No More Learning

53 Clodius was a candidate for the and his letters to Atticus and his brother Quintus;
praetorship, and Milo for the consulship. Each Plutarch's lives of Lucullus, Pompey, Cicero, and
strove to hinder the election of the other. They Caesar; and Dion Cassius. Of modern writers,
collected armed bands of slaves and gladiators, and Middleton, in his Life of Cicero, has touched upon
the streets of Rome became the scene of fresh tu- the leading points of Clodius's history ; but the
mults and frays, in one of which Cicero himself best and fullest account has been given by Dru-
was endangered. When the consuls endeavoured mann, Geschichte Roms, vol. ii. pp. 199–370.
to hold the comitia, Clodius fell upon them with 41--45. CLODIAE. [CLAUDIAE, Nos. 7-11. ]
his band, and one of them, Cn. Domitius, was 46. APP. CLAUDIUS or CLODIUS PULCHER, the
wounded. The senate met to deliberate. Clodius elder of the two sons of C. Claudius. [No. 39. ]
spoke, and attacked Cicero and Milo, touching, Both he and his younger brother bore the praeno-
among other things, upon the amount of debt with men Appius (Ascon. Arg. in Milon. p. 35, Orell. ),
which the latter was burdened. Cicero replied in from which it was conjectured by Manutius (in
the speech De Aere alieno Milonis. The contest, Cic. ad Fam. ii. 13. $ 2, and viii. 8. & 2), that the
however, was soon after brought to a sudden and former had been adopted by his uncle Appius [No.
violent end. On the 20th of January, B. c. 52, Milo 38), a conjecture which is confirmed by a coin, on
set out on a journey to Lanuvium. Near Bovillae which he is designated c. CLOD. C. F. (Vaillant,
he met Clodius, who was returning to Rome after Claud. No. 13. ) Cicero, in letters written to Atticus
visiting some of his property. Both were accom- during his exile (iii. 17. $ 1, 8. 82, 9. & 3) ex-
panied by armed followers, but Milo's party was presses a fear lest his brother Quintus should be
the stronger. The two antagonists had passed brought to trial by this Appius before his uncle on
each other without disturbance; but two of the a charge of extortion. On the death of P. Clodius
gladiators in the rear of Milo's troop picked a he and his brother appeared as accusers of Milo.
quarrel with some of the followers of Clodius, who (Ascon. in Milon. pp. 35, 39, 40, 42, ed. Orell. )
immediately turned round, and rode up to the In B. c. 50 he led back from Gallia the two legions
scene of dispute, when he was wounded in the which had been lent to Caesar by Pompey. (Plut.
shoulder by one of the gladiators. The fray now Pomp. 57. ) Whether it was this Appius or his
became general. The party of Clodius were put brother who was consul in B. c. 38 (Dion. Cass.
to flight, and betook themselves with their leader xlviii. 43) cannot be determined.
to a house near Bovillae. Milo ordered his men 47. APP. CLAUDIus or CLODIUS PULCHER, bro-
to attack the house. Several of Clodius' men ther of No. 46, joined his brother in prosecuting
were slain, and Clodius himself dragged out and Milo. (B. c. 52. ) Next year he exposed the in-
despatched. The body was left lying on the road, trigue through which his father had escaped (see
till a senator named Sex. Tedius found it, and No. 39), in hopes of getting back the bribe that
conveyed it to Rome. Here it was exposed to had been paid to Servilius. But he managed the
the view of the populace, who crowded to see it. matter so clumsily, that Servilius escaped, and
Next day it was carried naked to the forum, and Appius, having abandoned a prosecution' with
again exposed to view before the rostra. The which he had threatened Servilius, was himself
mob, enraged by the spectacle, and by the inflam- not long after impeached for extortion by the Ser-


## p. 775 (#795) ############################################

CLAUDIUS.
775
CLAUDIUS.
M. F
P. CLODIUS
vilii, and for violence by Sex. Tettius. (Cic. ad | M. Aufidius, and condemned. (Ascon. in Milon.
Fan. vii. 8. )
p. 55. ) He remained in exile for eight years, but
48. P. CLODIUS, son of P. Clodius and Fulvia, was restored in 44 by M. Antonius. (Cic. ad Att.
was a child at the time of his father's death. Milo xiv. 13, A. and B. ) Cicero (pro Dom. 10, 31,
was accused of having attempted to get him into pro Cael. 32) charges him with having carried on
his power, that he might put him to death. (As- a criminal correspondence with Clodia (Quadran-
con. in Milon. p. 36. ) His step-father Antonius taria).
spoke of him as a hopeful lad. (Cic. ad Att. xiv. 5. Sex. CLODIUS, a Sicilian rhetorician, under
13, A. ) According to Valerius Maximus (iii. 5. whom M. Antonius studied oratory, and whom he
$ 3) his youth was spent in gluttony and debauch- rewarded with a present of a large estate in the
ery, which occasioned a disease of which he died. Leontine territory. (Cic. ad At. iv. 15, Phil. ii.
49. CLODIA. (CLAUDIA, No. 12. )
4, 17, iii. 9; Dion Cass. xlv. 30, xlvi. 8; Suet.
There are several coins of the Claudia gens. A de Clar. Rhet. 5. )
specimen is given below: it contains on the obverse 6. P. CLODIUS, M. F. appears on several coins
the head of Apollo, with a lyre behind, and on the which bear the image of Caesar and Antonius.
reverse Diana holding two torches, with the in- (Eckhel, v. p. 172; Vaillant, Anton. Nos. 14, 15,
scription P. CLODIUS M. f. , but it is uncertain to Claud. 43–46. ) He is probably the same with
which of the Claudii this refers. [C. P. M. ) the Clodius whom Caesar in B. C. 48 sent into
Macedonia to Metellus Scipio (Caes. B. C. iii.
57), and with the Clodius Bithynicus mentioned
by Appian (B. C. v. 49), who fought on the
side of Antonius in the Perusian war, and was
taken prisoner and put to death in B. C. 40 by
the command of Octavianus.
7. C. CLAUDIUS, probably the descendant of a
freedman of the Claudian house, was one of the
suite of P. Clodius on his last journey to Aricia.
CLAU'DIUS. The following were plebeians, (Cic. pro Mil. 17; Ascon. in Milon. p. 33, Orell. )
or freedmen of the patrician Claudia gens.
8. C.
CLAUDIUS, a follower of M. Brutus, who
1. Q. Claudius, a plebeian, was tribune of the by the direction of the latter put C. Antonius to
plebs in B. c. 218, when he brought forward a law death. [ANTONIUS, No. 13, p. 216. ) (Dion Cass.
that no senator, or son of a person of senatorial xlvii. 24; Plut. Anton. 22, Brut. 28. ) He was
rank, should possess a ship of the burden of more afterwards sent by Brutus in command of a squad-
than 300 amphorae. (Liv. xxi. 63. ) The Q. Clau- ron to Rhodes, and on the death of his patron joined
dius Flamen, who was praetor in B. C. 208, and Cassius of Parma. (Appian, B. C. v. 2. ) [C. P. M. ]
had Tarentum assigned to him as his province, is CLAU'DIUS I. , or, with his full name, TIB.
probably the same person. (Liv. xxvii 21, 22, 43, CLAUDIUS Drusus Nero GERMANICUS, was the
xxviii. 10. )
fourth in the series of Roman emperors, and reign-
2. L. CLODIUS, praefectus fabrum to App. Clau- ed from a. D. 41 to 54. He was the grandson of
dius Pulcher, consul B. c. 54. [CLAUDIUS, No. 38. ] Tib. Claudius Nero and Livia, who afterwards
(Cic. ad Fam. iii. 4-6, 8. ) He was tribune of married Augustus, and the son of Drusus and An-
the plebs, B. c. 43. (Pseudo-Cic
. ad Brut. i. 1; tonia. He was born on the first of August, B. C.
comp. Cic. ad Att. xv. 13. )
10, at Lyons in Gaul, and lost his father in his
3. APP. CLAUDIUS, C. F.
, mentioned by Cicero infancy. During his early life he was of a sickly
in a letter to Brutus. (Ad Fam. xi. 22. ) Who constitution, which, though it improved in later
he was cannot be determined. He attached him- years, was in all probability the cause of the
self to the party of Antony, who had restored his weakness of his intellect, for, throughout his life,
father. Whether this Appius was the same with he shewed an extraordinary deficiency in judg-
either of the two of this name mentioned by Apment, tact, and presence of mind. It was owing
pian (B. C. iv. 44, 51) as among those proscribed to these circumstances that from his childhood he
by the triumvirs, is uncertain.
was neglected, despised, and intimidated by his
4. Sex. CLODIUS, probably a descendant of a nearest relatives ; he was left to the care of his
freedman of the Claudian house, was a man of low paedagogues, who often treated him with improper
condition, whom P. Clodius took under his patro harshness. His own mother is reported to have
nage. (Cic. pro Cael. 32, pro Dom. 10. ) In called him a portentum hominis, and to have said,
B. C. 58 we find him superintending the celebration that there was something wanting in his nature to
of the Compitalian festival. (Cic. in Pison. 4; make him a man in the proper sense of the word.
Ascon. p. 7, Orell. ) He was the leader of the This judgment, harsh as it may appear in the
armed bands which P. Clodius employed. (Ascon. mouth of his mother, is not exaggerated, for in
l. c. ) The latter entrusted to him the task of everything he did, and however good his intentions
drawing up the laws which he brought forward in were, he failed from the want of judgment and a
his tribuneship, and commissioned him to carry proper tact, and made himself ridiculous in the
into effect his lex frumentaria. (Cic. pro Dom. 10, eyes of others. Notwithstanding this intellectual
18, 31, 50, de Har. Resp. 6, pro Seat. 64. ) We deficiency, however, he was a man of great indus-
find Sextus the accomplice of Publius in all his try and diligence. He was excluded from the so-
acts of violence. (pro Cael. 32. ) In 56 he was ciety of his family, and confined to slaves and wo-
impeached by Milo, but was acquitted. (Cic. ad men, whom he was led to make his friends and
Q. Fr. ii. 6, pro Cael. 32. ) For his proceedings confidants by his natural desire of unfolding his
on the death of P. Clodius Pulcher see No 40; heart. During the long period previous to his ac-
Cic. pro Mi. . 13, 33; Ascon. pp. 34, 36, 48. cession, as well as afterwards, he devoted the
He was impeached by C. Caesennius Philo and greater part of his time to literary pursuits,
a


## p. 776 (#796) ############################################

776
CLAUDIUS.
CLAUDIUS.
Augustus and his uncle Tiberius always treated | cissus, Pallas, and others, led him into a number
him with contempt; Caligula, his nephew, raised of cruel acts. After the fall of Messalina by her
him to the consulship indeed, but did not allow own conduct and the intrigues of Narcissus, Clau-
him to take any part in public affairs, and behaved dius was, if possible, still more unfortunate in
towards him in the same way as his predecessors choosing for his wife his niece Agrippina, A. D. 49.
had done.
She prevailed upon him to set aside his own son,
In this manner the ill-fated man had reached Britannicus, and to adopt her son, Nero, in order
the age of fifty, when after the murder of Caligula that the succession might be secured to the latter.
he was suddenly and unexpectedly raised to the Claudius soon after regretted this step, and the
imperial throne. When he received the news of consequence was, that he was poisoned by Agrip-
Caligula's murder, he was alarmed about his own pina in a. D. 54.
safety, and concealed himself in a corner of the The conduct of Claudius during his government,
palace ; but he was discovered by a common solo in so far as it was not under the influence of his
dier, and when Claudius fel prostrate before him, wives and freedmen, was mild and popular, and he
the soldier saluted him emperor. Other soldiers made several useful and beneficial legislative en-
soon assembled, and Claudius in a state of agony, actments. He was particularly fond of building,
as if he were led to execution, was carried in a and several architectural plans which had been
Jectica into the practorian camp. There the soldiers formed, but thought impracticable by his predeces-
proclaimed him emperor, and took their oath of sors, were carried out by him. Ile built, for ex-
allegiance to him, on condition of his giving each ample, the famous Claudian aquaeduct (Aqua
soldier, or at least each of the practorian guards, a Claudia), the port of Ostia, and the emissary by
donative of fifteen sestertia--the first instance of a which the water of lake Fucinus was carried into
Roman emperor being obliged to make such a the river Liris. During his reign several wars
promise on his accession. It is not quite certain were carried on in Britain, Germany, Syria, and
what may have induced the soldiers to proclaim a Mauretania; but they were conducted by his
ipan who had till then lived in obscurity, and had generals. The southern part of Britain was consti-
taken no part in the administration of the empire. tuted a Roman province in the reign of Claudius,
It is said that they chose him merely on account of who himself went to Britain in A. D. 43, to take
his connexion with the imperial family, but it is part in the war; but not being of a warlike dispo-
highly probable that there were also other causes sition, he quitted the island after a stay of a few
at work.
days, and returned to Rome, where he celebrated
During the first two days after the murder of a splendid triumph. Mauretania was made a
Caligula, the senators and the city cohorts, which Roman province in A. D. 42 by the legate Cn.
formed a kind of opposition to the praetorian guards, Hosidius.
indulged in the vain hope of restoring the republic, As an author Claudius occupied himself chiefly
but being unable to make head against the praeto- with history, and was encouraged in this pursuit
rians, and not being well agreed among themselves, by Livy, the historian. With the assistance of
the senators were at last obliged to give way, and Sulpicius Flavius, he began at an early age to write
on the third day they recognized Claudius as em- a history from the death of the dictator Caesar;
peror. The first act of his government was to but being too straightforward and honest in his
proclaim an amnesty respecting the attempt to re- accounts, he was severely censured by his mother
store the republic, and a few only of the murderers and grandmother. He accordingly gave up. his
of Caligula were put to death, partly for the pur- plan, and began his history with the restoration of
pose of establishing an example, and partly because peace after ihe battle of Actium. Of the earlier
it was known that some of the conspirators had period he had written only four, but of the latter
intended to murder Claudius likewise. The acts forty-one books. A third work were memoirs of
which followed these shew the same kind and his own life, in eight books, which Suetonius de
amiable disposition, and must convince every one, scribes as magis inepte quam ineleganter composita.
that, if he had been left alone, or had been assisted A fourth was a learned defence of Cicero against
by a sincere friend and adviser, his government the attacks of Asinius Pollio. He seems to have
would have afforded little or no ground for com- been as well skilled in the use of the Greek as of
plaint. Had he been allowed to remain in a pri- the Latin language, for he wrote two historical
vate station, he would certainly have been a kind, works in Greek, the one a history of Carthage, in
good, and honest man. But he was throughout his eight books, and the other a history of Etruria, in
life placed in the most unfortunate circumstances. twenty books. However small the literary merit
The perpetual fear in which he had passed his of these productions may have been, still the loss
earlier days, was now increased and abused by of the history of Etruria in particular is greatly to
those by whom he was surrounded after his acces- be lamented, as we know that he made use of the
sion. And this fear now became the cause of a genuine sources of the Etruscans themselves. In
series of cruel actions and of bloodshed, for which A. D. 48, the Aedui petitioned that their senators
he is stamped in history with the name of a tyrant, should obtain the jus petendorum honorum at Rome.
which he does not deserve.
Claudius supported their petition in a speech which
The first wife of Claudius was Plautia Urgula- he delivered in the senate. The grateful inhabi-
nilla, by whom he had a son, Drusus, and a tants of Lyons had this speech of the emperor
daughter, Claudia. But as he had reason for be- engraved on brazen tables, and exhibited them in
lieving that his own life was threatened by her, he public. Two of these tables were discovered at
divorced her, and married Aelia Petina, whom he Lyons in 1529, and are still preserved there. The
likewise divorced on account of some misunder- inscriptions are printed in Gruter's Corp. Inscript.
standing. At the time of his accession he was p. Di. (Sueton. Claudius ; Dion Cassius, lib. lx. ;
married to his third wife, the notorious Valeria Tacit. Annal. libb. xi. and xii. ; Zonaras, xi. 8,
Messalina, who, together with the freedmen Nar- &c.