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Nine months for common births
the fates decree;
But, for the great, reduce the term
to three. This Drusus, during the time of his being quaestor and praetor, commanded in
the Rhaetian and German wars, and was the first of all the Roman generals who navigated
the Northern Ocean. He made likewise some prodigious canals beyond the Rhine, which to
this day are called by his name. He overthrew the enemy in several battles and drove them
far back into the depths of the desert. Nor did he desist from pursuing them, until an
apparition, in the form of a barbarian woman, of more than human size, appeared to him,
and, in the Latin tongue, forbade him to proceed any further. For these achievements he
had the honour of an ovation and the triumphal ornaments. After his praetorship, he
immediately entered on the office of consul, and returning to Germany, died of disease, in
the summer encampment, which thence obtained the name of " The Unlucky Camp."
His corpse was carried to Rome by the principal persons of the several municipalities and
colonies upon the road, being met and received by the recorders of each place, and buried
in the Campus Martius. In honour of his memory, the army erected a monument, round which
the soldiers used, annually, upon a certain day, to march in solemn procession, and
persons deputed from the several cities of Gaul performed religious rites. The senate
likewise, among various other honours, decreed for him a triumphal arch of marble, with
trophies, in the Appian Way, and gave the cognomen of Germanicus to him and his posterity.
In him the civil and military virtues were equally displayed; for, besides his victories,
he gained from the enemy the Spolia Opima, and frequently marked out the German
chiefs in the midst of their army, and encountered them in single combat at the utmost
hazard of his life. He likewise often declared that he would, some time or other, if
possible, restore the ancient government. On this account, I suppose, some have ventured
to affirm that Augustus was jealous of him and recalled him; and because he made no haste
to comply with the order, took him off by poison. This I mention, that I may not be guilty
of any omission, more than because I think it either true or probable, since Augustus
loved him so much when living that he always, in his wills, made him joint-heir with his
sons, as he once declared in the senate; and upon his decease extolled him in a speech to
the people, to that degree, that he prayed the gods “to make his Caesars like him,
and to grant himself as honourable an exit out of this world as they had given him.”
And not satisfied with inscribing upon his tomb an epitaph in verse composed by
himself, he wrote likewise the history of his life in prose. He had by the younger Antonia
several children, but left behind him only three, namely, Germanicus, Livilla and
Claudius.
2. Claudius was born at Lyons, in the consulship of Jullus Antonius and Fabius
Africanus, upon the first of August, the very day upon which an altar was first dedicated
there to Augustus. He was named Tiberius Claudius Drusus, but soon afterwards, upon the
adoption his elder brother into the Julian family, he assumed the cognomen of Germanicus.
He was left an infant by his father, and during almost the whole of his minority, and for
some time after he attained the age of manhood, was afflicted with a variety of obstinate
disorders, insomuch that his mind and body being greatly impaired, he was, even after his
arrival at years of maturity, never thought sufficiently qualified for any public
or private employment. He was, therefore, during a long time, and even after the
expiration of his minority, under the direction of a pedagogue, who, he complains in a
certain memoir, “was a barbarous wretch, and formerly superintendent of the
mule-drivers, who was selected for his governor on purpose to correct him severely on
every trifling occasion." On account of this crazy constitution of body and mind, at
the spectacle of gladiators, which he gave the people, jointly with his brother, in honour
of his father’s memory, he presided, muffled up in a pallium—a new
fashion. When he assumed the toga of manhood, he was carried in a litter, at midnight, to
the Capitol, without the usual ceremony.
3. He applied himself, however, from an early age, with great assiduity to the
study of the liberal sciences, and frequently published specimens of his skill in each of
them. But never, with all his endeavours, could he attain to any public post in the
government, or afford any hope of arriving at distinction thereafter. His mother, Antonia,
frequently called him “an abortion of a man, that had only been begun, but
never finished, by nature.” And when she would upbraid any one with dullness,
she said, " He was a greater fool than her son, Claudius.” His
grandmother, Augusta, always treated him with the utmost contempt, very rarely spoke to
him, and when she did admonish him upon any occasion, it was in writing, very briefly and
severely, or by messengers. His sister, Livilla, upon hearing that he was about to be
created emperor, openly and loudly expressed her indignation that the Roman people should
experience a fate so severe and so much below their grandeur. To exhibit the opinion, both
favourable and otherwise, entertained concerning him by Augustus, his great-uncle, I have
here subjoined some extracts from the letters of that emperor.
4. " I have had some conversation with Tiberius, according to your desire, my dear
Livia, as to what must be done with your grandson, Tiberius, at the games of Mars.
We are both agreed in this, that, once for all, we ought to determine what course to take
with him. For if he be really sound and, so to speak, quite right in his intellects, why
should we hesitate to promote him by the same steps and degrees we did his brother ? But
if we find him below par, and deficient both in body and mind, we must beware of giving
occasion for him and ourselves to be laughed at by the world, which is ready enough to
make such things the subject of mirth and derision. For we shall be never easy, if we are
always to be debating upon every occasion of this kind, without settling, in the first
instance, whether he be really capable of public offices or not. With regard to what you
consult me about at the present moment, I am not against his superintending the feast of
the priests, in the games of Mars, if he will suffer himself to be governed by his
kinsman, Silanus's son, that he may do nothing to make the people stare and laugh at him.
But I do not approve of his witnessing the Circensian games from the Pulvinar. He
will be there exposed to view in the very front of the theatre. Nor do I like that he
should go to the Alban Mount, or be at Rome during the Latin festival. For if he be
capable of attending his brother to the mount, why is he not made prefect of the city ?
Thus, my dear Livia, you have my thoughts upon the matter. In my opinion, we ought to
settle this affair once for all, that we may not be always in suspense between hope and
fear. You may, if you think proper, give your kinsman Antonia this part of my letter to
read." In another letter, he writes as follows: " I shall invite the
youth, Tiberius, every day during your absence, to supper, that he may not sup alone with
his friends Sulpicius and Athenodorus. I wish the poor creature was more cautious and
attentive in the choice of some one, whose manners, air, and gait might be proper for his
imitation:
In things of
consequence he sadly fails.
Where his mind does not run astray, he discovers a noble disposition." In a
third letter, he says, “Let me die, my dear Livia, if I am not astonished, that the
declamation of your grandson, Tiberius, should please me; for how he who talks so ill,
should be able to declaim so clearly and properly, I cannot imagine." There is no
doubt but Augustus, after this, came to a resolution upon the subject, and, accordingly,
left him invested with no other honour than that of the Augural priesthood; naming him
amongst the heirs of the third degree, who were but distantly allied to his family, for a
sixth part of his estate only, with a legacy of no more than eight hundred thousand
sesterces.
5. Upon his requesting some office in the state, his uncle Tiberius granted him
the honorary appendages of the consulship, and when he pressed for a legitimate
appointment, the emperor wrote word back, that "he sent him forty gold pieces for his
expenses, during the festivals of the Saturnalia and Sigillaria." Upon this,
laying aside all hope of advancement, he resigned himself entirely to an indolent life;
living in great privacy, one while in his gardens, or a villa which he had near the city;
another while in Campania, where he passed his time in the lowest society; by which means,
besides his former character of a dull, heavy fellow, he acquired that of a drunkard and
gamester.
6. Notwithstanding this sort of life, much respect was shown him both in public
and private. The equestrian order twice made choice of him to intercede on their
behalf; once to obtain from the consuls the favour of bearing on their shoulders the
corpse of Augustus to Rome, and a second time to congratulate him upon the death of
Sejanus. When he entered the theatre, they used to rise, and put off their cloaks. The
senate likewise decreed, that he should be added to the number of the Augustal college of
priests, who were chosen by lot; and soon afterwards, when his house was burnt down, that
it should be rebuilt at the public charge; and that he should have the privilege of giving
his vote amongst the men of consular rank. This decree was, however, repealed; Tiberius
insisting to have him excused on account of his imbecility, and promising to make good his
loss at his own expense. But at his death, he named him in his will, amongst his third
heirs, for a third part of his estate; leaving him besides a legacy of two millions of
sesterces, and expressly recommending him to the armies, the senate and people of Rome,
amongst his other relations.
7. At last Gaius [Caligula], his brother's son, upon his advancement to the empire,
endeavouring to gain the affections of the public by all the arts of popularity, Claudius
also was admitted to public offices, and held the consulship jointly with his nephew for
two months. As he was entering the Forum for the first time with the fasces, an eagle
which was flying that way, alighted upon his right shoulder. A second consulship was also
allotted him, to commence at the expiration of the fourth year. He sometimes presided at
the public spectacles, as the representative of Caius; being always, on those occasions,
complimented with the acclamations of the people, wishing him all happiness, sometimes
under the title of the emperor's uncle, and sometimes under that of Germanicus's brother.
8. Still he was subjected to many slights. If at any time he came in late to
supper, he was obliged to walk round the room some time before he could get a place at
table. When he indulged himself with sleep after eating, which was a common practice with
him, the company used to throw olive-stones and dates at him. And the buffoons who
attended would wake him, as if it were only in jest, with a cane or a whip. Sometimes they
would put slippers upon his hands, as he lay snoring, that he might, upon awaking, rub his
face with them.
9. He was not only exposed to contempt, but sometimes likewise to
considerable danger: first, in his consulship; for, having been too remiss in providing
and erecting the statues of Gaius's brothers, Nero and Drusus, he was very near being
deprived of his office; and afterwards he was continually harassed with informations
against him by one or other, sometimes even by his own domestics. When the conspiracy of
Lepidus and Gaetulicus was discovered, being sent with some other deputies into Germany,
to congratulate the emperor upon the occasion, he was in danger of his life; Gaius being
greatly enraged, and loudly complaining, that his uncle was sent to him, as if he was a
boy who wanted a governor. Some even say, that he was thrown into a river, in his
traveling dress. From this period, he voted in the senate always the last of the members
of consular rank; being called upon after the rest, on purpose to disgrace him. A charge
for the forgery of a will was also allowed to be prosecuted, though he had only signed it
as a witness. At last, being obliged to pay eight millions of sesterces on entering upon a
new office of priesthood, he was reduced to such straits in his private affairs, that in
order to discharge his bond to the treasury, he was under the necessity of exposing to
sale his whole estate, by an order of the prefects.
10. Having spent the greater part of his life under these and the like
circumstances, he came at last to the empire in the fiftieth year of his age, by a very
surprising turn of fortune. Being, as well as the rest, prevented from approaching Gaius
by the conspirators, who dispersed the crowd, under the pretext of his desiring to be
private, he retired into an apartment called the Hermaeum ; and soon afterwards, terrified
by the report of Gaius being slain, he crept into an adjoining balcony, where he hid
himself behind the hangings of the door. A common soldier, who happened to pass that way,
spying his feet, and desirous to discover who he was, pulled him out; when immediately
recognizing him, he threw himself in a great fright at his feet, and saluted him by the
title of emperor. He then conducted him to his fellow-soldiers, who were all in a great
rage, and irresolute what they should do. They put him into a litter, and as the slaves of
the palace had all fled, took their turns in carrying him on their shoulders, and brought
him into the camp, sad and trembling; the people who met him lamenting his situation, as
if the poor innocent was being carried to execution. Being received within the ramparts,
he continued all night with the sentries on guard, recovered somewhat from his fright, but
in no great hopes of the succession. For the consuls, with the senate and civic troops,
had possessed themselves of the Forum and Capitol, with the determination to assert the
public liberty; and he being sent for likewise, by a tribune of the people, to the
senate-house, to give his advice upon the present juncture of affairs, returned answer,
" I am under constraint, and cannot possibly come." The day afterwards,
the senate being dilatory in their proceedings, and worn out by divisions amongst
themselves, while the people who surrounded the senate-house shouted that they would have
one master, naming Claudius, he suffered the soldiers assembled under arms to swear
allegiance to him, promising them fifteen thousand sesterces a man; he being the first of
the Caesars who purchased the submission of the soldiers with money.
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