expedition into Gaul, and talked of conquering Britain, but
he got no further than the shore of the channel, where, instead of
setting sail, he bade the soldiers gather up shells, which he sent home
to the Senate to be placed among the treasures of the Capitol, calling
them the spoils of the conquered ocean. Then he collected the German
slaves and the tallest Gauls he could find, commanded the latter to dye
their hair and beards to a light color, and brought them home to walk
in his triumph. The Senate, however, were slow to understand that he
could really expect a triumph, and this affronted him so much that, when
they offered him one, he would not have it, and went on insulting them.
He made his horse a consul, though only for a day, and showed it with
golden oats before it in a golden manger. Once, when the two consuls
were sitting by him, he burst out laughing, to think, he said, how with
one word he could make both their heads roll on the floor.

The provinces were not so ill off, but the state of Rome was unbearable.
Everybody was in danger, and at last a plot was formed for his death;
and as he was on his way from his house to the circus, and stopped to
look at some singers who were going to perform, a party of men set upon
him and killed him with many wounds, after he had reigned only five
years, and when he was but thirty years old.

CHAPTER XXXII.

CLAUDIUS AND NERO.

A.D. 41-68.

Poor dull Claudius heard an uproar and hid himself, thinking he was
going to be murdered like his nephew, but still worse was going to
befall him. They were looking for him to make him Emperor, for he was
the last of his family. He was clumsy in figure, though his face was
good, and he was a kind-hearted man, who made large promises, and tried
to do well; but he was slow and timid, and let himself be led by wicked
men and women, so that his rule ended no better than that of the former
Caesars.

He began in a spirited way, by sending troops who conquered the southern
part of Britain, and making an expedition thither himself. His wife
chose to share his triumph, which was not, as usual, a drive in a
chariot, but a sitting in armor on their thrones, with the eagles and
standards over their heads, and the prisoners led up before them. Among
them came the great British chief Caractacus, who is said to have
declared that he could not think why those who had such palaces as there
were at Rome should want the huts of the Brit