Claudius I. (Tiberius Drusus Nero), son of Drusus, Livia’s second son, succeeded as emperor of Rome, after the murder of Caligula, whose memory he endeavoured to annihilate. He made himself popular for a while, by taking particular care of the city, and by adorning and beautifying it with buildings. He passed over into Britain, and obtained a triumph for victories which his generals had won, and suffered himself to be governed by favourites, whose licentiousness and avarice plundered the state and distracted the provinces. He married four wives, one of whom, called Messalina, he put to death on account of her lust and debauchery. He was at last poisoned by another called Agrippina, who wished to raise her son Nero to the throne. The poison was conveyed in mushrooms; but as it did not operate fast enough, his physician, by order of the empress, made him swallow a poisoned feather. He died in the 63rd year of his age, 13 October, A.D. 54, after a reign of 13 years; distinguished neither by humanity nor courage, but debased by weakness and irresolution. He was succeeded by Nero. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 11, &c.—Dio Cassius, bk. 60.—Juvenal, satire 6, li. 619.—Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars.——The second emperor of that name was a Dalmatian, who succeeded Gallienus. He conquered the Goths, Scythians, and Heruli, and killed no less than 300,000 in a battle; and after a reign of about two years, died of the plague in Pannonia. The excellence of his character, marked with bravery, and tempered with justice and benevolence, is well known by these words of the senate, addressed to him: Claudi Auguste, tu frater, tu pater, tu amicus, tu bonus senator, tu vere princeps.——Nero, a consul, with Livius Salinator, who defeated and killed Asdrubal, near the river Metaurum, as he was passing from Spain into Italy, to go to the assistance of his brother Annibal. Livy, bk. 27, &c.—Horace, bk. 4, ode 4, li. 37.—Suetonius, Tiberias.——The father of the emperor Tiberius, questor to Cæsar in the wars of Alexandria.——Pollos, an historian. Pliny the Younger, bk. 7, ltr. 51.——Pontius, a general of the Samnites, who conquered the Roman at Furcæ Caudinæ, and made them pass under the yoke. Livy, bk. 9, ch. 1, &c.——Petilius, a dictator, A.U.C. 442.——Appius, an orator. Cicero, Brutus. See: [Appius].——Appius Cæcus, a Roman censor, who built an aqueduct, A.U.C. 441, which brought water to Rome from Tusculum, at the distance of seven or eight miles. The water was called Appia, and it was the first that was brought to the city from the country. Before his age the Romans were satisfied with the waters of the Tiber, or of the fountains and wells in the city. See: [Appius]. Livy, bk. 9, ch. 29.—Ovid, Fasti, bk. 6, li. 203.—Cicero, de Senectute, ch. 6.——A pretor of Sicily.——Publius, a great enemy to Cicero. See: [Clodius].——Marcellus. See: [Marcellus].——Pulcher, a consul, who, when consulting the sacred chickens, ordered them to be dipped in water because they would not eat. Livy, bk. 19. He was unsuccessful in his expedition against the Carthaginians in Sicily, and disgraced on his return to Rome.——Tiberius Nero, was elder brother of Drusus and son of Livia Drusilla, who married Augustus, after his divorce of Scribonia. He married Livia, the emperor’s daughter by Scribonia and succeeded in the empire by the name of Tiberius. See: [Tiberius]. Horace, bk. 1, ltr. 3, li. 2.——The name of Claudius is common to many Roman consuls, and other officers of state; but nothing is recorded of them, and their name is but barely mentioned. Livy.
Claviēnus, an obscure poet in Juvenal’s age. Bk. 1, li. 8.
Clavĭger, a surname of Janus, from his being represented with a key. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 1, li. 228.——Hercules received also that surname, as he was armed with a club. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 284.
Clausius, or Clusius, a surname of Janus.
Clausus, or Claudius, a king of the Sabines, who assisted Turnus against Æneas. He was the progenitor of that Appius Claudius, who migrated to Rome, and became the founder of the Claudian family. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 7, li. 707; bk. 10, li. 345.
Clazŏmĕnæ and Clazŏmĕna, now Vourla, a city of Ionia, on the coasts of the Ægean sea, between Smyrna and Chios. It was founded A.U.C. 98, by the Ionians, and gave birth to Anaxagoras and other illustrious men. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 17.—Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 29.—Strabo, bk. 14.—Livy, bk. 38, ch. 39.
Cleadas, a man of Platæa, who raised tombs over those who had been killed in the battle against Mardonius. Herodotus, bk. 9, ch. 85.
Cleander, one of Alexander’s officers, who killed Parmenio by the king’s command. He was punished with death, for offering violence to a noble virgin, and giving her as a prostitute to his servants. Curtius, bk. 7, ch. 2; bk. 10, ch. 1.——The first tyrant of Gela. Aristotle, Politics, bk. 5, ch. 12.——A soothsayer of Arcadia. Herodotus, bk. 6, ch. 83.——A favourite of the emperor Commodus, who was put to death, A.D. 190, after abusing public justice, and his master’s confidence.
Cleandridas, a Spartan general, &c.——A man punished with death for bribing two of the Ephori.
Cleanthes, a stoic philosopher of Assos in Troas, successor of Zeno. He was so poor, that to maintain himself he used to draw out water for a gardener in the night, and study in the daytime. Cicero calls him the father of the stoics; and, out of respect for his virtues, the Roman senate raised a statue to him in Assos. It is said that he starved himself in his 90th year, B.C. 240. Strabo, bk. 13.—Cicero, de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, bk. 2, ch. 69; bk. 4, ch. 7.