ABSTRACT
Claudius·originalitysometimesseemsrefreshing.Awomanpersistedin denyingthatayoungmanwasherson:Claudiusdecidedsheshouldmarry him.Sherefusedandlosthercase.Atfirstthislookslikeajudgmentof Solomon.Notso.Thesonwasprobablyseekingaccesstohismother's property;ifhehadbeenanunrelatedfortune-huntershouldshehavebeen expectedtomarryhim?Ifthestoryisgenuine,Claudiushadalreadymade uphismindaboutthecase,andtheorderwasasillygame. 9
ThelackofpredictabilityinClaudius'proceedingsmeantthathiscourt sometimeslackeddignity.TheRomanbarwasneveradecorousinstitution. Casesweretakenoutofdoors,turningthemintopublictheatre.Thescripts ofChristianandAlexandrianActaalikeshowthatlivelyexchangesbetween examiningmagistrateandaccusedwerenormal.ButClaudianincidents passedbeyondthat.TherewassomethinghomespunaboutClaudius' administrationofjustice.Thefactthatin5rtheentireproceedingswere disruptedbyabreadriotandtheEmperorhadtofleethebenchforthe Palaceshowshowhisjurisdictionwasperceived,perhapscorrectly.Normally hewaslong-sulferingandlitigantswerenotafraidofhim:onethrewhis heavybriefintotheEmperor'sface_ClaudiuswaspronetoquoteGreek;it
was probably meant to add to his intellectual stature or had the same function as Tiberius' irony, that of allowing him to give vent to feelings without crushing his inferiors. But it exposed him to the ripostes of native Greek speakers. In one anecdote (ben trovato and a variant on 'Claudius the Gaul') he had the pleader Julius Gallicus thrown into the Tiber. It was a traditional punishment in Gaul for unsuccessful speakers. This left the client without an advocate. The great Narbonensian pleader Cn. Domitius Afer, applied to for help, asked the litigant if he thought that he, Afer, was a better swimmer than Gallicus. A more convincing story, involving another Gallic pleader, is that of an orator of equestrian status, this time from Vasio, who was executed for practising magic on the Emperor when a Druidical egg - carried for luck[ - slipped from his toga. w
In the Apocolocyntosis Claudius is accused of hearing one side of a case or neither before delivering judgment. (It is a charge that he seems to anticipate in his Letter to the Alexandrians, where he claims to have heard both sides.) The accusation might refer to the penalizing of defaulters, but the gravamen probably relates to political cases. Men and women died when the charge was uncertain and with no opportunity of defending themselves: Suetonius lists Appius Silanus, the two Julias, Cn. Pompeius, and L.Silanus. This is close to the complaint put into the mouth of Augustus in the Apocolocyntosis, that Claudius had killed Augustus' two great-granddaughters, one by the sword, the other by starvation, and one great-grandson, Silanus. He asks, 'Why did you convict many of these men and women whom you killed, before you could examine the case, before you could hear the evidence?' In his later, formal charge he lists Claudius' relations, adding Crassus Frugi, Scribonia, and Messallina to the victims. Claudius himself is tried in the skit before the standing court on a regular charge of judicial murder (35 senators, pr knights, countless others) and when defence counsel attempts to reply he is cut off and Claudius himself is condemned with only one side of the case heard. Modern writers put more stress on trials held, like that of Valerius Asiaticus, 'in the Emperor's private apartments' (intra cubiculum), which are complained of in Nero's accession speech. Augustus heard cases at home, but they were already on the docket, and conducted in reception rooms with regular advisers. 1 r
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For the senatorial outsider or victim there is little to choose between any procedure beyond jury court and senate, but for the dominant clique the types classify the situations in which they find themselves: those requiring instant and silent action; those in which one segment is not strong enough to deal with opponents in public; and those in which a defeated element has put itself into the wrong so manifestly that the aftermath is like mopping up after a civil war."
