order. They took possession
of the forum and of the capitol and posted sentinels and guards
along the streets. They compelled the emperor's guards to desist
from their violence, and retire. They sent a herald clothed in
mourning into the theater, to announce officially to the people the
event which had occurred, and to direct them to repair quietly to
their homes. Having taken these preliminary measures they
immediately called the Senate together, to deliberate on the
emergency which had occurred, and to decide what should next be
done. In the mean time the emperor's guards, having withdrawn from
the streets of the city, retired to their camp and joined their
comrades. Thus there were two vast powers organized--that of the
army in the camp, and that of the Senate in the city--each jealous
of the other, and resolute in its determination not to yield, in the
approaching conflict.

In times of sudden and violent revolution like that which attended
the death of Caligula, the course which public affairs are to take,
and the question who is to rise and who is to fall, seem often to be
decided by utter accident. It was strikingly so in this instance, in
respect to the selection, on the part of the army, of the man who
was to take the post of supreme command in the place of the murdered
emperor. The choice fell on Claudius, Agrippina's uncle. It fell
upon him, too, as it would seem, by the merest chance, in the
following very extraordinary manner.

Claudius, as has already been said, was Caligula's uncle; and as
Caligula and Agrippina were brother and sister, he was, of course,
Agrippina's uncle too. He was at this time about fifty years of age,
and he was universally ridiculed and contemned on account of his
great mental and personal inferiority. He was weak and ill-formed at
his birth, so that even his mother despised him. She called him "an
unfinished little monster," and whenever she wished to express her
contempt for any one in respect to his understanding, she used to
say, "You are as stupid as my son Claudius." In a word, Claudius was
extremely unfortunate in every respect, so far as natural endowments
are concerned. His countenance was very repulsive, his figure was
ungainly, his manners were awkward, his voice was disagreeable, and
he had an impediment in his speech. In fact, he was considered in
his youth as almost an idiot. He was not allowed to associate with
the other Roman boys of his age, but was kept apart,