How Claudius Survived and Became Emperor

Lovers of historical fiction, especially HBO's "Rome" and the novels of Colleen McCullough ("Masters of Rome") and Conn Iggulden ("Emperor"), will greatly enjoy this book. Written by Robert Graves, an historian and eminent man of letters, "I, Claudius" is not only informative and intriguing, but engaging and funny as well.

The narrator is Tiberius Claudius, a stuttering invalid who everyone at the imperial court dismisses as an idiot (and thereby spares), and he begins his tale in the middle of Augustus Caesar's rule. Claudius' grandmother happens to be Augustus' second wife, Livia, a woman who Graves paints as evil, manipulative and scheming, and behind many of the deaths that occur at court during Augustus', and later Tiberius', rule.

There is disagreement among historians as to how accurate Graves' portrayal of Livia is, but whatever the case may be, she is a fascinating character in this book. Not only does she poison practically everyone who stands in her way, but she's depicted as being the real brains behind the throne, making all the real decisions to ensure affairs in the Roman Empire run smoothly and efficiently.

Towards the end of her life she has a meeting with Claudius, a man she heretofore didn't want to have anything to do with, and explains why she acted the way she did. The effect is to make Livia very human - still conniving and horrible, but acting with good reason (at least in her mind).

Upon her death the empire outside of Rome is left to run on autopilot. Emperor Tiberius devolves into a paranoid lech who spends most of his time doing away with real and imagined rivals when he isn't busy in the bedroom. Realizing full well that he was a horrible ruler, he chooses Caligula as his successor, confident that his own reign would look benign by comparison.

Caligula doesn't disappoint. His first act as head of state is to have Tiberius killed so he can take over. It's hard to conceive of a ruler more deranged and debauched than Caligula, and this part of "I, Claudius" makes for very entertaining reading. At first the man is hugely popular, and is seen as the savior of the people.

He makes good on this reputation for a while, freeing political prisoners, pardoning the falsely accused and reversing many of the unpopular and unfair policies of his predecessor. But then he grows bored, declares himself a god and begins doing things that make Tiberius look like Mother Theresa by comparison.

Claudius, who was appointed consul by Caligula (and is derided by him daily), is forced to live in the imperial residence and has, in effect, a front row view of the emperor's demented dealings. Twice he is nearly killed by Caligula's own hand, but evades death by plumbing new depths of sycophancy.

Claudius' kowtowing and obeisances make for some very funny scenes. In one, for example, Caligula privately asks Claudius, "Do you think I'm mad?" This is after the emperor has marched two hundred thousand troops across what is now France on a pointless expedition.

"Mad, Caesar?" Claudius answers. "You ask whether I think you mad? Why, you set the standard of sanity for the whole habitable world."

Comforted by Claudius' words, the emperor wakes the next day and leads an attack against the sea. (His target was the god Neptune, who had been plaguing him in his dreams, he said.)

After four years of Caligula's antics - forced attendance of endless festivals, draining the imperial coffers dry, mass executions without trial, prostituting his own sisters, etc. - even his most loyal troops begin to tire of him, and so they kill him. On the day of the assassination, a frantic search is made for a successor and Claudius is found hiding behind a curtain. The soldiers pick him up, hoist him on their shoulders and declare him emperor.

And so ends, "I, Claudius," a book I enjoyed so much I had trouble putting it down. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the sequel, "Claudius the God."