CLAUDIUS, TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS C/EsAR, the fifth of the Roman emperors, was born at Lyons, about ten years before the birth of Christ. His father, Nero Claudius Drusus, was the second son of Livia, the wife of Augustus ; and Antonia, his mother, was the daughter of Antony and Octavia. IIc was the nephew of Tiberius the brother of Germanicus, and the uncle of Caligula, his predecessor on the imperial throne.
from his earliest years he was subject to a variety of disorders, by which his mental powers were so much impaired, that he became the object of general contempt and ridicule. Deemed incapable of taking any active part in the government of the empire, he was allowed to remain in the condition of a private citizen, till his ne phew Caligula was invested with the imperial purple. Ile was then dignified with the rank of senator, he was made the colleague of the emperor in his first consul ship, and presiding occasionally instead of Caligula at the public games, was sometimes greeted by the acclama nuns of the assembly as the brothe• of their favourite Germanicus. Even then, however, he was held in ge neral contempt; and in the gross indignities with which he was treated, his life was frequently cx posed to immi nent danger. From this state of mortifying humiliation, an event, apparently casual, raised him at length to the imperial throne. At the time of Caligula's assassination, Claudius, who was then in the palace, had retired in ter ror to an adjoining balcony, and concealed himself be hind the hangings of a doorway. A soldier named Grams, while roaming for spoil, observed his feet, and dragged him from his lurking place; but on recognising his person, he fell on his knees, solicited his pardon, and hailed him as emperor. Affection for the memory of Germanicus soon induced other soldiers to join with Gratus in this expression of regard to his brother ; and the new emperor, not yelt recovered from his consterna tion, was conveyed to the camp, and lodged for the night within the ramparts. On the following morning, the sol diers formally proclaimed him emperor, and swore alle giance to him as their lawful sovereign.
The senate, after a few irregular and ineffectual at tempts to restore the ancient constitution of the com monwealth, were compelled to submit to the person whom the army had chosen to invest with imperial au thority ; and had Claudius fallen into proper management, or been left to the free exercise of his own inclinations, they would probably have had no reason to regret their acquiescence. Clemency and moderation marked the first acts of his reign. Ile published a proclamation o' pardon to all %rho had in any manner opposed his cleva tion to the throne, or who had been concerned in the late conspiracy against Caligula, with the exception of thost only who had been actually engaged in his assassination He annulled, as too severe and tyrannical, the laws which were then in force against treason ; he abolished several oppressive imposts, which his predecessors Tiberius and Caligula had laid upon the people ; and the property which they had unlawfully taken from their subjects, he restored to the injured persons themselves if alive, or else to their descendants. These gracious actions were much
enhanced by the singular modesty and propriety with which they were performed. The applauses of the peo ple seemed not to elate him, nor would he accept of the honours which the senate had decreed to him as a testi mony of their gratitude and attachment. The hope, which these popular proceedings excited, were speedily reversed. Claudius was too feeble and undecided, to sus tain long the virtuous and popular conduct with which his reign had commenced. He became a mere tool in the hands of his empress, the infamous Messalina, and of his ambitious and daring freedmen and favourites, Pallas, Ca listus, and Narcissus. By these artful and wicked co:; federates, he was kept in constant dread of conspiracies; all the most respectable of his nobles were rendered the objects of his suspicion; and though naturally inclined to mercy, he became, under their baneful influence, a cruel and oppressive tyrant. Claudius, indeed, was on• ly nominal emperor, while the imperial power was exer cised, in all its terrors, by the sanguinary Messalina, and her base associates. Many ladies of the first distinction, among whom was Julia, the niece of the emperor, were put to death at their instigation ; and upwards of three hundred Roman knights and senators fell victims to their suspicion and their vengeance. These enormities were often committed even without time knowledge of Claudius, who was equally blind to the licentious conduct of his in famous consort. I ler ungovernable passions, however, impelled her at length to her own destruction. She became enamoured of Caius Sinus, a young Roman of noble birth, and distinguished beauty; and, with unexampled audacity and infatuation in wickedness, resolved to make hint her husband. By holding out to hint the most flat tering prospects of aggrandisement, and even the hope of elevation to the imperial throne, she induced him to divorce his wife, and to devote himself entirely to her detestable lust.