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Family Sheet
HUSBAND
Name: Robert RoseMale Note
Born: Abt 1594 1594-1-1 at Elmswell, Suffolk, England Elmswell, Suffolk, England
Married: Abt 1618 1618-1-1 at London, Middlesex County, England London, Middlesex County, England
Died: 4 Apr 1665 1665-4-4 at Branford, New Haven, CT Branford, New Haven, CT
Elizabeth
WIFE
Born: Abt 1594 at Elmswell, Suffolk, England
Died: Abt 1644 at Branford, New Haven, CT
Father: Thomas Gawdy Everard Esq.
Mother: Agnes Mannock
CHILDREN
Born: 1619 at London, Middlesex County, England
Died: 1683
Wife: Rebecca
Born: 1621 at Elmswell, Suffolk, England
Died: 22 Jul 1659 at Branford, CT
Husband: Michael Taintor
Name: Mary Rose
Born: 1623
Died:
Born: 1625
Died: 1698
Wife: Mary Tompkins
Name: Sarah Rose
Born: 1627
Died:
Born: Abt 1631 at New Haven, New Haven County, CT
Died: Aft 1694 at Wethersfield, CT
Wife: Elizabeth Goodrich
Born: 1632 at Stratford, England
Died: 1708 at Branford, New Haven, CT
Husband: Daniel Swaine
Born: Abt 1634 at Wethersford, CT
Died: 21 Aug 1684 at Branford, New Haven, CT
Wife: Delivered Charles
Born: Abt 1636
Died: Aft 1685
Husband: Benoni Frisbie
NOTES
1). Robert and Margery Rose came to America on the ship Fr a n c i s, arriving 30 April 1634 at Plymouth or Boston, Ma ss ac hu s etts. Here is a list of passengers on the ship THE FRANCIS 30 April 1634. Passenger s o f t h e Fr ancis of Ipswich, Mr. John Cutting, captain , bou nd f o r Ne w England landed at Plymouth or Boston , MA f rom t h e Pubi c Record Office, Kew, Richmond, Sur rey TW9 4 DU, En gl and John Beetes aged 40 William Haulton 23 Nicholas Jenn i n g s 2 2 William Westwoode 28 and Bridgett his wife 32 , Jo h n L ea 1 3, Grace Newell 13 Cleeare Draper 30 Rober t Ros e 4 0 an d Mar gery his wife 40, John Rose 15, Rober t Ros e 15 , Eliza beth R ose 13, Mary Rose 11, Samuell Ros e 9, S ara h Rose 7 , Danyel l Rose 3, Darcas Rose 2 John B ernar d 36 a nd Mary h is wife 3 8, Fayth Newell 14, Henr y Hawar d 7 Will iam Freebo urne 40 an d Mary his wife 33 , Mary Fre ebourne 7 , Sarah Fre ebourne 2 , John Aldburg h 14 Anthon y White 2 7 Edwawrd Bugb ye 40 an d Rebecca hi s wife 32, Sa rah Bugby e 4 Abraham Newe ll 50 an d Franci s his wife 40 , Abraham Ne well 8, John Newe ll 5, Isa ack e Newell 22 Jus t Houlding 2 3 see Note John P ease 27 , F ayth Clearke 15 , Robert Peas e 3, Darcas Greene 1 5 Ro bert Wi nge 60 and J udith his wif e 43 John Greene 27 Ro b ert Pease 2 7 Hugh Ma son 28 and Hes ter his wife 22 Rowla n d Stebing 40 a nd Sar ah his wife 43 , Thomas Stebing 14 , Sar ah Stebing 11 , Eli zabeth Stebin g 6, John Stebing 8 , Mary W inche 15 Thom a s Sherwood 48 an d Alice his wif e 47, Anna Sh erwood 14 , Ros e Sherwood 11 , Thomas Sherwo od 10, Rebecca S herwoo d 9 Thoma s King 19 J ohn Mapes 2 1 Mary Blosse 40, Ric har d Blosse 11 R obert Co e 38 and A nna his wife, John Co e 8 , Robert Coe 7, B enjami n Co e 5 Mary Onge 27 Thomas Bo yde n 21 Richard Wattli n 2 8 Jo hn Lyvermore 28 Richard Pep per 2 7 and Mary his wif e 3 0 , Mary Pepper 3 1 2, Stephe n Becket t 11 Richard Hould i n g 25 Judeth Garnett 26 Eliz abeth Hamo nd 47e limped , h e dro oled, he stuttered and wa s constantl y ill. Hi s fami ly memb ers mistook these phys ical debiliti es as r eflectiv e of ment al infirmity and ge nerally kept hi m ou t of the p ublic eye a s an embarrassme nt. A sign of th i s familial di sdain is tha t he remaine d under guardians hip , like a woma n, even afte r he had re ached the age o f major ity. Suetoni us, in particu lar, pre serves comment s of Anton ia, his mot her, and Livia , his g randmother, w hich are part icularly c ruel in their as sess ment of th e boy. From the sa me source , however, it emer g es that A ugustus suspected tha t ther e was more to this i d iot t han met the eye. Neverth eless , Claudius spent hi s ent ir e childhood and youth in al mos t complete seclusio n. Th e n ormal rites de passage of a n i mperial prince cam e an d wen t without official notice, a n d Claudius receive d n o summon s to public office or orde r s to command troo p s on the front iers. When he assumed t h e toga virilis , fo r instance, he wa s carried to the Capi to l in a litt er a t nightthe normal p rocedure was to b e le d into th e For um by one s father or gu ardian in ful l publi c view . Ho w he spent the voluminous fre e time of h is yout h i s reve aled by his later character h e read vora ciousl y . He bec ame a scholar of considerable abi lity an d comp ose d work s on all subjects in the liberal arts , esp ecia lly hi stor y he was the last person we know of wh o co ul d read Et ru scan. These skills, and the knowledge o f g o vernmenta l i nstitutions he acquired from studying hist o ry , were t o sta nd him in good stead when he came to po wer. It should not be forgotten that Claudius s wing of t h e f a m ily suffered terribly in the internal struggles f o r suc ce ss ion that racked the imperial house. His fath e r died o n c amp aign when Claudius was only one year ol d , and his b elov ed b rother, Germanicus, succumbed unde r s uspicious ci rcums tance s in AD 19. His only other sib lin g to reach adu lthood , Livi lla, became involved wit h Seja nus and paid th e ultim ate pri ce in the wake of th e latte r s fall from gr ace in A D 31. Th rough all this t urmoil C laudius survived , primaril y throug h being ignor ed as a n embarrassment an d an idiot. Claudius s fortunes changed somewhat when his unstab l e n e p hew, Gaius Caligula , came to power in the spri n g o f 3 7 A. D. Gaius, it seems, liked to use his bookis h , frai l un cle a s the butt of cruel jokes and, in keepi n g with t his p atter n of behavior, promoted him to a suf fe ct consul ship o n 1 Ju ly 37 A.D. At 46 years of age, i t w as Claudiu s s fir st publ ic office. Despite this sort ie i nto publi c life, h e seeme d destined for a relativel y qui et and sec luded dota ge when , in January 41, event s overt ook him. Accession 24 25 January, 41 A.D. Arguably the most i m p o r tant period of Claudius s reign was its first few h ou r s . Th e events surrounding his accession are worthy o f d et ai led d escription, since they revealed much abou t th e tru e n atur e of the Augustan Principate. In the early afternoon of 24 January 41 A.D., the em p e r o r Gaius was attending a display of dancers in a the at e r n ea r the palace. Claudius was present. Shortly bef or e l unc h ti me, Claudius took his leave and the empero r de cide d th at he , too, would adjourn for a bath. As Ga ius w as ma kin g his wa y down an isolated palace corrido r he wa s surr ound ed and cu t down by discontented member s of hi s own bo dygua rd. In th e aftermath of the assassi nation the fir st ope n murder o f a Roman emperor t here wa s widesprea d pani c and confusi on. The German ele ments o f the emperor s body guard, who wer e fiercely loy al to th eir chief, wen t on th e rampage and ki lled indis criminate ly. Soldiers o f the lar ger Praetorian Gu ard be gan lootin g the imperia l palace. Ac cording to the bes t known tradi tion, some Gua rdsmen foun d Claudius cowerin g b ehind a cu rtain and, on t he spot, the y declared hi m their e mpero r and carried hi m off to thei r camp. In t his story , a ha pless Claudius fa lls into powe r entirel y as a resul t o f accident, and ver y much agains t his wi ll. It is not h a rd to see why, wit h its implicit t hem e of recusatio imp erii , it is the stor y of his accessi o n that Claudius him self fa vored. Vestige s, however, ca n b e traced of anothe r traditio n that paint s a somewha t diffe rent picture. I n this version , the Guar dsmen mee t in thei r camp and dis cuss the situatio n facin g them i n light of G aius s murde r. Their pleasant, c ity b ased t erms of militar y servic e were in jeopardy. The y nee de d an emperor. Fixin g thei r intentions on Claudius a s t h e only surviving matur e me mber of the Julio Claudian h o us e, they sent out a par t y of troops to find him and b ri n g him back to their cam p s o he could be acclaimed em pero r , which is what happen ed. I n this story, the eleva tion o f C laudius to the purp le wa s a purposeful plan o n the par t o f the soldiers, ev en if C laudius remain s a passive an d relu ctant partner i n the who le process. The possibility has to be entertained that Claud i u s w a s a far more active participant in his own elevat i o n tha n e ither of these traditions let on. There is ju s t r easo n to s uspect that he may even have been involv e d in p lanni ng th e murder of Gaius his departure fr o m the the ater m inute s before the assassination appear s a ltogethe r too for tuitou s. These possibilities, howev er , must rema in pure sp eculati on, since the ancient evi den ce offers no thing expli cit in t he way of support fo r the m. On the oth er hand, w e can hardl y expect them to , give n the later pa ttern of ev ents. The wh ole issue o f Claudi us s possible i nvolvement i n the death o f Gaiu s and hi s own subsequent a cclamation b y the Praetori a n Guard mus t, therefore, remai n moot. Despite the circumstances that brought him there, th e h o u r s following Claudius s arrival at the Praetoria n Cam p a n d h is acceptance as emperor by the Senate ar e vita l one s f or t he history of the Principate. Event s could h ave ta ke n a ver y different course, but that th ey worke d out a s the y did sp eaks volumes as to how fa r seven dec ades o f the Au gustan Pr incipate had remove d Rome from th e possi bility o f a retur n to the so calle d free Republic. News of Gaius s death prompted a meeting of the Sena t e . I n itially, there was talk of declaring the Republi c r es tor e d and dispensing with emperors altogether. The n, h owe ver , v arious senators began proposing that the y be ch ose n a s th e next princeps. Debate was in progres s when n ew s reac hed t he senators that the Guard had mad e the dec isi on fo r them Claudius, the soldierschoice , was sitt in g in th e Praeto rian Camp. The main historic al difficul t y in wha t happene d next is due to confusio n in Josephus s accoun t which i s the fullest . In on e version, the S en ate sen t two tribune s to the Camp t o demand that Claud iu s step do wn. Once in th e Camp, how ever, the tribunes w er e cowed b y the ardent supp ort fo r Claudius among the s old iers and i nstead requested t ha t he come to the Senat e t o be ratifie d as emperor. In Jo s ephus s alternate ver sion , however, He rod Agrippa is s ummon ed by the senator s an d employed as a n envoy betwee n the Cam p and the Sena te. C learly, Josephu s is conveyi ng two tradit ions abou t thes e events, one Roma n featur ing the tribunes , th e other J ewish highlightin g the r ole of Herod Agrippa . Suetonius , naturally enough , fol lows the Roman tradit ion , as doe s Dio in his main acc ou nt interestingly, th e latte r show s awareness of some p a rticipation on the pa rt of Hero d Ag rippa in a later pa ssag e. Regardless of how the negotiations were conducted, t h e S e n ate quickly realized it was powerless in the pres en c e o f se veral thousand armed men supporting Claudius s c an dida cy. T he impotence that the esteemed council ha d ex per ience d tim e and again when dealing with the mili tar y dyna sts o f the L ate Republic was once more reveale d t o all, a nd th e meetin g dissolved with the fate of th e Em pire lef t undec ided. Whe n the Senate met again late r tha t night i n the Te mple of Ju piter Victor, it foun d its nu mbers muc h depleted , since man y had fled the ci ty to the ir countr y estates. T he senator s assessed thei r militar y strength they had thr ee or fou r urban cohor ts under t he comman d of the City Pre fect, numb ering per haps 3, 00 0 men. Wit h these, they occupi ed the Foru m an d Palatine . Plans wer e laid to arm some ex slaves to p r ovide reinf orcements. B y these actions the sen ators we re ac ceptin g that suprem e power in post Augustan R ome c ould be a chi eved only by m ilitary force all questio n s of legal nic e ties were irrel evant. But the Senate co ul d not contro l thei r troops t hey all deserted to th e Pra etorian Gu ard, wit h whom the y shared the Camp. Now completely powerless, the senators hurried o f f t o t h e Praetorian Camp to pay their respects to Clau di us . O n 2 5 January 41 A.D. Claudius was formally inves te d wi th a ll t he powers of the princeps, becoming Ti. C lau diu s Caesa r Aug ustus Germanicus. Since Claudius ha d n o lega l clai m to i t whatsoever, the appearance of C aesa r in h is impe rial na me marks the first step in thi s wor d s tran smutatio n fro m a family name to a title de notin g ruler, a nd so beg in s a tradition that stretche s into t he modern e ra with K ais er, Czar,and possib ly Shah. These events have been treated in some detail beca u s e o f t heir immense historical importance. Gaius was t h e f irs t emp eror of Rome to be openly murdered, and Cla ud ius s ac cessio n marks the first overt and largescal e in trusi on o f the mi litary into post Augustan politics . Th e basi c fac t of the P rincipate, which had always be en im plici t in th e Augustan s ettlement but heretofore c areful ly dis guised , was now mad e plain the emperor s p ositio n ultima tely re sted not on co nsensus but on the s words o f the sol diers wh o paid him homa ge. From one per spective , the Prin cipate ha d been reveale d for what i t truly wa s an exer cise in ma naging the mili tary s l oyalties, a nd not a for m of governm ent rooted in la w an d consensus . The Senate , in attemptin g to block Claudi u s with troop s of their ow n, had acquiesc ed in this str uctur e of powe r. For ever af terward, emperor s sat on th e thron e on th e sufferance o f the troops they c ommanded , and a los s o f army loyalty n ecessarily entaile d a los s of power, us u ally accompanie d by the loss of th e incu mbent s life. B ut t he harder les sons in these realit ie s lay in the futu re fo r the momen t order had been rest o red, and Claudiu s embarke d on his r eign in relative se curi ty. The Early Years Britain, Freedmen, and Messali n a A D 4 1 48 Among Claudius s first acts was the app re hens io n an d execution of Gaius s assassins. Whateve r hi s opin io n of t heir actions, politics and pietas req uire d that C lau dius no t be seen to condone men who murd ere d an empero r an d a memb er of his own family. He als o dis played immed iat e understan ding of the centrality o f th e military to h is p osition an d sought to create a m ilita ry image for him sel f that his pr ior sheltered exis tenc e had denied him. P repa rations got un der way soon a fte r his accession fo r a majo r military exped ition int o Bri tain, perhaps spark ed by a n attempted revol t of th e gove rnor of Dalmatia, L . Arrunti us Camillus Scribo nia nus, i n 42 A.D.. The invasi on itself , spearheaded by fo u r legi ons, commenced in th e summer o f 43 and was to la st fo r d ecades, ultimately fa lling shor t of the annexat ion of t h e whole island if ind eed that wa s Claudius s final obj ecti ve at the outset . T his move mar ked th e first majo r additio n to the territor y of the Roma n em pire since th e reign of A ugustus. Claudi us himself to o k part in the c ampaign, arrivi ng in the wa r zone wit h an e ntourage of e x consuls in the l ate summe r of 43 A .D. Afte r a parade a t Camulodunum Colche ster t o impre ss the nati ves, he re turned to Rome to celebr at e a triu mph in 44 A.D . His mil itary credentials had be e n firml y established. The sources are united in portraying Claudius a s a d u p e t o his imperial freedmen advisors as well as t o hi s wi ve s. I t is possible that the hostile stance o f the e lit e tow ard C laudius extended back into his reig n h e was , afte r all , a usurper who had been foiste d on th e aristo crats b y th e soldiers. If so, Claudius s relianc e on hi s freedme n ma y have stemmed from this c ircumstanc e, in th at the ex slave s were as far as he w as concerne d more t rustworth y than t he sullen aristocr acy. For wha tever reas ons, ther e is no do ubt that Claud ius s reign i s the firs t era of th e great imp erial free dman. To be su re, the sec retariat ha d existed bef ore Cl audius and memb ers of it ha d achieved s ome prominenc e notably Helico n and Callistu s under Gaius, but the ri s e of powerful i ndividuals lik e Narcissus, Pol ybius, an d Pal las was a di stinctive mar k of Claudius s rei gn. Th e power o f these m en was demonst rated early on whe n th e emperor chos e Narc issus as his en voy to the legion s a s they hesitated t o e mbark on their i nvasion of Britai n . According to our so u rces, the freedme n were frequent ly t o exert less benefi cen t influences thr oughout Claud ius s r eign. In 38 A.D. Claudius had married Valeria Messalina , a s c i o n of a noble house with impressive familial con nectio n s . Me ssalina bore him a daughter Octavia, bor n in 39 a n d a so n Britannicus, born in 41 she was t herefor e th e m other o f the heir apparent and enjoyed in fluenc e for t ha t reason . In the sources, Messalina is p ortraye d as lit tl e more tha n a pouting adolescent nymph omania c who hold s wi ld partie s and arranges the death s of form er lovers o r tho se who sco rn her advances an d all thi s while her cu ckolde d husband b lunders on in b lissful ig norance. Recent ly, att empts have b een made t o rehabilita te Messalina a s an astut e player of c ourt p olitics who u sed sex as a we apon, but i n the end we h av e little way o f knowing the tr uth. What w e can say is th a t either he r love of parties on the adole scent model or h er byzan tine scheming on th e able courti er model brough t her d own. While Claudius w as away in Ost ia i n AD 48, Mess alin a had a party in the p alace in the co u rse of which a ma r riage ceremony was perf ormed or playa c ted between herse l f and a consul designa te, C. Silius . Wh atever the inten tion s behind it, the pol itical rami ficatio ns of this fol ly wer e sufficiently grav e to caus e the summ ary executio n of Mess alina, Silius, an d assor ted hangers o n orchest rated, telli ngly, by the fr eedma n Narcissus . Cl audius w as now withou t a wife. The Rise of Agrippina and Claudius s Death 48 54 A . D . I n our sources, the death of Messalina is present e d a s i niti ating a scramble among the freedmen, each wi sh in g to p lac e his preferred candidate at Claudiuss si d e a s the ne w emp ress. In the end, it was Pallas who pr ev aile d when h e convi nced Claudius to marry Agrippina t h e Young er. The m arriag e took place within months of Me ss alina s execution . Agripp ina was a colorful figure wi t h extensi ve and far r eaching i mperial connections sh e w as the dau ghter of Clau dius s bro ther, Germanicus, a n d a sister o f Gaius Caligula , by whom s he had been exi le d for involve ment in the consp iracy of Gae tulicus mo reo ver, she had b een married before . She therefo re brou gh t to the marriag e with Claudiusw hich necessita t e d a change in the la w to allow uncles to m arry their br o t hers daughters a son, L. Domitius Aheno barbus. Ag ri ppin a s ambitions f or this son proved the undo ing o f Cla udius. The years between his marriage to Agrippina in 4 8 a n d h i s death in 54 were difficult ones for Claudius . Whe th e r o r not sources are right to portray him a s a dupe o f h i s wiv es and freedmen throughout his reign , there ca n b e li ttle d oubt that Agrippina s powerful p ersonalit y domi nate d Claudi us s last years. Her positio n, openl y influen tia l in a mann er unlike any previous e mpress, w as recogni ze d by those att uned to imperial pol itics, an d she appear s m ore and more pr ominently in off icial insc riptions an d coin s. In 50 the Sen ate voted he r the titl e Augusta, the fir st prominent impe rial wom an to hol d this title s ince Livi a and the latte r ha d only hel d it after Augus tus s deat h. She greeted for e ign embassi es to the empero r at Rome fr om her own trib unal , and tho se greetings wer e recorded i n official doc uments she al so wore a gold em broidered mil itary cloa k at offici al fu nctions. It is a s ign of her ove rt infl uence that a n e w colony on the Rhin e bore her name . Agr ippina s powerf ul p osition facilitate d the advanceme n t of her son Domit ius an d was, in turn, s trengthened b y it . Claudius alrea dy ha d a natural son, Br itannicus , who wa s still a minor . Domiti us, at 13, was th ree yea rs older. N ow Claudius b egan to adv ance Domitius t hroug h various sign s of favor , the most impo rtant being h i s adoption as Claud ius s so n on 25 February A D 50. Henc e forth Domitius was kn own a s Nero Claudius Drusu s Germa nic us Caesar and known t o po sterity simply as Nero . B ut Cl audius openly advance d N ero in other ways, too t h e emper or held the consulsh i p in 51, which was the yea r Ner o too k the toga of manh ood , and that event was i tself sta ge d several months be for e the customary age fo r Roman teen a gers Nero was gra nte d imperium proconsula re outside th e ci ty, addressed t he Se nate, appeared wit h Claudius at c ircu s games whil e Britan nicus appeare d still in the tog a o f a minor , an d was hail ed as Lea der of the Youthp rince ps iuventut is on the c oinage in AD 53 Nero marrie d Claudi us s dau ghter, Octavia . A ll of these are sure sig ns of pref erenc e in the ever u n stable imperial successio n schemes. T h e main difficult y fo r modern scholars lies i n how to ex plai n Claudius s favori ng of Nero over his nat ural son , Britann icus t he reason s remain a matter of int ense de bate. No matter what the reasons were, there can be littl e d o u b t that Nero, despite his tender age, had been cle arl y m ar ke d out as Claudius s successor. Agrippina, acc ordi ng t o T aci tus, now decided it was time to dispose o f Cla udiu s t o allo w Nero to take over. The ancient acco unts a re co nfus ed a s is habitual in the cases of hid den an d dubio us de aths o f emperors but their genera l drif t is tha t Claudi us wa s poisoned with a treated mu shroom , that h e lingere d a whil e and had to be poisone d a seco nd time b efore dyin g on 13 O ctober 54 A.D. At n oon tha t same day , the sixteen year ol d Nero was acclai med empe ror in a ca refully orches trated pi ece of politi cal theat er. Alread y familiar to th e army an d the publi c, he face d no seriou s challenges to h is authori ty. Claudius and the Empire The invasion and annexatio n o f B r i tain was by far the most important and signific an t eve n t i n Claudius s reign. But several other issue s de serv e at tent ion his relationship with and treatmen t o f the a risto cracy , his management of the provinces a nd t heir inh abitan ts, an d his judicial practices, and h is bu ilding ac tivitie s. Befo re looking at these subject s, how ever, we s hould no te tha t the long lived notion t hat Cla udius initi ated a co heren t policy of centralizat ion in t he Roman Emp ire evi dence d in the centralizat ion of pr ovincial admi nistratio n and ju dicial actions , in the cre ation of a dep artmenta l bureaucra cy, his in terference i n financial affa irs, an d so on ha s bee n decisively di sproven by a rece nt biogr aphy of Claudi u s. Whatever acti ons Claudius too k in regar d to the vario u s wings of gove rnment, he did s o without an y unifyin g polic y of central ization in mind. Claudius s relationship with the Senate did not g e t o f f t o a good start given the nature of his succe ss io n an d th e early revolt of Scribonianus with its ens uin g s how t rial s and it seems likely that distrust o f th e ar istocr acy i s what impelled Claudius to elevat e the r ole o f his f reedme n. During his reign, however , Claudiu s mad e effort s to conc iliate Rome s leading co uncil, bu t he al so embark ed on prac tices that redounde d to his de triment , especiall y those o f sponsoring th e entrance me n conside red unworth y into th e Order and h earing delicat e cases be hind close d doors i n camera . In the last ana lysis, th e figures spe ak for them selve s 35 senators an d several h undred Knight s were driv e n to suicide or exec uted durin g the reign. Th e posthum ous v ilification of Cl audius in t he aristocrati c tradit ion als o bespeaks a dee p bitternes s and indicate s that , ultimately , Claudius s relationshi p with the Senat e s howed little imp rovemen t over time. Hi s reviving and h o lding the censorshi p i n 47 48 is typica l of the way th e re lationship betwee n S enate and empero r misfired Cla udius , no doubt, thoug ht h e was adhering t o ancient tra dition , but the emperor censo r only succeede d in elicit ing odiu m from those h e was asses sing. Claudius was remembered negatively by tradition a s b e i n g noticeably profligate in dispensing grants of R oma n c it iz enship to provincials he also admitted long hai red Ga ul s into the senatorial order, to the disple asur e o f the s nob bish incumbents. Both of these practic es de mons trate hi s co ncern for fair play and good gover nmen t for t he provin ces , despite his largely sedentar y reign unde r Claudius a re a ttributed the first issue s of stan ding or ders mandata fro m emperor to governor . In the o rganizat ion of the pro vinces , Claudius appear s to have p referre d direct administ ratio n over client k ingship. Und er him t he kingdoms of Mau retani a, Lycia, N oricum, and T hrace wer e converted into pr ovinces . Stabl e kingdoms, su ch as Bosp orus and Cilicia, we re lef t unt ouched. A goo d example o f the pattern is Hero d Agrip p a I. This clien t prince ha d grown up at Rome and h ad b een a warded tetra rchic land s in Galilee by Gaius Cali g ula . A s we saw ab ove, he ha d been involved in the acces s ion of Cl audius a nd, as a re ward for services rendered , h e was grant ed Ju daea and Sam aria in addition to hi s forme r holdings . H e fell from gra ce, however, when h e suspiciou sly exte nded J erusalem s wa lls and invited o ther eastern k ings t o a confe rence at Ti berias. He die d suddenly in 44 A .D. , after whic h his form er kingdom a gain came under dire c t Roman rule. One feature of Claudius s reign that the sources parti c u l a rly criticize is his handling of judicial matters . Wh i l e h e was certainly diligent in attending to heari ngs a n d c our t proceedings he was constantly presen t in cou r t an d hea rd cases even during family celebrati ons and f es tal d ays the sources accuse him of interf ering undu l y with c ases , of not listening to both side s of a case , o f makin g ridic ulous and or savage rulings , and of hea rin g delicat e case s in closed door privat e sessions wit h onl y his advi sors pr esent. The most cel ebrated and inf amou s of the latt er case s is that of Val erius Asiaticus , th e Gallic ex cons ul and o netime frie nd of Claudius , who f ell from grace i n 47, repu tedly a t Messalina s in stigatio n. His case was h eard in th e em peror s bedroom a nd Asiati cus was forced t o suicide. E v en if a survey o f survivin g rulings by Claudi us do no t sho w him making s illy decisi ons, his judicial pr actic es caugh t such atten tion that Se necas Apocolocyntos i s ends wit h a courtroo m scene with C laudius as the acc used he is no t allowe d to make his def ence, is convict ed, an d condemne d to b e a powerless court room clerk. Su ch an ima ge must hav e b een most pleasing t o the senator ial imaginat ion. Finally, there are Claudius s building activities. P u b l i c building was de rigueur for Roman emperors, and a nc ie n t a ccounts of individual reigns routinely includ e men ti o n of i mperial munificence. Matters hydraulic ac coun t fo r C laudius s greatest constructional achievemen ts, i n th e for m of a n ew aqueduct for the city of Rome , a ne w por t at Po rtus nea r Ostia, and the draining o f the Fuc ine La ke. Th e sources a re at pains to highligh t the almo st cata strophi c outcome o f the latter project , but its s cale can not be d enied. Sueto niuss assessmen t that hi s public wo rks wer e grandiose an d necessary r ather tha n numerous i s entirel y correct. Conclusion Robert Graves fictional characterizati o n o f C l audius as an essentially benign man with a kee n i ntel lige nc e has tended to dominate the wider public s vi ew o f thi s em peror. Close study of the sources, how ever , reve al s a somew hat different kind of man. In addi tio n to hi s sch olarly an d cautious nature, he had a cru el s treak, a s sugg ested by h is addiction to gladiatoria l gam es and hi s fondn ess for wat ching his defeated oppo nent s executed . He condu cted closed door in camera t rial s of leadin g citizens t hat frequentl y resulted in t hei r ruin or deat hs an unpr ecedented an d tyrannica l patt ern of behavior . He had his w ife Messalin a execut ed, an d he personally p resided ove r a kangaroo cour t i n the Pr aetorian Camp in w hich many o f her hangers on l o st thei r lives. He abandone d his own so n Britannicus t o hi s fat e and favored the adv ancement of N ero as his s uccesso r . While he cannot be bla med for the di sastrou s way Nero s r ule turned out, he mus t take some res pons ibility fo r puttin g that most unsuitab le youth on th e t hrone. At t he same tim e, his reign was m arked by som e n otable succe sses the inva sion of Britain , stabilit y and g ood govern ment in the provi nces, and suc cessfu l managemen t of clie nt kingdoms. Claudiu s, then, i s a m ore enigmati c figur e than the other Julio Cl audian e mpe rors at once c arefu l, intelligent, aware and re spectf u
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