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Sunday, August 08, 2010 - 3:21 PM
Claudius then summoned all his most powerful friends. First he
questioned Turranius, superintendent of the corn market; next, Lusius Geta,
who commanded the praetorians. When they confessed the truth, the whole
company clamoured in concert that he must go to the camp, must assure himself
of the praetorian cohorts, must think of safety before he thought of vengeance.
It is quite certain that Claudius was so overwhelmed by terror that he
repeatedly asked whether he was indeed in possession of the empire, whether
Silius was still a subject.
Messalina meanwhile, more wildly profligate than ever, was celebrating
in mid-autumn a representation of the vintage in her new home. The presses
were being trodden; the vats were overflowing; women girt with skins were
dancing, as Bacchanals dance in their worship or their frenzy. Messalina
with flowing hair shook the thyrsus, and Silius at her side, crowned with
ivy and wearing the buskin, moved his head to some lascivious chorus. It
is said that one Vettius Valens climbed a very lofty tree in sport, and
when they asked him what he saw, replied, "A terrible storm from Ostia."
Possibly such appearance had begun; perhaps, a word dropped by chance became
a prophecy.
Meanwhile no mere rumour but messengers from all parts brought
the news that everything was known to Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire, and that he was coming,
bent on vengeance. Messalina upon this went to the gardens of Lucullus;
Silius, to conceal his fear, to his business in the forum. The other guests
were flying in all directions when the centurions appeared and put every
one in irons where they found them, either in the public streets or in
hiding. Messalina, though her peril took away all power of thought, promptly
resolved to meet and face her husband, a course in which she had often
found safety; while she bade Britannicus and Octavia hasten to embrace
their father. She besought Vibidia, the eldest of the Vestal Virgins, to
demand audience of the supreme pontiff and to beg for mercy. Meanwhile,
with only three companions, so lonely did she find herself in a moment,
she traversed the whole length of the city, and, mounting on a cart used
to remove garden refuse, proceeded along the road to Ostia; not pitied,
so overpoweringly hideous were her crimes, by a single
person.
There was equal alarm on the emperor's side. They put but little
trust in Geta, who commanded the praetorians, a man swayed with good case
to good or evil. Narcissus in concert with others who dreaded the same
fate, declared that the only hope of safety for the emperor lay in his
transferring for that one day the command of the soldiers to one of the
freedmen, and he offered to undertake it himself. And that Claudius might
not be induced by Lucius Vitellius and Largus Caecina to repent, while
he was riding into Rome, he asked and took a seat in the emperor's
carriage.
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