Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/657

 CLAUDIUS CLAUDIUS CEASSUS 645 their new sovereign. His first acts were acts of mercy. The enthusiasts who had dreamed of restoring the republic were freely pardoned, while only a few of the murderers of Caligula were put to death. But soon evil counsellors alarmed him with fictitious tales of conspiracies, and continually incited him to injustice and cruelty. During his reign the southern part of Britain was subdued and converted into a Roman province, the emperor himself taking part in the conquest, and celebrating a splendid triumph in consequence of it on his return to Eome, on which occasion he obtained from the senate the surname of Britannicus. Sev- eral other wars were also waged in this reign, with the nations of Germany, Syria, and Mau- ritania. He constructed the famous aqueduct which was named after himself, the harbor of Ostia, and the conduit which carried the waters of Lake Fucinus to the river Liris. He was four times married. His last wife was his own niece Agrippina, who prevailed on him to set aside his son Britannicus, and to adopt hers in his stead ; and who, when he repented of this act, and gave indication of his intention to annul it, killed him with poison. He was the author of several historical works, the principal of which were a history of Rome from the battle of Actium to his own times, in 41 books, and a history of Etruria, in 20 books, all lost. II. Marcos Aurelins Claudius Gothiens, born of humble parents in Dardania or Illyria in 214, died in 270. On the murder of Gal- lienus he was proclaimed emperor by the con- spirators, whose choice was confirmed by the army and senate, March 24, 268. That day was signalized by a victory which the new em- peror obtained over the Alemanni, in conse- quence of which he assumed the surname of Germanicus. The next year the Goths, having collected a vast fleet manned with over 300,- 000 men, entered the Euxine from one of the Scythian rivers, passed into the ^Egean, and, debarking their forces on the Macedonian coast, laid siege to Thessalonica. Claudius collect- ed a great army, and hastened to encounter the barbarians. A terrible engagement took place near Naissus (now Nissa), in which the Goths were totally defeated, with 50,000 slain. The survivors retreated to the defiles of the Hffimus, where they endeavored to make a stand against the victors ; but famine, cold, and pestilence so reduced their ranks that they were soon glad to surrender on condition of having their lives spared. But the pestilence presently spread to the camp of their conquer- ors, and among its victims was Claudius. CLAUDIUS, Matthias, called Asmus, or the Wandsbeck messenger (Der Wandsbeclcer Bote), from his connection with the periodical of that name, a popular German writer, born near Liibeck about 1740, died in Hamburg, Jan. 21, 1815. His poems were originally fugitive pieces which appeared from time to time in various periodicals. These he collected in 1775 and subsequent years, and gave to the world under the title of Asmus Omnia sua se- cum portans (last ed., Hamburg, 1844). Many of his songs have been set to music. The most popular of them is the song on Rhine wine (Rheinweinlied), which is still sung at the Ger- man festivals. In the latter part of his life he became a convert to religious mysticism. CLAUDIUS CJECUS, Appins, a Roman censor, son of Claudius Appius Crassus or Crassinus, who was named dictator 337 B. C., but resigned the office because the augurs did not consider his appointment valid. Claudius Caecus was twice curule sedile, but the odium which at- taches to his name arises mainly from the ar- bitrariness with which he administered the censorship from 312 to 308. In order to form in the senate and among the people -a party subservient to his designs, he filled up the va- cancies in the senate with low plebeians and sons of freedmen (who were, however, set aside the next year), and enrolled a large number of the latter among all the tribes. After resigning his censorship, he was elected consul in 307. He was appointed interrex in the years 298 and 297. In the following year he was again chosen consul, and gained with Volumnius a decisive victory over the Etruscans and Sam- nites. He was praetor in 295, and once (in what year is unknown) he was elected dictator. The Appian road to Capua and the Appian aqueduct were built under his administration. It is believed that his secretary published the calendar and the Legis Actiones at his instiga- tion. His eloquence is extolled by Livy. One of his speeches was extant in Cicero's time. He became blind (whence his surname) and crippled in his old age, and in that condition was carried into the senate, and prevailed on it to reject <%e terms of peace offered by Cin- eas, an envoy of Pyrrhus. He was one of the earliest Roman writers known to us. Besides a poem, of which some fragments remain, he wrote a legal treatise De Usurpationibus, and probably also the Actiones, published by Fla- vius. He left four sons and five daughters. CLAUDIUS CRASSUS, Appius, a Roman decem- vir from 451 to 449 B. 0. He belonged to the Claudii of Sabine origin, a patrician family noted for its sanguinary cruelty, and for its unrelenting opposition to the plebeians, and to laws extending their political rights. When first a consul, he opposed the Publilian law, enacted in favor of the plebeians. Afterward, when 'he led the legions of Rome against the enemy, he was twice defeated, the plebeians being unwilling to fight under his command. He punished many officers by flogging and death, besides ordering every tenth man to be beheaded. After the end of his consulate he opposed the revival of an agrarian law, and was sent into temporary exile. On returning he became consul for the second time, then one of the decemvirs who promulgated the ten tables, and in the following year the leading member of the new decemvirate, which added two tables to the ten. It is supposed that these