e did he take of his master. His death followed hard upon
that of Claudius, and he left behind him a reputation for power unequaled
by any man of that age. His property amounted to more than ten thousand
myriads, and cities and kings were dependent upon him. Even when he was
on the point of being slain, he managed to execute a brilliant coup. He
had charge of the correspondence of Claudius and had in his possession
letters containing secret information against Agrippina and others: all
of these he burned before his death.

And he was slain beside the tomb of Messalina,--a coincidence
manifestly intended by chance, to satisfy her vengeance.

[-35-] In such fashion did Claudius meet his end. It seemed that
indications of this event were given in advance by the comet star, which
was seen over a wide expanse of territory, by the shower of blood, by the
bolt that descended upon the standards of the Pretorians, by the
opening of its own accord of the temple of Jupiter Victor, by the
swarming of bees in the camp, and by the fact that one representative of
each political office died. The emperor received the state burial and
all the other honors obtained by Augustus. Agrippina and Nero feigned
sorrow for the man whom they had killed, and elevated to heaven him
whom they had carried out in a state of collapse from the banquet. On
this point Lucius Junius Gallic, brother of Seneca, was the author of a
most witty saying. Seneca himself had composed a work that he called
Gourdification,--a word made on the analogy of "deification"; and his
brother is credited with expressing a great deal in one short sentence.
For whereas the public executioners were accustomed to drag the bodies
of those killed in prison to the Forum with large hooks, and thence
hauled them to the river, he said that Claudius must have been raised to
heaven with a hook. Nero has also left us a remark not unworthy of
record. He declared mushrooms to be the food of the gods, because
Claudius by means of a mushroom had become a god.

[Footnote:1 A reference to Book Forty-four, chapter 26 (the Return of the
"Party of the Peiraeus").]

[Footnote 2: Adopting Canter's emendation. [Greek: eithismenou] for the
unintelligible [Greek: ois men oute] of the MSS.]

[Footnote 3: The drinking of warm water ranked among the ancients as a
luxurious practice. (Compare the end of chapter 14, Book Fifty-seven, and
the end of chapter 11, Book Fifty-nine.)]

[Footnote 4: An