Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The Roman Emperors in Marble - 4. Claudius
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"J^ ROMAN DA YS.
side of a measure of wine—he came forward, and to the
wrath and amusement of the senators, gave precise infor-
mation on what he himself had experience of, in relation
to the arrangement, articles sold, and prices of these
places of resort.
From the life he thus described, fate had suddenly
moved him up to a throne. How it happened, we all
know. Caligula had fallen by the swords of the conspir-
ators, and the senate, at the first tidings thereof, had as-
sembled at the Capitol in order, under protection of the
arms of the hastily collected city cohorts, to " reinstate lib-
erty," as the fine phrase sounded. But while the senators
wrangle about how this shall be done, and how together
with liberty they can secure order and property rights,
not least a right to the ownership of slaves, a serio-comic
event is taking place, but a stone’s throw or tv/o from
the spot, which crosses all of a sudden, the grandiose
scheme. A light-fingered soldier has taken care, in the
confusion, to smuggle himself into the deserted palace,
and there discovers a pair of feet below the tapestry of a
door. The owner of the feet throws himself terrified on
his knees, and begs for his life. The soldier, who in the
petitioner knows Caligula’s uncle Claudius, has straight-
way a capital idea. He steals Claudius, and meeting as
he hurries out of the palace with him, a few comrades,
they help him to lift the stolen goods into a chair, and
carry them to the camp of the praetorian guard. The
prcTstorians, who are surly at the confidence the senate
has shown the city cohorts, and besides care more for
pay and gifts of money than for freedom, proclaim Clau-
dius emperor. The people, collected outside the council
chamber of the senate, joins the cry of homage, the city
cohorts retreat to their barracks, the cries for liberty are
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