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emperor; it exposed it for what it really was – a monarchy in which the only constraint on the emperor’s behaviour was his own reserves of self-discipline. There was no regulatory mechanism in the system to ensure that Augustus’s idea of a ‘first among equals’ would be guaranteed. Caligula showed that the only method of retiring an unsatisfactory emperor was assassination. Caligula would be the first of many emperors to be assassinated in the years to come – he became the model.

Claudius 
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    Tiberius claudius caesar Augustus Germanicus was the fourth Roman emperor. He was the son of Drusus and Antonia, and born in Lugdunum (Lyons) in Gaul in 10 bc. Among his grandparents were Mark Antony and the Empress Livia.
    Claudius was seen as an unlikely candidate for the imperial throne. It was said he had some physical and mental disability and his family kept him out of the public eye for this reason, until his consulship with his nephew Caligula in 37. Claudius’s afflictions were a disappointment to his family, who wanted sons who would become generals, heroes and emperors. His mother dismissed him as a monster, a by-word for stupidity. For several years she handed the useless boy over to his grandmother Livia, who was also irritated by him; she sent him short angry letters of reproof. Both women assumed the problem was laziness and lack of willpower. In his teens, Claudius developed scholarly interests, which the family encouraged, probably so that his disappearance into the background could be rationalized.
    Probably his disability saved him from being murdered during the purges in the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula, simply because neither thought of him as a contender or potential successor. His survival led to his being declared emperor after Caligula’s assassination; at that time he was the last adult male in the family. He had not been prepared for high office, so it is surprising that he turned out to be an able administrator and a great builder of public works. He also expanded the empire, including the conquest of Britain. He was very actively and personally involved in the running of the legal system, presiding at trials. In spite of these strengths, the Roman aristocracy saw him as vulnerable, perhaps because of his image as a fool. As a result, Claudius was continually obliged to weed out disloyal and subversive senators.
    The physical disability gave him weak knees that gave way under him and a shaking head. He also had a stammer and tended to dribble. He was even so not physically deformed in any way, and was an imposing and dignified figure when seated. The physical quirks became far less obvious after he became emperor, and Claudius himself claimed that he had exaggerated his disability to save his life. Some have thought that Claudius was suffering from polio, but this leaves many of the symptoms unexplained, and a more credible theory is that he suffered from cerebral palsy. It is possible that the whole set of symptoms was an elaborate act, acquired in childhood as a defence mechanism, and developed and exaggerated over many years as a life-preserver, to turn himself into a harmless figure of fun. Perhaps, once safe on the imperial throne, he was unable to shed the act. It had become automatic.
    Claudius was generous and lowbrow, liked a joke, laughed uncontrollably, and liked to eat with ordinary people – a sort of Carry On emperor. He was also said to be excessively trusting, and easily manipulated by his wives and servants. The surviving writings of Claudius show him as intelligent, well-read, conscientious, and with an eye for detail and justice.
    The young Claudius’s interest in history created new problems. He started work on a history that was either too truthful or too critical of Octavian. The events described were too recent, and the account may have reminded Augustus that Claudius was his rival Antony’s grandson. His mother and grandmother put a stop to it, and it may have