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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Claudius I Biography CLAUDIUS I (Tiberius Claudius Nero Drusus; officially Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (10 B.C.-54 A.D.). Roman Emperor (41-54 A.D.). Youngest son of Nero Claudius Drusus, stepson of the Emperor Augustus, born at Lugdunum (Lyons). Since he was sickly and infirm, his education was neglected, or left to women and freedmen. His supposed imbecility saved him from the cruelty of Caligula; but Claudius in his privacy had made considerable progress in the study of history and wrote in Latin and Greek several extensive historical works now lost, on Rome, Carthage, and Etruria. After the assassination of Caligula the Pretorians, having found Claudius hiding in the palace, carried him forth, proclaimed him Emperor, and compelled his recognition by the Senate. By his payment of the troops, who had raised him to the throne, he inaugurated a baneful practice which, under the succeeding emperors, subjected Rome to a military despotism. The first acts of his reign gave promise of mild and just government; but in 42, when a conspiracy against his life was detected; his timidity led him to yield himself entirely to the guidance of his wife Messalina (q.v.), who, with the freedmen Pallas and Narcissus, practiced cruelties and extortions without restraint. Claudius lived in retirement, partly occupied in studies, and expended enormous sums in building, especially in the construction of the famous Claudian Aqueduct. This great work occupied 30,000 laborers during 11 years. He sought, too, to drain the Lacinus Fucinus. (See AVEZZANO. See also CLAUDIAN HARBOR.) He sought to introduce three new letters into the Latin alphabet. He showed himself also an able administrator, anxious for the good of his people. Abroad the armies of Claudius were victorious. Mauretania was made a Roman province, the conquest of Britain was commenced under the personal command of the Emperor, and some progress was made in Germany. After the execution of Messalina Claudius married his niece, Agrippina (q.v.), under whose influence he deprived his son Britannicus of the succession to the Imperial power and adopted Nero, son of Agrippina. When Claudius showed some inclination to deprive Nero of the succession, Agrippina caused him to be poisoned with a dish of mushrooms. After his death Claudius was deified, giving occasion to the bitter satire of Seneca, Apocolocyntosis, Gourdification, or Pumpinification. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. V (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920). 421 |