ece of land, constructed quays on all
sides of it, and let the sea into it. Next in the sea itself he heaped
huge mounds on both sides of the entrance to this place,--mounds that
enclosed a large body of water. Between these breakwaters he reared an
island and planted on it a tower with a beacon light.--This harbor, then,
still so called in local parlance, was created by him at this period. He
had another project to make an outlet into the Liris from Lake Fucina, in
the Marsian country, to the end that the land around it might be tilled
and the river be rendered more navigable. But the expenditure was all to
no purpose.

He made a number of laws, most of which I have no need to mention; but
here are some of the regulations that he introduced. He had the governors
who were chosen by lot set out before the first day of April; for it was
their habit to delay a long time in the City. And he would not
permit those chosen by election to express any thanks to him in the
senate,--this had been a kind of custom with them,--but he said: "These
persons ought not to thank me, as if they were so eager for office, but I
them, because they cheerfully help me bear the burden of government:
and if they acquit themselves well in office, I shall praise them still
more." Such men as by reason of insufficient means were not able to be
senators he allowed to ask permission to retire, and he admitted some
of the knights to tribuneships: the rest of them, without exception, he
forced to attend the senate as often as notice was sent them. He was
so severe upon those who were remiss in this matter that some killed
themselves.

[-12-] In other respects he was sociable and considerate in his dealings
with them. He would visit them when sick and be a partner in their
merrymakings. A certain tribune beat a slave of his in public, but
Claudius did the offender himself no harm, only depriving him of his
assistants, and these he restored not long afterward. Another of his
slaves was sent to the Forum and severely scourged, because he had
insulted a prominent man. In the senate the emperor would himself
regularly rise in case the rest had been standing for a long time. On
account of his ill health, as I related, he frequently remained seated
and read his advice, if asked for it. He allowed Lucius Sulla to sit on
the praetors' bench because this man, being unable by reason of age to
hear anything from his own seat, had stood up. The day on which a year