Claudius Takes the Empire

Claudius knew with what arrogance the envoys had been sent to him, and for the present, following their advice, he turned toward moderation. Yet he did recover from his fear of them, encouraged partly by the boldness of the soldiers and partly by King Agrippa, who urged him not to let so great an empire slip out of his hands when it had come to him of its own accord. Now Agrippa had done for Gaius what was fitting for a man whom Gaius had raised to such honor. He took up Gaius’s dead body, laid it on a couch, and covered it as well as he could. Then he went out to the bodyguards and told them that Gaius was still alive, but that physicians would be called, since he was suffering badly from his wounds. When he learned that Claudius had been carried off by the soldiers, he pushed his way through the crowd to him. Finding him shaken and ready to give the government up to the senate, he roused him and urged him to keep hold of the empire. Having said this to Claudius, he went home. When the senate sent for him, he anointed his head with perfume, as though he had just come from his wife’s bed, and so came before them. He asked the senators what Claudius had done. They told him how things stood, and asked in turn what his opinion was about the whole situation. In words, he was ready to die for the senate’s honor; but he told them to consider what was to their advantage, setting aside everything that merely pleased them. For those who lay claim to an empire need weapons, and soldiers to fence them in, so that they do not set themselves up unprepared and come to grief. The senate replied that they would bring in plenty of weapons and money; that part of an army had already gathered to them, and they would raise more of it by setting the slaves free. Agrippa answered, “Senators, may you be able to do all that you have in mind! Still, I must tell you my thoughts without hesitation, since what I say is for your safety. Understand, then, that the army that will fight for Claudius has trained for a long time under arms; but ours will be a rabble of men thrown together, and of men unexpectedly freed from slavery, hard to control. We will be fighting against men skilled in war, and leading out men who do not even know how to draw their swords. So my opinion is that we should send some men to Claudius to persuade him to lay down the government, and I am ready to be one of the envoys.” [a]

So he spoke, and when they agreed, he was sent with others. In private he told Claudius how confused the senate was, and taught him to answer them in a more commanding way, as one who had the dignity of power. Accordingly Claudius said that he was not surprised the senate was unwilling to be ruled, since it had been worn down by the cruelty of those who had held power before. But under him they would taste consideration and moderate times. He would be their ruler in name only; in fact the power would be laid open to them all in common. And since he had passed through many and varied fortunes before their eyes, they would do well not to distrust him. The envoys, won over by hearing such words, were sent back. Claudius then addressed the army that had gathered, and took their oaths that they would remain faithful to him. He gave the bodyguards five thousand drachmas a man, and their officers sums in proportion, and he promised the same to the armies wherever they were. [b]

The consuls called the senate together in the temple of Jupiter the Victor while it was still night. Some of the senators hid themselves in the city, hesitating over the summons. Others had gone out to their own country estates, foreseeing where everything was heading and despairing of liberty. They thought it far better to live as slaves without danger, in idleness, than to claim the dignity of their fathers and put their own safety at risk. Still, a hundred of them, and no more, came together. While they were deliberating about the business at hand, a sudden clamor arose from the soldiers who had sided with them, demanding that the senate choose them an emperor and not ruin the empire by having many rulers. So they declared plainly, for their part, that the government should be given not to all but to one, though they left it to the senate to look for a man worthy of so great a charge. The senators’ situation was now far more distressing than before, since they had failed in the liberty they had boasted of, and were afraid of Claudius as well. Yet there were some who reached for the empire because of the rank of their families and their connections by marriage. Marcus Minucianus was distinguished by his own nobility and was married to Julia, the sister of Gaius. He was eager to lay claim to the government, but the consuls held him back, putting him off with one excuse after another. Minucianus, one of Gaius’s murderers, also held back Valerius Asiaticus from such thoughts. And there would have been a slaughter as great as any if those who desired the empire had been allowed to set themselves up against Claudius—above all because the gladiators, who were a considerable number, and the soldiers who kept the night watch in the city, and all the rowers of the fleet were flocking into the camp. So of those who were seeking the government, some gave it up to spare the city, and others out of fear for themselves. [c]

At the very first light of day, Chaerea and those with him came forward and tried to make speeches to the soldiers. But when the mass of the soldiers saw them waving with their hands for silence and about to begin speaking, they raised an uproar and would not let them speak at all, for they were all bent on being ruled by one man. They called for their ruler, as men who would put up with no more delays. The senate was at a loss whether to govern or how it should itself be governed, since the soldiers would not accept them, and Gaius’s murderers would not allow them to give way to the soldiers. In this situation Chaerea could not contain his anger. To their demand for an emperor he promised to give them a commander, if anyone would bring him the watchword from Eutychus. This Eutychus was the charioteer of the faction called the Greens, a great favorite of Gaius, and the soldiers had been worn out building stables for Gaius’s horses, kept at work at degrading labor. Chaerea threw this in their faces, along with much other abuse of the same kind, and told them he would bring them the head of Claudius. It was a monstrous thing, he said, that after a madman they would hand the government over to a fool. The soldiers, however, were not turned by his words. They drew their swords, took up their standards, and went off to Claudius to join those swearing the oath to him. So the senate was left with nobody to defend it, and the consuls were no different from private men. There was dismay and dejection; men did not know what would become of them, because Claudius had been provoked against them. They began reproaching one another and repenting of what they had done. At this point Sabinus, one of Gaius’s murderers, threatened that he would come forward into their midst and kill himself sooner than make Claudius ruler and see the rule of slaves come upon them again. He also rebuked Chaerea for loving his life, if he, who had been the first to despise Gaius, could think it good to live when not even so could liberty be restored to their country. Chaerea said that he had no hesitation at all about dying, but that he wanted first to sound out what Claudius intended. [e]

That was how things stood with them. At the camp, meanwhile, men were pushing in from all sides to pay court to Claudius. The other consul, Quintus Pomponius, was blamed by the soldiers for having done more than the rest to urge the senate on to liberty. They drew their swords and rushed at him, and they would have killed him if Claudius had not stopped them. He snatched the consul out of danger and seated him beside himself. But he did not receive the senators who were with Quintus with the same honor. Some of them were even struck and pushed back as they tried to come and greet him; Aponius went away wounded, and all of them were in danger. Then King Agrippa went to Claudius and asked him to deal more gently with the senators; for if any harm came to the senate, he would have no one else to rule. Claudius was persuaded, and he called the senate together on the Palatine. He was carried there through the city, escorted by the soldiers, who handled the crowd very roughly. Chaerea and Sabinus, of Gaius’s murderers, went out ahead quite openly, although Pollio, whom Claudius had a little before made commander of his bodyguard, had sent them letters forbidding them to appear in public. When Claudius came to the Palatine, he gathered his friends and put the case of Chaerea to their vote. They thought the deed itself a splendid one, but they charged the man who did it with breaking faith, and held it just to punish him, to deter such acts in time to come. So Chaerea was led off to be executed, and with him Lupus and a number of other Romans. It is said that Chaerea bore his misfortune with greatness of spirit. He showed it not only by his own unshaken bearing but by his rebukes to Lupus, who had broken down in tears. When Lupus took off his cloak and complained of the cold, Chaerea said that cold had never yet harmed a Lupus. A great crowd of people followed them to watch, and when Chaerea came to the place, he asked the soldier who was to execute them whether he was practiced at killing or whether this was the first time he had held a sword; and he told him to bring the very sword with which he himself had killed Gaius. He died happily, by a single blow. But Lupus did not depart so neatly. He lost heart, and several blows were needed, because he offered his neck feebly. [g]

A few days later, when the time came round for the offerings to the dead, the Roman people brought offerings to their own dead and honored Chaerea as well, putting portions into the fire for him and begging him to be gracious to them and not to be angry at their ingratitude. Such was the end of Chaerea’s life. As for Sabinus, Claudius not only cleared him of the charge but let him keep the command he held. Yet he thought it wrong to fall short of his faith to his fellow conspirators, and he killed himself, falling on his sword so that even the hilt went into the wound. [j]