50 pages • 1 hour read
SuetoniusThe Twelve Caesars
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 121A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The Deified ClaudiusChapter Summaries & Analyses
Sections 1-9 Summary
Because Claudius was born disfigured and with a disability that impeded his speech, he was mistreated by the imperial family, even his own mother, Augustus’s niece Antonia. Denied both political and military offices, Claudius instead became a writer and a scholar of history. Caligula finally granted Claudius a consulship, but he “remained nevertheless a butt of insults” (Section 8).
Sections 10-42 Summary
After Claudius was discovered cowering behind a curtain during the assassinations of Caligula and his wife and child, he was proclaimed emperor by the praetorian guard against the wishes of the Senate. He then secured the army’s loyalty by giving them a cash bonus, making Claudius “the first of the Caesars to win the loyalty of the soldiers with bribery” (Section 10).
As emperor, Claudius reduced the excesses established by Caligula, not holding public honors for his family and restoring some power to the Senate and the consuls. He took a personal interest in judicial cases, although Suetonius criticizes him for forming inconsistent and hasty judgments. Another accomplishment of his was the conquest of Britain, although it proved to be his only military campaign.
Although Suetonius praises Claudius’s interest in public works and the day-to-day functions of government, he also criticizes Claudius for being paranoid, sadistic, and easily influenced by his wives and freedmen. After his wife Messalina was executed, Claudius married his own niece, Agrippina the Younger, and adopted her son Nero.
Sections 43-46 Summary
According to Suetonius, it “is commonly agreed” (Section 44) that Claudius died by poison because it was suspected that he was about to turn against Agrippina and Nero. As he does for the deaths of all Caesars, Suetonius lists various omens that foretold Claudius’s death.
“The Deified Claudius” Analysis
Suetonius’s depiction of Claudius (10 BCE-54 CE) does not quite fit his mold of a bad Caesar or a good Caesar. Suetonius details Claudius’s flaws while also devaluing his accomplishments, such as the conquest of Britain (which, as Suetonius himself points out, not even Julius Caesar could accomplish). Still, apparently because Claudius was popular enough to have been deified by the Senate, Suetonius extols some of his reforms and personal characteristics.
It must also be noted that there are narrative inconsistencies that might suggest Claudius was a shrewder and more ruthless ruler than Suetonius wanted to depict. For instance, although Suetonius reports that Claudius came to power because of the intervention of the army, he also admits that Claudius was the first emperor to grant money to soldiers upon his ascension. Rather than depicting a man who was dragged against his will to the imperial office, Suetonius’s own account hints that Claudius came to power due to what was essentially a military coup.
Likewise, Suetonius highlights Claudius’s susceptibility to external influences, even outright trickery, by his wives and freedmen. However, the people Claudius acted against under these influences were enemies whom Claudius would have been motivated to eliminate anyway. One could read between the lines that the people surrounding Claudius were scapegoats rather than his puppet masters.
