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Julio-Claudian Emperors

The Emperor in Love

Claudius' public successes were mitigated by his troubled personal life. He fell in love with a beautiful young girl named Messalina, who was licentious and decadent. He overlooked and forgave all until she and one of her lovers were caught in a plot to murder Claudius. He was forced to order her execution, which genuinely broke his heart.

His next wife, Agrippina the Younger, was faithful but hardly less scheming. She had a son from a previous marriage whom she was determined to see succeed as emperor. She lavished infinite affections on her golden-haired boy and schemed to have Claudius grant him sole position as heir.

In his later years, Claudius sank into alcoholism. Whether he died from it, or from poisoned mushrooms fed him by his wife, cannot be known. Upon his death, Agrippina destroyed all of his papers, so that none of Claudius' many works survive.

Agrippina got her way, whether by having Claudius sign a will or by forging one. In any case, her son succeeded and become the next emperor: Nero.