(1) Post hunc Claudius fuit, patruus Caligulae, Drūsī quī apud Mogontiacum monumentum habet fīlius, cuius et Caligula nepōs erat. Hīc mediē imperāvit multa gerēns tranquillē atque moderātē, quaedam crūdēliter et īnsulsē.
(2) Britannīae intulit bellum, quam nūllus Rōmānōrum post C. Caesarem attigerat, eāque dēvictā per Cn. Sentium et A. Plautium, inlūstrēs ac nōbilēs virōs, triumphum celebrem ēgit.
(3) Quāsdam īnsulās etiam ultra Britanniās in Ōceanō positās imperiō Rōmānō addidit, quae appellantur Orchadēs; fīliō autem suō Britannicī nōmen imposuit.
(4) Tam cīvīlis autem circā quōsdam amīcōs extitit, ut etiam Plautium nōbilem virum, quī expedītiōne Britannicā multa ēgregiē fēcerat, triumphantem ipse prōsequerētur et cōnscendentī Capitōlium laevus incēderet.
(5) Is vīxit annōs IV et LX, imperāvit XIV. Post mortem cōnsecrātus est dīvusque appellātus.
notes
Claudius Emperor, 41–54 CE
Suetonius, Claudius.
(1) Post hunc: Caligulam
Claudius: Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Caesar Germanicus was the second son of Drusus and Antonia, the brother of Caligula's father, Germanicus. In early life he had been chronically ill and had been despised or neglected. As emperor he was influenced by his wives and freedmen Narcissus and Pallas. He was poisoned by his last wife, Agrippina, who was anxious that her son Domitius Ahenobarbus Nero by her former husband might succeed to the empire. Suetonius in his Lives of the Caesars gives a very dark picture of the reign of Claudius (Hazzard).
apud Mogontiacum monumentum: "at Mainz"
(2) Britannīae: dative object of intulit, (LS infero I.β); Claudius embarked upon the conquest of Britain in 43 CE and celebrated a triumph the following year (Bird).
post C. Caesarem: Julius Caesar had previously sent his troops to Britannia in 55 and 54 BCE, and wrote about the experience in his Gallic Wars; see Brev. 6.17.
eāque dēvictā: ablative absolute using a perfect passive participle (AG 419); eā refers to Britannia.
per Cn. Sentium et A. Plautium: see Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus and Aulus Plautius
triumphum celebrem ēgit: for more information on triumphs, see triumphs
(3) quae appellantur Orchadēs: the Orkney Islands
Britannicī: Britannicus was the son of Claudius and Messalina, his third wife. On the accession of Nero, Britannicus was poisoned (Hazzard).
(4) Tam cīvīlis: "so unpretentious...that"; tam introduces a result clause (AG 537).
triumphantem ipse prōsequerētur: triumphantem is present active participle accusative object of the deponent verb prōsequerētur (AG 190)
et cōnscendentī Capitōlium laevus incēderet: Laevus "walked on the left side," i.e. in a less prestigious position, up to the Capitol; cōnscendentī is a present active participle dative.
(5) vīxit annōs IV et LX: Claudius died in 54 CE.
Post mortem: It is generally believed that Claudius died by poison. In his Life of Claudius, Suetonius states:
Read more
It is generally agreed that Claudius was poisoned, but there is a discrepancy in when it happened and who did it. Some allege that his eunuch taste-tester Halotus offered it to him while he was dining in the Citadel with priests. Others say that it happened during a private dinner, when Agrippina herself offered him a poisoned mushroom, knowing that he loved that food. But even that version has different outcomes. For many say that as soon as he ingested the poison, he lost the ability to speak and, suffering excruciating pain all night, he died at daybreak. Others say that at first he fell unconscious, then he vomited up the contents of his stomach; he was then poisoned again, either mixed in a porridge given to provide him with energy to recover, or it was delivered as an enema, as if he were so badly off that he would need that form of assistance instead. (Vit. Cl. 44.2; trans. K. Masters)
dīvusque appellātus: see Apotheosis
vocabulary
Core Vocabulary | Numbers | Dates
| patruus, ī [pater], m. |
of a father's brother, paternal uncle |
| Caligula, ae, m. |
C. Caesar, surnamed Caligula, Roman emperor 37–41 A.D. |
| Drusus, ī, m. |
Nerō Claudius Drusus, son of Ti. Claudius Nero, and stepson of Augustus |
| Mogontiacum, ī, n. |
a city in Belgic Gaul, modern Mainz. |
| monumentum, ī [moneō], n. | a monument, record; tomb |
| nepōs, ōtis, m. |
grandson; nephew (late); pl., descendants |
| tranquillē [tranquillus], adv. | calmly, tranquilly |
| moderātē [moderātus], adv., sup. moderātissimē | with moderation, moderately |
| crūdēliter [crūdēlis], adv. | cruelly |
| īnsulsē [īnsulsus, without taste], adv. |
foolishly, absurdly |
| Britannī, ōrum, pl. m. |
the inhabitants of Britain, Britons 2 |
| C. |
abbreviation of the praenomen Gaius |
| Caesar, aris, m. |
a family name in the Julian gens. (1) C. Iūlius Caesar, the famous dictator; (2) Sex. Iūlius Caesar, uncle of the dictator. Consul 91 B.C.; (3) C. Octāviānus, the emperor Augustus |
| attingō, ere, tigī, tāctus | to border on, touch, attain |
| dēvincō, ere, vīcī, victus | to conquer completely, subdue |
| Cn. |
abbreviation of the praenomen Gnaeus |
| Sentius, ī, m. |
Cn. Sentius, a Roman general during the reign of the emperor Claudius |
| A. |
abbreviation of the praenomen Aulus |
| Plautius, ī, m. |
A. Plautius, sent by the emperor Claudius in 43 A.D. to subdue Britain |
| illūstris, e, adj. | clear, distinguished, glorious |
| triumphō, āre, āvī, ātus | to celebrate a triumph |
| celeber, bris, bre, adj. | famous |
| Britannia, ae, f. |
Britain, England and Scotland; in the pl. includes Ireland 3 |
| Ōceanus, ī, m. |
the Atlantic and its divisions in contrast with the Mediterranean Sea |
| Orchadēs, um, pl. f. |
a group of islands north of Scotland, now Orkney Islands |
| Britannicus, a, um |
pertaining to Britain, British; as subst., Britannicus, ī, m., son of the emperor Claudius and Messalina |
| cīvīlis, e [cīvis], adj. |
pertaining to a citizen; civil; polite, moderate, unpretentious 4 |
| exsistō, ere, stitī, -- |
to make come out; appear, arise, project, exist |
| expedītiō, ōnis [expediō, to set fire], f. | an expedition, campaign |
| triumphus, ī, m. |
a triumph, a splendid procession in which the victorious general entered the city accompanied by his soldiers and the spoil and captives he had taken. The procession passed around the Capitoline Hill into the Via Sacra, then into the Forum, and up to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. |
| prōsequor, ī, secūtus sum | to follow after, pursue, address |
| cōnscendō, ere, ī, scēnsus | to mount, ascend; go on board |
| Capitōlium, ī, n. |
the chief temple of Jupiter in Rome; the hill on which this stood, the Mōns Capitōlīnūs, the citadel as well as the chief sanctuary of Rome |
| laevus, a, um, adj. |
left; as subst., laeva, ae, f., the left; in laevā, on the left side |
| incēdō, ere, essī, cessūrus |
to advance, approach; march; move slowly |
| cōnsecrō, āre, āvī, ātus | to dedicate, consecrate, devote 5 |