of Mithradates. In 57 he was
praetor, in 56 propraetor in Sardinia, and in 54 consul with L. Domitius
Ahenobarbus. Through the intervention of Pompey, he became reconciled to
Cicero, who had been greatly offended because Claudius had indirectly
opposed his return from exile. In this and certain other transactions
Claudius seems to have acted from avaricious motives,--a result of his
early poverty. In 53 he entered upon the governorship of Cilicia, in
which capacity he seems to have been rapacious and tyrannical. During
this period he carried on a correspondence with Cicero, whose letters to
him form the third book of the _Epistolae ad Familiares_. Claudius
resented the appointment of Cicero as his successor, avoided meeting
him, and even issued orders after his arrival in the province. On his
return to Rome Claudius was impeached by P. Cornelius Dolabella on the
ground of having violated the sovereign rights of the people. This led
him to make advances to Cicero, since it was necessary to obtain
witnesses in his favour from his old province. He was acquitted, and a
charge of bribery against him also proved unsuccessful. In 50 he was
censor, and expelled many of the members of the senate, amongst them the
historian Sallust on the ground of immorality. His connexion with Pompey
brought upon him the enmity of Caesar, at whose march on Rome he fled
from Italy. Having been appointed by Pompey to the command in Greece, in
obedience to an ambiguous oracle he crossed over to Euboea, where he
died about 48, before the battle of Pharsalus. Claudius was of a
distinctly religious turn of mind, as is shown by the interest he took
in sacred buildings (the temple at Eleusis, the sanctuary of Amphiaraus
at Oropus). He wrote a work on augury, the first book of which he
dedicated to Cicero. He was also extremely superstitious, and believed
in invocations of the dead. Cicero had a high opinion of his
intellectual powers, and considered him a great orator (see Orelli,
_Onomasticon Tullianum_).

A full account of all the Claudii will be found in Pauly-Wissowa's
_Realencyclopaedie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_, iii. 2
(1899).

CLAUDIUS, MARCUS AURELIUS, surnamed GOTHICUS, Roman emperor A.D.
268-270, belonged to an obscure Illyrian family. On account of his
military ability he was placed in command of an army by Decius; and
Valerian appointed him general on the Illyrian frontier, and ruler of
the provinces of the lower