The Empire. R O 
rites all the concerns of the empire. The chief of his direc¬ 
tors was his wife Messalina: whose name became a common 
appellation to women of abandoned characters. She was 
not ■ less remarkable for her cruelties than her lusts. Sub¬ 
ordinate to her w ere the emperor’s freedmen; Pallas, the 
treasurer; Narcissus, the secretary of state; and Callistus, 
the master of the requests. These entirely governed Clau¬ 
dius; so that he was only left the fatigues of ceremony, 
while they were possessed of all the power of the gtate. 
It would be tedious to enumerate the various cruelties 
which these insidious advisers obliged the feeble emperor to 
commit: those against his own family will suffice. Appius 
Silanus, a person of great merit, who had been married to 
the emperor’s mother-in-law, was put to death upon the 
suggestions of Messalina. After him he slew both his sons- 
in-law, Silanus and Pompey, and his two nieces the Livias, 
one the daughter of Drusus, the other of Germanicus; and 
all without permitting them to plead in their defence, or 
even without assigning any cause for his displeasure. Great 
numbers of others fell a sacrifice to the jealousy of Messalina 
and her minions; who bore so great a sway in the state, 
that all offices, dignities, and governments, were entirely at 
their disposal. Every thing was put to sale: they took 
money for pardons and penalties; and accumulated, by 
these means, such vast sums, that the wealth of Croesus was 
considered as nothing in comparison. One day, the em¬ 
peror complainiug that his exchequer was exhausted, he was 
ludicrously told, that it might be sufficiently replenished if 
his two freedmen would take him into partnership. Still, 
however, during such corruption, he regarded his favourites 
with the highest esteem, and even solicited the senate to 
grant them peculiar marks of their approbation. These dis¬ 
orders in the ministers of government, did not fail to pro¬ 
duce conspiracies against the emperor. Statius Corvinus 
and Gallus Asinius formed a conspiracy against him. Two 
knights, whose names have not been told, privately combined 
to assassinate him. But the revolt which gave him the 
greatest uneasiness, and which was punished with the most 
unrelenting severity, was that of Camillus, his lieutenant- 
general in Dalmatia. This general, incited by many of the 
principal men of Rome, openly rebelled against him, and 
assumed the title of emperor. But his fears upon this occa¬ 
sion were soon removed: for the legions which had declared 
for Camillus, being terrified by some prodigies, shortly after 
abandoned him. The cruelty of Messalina and her minions 
upon this occasion seemed to have no bounds. They so 
wrought upon the emperor’s fears and suspicions, that num¬ 
bers were executed without trial or proof; and scarce any, 
even of those who were but suspected, escaped, unless by 
ransoming their lives with their fortunes. 
By such cruelties as these, the favourites of the emperor 
endeavoured to establish his and their own authority : but 
in order to increase the necessity o'f their assistance, they 
laboured to augment the greatness of his terrors. He now 
became a prey to jealousy and disquietude. Being one day 
in the temple, and finding a sword that was left there by 
accident, he convened the senate in a fright, and informed 
them of his danger. After this he never ventured to go to 
any feast without being surrounded by his guards, nor 
would he suffer any man to approach him without a previous 
search. Thus wholly employed by his anxiety for self-pre¬ 
servation, he entirely left the care of the state to his favou¬ 
rites, who by degrees gave him a relish for slaughter. From 
this time he seemed delighted with inflicting tortures; and on 
a certain occasion continued a whole day at the city Tibur, 
waiting for a hangman from Rome, that he might feast his 
eyes with an execution in the manner of the ancients. Such 
was his extreme stupidity, that he would frequently invite 
those to supper whom he had put to death but the day 
before; and often denied having given orders for an 
execution, but a few hours after pronouncing sentence. 
Suetonius assures us, that there were no less than 35 senators, 
and above 300 knights, executed in his reign; and that 
spell was his unconcern in the midst of slaughter, that one 
M E. The Empire. 267 
of the tribunes bringing him an account of a certain senator 
who was executed, he quite forgot his offence, but calmly 
acquiesced in his punishment. 
Messalina, after appearing for some years insatiable in her 
desires, at length fixed her affections upon Caius Silius, 
the most beautiful youth in Rome. Her love for the young 
Roman seemed to amount even to madness. She obliged 
him to divorce his wife Junia Syllana, that she might 
entirely possess him herself. She made him accept of 
immense treasures and valuable presents; cohabiting with 
him in the most open manner, and treating him with the 
most shameless familiarity. The very imperial ornaments 
were transferred to his house; and the emperor’s slaves and 
attendants had orders to wait upon the adulterer. Nothing 
was wanting to complete the insolence of their conduct, but 
their being married together; and relying upon the emperor’s 
imbecility for their security, when he retired to Ostia, 
they celebrated their nuptials with all the ceremonies and 
splendor which attend the most confident security. It seems, 
that some time before, there had been a quarrel between 
Messalina and Narcissus, the emperor’s first freedman. This 
subtle minister, therefore, desired nothing more than an 
opportunity of ruining the empress, and he judged this to 
be a most favourable occasion. He first made the discovery 
by means of two concubines who attended the emperor, who 
were instructed to inform him of Messalina’s marriage as the 
news of the day, while Narcissus himself stepped in to con¬ 
firm their information. Finding it operated upon the em¬ 
peror’s fears as he could wish, he resolved to alarm him still 
more by a discovery of all Messalina’s projects and attempts. 
He aggravated the danger, and urged the expediency of 
speedily punishing the delinquents. Claudius hastened to 
Rome; Silius was executed in his presence, and Messalina 
dispatched by command of Narcissus, who feared her having 
an interview with the emperor. It is said, that this stupid 
despot was informed of her death in the midst of his ban¬ 
quet ; but that he showed not the least appearance of emo¬ 
tion. He continued at table with his usual tranquillity; and 
the day following, while he was sitting at dinner, he asked 
why Messalina was absent. 
Claudius being now a widower, declared publicly, that 
as he had hitherto been unfortunate in his marriages, he 
would remain single for the future, and that he would 
be contented to forfeit his life in case he broke his resolu¬ 
tion. However the resolutions of Claudius were but of 
short continuance. He soon married Agrippina, the daugh- 
of his brother Germanicus. This woman was more prac¬ 
tised in vice than even the former empress. Her cruelties 
were more dangerous, as they were directed with greater 
caution: she had poisoned her former husband, to be at 
liberty to attend the calls of ambition; and, perfectly ac¬ 
quainted with all the infirmities of Claudius, only made use 
of his power to advance her own. However, as the late 
declaration of Claudius seemed to be an obstacle to his 
marrying again, persons were suborned to move in the se¬ 
nate, that he should be compelled to take a wife, as a mat¬ 
ter of great importance to the commonwealth; and some 
more determined flatterers than the rest laft the house, as* 
with a thorough resolution, that instant, to constrain him. 
However, such was the detestation in which the people in 
general held these incestuous matches, that though they 
were made lawful, only one of the tribunes, and one of 
the emperor’s freedmen, followed his example. 
Claudius having now received a new director, submitted 
with more implicit obedience than in any former part of his 
reign. Agrippina’s chief aims were to gain the succession in 
favour of her own son Nero, and to set aside the claims of 
young Britannicus, son to the emperor and Messalina. For 
this purpose she married Nero to the emperor's daughter 
Octavia, a few days after her own marriage. Not long 
after this, she urged the emperor to strengthen the succession 
, in imitation of his predecessors, by making a new adoption; 
and caused him to take in her son Nero, in some measure 
to divide the fatigues of government. Her next care was 
to 
