to elevate her own son to the throne, which, of right,
belonged to Britannicus, and whose rights might have been subsequently
acknowledged by the emperor, for his eyes could not be much longer blinded
to the character of his wife.

(M1076) Claudius must not be classed with either wicked or imbecile
princes, in spite of his bodily infirmities, or the slanders with which
his name is associated. It is probable he indulged to excess in the
pleasures of the table, like the generality of Roman nobles, but we are to
remember that he ever sought to imitate Augustus in his wisest measures;
that he ever respected letters when literature was falling into contempt;
that his administration was vigorous and successful, fertile in victories
and generals; that he exceeded all his ministers in assiduous labors, and
that he partially restored the dignity and authority of the Senate. His
great weakness was in being ruled by favorites and women; but his
favorites were men of ability, and his women were his wives.

(M1077) Nero, the son of Agrippina and Cn. Domitius Ahenobardus, by the
assistance of the praetorian guards, was now proclaimed imperator, A.D. 54,
directly descended, both on his paternal and maternal side, from Antonia
Major, the granddaughter of Antony and Domitius Ahenobardus. Through
Octavia, his grandmother, he traced his descent from the family of Caesar.
The Domitii--the paternal ancestors of Nero--had been illustrious for
several hundred years, and no one was more distinguished than Lucius
Domitius, called Ahenobardus, or Red-Beard, in the early days of the
republic. The father of Nero, who married Agrippina, was as infamous for
crimes as he was exalted for rank. But he died when his son Nero was three
years of age. He was left to the care of his father's sister, Domitia
Lepida, the mother of Messalina, and was by her neglected. His first
tutors were a dancer and a barber. On the return of his mother from exile
his education was more in accordance with his rank, as a prince of the
blood, though not in the line of succession. He was docile and
affectionate as a child, and was intrusted to the care of Seneca, by whom
he was taught rhetoric and moral philosophy, and who connived at his taste
for singing, piping, and dancing, the only accomplishments of which, as
emperor, he was afterward proud. He was surrounded with perils, in so
wicked an age, as were other nobles, and, by his adoption, was admitted a
member of the imperi