266 The Empire. ROME. The Empire. 
was a man of experienced courage, an ardent admirer of 
freedom, and consequently an enemy to tyrants. Besides 
the motives which he had in common with other men, he 
had received repeated insults from Caligula, who took all 
occasions of turning him into ridicule, and impeaching him 
of cowardice, merely because he had an effeminate voice. 
He therefore secretly imparted his designs to several senators 
and knights, whom he knew to have received personal 
injuries from Caligula, or to be apprehensive of those to 
come. 
\Yhile these were deliberating upon the most certain and 
speedy method of destroying the tyrant, an unexpected 
incident gave new strength to the conspiracy. Pompedius, 
a senator of distinction, having been accused before the 
emperor, of having spoken of him with disrespect, the 
informer cited one Quintilia, an actress, to confirm his accu¬ 
sation. Quintilia, however, was possessed of a degree of 
fortitude not easily found. She denied the fact with obsti¬ 
nacy ; and being put lo the torture at the informer’s request, 
she bore the severest torments of the rack with unshaken 
constancy. But what is most remarkable of her resolution 
is, that she was acquainted with all the particulars of the 
conspiracy ; and although Cherea was appointed to preside 
at her torture, she revealed nothing: on the contrary, when 
she was led to the rack, she trod upon the toe of one of the 
conspirators, intimating at once her knowledge of the con¬ 
federacy, and her oven resolution not to divulge it. In this 
manner she suffered until all her limbs were dislocated ; and 
in that deplorable state was presented to the emperor, who 
ordered her a gratuity for what she had suffered. Cherea 
could now no longer contain his indignation at being thus 
made the instrument of a tyrant’s cruelty. He therefore 
proposed to the conspirators to attack him as he went to 
offer sacrifices in the capilol, or while he was employed in 
the secret pleasures of the palace. The rest, however, were 
of opinion, that it was best to fall upon him when he should 
be unattended; by which means they would be more 
certain of success. After several deliberations, it was at 
last resolved to attack him during the continuance of the 
Palatine games, which lasted four days; and, accordingly, 
Cherea, on the fourth day, stabbed him as he was going to 
the bath. With him, his wife and infant daughter also 
perished; the one being stabbed by a centurion, the other 
having its brains dashed out against the wall. His coin was 
also melted down by a decree of the senate; and such pre¬ 
cautions were taken, that all seemedywilling, that neither his 
features nor his name might be transmitted to posterity. 
As soon as the death of Caligula was made public, it 
produced the greatest confusion in all parts of the city. 
The conspirators, who only aimed at destroying a tyrant 
without attending to a successor, had all sought safety by 
retiring to private places. In this interval of suspense, the 
German guards finding it a convenient time to pillage, gave 
a loose to their licentiousness, under a pretence of revenging 
the emperor’s death. All the conspirators and senators that 
fell in their way received no mercy: Asprenas, Norbanus, 
and Anteius, were cut in pieces. However, they grew calm 
by degrees, and the senate was pennitted to assemble, in 
order to deliberate upon what was necessary to be done in 
the present emergency. 
In this deliberation, Saturuinus, who was then consul, 
insisted much upon the benefits of liberty; and talked in 
raptures of Cherea’s fortitude, alleging that it deserved the 
highest reward. This was a language highly pleasing to the 
senate. Liberty now became the favourite topic ; and they 
even ventured to talk of extinguishing the very name of 
Caesar. Impressed with this resolution, they brought over 
some cohorts of the city to their side, and boldly seized upon 
the capitol. But it was now too late for Rome to regain her 
pristine freedom; 1 he populace and the army opposed their 
endeavours. The former were still mindful of their ancient 
hatred to the senate; and remembered the donations and 
public spectacles of the emperors with regret. The latter 
were sensible they could have no power but in a monarchy; 
and had some hopes that the election of the emperor would 
fall to their determination. In this opposition of interests, 
and variety of opinions, chance seemed at last to decide the 
fate of the empire. Some soldiers happening to run about 
the palace, discovered Claudius, Caligula’s uncle, lurking 
i in a secret place, where he had hid himself through fear. 
Of this personage, who had hitherto been despised for his 
imbecility, they resolved to make an emperor: and accord¬ 
ingly carried him upon their shoulders to the camp, where 
they proclaimed him at a time he expected nothing but 
death. 
The senate perceiving that force alone could set¬ 
tle the succession, passed a decree, confirming him in 
the empire; and went soon after in a body, to render him 
their compulsive homage. Cherea was the first who fell a 
sacrifice to the jealousy of this new monarch. He met 
death with all the fortitude of an ancient Roman ; desiring 
to die by the same sword with which he had killed Caligula. 
Lupus, his friend, was put to death with him; and Sabinus, 
one of the conspirators, laid violent hands on himself. 
Claudius was 50 years old when he began to reign. The 
complicated diseases of his infancy had, in some measure, 
affected all the faculties both of his body and mind. Not 
that he was entirely destitute of understanding, since he had 
made a tolerable proficiency in the Greek and Latin lan¬ 
guages, and even wrote a history of his own time; which, 
however destitute of other merit, was not contemptible' in 
point of style. Nevertheless, with this share of erudition, 
he was unable to advance himself in the state, and seemed 
utterly neglected until he was placed all at once at the head’of 
affairs. The commencement of his reign gave the most pro¬ 
mising hopes of a happy continuance. He began by passing 
an act of oblivion for all former words and actions, and dis¬ 
annulled all the cruel edicts of Caligula. He forbade all per¬ 
sons, upon severe penalties, to sacrifice to him as they had 
done to Caligula; was assiduous in hearing and examining 
complaints, and frequently administered justice in person. 
He took a more than ordinary care that Rome should be 
continually supplied with corn and provisions, securing the 
merchants against pirates. He was not less assiduous in his 
buildings, in which he excelled almost all that went before 
him. He constructed a wonderful aqueduct, called after his 
own name, much surpassing any other in Rome, either for 
workmanship or plentiful supply'. It brought water from 
40 miles distance, through great mountains, and over deep 
valleys; being built on stately arches, and furnishing the 
highest parts of the city. He made also an haven at Ostia; 
a work of such immense expense, that bis successors were 
unable to maintain it. But his greatest work of all was the 
draining of the lake Fucinus, which was the largest in Italy, 
and bringing its water into the Tiber, in order to strengthen 
the current of that river. For effecting this, among' other 
vast difficulties, he mined through a mountain of stone three 
miles broad, and kept 30,000 men employed for 11 years 
together. 
To this solicitude for the internal advantages of the state, 
he added that of a watchful guardianship over the provinces. 
He restored Judea to Herod Agrippa, which Caligula had 
taken from Herod Antipas, his uncle, the man who had put 
John the Baptist to death, and who was banished by order 
of the present emperor. Claudius also restored such princes 
to their kingdoms as had been unjustly dispossessed by his 
predecessors; but deprived the Lycians and Rhodians of 
their liberty, for having promoted insurrections, and cru¬ 
cified some citizens of Rome. 
He even undertook to gratify the people by foreign con¬ 
quest. The Britons, who had, for near 100 years, been left 
in sole possession of their own island, began to seek the 
mediation of Rome, to quell their intestine commotions. 
But for a particular account of the exploits of the Romans 
in this island, see the article England. 
But though Claudius gave, in the beginning of his reign, 
the highest hopes of a happy continuance, he soon began to 
lessen his care for the public, and to commit to his favou¬ 
r-rites 
