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Clarke Discoursed!) the Being of God, to his Letter to Leibnitz 

 on Liberty and Necessity, his writings remain, and will 

 [^ for ever remain, before the world, a lasting monument 

 ''"" of a genius which could throw in light where darkness 

 used to reign, and force good sense and plain words into 

 what was almost the privileged place of obscurity and un- 

 intelligible sounds." His sermons are addressed, not to 

 the passions, but to the understanding ; and on every 

 subject which he treats, his sentiments are eo important 

 and judicious, his expressions so nervous and clear, and 

 his mode of explaining the Scripture phraseology so 

 peculiarly happy, as to carry irresistible conviction. 

 His character was as amiable and respectable as his 

 talents were superior and commanding. " His piety 

 was manly and unaffected ; his charity and benevolence 

 extensive as the whole rational creation ; and the ruling 

 principle of his heart and practice a love of the reli- 

 gious and civil liberties of mankind." In contempla- 

 ting the life of such a man, we feel a kind of pride in 

 reflecting what the human mind can do, what human na- 

 ture can be. How few, alas ! can enjoy this elevating 

 reflection without a secret pang of self- condemnation for 

 the neglect of their own powers, and the imperfection of 

 their character ! See Biographia Britannica ; Hoadlv's 

 Account of the Life, Writings, and Character of Dr 

 Clarke, prefixed to his works ; Whiston's Historical Me- 

 moirs of the Life of Dr S. Cln rke. ( k ) 

 CLAVARIA. See CRYPTOOAMIA. 

 CLAUDIAN, CLAUDIUS CI.AUDIANUS, a Latin poet 

 of considerable eminence, flourished in the fourth centu- 

 ry, under the reigns of the Emperor Theodosius, and 

 his sons Arcadius and Honorius. The place of his 

 birth is not fully ascertained. He has been represented 

 by various authors, as a native of Florence, of Gaul, of 

 Spain ; but the most probable accounts, concurring ap- 

 parently with his own testimony, assign to Alexandria, 

 in Egypt, the disputed honour of his nativity. He was 

 patronized by the celebrated general Stilicho, through 

 whose influence he rose to considerable dignity and im- 

 portance. He was made a tribune and notary ; and so 

 highly did he stand in the public esteem, that the senate 

 ordered a statue to be erected in honour of him in the 

 forum of Trajan, with an inscription expressive of their 

 respect for his accomplishments and worth. After the 

 disgrace and execution of his patron, he hastily quitted 

 court, and little is known of his subsequent history. 

 Some spurious pieces, inserted among his poems, have 

 given rise to an opinion that he was converted to Chris- 

 tianity ; but his own work* sufficiently confirm the as- 

 sertion of Orosius, that he continued an obstinate Pagan 

 to the ht. Lardner, however, quotes him as bearing 

 a remarkable testimony to the victory of the Christian 

 emperor Theodosius in Gaul ; a victory which was de- 

 cirfc-d in his favour by a storm, en extraordinary in its 

 effects upon the army of his adversaries, as to have been 

 regarded by the poet himself as a visible mark of di- 

 vine interposition. 



Claii'lian, -.-ith all his inequalities, is entitled to a dis. 

 tinguished place among the Latin poets. The classical 

 purify and elegance of his style remind us of the compo- 

 sit'ons of the Augustan age ; and no poet has approach- 

 ed nearer to Virgil, in the dignity and harmony of his 

 versification. His beauties, however, are at least equal- 

 led by Kis faults. His flights, though occasionally bold 

 and lofty, are seldom sustained; and the reader, after 

 his imagination has been fired by the glowing ani- 

 matiiiii of the poet's language, in often cooled, all at once, 

 by h'n dniness and insipidity. Of his numerous writings, 

 the principal are his satire against Ruffinus and Eutropi- 

 t!S, the rivals of his patron Stilicho ; his poems in honour 



of Horiorius and Stilicho ; his Rape of Proserpine ; the Claudius. 

 commencement of an Epic Poem, which he never con- """Y"'' 

 eluded ; his Idyllia and Epigrams. The best editions of 

 his works, are those of Barthius and Heinsius ; Gesner t 

 1759; and Burman, 1760. For further information 

 concerning Claudian, the reader may consult Suidas, Fa- 

 bricius, ar.d Tillemont. (i) 



CLAUDIUS, TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS C^ESAH, 

 the fifth of the Roman emperors, was born at Lyons, 

 about ten years before the birth of Christ. His father, 

 Nero Claudius Drusus, was the second son of Livia, the 

 wife of Augustus ; and Antonia, his mother, was the 

 daughter of Antony and Octavia. He was the nephew 

 of Tiberius the brother of Germanicus, and the uncle of 

 Caligula, his predecessor on the imperial throne. 



From his earliest years he was subject to a variety of 

 disorders, by which his mental powers were so much im- 

 paired, that he became the object of general contempt 

 and ridicule. Deemed incapable of taking any active 

 part in the government of the empire, he was allowed to 

 remain in the condition of a private citizen, till his ne- 

 phew Caligula was invested with the imperial purple. 

 He was then dignified with the rank of senator, he was 

 made the colleague of the emperor in his first consul- 

 ship, and presiding occasionally instead of Caligula at 

 the public games, was sometimes greeted by the accla- 

 mations of the assembly as the brother of their favourite 

 Germanicus. Even then, however, he was held in ge- 

 neral contempt j and in the gross indignities with which 

 he was treated, his life was frequently exposed to imminent 

 danger. From this state of mortifying humiliation, an 

 event, apparently casual, raised him at length to the im- 

 perial throne. At the time of Caligula's assassination, 

 Claudius, who was then in the palace, had retired in 

 terror to an adjoining balcony, and concealed himself be- 

 hind the hangings of a doorway. A soldier named 

 Gratus, while roaming for spoil, observed his feet, and 

 dragged him from his lurking place; but on recognizing 

 his person, he fell on his knees, solicited his pardon, and 

 hailed him as emperor. Affection for the memory of Ger- 

 manicus soon induced other soldiers to join with Gratus 

 in this expression of regard to his brother ; and the new 

 emperor, not yet recovered from his consternation, was 

 conveyed to the camp, and lodged for the night within 

 the ramparts. On the following morning, the soldiers 

 formally proclaimed him emperor, and swore allegiance t 



to him as their lawful sovereign. 



The senate, after a few irregular and ineffectual at- 

 tempts to restore the ancient constitution of the com- 

 monwealth, were compelled to submit to the person whom, 

 the army had chosen to invest with imperial authority ; 

 and had Claudius fallen into proper management, or been 

 left to the free exercise of his own inclinations, they would 

 probably have had no reason to regret their acqui- 

 escence. Clemency and moderation marked the first 

 acts of his reign. He published a proclamation of par- 

 don to all who had in any manner opposed his elevation 

 to the throne, or who had been concerned in the late con- 

 spiracy against Caligula, with the exception of those on- 

 ly who had been actually engaged in his assassination. 

 He annulled, as too severe and tyrannical, the laws which 

 were then in force against treason ; he abolished several 

 oppressive imposts, which his predecessors Tiberius and 

 Caligula had laid upon the people ; and the property 

 which they had unlawfully taken from their subjects, he 

 restored to the injured persons themselves if alive, or else 

 to their descendants. These gracious actions were much 

 enhanced by the singular modesty and propriety with 

 which they were performed. The applau-es of the peo- 

 pie teemed not to elate him, nor would he accept of the 



