Suetonius Claudius 1.6-3.1, 10, and 26 Flashcards
Ex Antonia minore complures quidem liberos tulit, verum tres omnino reliquit: Germanicum, Livillam, Claudium.
Drusus had several children by the younger Antonia, but left behind only three children: Germanicus, Livilla, and Claudius.
Claudius natus est Iullo Antonio Fabio Africano consulibus, Kalendis Augustis Luguduni eo ipso die quo primum ara ibi Augusto dedicata est, appellatusque Tiberius Claudius Drusus.
Claudius was born at Lugudunum on the Kalends of August during the consulship of Iullus Antonius and and Fabius Africanus, on the very day when the altar was first dedicated to Augustus in that place and he was called Tiberius Claudius Drusus.
Mox fratre maiore in Iuliam familiam adoptato Germanici cognomen assumpsit. Infans autem relictus a patre ac per omne fere pueritiae atque adulescentiae tempus variis et tenacibus morbis conflictatus est, adeo ut animo simul et corpore hebetato ne progressa quidem aetate ulli publico privatoque muneri habilis existimaretur.
Soon, after his elder brother was adopted into the Julian family, he took the cognomen Germanicus. He was left by his father as an infant and through almost his whole time of his childhood and adolescence he was soseverely tortured by various tenacious disorders that his mind and body were impaired and even when he had approached the proper age he was not reckoned capable for any public or private office.
Diu atque etiam post tutelam receptam
alieni arbitrii et sub paedagogo fuit; quem barbarum et olim superiumentarium ex industria sibi appositum, ut se quibuscumque de causis quam saevissime coerceret, ipse quodam libello conqueritur. Ob hanc eandem valitudinem et gladiatorio munere, quod simul cum fratre memoriae patris edebat, palliolatus novo more praesedit; et togae virilis die circa mediam noctem sine sollemni officio lectica in Capitolium latus est.
and for a long time even after he reached the age of independence, he was in a state of tutelage and under a guardian; whom he himself complains about in a little book, that he was a barbarian and once chief of drivers of mules, put in charge of him for the express purpose of punishing him with all possible severity for any cause whatsoever. Because of this same state of his health, at the gladiatorial games which he together with his brother gave in memory for his father, he presided wearing a hooded cloak, a new fashion; and on the day when he assumed the toga of manhood he was carried in a litter to the Capitol at aorund midnight wirhout the usual ceremony.
Disciplinis tamen liberalibus ab aetate prima non mediocrem operam dedit ac saepe experimenta cuiusque etiam publicavit.
But he gave no insignificant effort to the liberal arts from his earliest youth and even often published speciemens of his skill in each one.
Per haec ac talia maxima aetatis parte transacta quinquagesimo anno imperium cepit quantumvis mirabili casu. Exclusus inter ceteros ab insidiatoribus Gai, cum quasi secretum eo desiderante turbam submoverent, in diaetam, cui nomen est Hermaeum, recesserat;
having spent the greatest part of his life these and like circumstances, in his fiftieth year he took the imperial power in a marvelous freak of fortune. He, among the rest, having been shut out by the assassins of Gaius Caligula, when they dispersed the crowd on the grounds that he (the emperor) was desiring privacy, he had retired into the room which has the name the Hermaeum;
neque multo post rumore caedis exterritus prorepsit ad solarium proximum interque praetenta foribus vela se abdidit. Latentem discurrens forte gregarius miles, animadversis pedibus, studio sciscitandi quisnam esset, adgnovit extractumque et prae metu ad genua sibi accidentem imperatorem salutavit.
and not much later, thoroughly terrified at the news of the murder he crept to a nearby balcony and hid himself among the curtains hanging before the doors. a common soldier running about by chance noticed his feet and curious to know pulled him out and recognised him and when Claudius fell to his knees in fear greeted him as emperor.
Hinc ad alios commilitones fluctuantis nec quicquam adhuc quam frementis perduxit. Ab his lecticae impositus et, quia sui diffugerant, vicissim succollantibus in castra delatus est tristis ac trepidus, miserante obvia turba quasi ad poenam raperetur insons. Receptus intra vallum inter excubias militum pernoctavit, aliquanto minore spe quam fiducia.
Then he led him to his other fellow-soldiers who were complaining and yet doing nothing more than grumbling. he was placed by these men in a litter and because his own men had scattered, and carried to the camp, sad and trembling, on. the shoulders of each man in turn, while the crowd he met pitied him on the grounds that he was an innocent man being hurried off to punishment. having been recieved inside the rampart he passed the night among the men of the soldiers on guard, with somewhat less hope than confidence.
Nam consules cum senatu et cohortibus urbanis Forum Capitoliumque occupaverant asserturi communem libertatem; accitusque et ipse per tribunum plebis in curiam ad suadenda quae
viderentur, vi se et necessitate teneri respondit. Verum postero die et senatu segniore in exsequendis conatibus per taedium ac dissensionem diversa censentium et multitudine, quae circumstabat, unum rectorem iam et nominatim exposcente, armatos pro contione iurare in nomen suum passus est promisitque singulis quina dena sestertia, primus Caesarum fidem militis etiam praemio pigneratus.
for the consuls with the senate and city cohorts had occupied the Forum and the Capitol, with the intention of preserving the public liberty; when he himself was also summoned to a senate meeting by the tribune of the plebs to advise what seemed best to him, he responded that he was held by forced and necessity. But on the next day since the senate was more sluggish in accomplishing what they were trying to do because of the tedious disagreement of those holding differing opinions, and the populace, who were standing around, now demanded one leader and named (Claudius) expressly, he allowed the armed men in the assembly to swear allegiance to his name and promised each man fifteen thousand sesterces, being the first of the Caesars to have gained the faith of his soliders also through a bribe.
Sponsas admodum adulescens duas habuit: Aemiliam Lepidam Augusti proneptem, item Liviam Medullinam, cui et cognomen Camillae erat, e genere antiquo dictatoris Camilli. Priorem, quod parentes eius Augustum offenderant, virginem adhuc repudiavit, posteriorem ipso die, qui erat nuptiis destinatus, ex valitudine amisit.
He took two fiancees at an early age: Aemilia Lepida, great grand-daughter of Augustus, also Livia Medullina who also had the cognomen Camilla and was from the ancient family of Camillus the dictator. He rejected the first maiden, becuase her parents had offended Augustus, and the latter one he lost, on the very day which was determined for the wedding, because of health.
Uxores deinde duxit Plautiam Urgulanillam triumphali et mox Aeliam Paetinam consulari patre. Cum utraque divortium fecit, sed cum Paetina ex levibus offensis, cum Urgulanilla ob libidinum probra et homicidii suspicionem. Post has Valeriam Messalinam, Barbati Messalae consobrini sui filiam, in matrimonium accepit. Quam cum comperisset super cetera flagitia atque dedecora C. Silio etiam nupsisse dote inter auspices consignata, supplicio adfecit confirmavitque pro contione apud praetorianos, quatenus sibi matrimonia male cederent, permansurum se in caelibatu, ac nisi permansisset, non recusaturum confodi manibus ipsorum.
He then led as wives, Plautia Urgulanialla whose father had been honoured by a triumph and later Aelia Paetina whose father was a consul. He divorced both, Paetina for trivial offences, but Urgulanilla because of suspicion of scandalous lewdness and murder. Afterwards he married Valeria Messalina, dauughter of his cousin Messala Barbartus. But when learnt that besides other shameful things and wicked deeds, she had actually married Gaius Silius and that a dowry had been signed among witnesses, he put her to death and declared among the assembled praetorians, since his marriages turned out badly, he would remain in celibacy, and if he did not remain celibate, he would not refuse to be stabbed by their hands.
Nec durare valuit quin de condicionibus continuo tractaret, etiam de Paetinae, quam olim exegerat, deque Lolliae Paulinae, quae C. Caesari nupta fuerat. Verum inlecebris Agrippinae, Germanici fratris sui filiae, per ius osculi et blanditiarum occasiones pellectus in amorem, subornavit proximo senatu qui censerent, cogendum se ad ducendum eam uxorem, quasi rei p. maxime interesset, dandamque ceteris veniam talium coniugiorum, quae ad id tempus incesta habebantur. Ac vix uno interposito die confecit nuptias, non repertis qui sequerentur exemplum, excepto libertino quodam et altero primipilari, cuius nuptiarum officium et ipse cum Agrippina celebravit.
and he was not able to hold out without immediately planning marriage proposals, even with Paetina, whom he had once divorced, and with Lollia Paunlina, who had been married to Gauius Caesar. But enticed into love by the charms of Agrippina, daughter of his brother Germanicus, and through the right of a kiss and opportunities for endearments, at the next meeting of the senate he induced some members to propose that he be compelled to lead her as his wife, on the grounds that it was of the greatest importance to the state, and that others should be allowed to contract similiar marriages, which upto that time were considered incestuous. and he married her with scarcely a day having passed, though none were found to follow his example, except a certain freedman and another chief centurion, whose wedding ceremony he himself attended with Argippina.
