In the in universe of the series, Claudius wanted to let "all the poisons lurking in the mud hatch out", meaning that he knew what kind of monster Nero was, and he wanted to re-induce the hate the common people and aristocracy had towards the Caesars, thus leading to a re-establishment of the Republic.
In real life, of course, any republican ideas were long dead by the mid 1st century. The Republic died when Julius Caesar took command of Rome and became almost a monarch. The civil war that ensued, between his assassins and descendants, and later between Octavian and Mark Anthony was a struggle between men fighting for the throne, certainly not between republican factions. The truth is, the Republic could work well when Rome was a city-state, and when it covered Italy. But as soon as its power expanded over the Mediterranean, great wealth was accumulated and with it came great ambitions for power. A huge country can hardly be governed in a democratic fashion even in the 21st, let alone 1st century.
Which leads us back to the real Claudius. He adopted Nero as a way of strengthening his ties to the Julian tree( being a pure Claudian himself). Both Nero and his mother were hugely popular with the people, being the only surviving relatives of the God Augusts, so admitting them into his family was an attempt at a reputation fix after the whole Messalina catastrophe. He also needed an adult son, since he was getting very old, and his biological son was a little boy, so that left his family vulnerable. It is true that Nero was only 4 years older then Germanicus, but in ancient Roman eyes, he was nearing 14 at the time of the adoption and was about to become a man, while his own son was only 9-10 at the time and still had a long way to go. Turning to the husbands of his older daughter, Claudia Antonia, was not an option, since the first one Claudius executed himself for dishonoring his daughter after being discovered in bed with a guy(but really because Messalina had manipulated him into doing so), and the second one was the brother of the hated Messalina herself.
Claudius also pushed Brittanicus aside as a sort of post-mortem middle finger to his treacherous mother. However, towards the end of his life, he came to regret that decision, perhaps after seeing what monsters Nero and his mother Agrippina really are. However, by the mid 50s, the pair had grown too powerful and had too many friends to just be pushed aside without it resulting in a civil war or at least a Sejanus- like mass execution, and the emperor had gotten pretty old, so unfortunately, there was little he could do.
It's a shame Rome was such a male-dominated society. Both Claudia Antonia and Claudia Ocatvia, the daughters of Claudius, seem like they would have made decent rulers.
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Frumious_Bandersnatch_46
14 years ago
Thanks for an insight more accurate than Mr Graves' story.
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april89
14 years ago
Thank you very much Frumious. :-)
Truth be told, Mr. Graves novel and this series are extremely faithful to the original Roman texts, now some things were a little off( the number of people Livia killed and the part of the character of Augusts), and a few of the characters were missing( Claudius' first son Drusillus who choked on a pear on his wedding day and most notably Claudia Antonia) but altogether those are minute mistakes.
This series certainly shows more or less how things really did happen in history, and captures the nature of these historical figures extremely accurately.
The only episode that isn't really en par with history is the last one.
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MayoGalway
10 years ago
Thanks. Your contributions to this thread have been enlightening.
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nedhorn
12 years ago
Thats exactly it. Claudius hoped to restore democracy by totaly corrupting the emperorship. Half way through his reign he realized that by being a good emperor he was simply strenghtening the instituion he hated. His son would have made a good emperor and defeated his plans. Nero was the worst candidate he could find and hence his choice. In his vision as he lies dying he learns of his mistake.
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furienna
12 years ago
That sounds weird though. As much as Claudius might have wanted a new republic, he must have realised that those times were long gone by that point. He should have done everything to keep Nero away from power, no matter what the Sybil might have said. Claudius couldn't even be sure, that people would restore the republic after they had gotten rid of Nero. As a matter of fact, Rome had one emperor after another for four hundred years after Nero was gone. And he really put Britannicus in danger. Such a stupid plan from an otherwise intelligent man!
Intelligence and purity.
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angmc43
12 years ago
Yes, it's weird, but such denial and blindness is still realistic and natural behavior.
Claudius thought Nero's reign would ruin monarchial rule for Rome, leading to the return of the Republic. He is blind to understand that times have changed too much for a republican restoration. Furthermore, he was naive to the dangers of republican rule, which led to many civil wars in Rome (Livia lost a father to such conflicts).
Also, one has to understand how deeply religiously fatalist Claudius is at the end of the story. If the Sybil predicted that he would be murdered and Nero the next emperor and reign violently, then in Claudius' POV, there is no choice but to accept it happening. Aside from it being blasphemous to change fate designed by the Gods, any attempt could backfire and ensure the prophecy come true. One historical account has Claudius decide to remove Nero from the succession, only to be poisoned before action was made. In the novel, Caligula was warned by a prophecy that A Cassius would kill him. So, Caligula executed Cassius the descendant of the Caesar conspirator/assassin. He didn't realize the premonition was for Cassius CHAREA his bodyguard.
Still, Claudius did hope that fate would spare Britannicus. The Sybil predicted that no Claudians would follow Nero, which to Claudius can be interpreted as either (A) Nero killed them all or (B) No Claudian wanted the throne. Claudius hoped the latter was the answer, motivating him to get his son out of Italy. However, Britannicus' refusal to leave doomed him.
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furienna
12 years ago
Thank you for your great post. Yeah, maybe what Claudius did is understandable after all, when you consider the circumstances. And furthermore, Britannicus was in danger, no matter what Claudius did. Agrippina and Nero would never let him live, if they could have him killed.
Intelligence and purity.
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