratus '; et in commendanda patribus conscriptis Achaia , gratam sibi prouinciam ait communium studiorum commercio ; ac saepe in senatu legatis perpetua oratione respondit . multum uero pro tribunali etiam Homericis locutus est uersibus . quotiens quidem hostem uel insidiatorem ultus esset , excubitori tribuno signum de more poscenti non temere aliud dedit quam : ἄνδρ ' ἀπαμύνασθαι , ὅτε τισ πρότερος χαλεπήνῃ . Denique et Graecas scripsit historias , Tyrrhenicon uiginti , Carchedoniacon octo . quarum causa ueteri Alexandriae Musio additum ex ipsius nomine nouum ; institutumque ut quotannis in altero Tyrrhenicon libri , in altero Carchedoniacon diebus statutis uelut in auditorio recitarentur toti a singulis per uices .	He applied himself with no less attention to the study ofGreciani literature, asserting upon all occasions his love of that language, and its surpassing excellency. A stranger once holding a discourse both in Greek and Latin, he addressed him thus: " Since you are skilled in both our tongues." And recommending Achaia to the favour of the senate, he said, " I have a particular attachment to that province, on account of our common studies." In the senate he often made long replies to ambassadors in that language. On the tribunal he frequently quoted the verses of Homer. When at any time he had taken vengeance on an enemy or a conspirator, he scarcely ever gave to the tribune on guard, who, according to custom, came for the word, any other than this: ἄνδρ' ἐπαμύνασθαι ὅτε τισ πρότερος 'Tis time to strike when wrong demands the blow. To conclude, he wrote some histories likewise in Greek, namely, twenty books on Tuscan affairs, and eight on the Carthaginian; in consequence of which another museum was founded at Alexandria, in addition to the old one, and called after his name; and it was ordered, that, upon certain days in every year, his Tuscan history should be read over in one of these, and his Carthaginian in the other, as in a school; each history being read through by persons who took it in turn.
43	Sub exitu uitae signa quaedam nec obscura paenitentis de matrimonio Agrippinae deque Neronis adoptione dederat , siquidem commemorantibus libertis ac laudantibus cognitionem , qua pridie quandam adulterii ream condemnarat , sibi quoque in fatis esse iactauit omnia impudica , sed non impunita matrimonia ; et subinde obuium sibi Britannicum artius complexus hortatus est , ut cresceret rationemque a se omnium factorum acciperet ; Graeca insuper uoce prosecutus : ὁ τρώσασ ἰάσεται . cumque impubi teneroque adhuc , quando statura permitteret , togam dare destinasset , adiecit : ' ut tandem populus R . uerum Caesarem habeat .'	Towards the close of his life, he gave some manifest indications that he repented of his marriage with Agrippina, and his adoption of Nero. For some of his freedmen noticing with approbation his having condemned, the day before, a woman accused of adultery, he remarked, "It has been my misfortune to have wives who have been unfaithful to my bed; but they did not escape punishment." Often, when he happened to meet Britannicus, he would embrace him tenderly, and express a desire " that he might grow apace, and receive from him an account of all his actions:" using the Greek phrase, ὁ τρώσασ καὶ ἰάσεται, "He who has wounded will also heal." And intending to give him the manly habit, while he was under age and a tender youth, because his stature would allow of it, he added, "I do so, that the Roman people may at last have a real Caesar."
44	non multoque post testamentum etiam conscripsit ac signis omnium magistratuum obsignauit . prius igitur quam ultra progrederetur , praeuentus est ab Agrippina , quam praeter haec conscientia quoque nec minus delatores multorum criminum arguebant . Et ueneno quidem occisum conuenit ; ubi autem et per quem dato , discrepat . quidam tradunt epulanti in arce cum sacerdotibus per Halotum spadonem praegustatorem ; alii domestico conuiuio per ipsam Agrippinam , quae boletum medicatum auidissimo ciborum talium optulerat . etiam de subsequentibus diuersa fama est . multi statim hausto ueneno obmutuisse aiunt excruciatumque doloribus nocte tota defecisse prope lucem . nonnulli inter initia consopitum , deinde cibo affluente euomuisse omnia , repetitumque toxico , incertum pultine addito , cum uelut exhaustum refici cibo oporteret , an immisso per clystera , ut quasi abundantia laboranti etiam hoc genere egestionis subueniretur .	Soon afterwards he made his will, and had it signed by all the magistrates as witnesses. But he was prevented from proceeding further by Agrippina, accused by her own guilty conscience, as well as by informers, of a variety of crimes. It is agreed that he was taken off by poison; but where, and by whom administered, remains in uncertainty. Some authors say that it was given him as he was feasting with the priests in the Capitol, by the eunuch Halotus, his taster. Others say by Agrippina, at his own table, in mushrooms, a dish of which he was very fond. The accounts of what followed likewise differ. Some relate that he instantly became speechless, was racked with pain through the night, and died about daybreak; others, that at first he fell into a sound sleep, -and afterwards. his food rising, he threw up the whole; but had another dose given him; whether in water-gruel, under pretence of refreshment after his exhaustion, or in a clyster, as if designed to relieve his bowels, is likewise uncertain.