Divus Claudius

1. We have come to the emperor Claudius, who must be set down by us in writing with care, out of regard for Constantius Caesar. To do so I could the less refuse because I had written of others — mere tumultuary emperors and petty princes, that is — in the book which I issued concerning the Thirty Tyrants, which now also includes the stock of Cleopatra and Victoria; since matters have gone so far that the comparison with Gallienus has made even the lives of women fit to be written. For it was not right to keep silent about a prince who left so great an offspring of his line, who by his own valour finished the Gothic war, who as victor laid his hand upon the public disasters, who drove Gallienus, that prodigy of an emperor, from the helm of the state — even if he was not the author of the design, he himself was nonetheless destined to rule for the good of the human race — and who, had he tarried longer in this commonwealth, would by his strength, his counsels, and his foresight have given us back the Scipios and the Camilli and all those men of old.

2. His time in power was brief, I cannot deny it; but it would have been brief even if such a man could have ruled as long as the life of mortals allows. For what in him was not admirable? What not conspicuous? What not to be preferred to the most ancient men of triumph? In him the valour of Trajan, the piety of Antoninus, the moderation of Augustus, and the good qualities of the great princes were so present that he did not take an example from others, but, even had they never existed, he would have left an example to the rest. The most learned of the astrologers judge that a hundred and twenty years are given to a man for living, and they boast that no more have been granted to anyone — adding even this, that Moses alone, the familiar of God, as the books of the Jews relate, lived a hundred and twenty-five years; and when he complained that he was dying young, the answer was given to him, they report, by an uncertain divinity, that no one was to live longer. Wherefore, even had Claudius lived a hundred and twenty-five years, his death — even though inevitable — would not have had to be awaited, as Tullius says of Scipio. His astounding and marvellous life teaches this. For what great thing did that man not possess, at home and abroad? He loved his parents — what wonder? He loved his brothers too — now this can be worthy of a marvel. He loved his kinsmen — a thing in our times to be compared to a marvel. He envied no one; he persecuted the wicked; he condemned thieving judges openly and plainly; the foolish he indulged, as it were, with negligence. He gave the best of laws. Such was he in the commonwealth that the highest princes chose his stock for the empire, and a reformed senate longed for it.

3. Someone may think that I speak to gratify Constantius Caesar; but both your own conscience and my life are witnesses that I have never thought, said, or done anything to win favour. I speak of the emperor Claudius, whose life, uprightness, and all that he did in the commonwealth gave such fame to posterity that the senate and people of Rome honoured him with new honours after his death: for him a golden shield — or, as the grammarians say, "a golden buckler" — was placed by the judgment of the whole senate in the Roman Senate-house, and even now his countenance may be seen there, the breastplate worked in relief. For him the Roman people, at their own expense, set up on the Capitol, before the temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest, a golden statue ten feet high — a thing done for no one before. For him, by the judgment of the whole world, a palm-decked column was set up on the Rostra, with a statue fixed atop it of a thousand five hundred pounds of silver. He, as though mindful of things to come, propagated the Flavian Houses, which had been those of Vespasian too and of Titus — but I am unwilling to say of Domitian. He completed the Gothic war in a short time. A flatterer, then, was the senate; a flatterer the Roman people; flatterers the foreign nations; flatterers the provinces — since all orders, every age, every state honoured the good prince with statues, standards, crowns, shrines, arches, altars, and temples.

4. It concerns both those who imitate good princes and the whole human race to know what senatorial decrees were framed concerning that man, that all may recognize the judgment of the public mind. For when it had been announced, on the ninth day before the Kalends of April, on the very day of the Blood in the Sanctuary of the Mother, that Claudius had been made emperor, and the senate could not be convened for the sake of celebrating the sacred rites, the togas being assumed, they went to the temple of Apollo; and, the letter of the emperor Claudius having been read, these things were said concerning Claudius: "Augustus Claudius, may the gods preserve you," said sixty times. "Claudius Augustus, we have always wished for you as emperor, or for one such as you," said forty times. "Claudius Augustus, the commonwealth was in need of you," said forty times. "Claudius Augustus, you are a brother, you a father, you a friend, you a good senator, you truly a prince," said eighty times. "Claudius Augustus, deliver us from Aureolus," said five times. "Claudius Augustus, deliver us from the Palmyrenes," said five times. "Claudius Augustus, free us from Zenobia and from Vitruvia," said seven times. "Claudius Augustus, Tetricus has done nothing," said seven times.

5. As soon as he was made emperor, Aureolus, who had been the more grievous burden to the commonwealth, because he pleased Gallienus greatly, he drove, after a conflict, from the helm of the state, and judged him a usurper, edicts being sent to the people and orations addressed to the senate. To this is added that when Aureolus entreated and sought a treaty, the grave and serious emperor did not listen to him, but rejected him with this reply: "These things ought to have been sought of Gallienus; one who agreed with his ways could even fear him." In short, by the judgment of his own soldiers at Mediolanum, Aureolus had an end worthy of his life and character. And yet some historians have tried to praise even this man — and ridiculously indeed; for Gallus Antipater, the handmaid of office and the disgrace of histories, began his account of Aureolus thus: "We have come to an emperor of his own name." A great virtue indeed, to take one's name from gold! But I know that this name has more often been given to good fighters among the gladiators; your own programme of games very recently had this name in the list of the shows.

6. But let us return to Claudius. For, as we said above, those Goths who had escaped at the time when Marcianus pursued them, and whom Claudius had not allowed to be let go, lest that should come about which did come about, stirred up all the peoples of their kind to plunder the Roman territories. In short, the various peoples of the Scythians — the Peucini, the Greuthungi, the Austrogoths, the Tervingi, the Visi, the Gepidae, the Celts too, and the Eruli — through desire of plunder burst into Roman soil and there laid waste very much, while Claudius was occupied with other matters and while he was equipping himself in imperial fashion for that war which he finished — so that the fates of Rome may seem to have been slowed by the engagements of a good prince. But I believe it was so that the glory of Claudius might increase and his victory become more glorious throughout the whole world. In short, there were then three hundred and twenty thousand of the armed peoples. Let him now say, who accuses us of flattery, that Claudius is less to be loved — three hundred and twenty thousand armed men. What Xerxes, after all, had this number? What little fable invented this number? What poet composed it? There were three hundred and twenty thousand armed men. Add the slaves, add the households, add the wagon-train, and the rivers drunk dry and the forests consumed, and the very earth, in short, that laboured to receive so great a swelling of barbarians.

7. There is extant a letter of his own, sent to the senate to be read to the people, in which he reports the number of the barbarians, which is as follows: "To the senate and people of Rome, Claudius the emperor." (This he himself is said to have dictated; I do not look for the words of the secretary of the records.) "Conscript Fathers, hear, marvelling, what is the truth. Three hundred and twenty thousand barbarians have come, armed, onto Roman soil. If I shall conquer these, render in return what is due to my deserts; if I shall not conquer, know that I wish to fight after Gallienus. The whole commonwealth is wearied; we fight after Valerian, after Ingenuus, after Regalianus, after Lollianus, after Postumus, after Celsus, after a thousand others who, in contempt of a bad prince, revolted from the commonwealth. No shields, no broadswords, no javelins now remain. The Gauls and the Spains, the strength of the commonwealth, Tetricus holds; and all the archers — which is shameful to say — Zenobia possesses. Whatever we shall accomplish is great enough."

These, then, Claudius overcame by that inborn valour of his; these in a short time he wore down; of these he scarcely permitted any to return to their native soil. I ask, how great a price for so great a victory is a shield in the Senate-house? How great a single golden statue? Ennius says of Scipio: "How great a statue will the Roman people make, how great a column, to tell of your deeds?" We can say that Flavius Claudius, the one prince upon earth, is supported not by columns, not by statues, but by the strength of his fame.

8. They had, besides, two thousand ships — twice the number, namely, of that with which all Greece together and all Thessaly once tried to storm the cities of Asia. But that the poetic pen invents; this true history contains. Of Claudius, then, do we writers flatter, who destroyed, crushed, and wore down two thousand barbarian ships and three hundred and twenty thousand armed men; who now had set on fire so great a wagon-train as this number of armed men could fit out and prepare for itself, now assigned it with all its households to Roman servitude? As is shown by his letter, which he wrote to Junius Brocchus, who was guarding Illyricum: "Claudius to Brocchus. We have destroyed three hundred and twenty thousand of the Goths; we have sunk two thousand ships. The rivers are covered with shields; with broadswords and little lances all the shores are spread over. The plains lie hidden, covered with bones; no road is clear; the huge wagon-train is abandoned. We have taken so many women that the victorious soldier can attach to himself two and three women apiece.

9. And would that the commonwealth had not endured Gallienus! Would that it had not borne with six hundred tyrants! Had the soldiers been safe whom the various battles carried off, had the legions been safe which Gallienus, a bad victor, slew, how much would have been added to the commonwealth! Since now our diligence gathers the limbs of the public shipwreck for the safety of the Roman commonwealth."

For there was fighting among the Moesians, and there were many battles at Marcianopolis. Many perished by shipwreck; very many kings were taken captive, noble women of various peoples were taken; the Roman provinces were filled with barbarian slaves and Scythian husbandmen; a colonist of the barbarian frontier was made out of a Goth. Nor was there any region that did not have a Gothic slave in a kind of triumphal servitude. What barbarian oxen did our elders see! What sheep! What mares — those of the Celts, whom fame ennobles! All this pertains to the glory of Claudius. Claudius endowed the commonwealth both with security and with an excess of wealth.

There was fighting, besides, among the Byzantines, the surviving Byzantines themselves doing bravely; there was fighting among the Thessalonians, whom in Claudius's absence the barbarians had besieged; there was fighting in various regions, and everywhere, under the auspices of Claudius, the Goths were conquered — so that already then Claudius seemed to be preparing a secure commonwealth for Constantius Caesar, his grandson that was to be.

10. And it has come well to mind: there must be set forth the oracle which is said to have been given to Claudius among the Comageni, that all may understand that the line of Claudius was divinely appointed for the felicity of the commonwealth. For when, having been made emperor, he consulted how long he was to reign, an oracle of this kind emerged: "You, who now govern your native shores and rule the world, arbiter of the gods, you shall surpass the ancients with your newer line; for your descendants shall reign, and shall make their descendants kings." Likewise, when in the Apennines he consulted concerning himself, he received an answer of this kind: "While the third summer shall see him reigning over Latium." Likewise, when concerning his posterity: "For these I shall set neither bounds of empire nor limits of time." Likewise, when concerning his brother Quintillus, whom he wished to have as partner of the empire, the answer was: "The fates shall but show him to the earth." These things I have set down so that it may be clear to all that Constantius, a man of divine descent, that most holy Caesar, both belongs to the Augustan family himself and will give many Augusti of his own line — while Diocletian and Maximian remain Augusti, and his brother Galerius.

11. But while these things are being done by the deified Claudius, the Palmyrenes, under their leaders Saba and Timagenes, take up war against the Egyptians, and by them, through Egyptian stubbornness and untiring persistence in fighting, are defeated. Yet the leader of the Egyptians, Probatus, was killed by the treachery of Timagenes. But all the Egyptians gave themselves to the Roman emperor, swearing allegiance to the absent Claudius.

In the consulship of Antiochianus and Orfitus the auspices of Claudius were aided by divine favour. For when the multitude of barbarian peoples that had survived had betaken themselves to the Haemus range, there they so laboured under famine and pestilence that Claudius now disdained even to conquer. In short, that most bitter war was finished, and the terrors of the Roman name were dispelled.

Loyalty to truth compels us to tell — and at the same time that those who wish us to be reckoned flatterers may know that we do not keep silent about what history demands be told — that at the time when the full victory was won, very many of Claudius's soldiers, elated by success, which "wearies even the minds of the wise," so turned to plunder that they did not consider that they could be put to flight by very few, while, occupied in mind and body, they devoted themselves to carrying off booty. In short, in the very victory nearly two thousand soldiers were killed by a few barbarians, and those who had fled. But when Claudius learned this, he seized all who had displayed rebellious spirits, the army being assembled, and sent them even to Rome in chains, to be assigned to the public games. Thus that which either fortune or the soldier had done was undone by the valour of the good prince. Nor was there only victory over the enemy, but vengeance was taken in advance. In which war, while it was being waged, the great valour of the Dalmatian cavalry showed itself — by which Claudius seemed to declare his origin from that province, although others said that he drew his blood from Dardanus and from Ilus, king of the Trojans, and from Dardanus himself.

12. There were in those times Scythians at Crete too, and they tried to lay waste Cyprus, but everywhere, the army likewise labouring under disease, they were overcome.

When the Gothic war was finished, a most grievous sickness grew rife; then it was that Claudius too, afflicted with the disease, left his mortal part and sought the heaven familiar to his virtues. And while he was departing to the gods and the stars, Quintillus his brother, a holy man and, to speak truly, the brother of his brother, received the empire conferred upon him by the judgment of all — not by inheritance but by the merit of his virtues, who would have been made emperor even had he not been the brother of the emperor Claudius. Under him the barbarians who had survived tried to lay waste Anchialus, and to seize Nicopolis too, but they were crushed by the valour of the provincials. Quintillus, however, on account of the shortness of his time, could do nothing worthy of the empire; for on the seventeenth day, because he had shown himself grave and serious towards the soldiers and promised to be a true prince, he was killed in the same manner as Galba, as Pertinax. And Dexippus indeed does not say that Quintillus was slain, but only that he died — nor yet does he add "by disease," so that he seems to be of doubtful opinion.

13. Since we have spoken of military affairs, of the family and lineage of Claudius at least a few things must be said, lest we should seem to have passed over what ought to be known. Claudius, Quintillus, and Crispus were brothers. The daughter of Crispus was Claudia; of her and Eutropius, a most noble man of the Dardanian people, Constantius Caesar was born. There were also sisters, of whom one, named Constantina, married to a tribune of the Assyrians, died in her early years. Of his grandparents little is known to us; for most have handed down varying accounts.

Claudius himself was distinguished by the gravity of his character, distinguished by a singular and unique chastity of life; sparing of wine, ready for food, tall in stature, with burning eyes, a broad and full face, and fingers so strong that he often struck out the teeth of horses and mules with a blow of his fist. He had done this even as a young man in military service, when at the Martial games on the Campus he was displaying a wrestling-match among the bravest. For, angry with a man who had twisted not his belt but his private parts, he struck out all his teeth with one blow — which deed earned indulgence as a vindication of decency; since then the emperor Decius, in whose presence it had been done, publicly proclaimed both the valour and the modesty of Claudius, and, having presented him with armlets and torques, bade him withdraw from the soldiers' contest, lest he should do anything more savage than wrestling requires.

To Claudius himself there were no children; Quintillus left two; Crispus, as we said, a daughter.

14. Now let us come to the judgments of the princes, which were issued concerning him by various men, and that too in such a way that it was apparent that Claudius would at some time be emperor.

A letter of Valerian to Zosimion, procurator of Syria: "Claudius, a man of the Illyrian people, we have made tribune of the Fifth Martian Legion, the bravest and most devoted — a man to be preferred to all the most devoted and bravest of the ancients. To him you will give as pay, from our private treasury, yearly three thousand pecks of grain, six thousand of barley, two thousand pounds of lard, three thousand five hundred sextarii of old wine, a hundred and fifty sextarii of good oil, six hundred sextarii of second-grade oil, twenty pecks of salt, a hundred and fifty pounds of wax, of hay, chaff, vinegar, vegetables, and herbs as much as is sufficient, thirty sets of ten tent-hides, six mules yearly, three horses yearly, ten she-camels yearly, nine she-mules yearly, fifty pounds of silver in worked form yearly, a hundred and fifty Philippei stamped with our likeness yearly, and in New Year's gifts forty-seven, and a hundred and sixty thirds, likewise in cup and goblet and bowl eleven pounds, two red military tunics yearly, two soldier's cloaks yearly, two gilded silver clasps, one gold clasp with a Cyprian pin, one gilded silver belt, one ring with two gems of an ounce, one bracelet of seven ounces, one torque of a pound, one gilded helmet, two shields inlaid with gold, one breastplate — which he is to return — two Herculean lances, two javelins, two sickles, four hay-scythes, one cook — whom he is to return — one mule-driver, whom he is to return, two comely women from among the captives, one white half-silk tunic with Girba purple, one undergarment with Moorish purple, one shorthand-writer, whom he is to return, one builder, whom he is to return, two pairs of Cyprian couch-coverings, two plain undershirts, two men's girdles, one toga, which he is to return, one broad stripe, which he is to return, two huntsmen to attend him, one carriage-maker, one steward of the headquarters, one water-carrier, one fisherman, one confectioner. Of daily firewood a thousand pounds, if there is a supply, but if not, as much as there shall be and where there shall be; four shovelfuls of charcoal daily. One bath-attendant, and firewood for the baths; but if not, let him bathe in public. Now the rest, which on account of their smallness cannot be written down, you will furnish in moderation, but in such a way that nothing be charged in arrears; and if anywhere anything be lacking, let it not be furnished nor exacted in cash. All these things, moreover, I have conferred specially, not as on a tribune but as on a general, because the man is such that even more ought to be conferred on him."

15. Likewise, from another letter of the same man, among other things, to Ablavius Murena the praetorian prefect: "Cease to complain that Claudius is still a tribune and does not receive an army in the place of a general — whence you boasted that the senate and people too were complaining. He has been made a general, and a general of all Illyricum; he has in his power the Thracian, Moesian, Dalmatian, Pannonian, and Dacian armies. Let that excellent man, in our judgment too, hope for the consulship, and, if it is to his liking, let him receive, when he shall wish, the praetorian prefecture. Know indeed that as much pay has been decreed to him by us as the prefecture of Egypt has, as much clothing as we conferred on the proconsulship of Africa, as much silver as the curator of the mines of Illyricum receives, as much in attendants as we ourselves decree to ourselves for every several city, that all may understand what our opinion is of such a man."

16. Likewise a letter of Decius concerning the same Claudius: "Decius to Messalla, governor of Achaia, greeting." Among other things: "Our tribune Claudius, an excellent young man, a most brave soldier, a most steadfast citizen, necessary to the camp, the senate, and the commonwealth, we order to go to Thermopylae, the care of the Peloponnesians being entrusted to him, knowing that no one will better take care of all that we enjoin. To him you will give from the Dardanian region two hundred soldiers, from the cataphracts a hundred, from the cavalry sixty, from the Cretan archers sixty, and from the recruits a thousand well-armed men; for armies are well entrusted to him as new; nor is anyone found more devoted, braver, or more grave than he."

17. Likewise a letter of Gallienus, when it had been announced through his secret agents that Claudius was angry because he himself lived too softly: "Nothing has grieved me more than what you have intimated in your note, that Claudius, our kinsman and friend, is grievously angry, many false things having been insinuated to him. I beg you, therefore, my Venustus, if you show me good faith, to have him placated by Gratus and Herennianus, the soldiers of Dacia not knowing this — who already rage — lest matters break out grievously. I have myself sent gifts to him, which you will see that he accepts gladly. It must be taken care of, besides, that he does not perceive that I know this, and judge that I am angry with him, and out of necessity take some last resort. I have sent to him two jewelled bowls of three pounds, two jewelled golden goblets of three pounds, a silver dish with ivy-cluster work of twenty pounds, a silver platter with vine-leaf work of thirty pounds, a silver paten with ivy-work of twenty-three pounds, a silver fish-dish of twenty pounds, two silver pitchers set in gold of six pounds, and in smaller vessels twenty-five pounds of silver, ten Egyptian cups of various workmanship, two cloaks of true brilliance with borders, sixteen various garments, one white half-silk garment with a border of three ounces, three pairs of our Parthian boots, ten Dalmatian tunics, one Dardanian travelling-cloak, one Illyrian cape, one hooded cloak, two shaggy hoods, four Sarabdene napkins, a hundred and fifty Valerian gold pieces, three hundred Saloninian thirds."

18. He had too the judgments of the senate, great ones, before he came to the empire. For when it had been announced that he had fought bravely with Marcianus against the peoples in Illyricum, the senate acclaimed: "Claudius, bravest of generals, hail! To your virtues, to your devotion! Let us all dedicate a statue to Claudius. We all desire Claudius as consul. He who loves the commonwealth acts thus; he who loves the princes acts thus; the soldiers of old acted thus. Fortunate are you, Claudius, in the judgment of the princes; fortunate in your virtues. Consul be you, prefect be you! May you live, Valerius, and be loved by the prince!"

It would be a long task to write out things as many as that man deserved; one thing, however, I ought not to keep silent: that both the senate and the people loved him so, both before the empire and in the empire and after the empire, that it is well established that neither Trajan nor the Antonines nor any other prince was so loved.