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I, Claudius and Claudius the God (Penguin Modern Classics)

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In I, Claudius, Robert Graves creates the first person narrative of Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus, known in Roman history as Claudius, and widely regarded as an idiot. Telling the story of his family's rule from the beginning of the Christian era until his death fifty years later, Claudius relates stories of his grandmother Livia, one of the most treacherous women in history, a woman who manipulated the imperial succession through poisonings, assassinations, marriages, and secret alliances. The reign of her son Tiberius is bloody, murderous, and corrupt. Tiberius's succession by Caligula, his insane grandson and the protégé of Livia, takes Rome into even more terrifying debauchery. Claudius's ultimate succession to the throne is widely regarded as a joke.

In Claudius, the God, Graves continues the story of Claudius, who is hugely popular when he first becomes Emperor, refusing many of the numerous titles claimed by his predecessors because he believes he has not yet earned them. Gradually, we observe the truism that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." His invasion of Britain, his relationship with his wife Messalina, and his attempts to control the succession to the throne show his attempts to manipulate Roman history and his own legacy. The reader develops enormous sympathy for this man who began his reign with pure motives but who was ultimately powerless to control his own destiny and that of Rome.

Characters are complex, fully developed humans, instead of cardboard, costumed ancients, and their machinations, though extremely bloody, show the conflicts that occur when absolute rule and republican sentiments contend for dominance, a conflict in which Graves says he saw parallels to World War I and its aftermath.

Taken together, these two novels of Claudius constitute what is arguably the greatest fictional biography ever written. Precise historical detail creates a rich tapestry of life in the period, while, at the same time, Graves's keen awareness of psychology leads to vibrant and believable characters behaving badly. The values (and lack of them) in the period are presented in dramatic scenes of violence and excess, and the fickleness of the masses (whom Claudius calls "the frog pool") is both realistic and sadly universal. A masterful characterization of a lesser known Caesar. n Mary Whipple

It has been over 70 years since Robert Graves wrote: 'I, Claudius' and 'Claudius The God' but they are still relevant and fascinating reading, especially to those who are interested in ancient Roman history and are curious as to where our society began and who structured it. The answers are: in Rome by Romans.

While the Republic was dead by the time of Claudius (who followed Caesar Caligula, who followed Augustus, who followed Julius Caesar) Claudius always hoped to be Emperor only as long as it took him to re-establish the Republic. Since crises followed crises in quick succession, Claudius was unable to get his wish, which was to return to writing his histories and he died disappointed that this one wish had not been fulfilled.

He was reluctant to begin with. Born lame and stuttering with a head which jerked from side to side (modern doctors think that he had, perhaps, cerebral palsey) he was considered an idiot because of the infirmity of his body. But Claudius had an intelligence far above that of normal and early on in his life, learned Greek (and later, other languages) and began writing histories of Rome and surrounding territories. Because his whole family kept disappearing in quick succession (particularly under the mad Caligula) and were primarily poisoned, he acted the fool and hid away as much as possible, concentrating on his extensive research and his writing. Then the guards murdered Caligula and raising Claudius on their shoulders, proclaimed him Emperor. And so the reluctant reign of this benign,compassionate caesar began.

In 43 A.D. Claudius conquered the Southern Britains and managed to get the queen of southern Wales and the king of Kent on his side as friends and allies of Rome. He couldn't be an active general because of his disabilities but his brilliant mind devised strategic trickery to subdue the Britains. Into the battle fray, he drove elephants and camels, animals from the territories of Rome but strange to the superstitious Britains. This frightened several of the troops enough that they ran away.

Claudius was also reponsible for solving the problems of the Jews in Alexandria (his childhood friend was Herod Agrippa who was raised in Rome) and in 'Syria', roughly, the territory of current day Israel and Palestine. He also made Ostia a secure port, work which took 20 years to complete, so that the grain supply for Rome from Sicily and Africa would reach Rome safely to feed the city during the winter. Claudius also constructed several aqueducts to ensure that the city had clean drinking water, particularly the 'lower' orders, i.e. the plebeians. Previously,disease was rampant in Rome in the winter since the only drinking water for the city residents was the befouled Tiber, into which all sewage ran.

For his historical research, Robert Graves says that he borrowed from historians: Tacitus, Dio Cassius, Seutonius, Pliny, Varro, Valerius Maximus, Orosius, Frontinus, Strabo, Caesar (Julius), Columella, Plutarch, Josephus, Diodorus, Siculus, Photius, Xiphilinus, Zonaras, Seneca, Petronius, Juvenal, Philo, Calsus, the Acts of the Apostles the pseudo-gospels of Nicodemus and St. James and last but not least, Claudius, in his surviving letters and speeches.(Unfortunately, most of Claudius's writings did not survive.) Graves says: 'Few incidents here given are wholly unsupported by historical authority of some sort or other....No character is invented.'

Claudius adopted his stepson, Lucius, who ruled as the infamous Nero.

We are reading of the slow disintegration of Rome through decadence and greed. It probably would have occurred faster than it did, if compassionate and reasonable leaders such as Julius Caesar and Claudius did not appear from time to time. Unfortunately, these leaders were in the minority and mad leaders such as Caligula and Nero became the norm.

Is there a lesson for modern society? I believe there is and it is this: Be as rich as you can be, but do as much as you can for all members of society, particularly the ones which fortune, for one reason of another, has deprived. Only when NO members of society are disenfranchised can a society survive and thrive.

Warning on Text: Unless you have super-sonic eyes, find out what sort of print the text has. The Penguin edition is good, large enough on which to focus. Some of the editions have such small print that one would need a magnifying glass. Penguin is borderline in print size, but one can manage without red-rimmed eyes in the morning.