Claqueurs Professional applauders hired for various performances or events during the time of nero (54-69
C. E.).
Clarus, C. Septicius (fl. early second century c. e.) Prefect of the Praetorian Guard under Hadrian (ruled 117-138 C. E.); succeeded the long-serving Sulpicius Sim-ilis at the start of the emperor’s reign (c. 118). Clarus was a friend of Suetonius, who dedicated his Lives of the Caesars to him, and was an influence on pliny the younger, convincing him to publish his Letters.
Classicus, Julius (fl. first century c. e.) A cavalry commander and leader in the rebellion of CIVILIS in 69-70 C. E. a tribal potentate of the Treviri, Classicus took a troop of cavalry to Italy during the civil war of 69 c. e. As part of the army of Fabius Valens, he defended Gallia Narbonensis against a sortie of the Othonians. He reappeared in Germania as a representative of the Treviri, along with Julius Tutor, at the meeting of the rebellious chiefs at Cologne. There he helped established the Imperium Galliarum, but proved inactive in the face of the Roman counterattack along the Rhine frontier. His daughter was captured, and he laid down his weapons when Civilis agreed to meet with the legate Petilius Cere-alis to end the war.
Claudian (Claudius Claudianus) (c. 370-c. 404 C. E.) Last great Roman classical poet; lived and wrote in an age of tremendous activity and declining imperial power. Little is known about his life. He probably came from Alexandria in Egypt, and wrote about his native land with poems concerning the Nile, Memphis, and the Phoenix. His early writings were in Greek, and he did not use Latin until 395, about the same time as his arrival in Rome. He had friends in Rome, the two most powerful being the consuls Probinus and Aubrius, the sons of Petronius Probus, to whom he had written from Mediolanum (Milan). Claudian remained at the court in Milan for five years. There he became poet in residence for the MAGISTER MILITUM, STILICHO. Poems and panegyrics showed the state of the imperial palace during the period.
An unfinished poem to Urban Prefect Frontinus meant that the official fell out of power.
On January 3, 396, a panegyric praised Emperor Honorius. That same year saw Claudian mark Honorius’s fourth consulship and the marriage of Honorious to Stili-cho’s daughter, Maria. These efforts joined others, including compositions on the Praetorian Prefect Rufinus and the rebellion of Gildo in Africa. In 399, he viciously attacked the eunuch Eutropius, chamberlain to Arcadius, and then offered a panegyric to Flavius Theodorus.
Early in 400, Claudian returned to Rome, where he praised Stilicho with a poem on his consulship. Two years later he again praised the magister militum for his victory over the Goths, receiving a statue in his honor from Honorius, a gift that he repaid with a poem dedicated to the emperor on his sixth consulship and his defeat of the Goths in 403. In 404, Claudian married, wrote two last poems to his new wife and died. Claudian was a remarkable writer for his age, with a flair for Latin born of intense study of the classical age. He wrote historical epics, as well as notably descriptive and stylized mythology, such as The Rape of Proserpina.
Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germa-nicus) (10 B. C.E.-54 c. e.) Emperor of Rome from 41 to 54 C. E.
Born at Lugdunum (Lyons) to Drusus the Elder and Antonia, his life was troubled with illness from infancy. He was so beset with physical problems, such as a stammer, that his family believed any public career would be impossible for him. He suffered humiliation at the hands of his relatives, and his own mother called him “a monster.” Discussing another person, Antonia was heard to remark: “He is a bigger fool than even my son Claudius!” During Augustus’s entire reign (27 B. C.E.-14 c. e.) the only post that Claudius received was to the College of Augurs. In the emperor’s will, Claudius was given 1,000 gold pieces and treated as an heir in the sixth part, a place for non-relatives.
Beneath the terrible social manners, stuttering and clumsiness, there lurked the mind of a scholar and orator. He authored several histories, including one on Carthage and on Etruscan matters, and earned the respect of the Equestrian class. The knights rose, for example, and removed their cloaks out of respect every time that Claudius entered the theater. Even Augustus could be surprised by him, writing to Livia of Claudius’s skill in oratory. Despite these glimpses of his true character, TIBERIUS and then GAIUS CALIGULA considered his mental capacities defective, thereby safeguarding him, because he posed no threat to their ambitions. Claudius thus survived while other members of his family and his circle of friends suffered death or exile at their hands. He served as consul for Caligula and was once thrown into the Rhine by him.
So decimated was the imperial family by 41 C. E. that, when Caligula fell to the blades of assassins, the Praeto-
A silver tetradrachm of Claudius struck at Ephesus (Courtesy Historical Coins, Inc.)
Rian Guard had a difficult time in finding a qualified replacement. They chose Claudius and forced Rome to accept him. The legions agreed, happy to have the brother of Germanicus on the throne. The Senate had little choice, with the Praetorians bent on their candidate and threatening violence. As for Claudius, he never forgot who was responsible for his elevation, granting the Guards a sizable donativum.
The snickers accompanying his arrival quickly disappeared as the new emperor assumed the greatest power of any Roman ruler to date. He furthered the decline of the Senate both in the manner of his rule and in his resurrection of censorial privilege. He used the powers of censor in 47-48 to bring the Senate to its knees, and infuriated the senatorial class further with his constant pleas for them to assume a greater role in government. The senators considered Claudius boorish and deserving of little respect, thus ensuring a political breach and the birth of conspiracies.
Claudius endured six such plots against his life, from lone dagger-wielding assassins to a large-scale attempt by M. Furius Scribonianus to lead a revolt of the legions in Dalmatia. Execution of the conspirators often included senators, which did little to heal the relationship between the throne and the Senate. In their place as servants and advisers, the emperor relied upon two other classes, the Equestrians and the imperial freedmen. The knights found Claudius grateful. He made advancement in the government and in the military easier for the members of this class. Real progress toward influence was made by the imperial freedmen. Claudius surrounded himself with these able-bodied secretaries to alleviate his work load, and he turned to the freedmen to assume tasks of a bureaucratic nature. While he kept the major decisions for himself throughout much of his reign, near the end of it the freedmen dominated the civil service and the palace. Furthermore, the leading freedmen amassed considerable wealth and a say in policy, which even a major friend of Claudius, such as Lucius Vitellius, could not match.
The emperor paid great attention to detail, especially with regard to judicial matters. He sat in court and delivered judgments he thought were fair, even if the actual statutes differed with his view. His decisions could be annoying to the legal experts, and many stories were recorded of lawyers and defendants encroaching severely upon his goodwill and his time, out of a lack of respect (and a sense of frustration). But Rome profited from his attentions. He tried earnestly to maintain the grain imports and constructed aqueducts to improve the water supply In Ostia, Claudius built a new harbor and port and handed out large gifts to the population at various times, including games. As a result of Claudius’s reign, the empire was stabilized, especially when compared to the eccentricities of Caligula. In 50, Claudius granted Herod Agrippa the kingdom of Chalcis and the tetrarchy of Philip Archelaus. Thrace was annexed and declared a province. The greatest achievement in foreign policy came in 43, however, when Claudius finally embarked on an invasion of Britain. General Aulus Plau-tius landed on the isle and defeated the kings of the Catuvellauni—Caratacus and Togodumnus. Claudius soon claimed the victory personally, as much of southern Britain fell to his legions. He declared the conquered region a province.
He returned to Rome but soon had to face a major crisis. Empress Valeria messallina committed adultery frequently and with such ardor that her murder had to be ordered in 48. For Claudius this disastrous marriage was but one of four unsuccessful relationships, culminating in his union with Agrippina the younger. This marriage brought a formidable figure into the palace and sacrificed the claims of Claudius’s other children, his daughters Octavia and Antonia and his son Britannicus. Nero moved in with his mother, marrying Octavia in time. Once her son stood unquestionably as the heir to the throne, Agrippina poisoned Claudius with a plate of mushrooms, and he died on October 13, 54, at the age of 64.
Although his rule often left much to be desired, as a writer he was considered by his contemporaries to be remarkable. His works were histories (not extant) of Carthage and the Etruscans, an autobiography and a study of the alphabet.
Suggested Readings: Levick, Barbara. Claudius. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1990; Momigliano, Arnaldo. Claudius, the Emperor and His Achievement. Translated by W D. Hogarth. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1961; suetonius. Claudius. Edited and with an introduction and commentary by J. Mottershead. Bristol, U. K.: Bristol Classical Press, 1986.
Claudius, Freedmen of Members of the court who were generally held to dominate Claudius’s life and palace. These servants also made themselves tremendously wealthy during his reign. some of these freedmen were Posides, a eunuch who was awarded a headless spear after the British campaign; Felix, who rose to the governorship of Judaea; Harpocras, a noted host of entertainments, who rode in a special litter; and the imperial mentor of literature, Polybius. The three most powerful of the freedmen, however, were Callistus, Narcissus, and Pallas.
Claudius, Wives of Women who were married to Claudius before and after his ascent to the throne of Rome. He married four times: to Plautia Urgulanilla, Aelia Paetina, Valeria messallina, and Agrippina the YOUNGER. Urgulanilla he divorced for adultery Aelia Paetina was also divorced. Valeria Messallina proved even more wanton, and after her death in 48 C. E., Claudius swore to the Praetorian Guard that if he ever remarried they should kill him. Urgulanilla bore Claudius two children, Drusus and Claudia. Drusus died in childhood and Claudia was illegitimate, the daughter of the Freedman Boter. Messallina gave him Octavia and Britannicus. Antonia is considered the daughter of Aelia Paetina.
Claudius II Gothicus (Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius) (c. 214-270 c. e.) Emperor from268 to270 c. e. Probably from Upper Moesia, Claudius served as a tribune under Trajanus Decius and Valerian, becoming for the latter the chief of the legions in the troublesome province of Illyricum. Details reported in the Scriptores Historiae Augustae are unreliable.
In 268, Claudius joined the army of Gallienus, as one of his generals, helping to besiege the rebel Aureolus in Mediolanum (Milan). Gallienus died at the hands of assassins during the siege, and the army faced with the task of finding a successor. They chose Claudius over Aurelian. He immediately put down a mutiny in the troops, promising a donativum (a money-grant to each soldier). He then continued the siege, worked out a cease-fire with Aureolus and had him put to death. The emperor moved quickly to push back an Alamanni invasion and turned his attention to the dangerous Goths along the Danube frontiers and in the Balkans. in a series of smashing victories the barbarians were routed, earning him the title “Gothicus.”
More invasions followed, this time by the Juthungi, who crossed the Danube in 270. Aurelian was given charge of finishing off the Goths while Claudius marched to sirmium, where he succumbed to the plague. Claudius ii Gothicus left behind him a number of crises. Postumus and Victorinus, usurpers in Gaul, and Zenobia of Palmyra were yet to be subdued. The Juthungi, Vandals, and
Goths still threatened the frontiers, and Aurelian, unloved by his legions, took over an uncertain empire. Claudius supposedly founded the family of Constantine the Great.
Cleander, Marcus Aurelius (d. 186 c. e.) Phrygian freedman, and from 186, prefect of the Praetorian Guard under Emperor Commodus
Cleander plotted against Perennis, the prefect who constantly interfered with his ambitions. With his fellow freedmen, Cleander worked for his foe’s destruction and eventually succeeded in causing his death. Perfectly suited to manipulating coMMODUS’s many weaknesses, Cleander assumed for himself broad powers, including the stewardship in the palace and control of the legions in the empire. He also hoarded the grain of the city (see ANNONA) in order to use it to feed the army and public in the event of a famine. Public outrage erupted in violence as a mob charged Commodus’s estate near Rome. Cleander unleashed the cavalry on them, dispersing them cruelly. Commodus remained ignorant of these events until his sister, possibly named Phadilla, finally alerted him to the truth. The emperor summoned Clean-der to the palace, where his head was severed and presented to the vengeful mobs. His children died brutally, as did his friends, their bodies dragged away and thrown into sewers.
See also papirius dionysius for a variation on Clean-der’s end.
Clemens, Arrecinus (d. c. 81 c. e.) Prefect of the Praetorian Guard under Emperor Vespasian
Clemens was the son of the Prefect M. Arrecinus CLEMENS. His sister had been married to Titus, and this relationship to Vespasian made him a candidate for the prefecture in 70. Clemens was well suited to deal with the reconstructed praetorian guard and had the backing of the Senate, as he was a member of that legislative body. He knew and befriended Domitian, but when Domitian succeeded to the throne, the prefect was charged with some offense and executed.
Clemens, Flavius (d. 95 c. e.) Consul in 95 c. e. and a relative of Domitian
Not only a cousin of the emperor but also married to Domitian’s niece, domitilla, Clemens succeeded in having his two sons, named for the emperors Vespasian and Domitian, declared as eventual successors to the childless Emperor Domitian. Such imperial favor was difficult to maintain. Shortly before leaving office in 95, Clemens was called to answer charges of impiety. He and his wife were charged with neglecting the state religion and of favoring both Christianity and Judaism. It is possible that they were converts to one of these religions. Clemens was executed, and Domitilla was exiled from Rome.
Clemens, M. Arrecinus (fl. mid-first century c. e.) Prefect of the Praetorian Guard under Gaius Caligula Replaced by the fallen macro in 38 C. E., Clemens was involved in the plots against the emperor in 41, but found himself stripped of his post by Claudius’s new wife, Agrippina. His son was Arrecinus clemens.
World History
