CLA'UDIUS NERO, the son of Drusus Nero, the brother of Tiberius, and of Antonia Minor, the daughter of M. Antonius the Triumvir, by Octavia, the sister of Augustus, was born at Lyon p.c. 10. [AuousTus.] In his youth he was aickly, weak, and timid, which made his mother say that he was but the half-finished sketch of a man. Augustus, in compassion, used to call him misellus, little wretch. lie was left to the company of the women and the freedmen of the palace, and little notice was taken of him under Augustua and Tiberius. He lived in privacy, and appears to have applied himself with perseverance to study. He became a proficient in Creek and Latin, and wrote, with the assistance of Sulpicius Flavius, a history of Rome, in 43 books, which is lost. Ile suggested the addition of three new letters to the Roman alphabet, and he enforced the use of them during his reign, after which they fell into disuse, but still appeared in the time of Tacitua in the old inscriptions (' Anna,' xi. 14). He also applied himself with much perseverance:, to the study and practice of oratory, and Tacitus has transmitted to us a favourable specimen in a speech which he delivered before the senate when emperor, in favour of the Canis, who were asking to be admitted to the rights of Roman citizens. (' Annal.' xi. 24.) When Caligula, who was the nephew of Claudius, became emperor. he took his uncle as his colleague in the consulship, A.D. 37. After the expiration of his consulship Claudine again withdrew into privacy, from which he was dragged by some mutinous soldiers, who were overrunning the imperial palace after the death of Caligula, and who discovered Claudius concealed behind a tapestry, and trembling from fear. They raised him on their shoulders, and carried him to the camp, where he was proclaimed emperor by the troops in A.D. 41, against
the wishes of the senate and of many of the citizens, who were for restoring the republic. This was the first example of that baneful practice, which the soldiers so often repeated, of disposing of the imperial crown. Claudius, who was then fifty years of age, began his reign by acts of justice and of mercy ; be recalled exiles, reatored to the rightful owners much property which had been confiscated under Tiberius and Caligula, rejected the honours and titles which the flattery of courtiers would have bestowed upon him, embellished Rome, formed an aqueduct for a fresh supply of water, which still bears his name, constructed a harbour at the mouth of the Tiber, and began the emissary of the Lake Fncinua. Ho also went over to Britain, which country he first permanently occupied, at least in part, by his generals Plautius and Vespasianua, and afterwards by Oatorius. Caractacus, who was brought prisoner before him at Rome, expe rienced the imperial clemency. Claudius afterwards fell into a state of apathy and imbecility, being entirely governed by his profligate wife Messalina and the freedmen of the palace who were leagued with her. They took advantage of his excessive timidity and credulity to make bim sign the death-warrants of numerous senators and knights, whom they represented as conspirators, and whose property was con fiscated for their benefit. 31es:saline openly abandoned herself to the moat shameless licentiousness, and no one dared to check her, or remonstrate with the emperor on her conduct, for fear of incurring