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In any exhibition of gladiators, presented either by himself or others, if any of the combatants chanced to fall, he ordered them to be butchered, especially the Retiarii, that he might see their faces in the agonies of death.
A man engaged in a litigation before his tribunal, having saluted him, drew him aside, and told him he had dreamt that he saw him murdered; and shortly afterwards, when his adversary came to deliver his plea to the emperor, the plaintiff, pretending to have discovered the murderer, pointed to him as the man he had seen in his dream; whereupon, as if he had been taken in the act, he was hurried away to execution.
he repented of his marriage with Agrippina,
The commonalty, from their obscure situation, were always the least exposed to oppression, under a tyrannical prince.
With regard to the partiality for Claudius, it may be accounted for partly from the low habits of life to which he had been addicted, in consequence of which many of them were familiarly acquainted with him; and this circumstance likewise increased their hope of deriving some advantage from his accession.
and lest the whole should be regarded as a frolic, not meant to be consummated, the adulterous parties ascended the nuptial couch in the presence of the astonished spectators.
Her mother, Lepida, who had not spoken with her for some years before, was present upon the occasion, and urged her to the act which alone could put a period to her infamy and wretchedness.
the scandal of whose lewdness resounded throughout the empire,
of all the immense honours which were heaped upon him, refusing none but the title of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, on account of his youth,
He continually saluted people of the several orders by name, without a prompter. When the senate returned him their thanks for his good government, he replied to them, "It will be time enough to do so when I shall have deserved it." He
he ordered that none should be slain, not even the condemned criminals employed in the combats.
He likewise inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people who held a new and impious 577 superstition.
At the same time, he chose young men of the equestrian order, and above five thousand robust young fellows from the common people, on purpose to learn various kinds of applause, called bombi, imbrices, and testae 585, which they were to practise in his favour, whenever he performed.
During the time of his musical performance, nobody was allowed to stir out of the theatre upon any account, however necessary; insomuch, that it is said some women with child were delivered there.
Many of the spectators being quite wearied with hearing and applauding him, because the town gates were shut, slipped privately over the walls; or counterfeiting themselves dead, were carried out for their funeral.
He offered his friendship, or avowed (356) open enmity to many, according as they were lavish or sparing in giving him their applause.
He used to beat those he met coming home from supper; and, if they made any resistance, would wound them, and throw them into the common sewer. He broke open and robbed shops; establishing an auction at home for selling his booty. In the scuffles which took place on those occasions, he often ran the hazard of losing his eyes, and even his life; being beaten almost to death by a senator, for handling his wife indecently.
Besides the abuse of free-born lads, and the debauch of married women, he committed a rape upon Rubria, a Vestal Virgin.
He gelded the boy Sporus, and endeavoured to transform him into a woman.
He even went so far as to marry him, with all the usual formalities of a marriage settlement, the rose-coloured nuptial veil, and a numerous company at the wedding. When the ceremony was over, he had him conducted like a bride to his own house, and treated him as his wife 591
he had defiled every part of his person with some unnatural pollution,
he at last invented an extraordinary kind of diversion; which was, to be let out of a den in the arena, covered with the skin of a wild beast, and then assail with violence the private parts both of men and women, while they were bound to stakes. After he had vented his furious passion upon them, he finished the play in the embraces of his freedman Doryphorus 595, to whom he was married in the same way that Sporus had been married to himself; imitating the cries and shrieks of young virgins, when they are ravished. I have been informed from numerous sources, that he firmly believed, no man in
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He never wore the same garment twice.
The chief banqueting room was circular, and revolved perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies.
unnatural lust,
and being informed by one Babilus, an astrologer, that princes were used to expiate such omens by the sacrifice of illustrious persons,
The only charge objected against Paetus Thrasea was, that he had a melancholy cast of features, and looked like a schoolmaster.
There was at that time an Egyptian of a most voracious appetite, who would digest raw flesh, or any thing else that was given him. It was credibly reported, that the emperor was extremely desirous of furnishing him with living men to tear and devour.
for, pretending to be disgusted with the old buildings, and the narrow and winding streets, he set the city on fire so openly, that many of consular rank caught his own household servants on their property with tow, and (368) torches in their hands, but durst not meddle with them.
During six days and seven nights this terrible devastation continued,
This fire he beheld from a tower in the house of Mecaenas, and "being greatly delighted," as he said, "with the beautiful effects of the conflagration," he sung a poem on the ruin of Troy, in the tragic dress he used on the stage.
to massacre the exiles in every quarter, and all the Gaulish population in Rome; the former lest they should join the insurrection;
But being deterred from the execution of these designs not so much by remorse of conscience, as by despair of being able to effect them,
The general odium in which he was held
another while, he entreated that one of them would set him an example by killing himself;
he drove a dagger into his throat, being assisted in the act by Epaphroditus, his secretary.
Immediately after pronouncing these words, he expired, with his eyes fixed and starting out of his head, to the terror of all who beheld him.
his skin was foul and spotted;
his neck was thick, his belly prominent,
But, above all things, he most eagerly coveted popularity, being the rival of every man who obtained the applause of the people for any thing he did.
He held all religious rites in contempt, except those of the Syrian Goddess 636; but at last he paid her so little reverence, that he made water upon her;
and the public joy was so great upon the occasion, that the common people ran about the city with caps upon their heads.
Some, however, were not wanting, who for a long time decked his tomb with spring and summer flowers.
they published proclamations in his name, as if he were still alive, and would shortly return to Rome, and ta...
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and the portentous nuptials of the emperor and his niece were publicly solemnized in the palace.
but there remains no doubt of her having removed Claudius by poison,
by force of arms and the terrors of religion,
Boadicea, queen of the Iceni,
London therefore was reduced to ashes; and the Romans, and all strangers, to the number of seventy thousand, were put to the sword without distinction,
and, to crown his enormities, setting fire to Rome, while he sung with delight in beholding the dreadful conflagration.
