in some
secluded portion of the palace, with women and slaves, where he was
treated with so much cruelty and neglect that what little spirit
nature had given him was crushed and destroyed. In fact, by common
consent all seemed to take pleasure in teasing and tormenting him.
Sometimes, when he was coming to the table at an entertainment, the
other guests would combine to exclude him from the seats, in order
to enjoy his distress as he ran about from one part of the table to
another, endeavoring to find a place. If they found him asleep they
would pelt him with olives and dates, or awaken him with the blow of
a rod or a whip; and sometimes they would stealthily put his sandals
upon his hands while he was asleep, in order that when he awoke
suddenly they might amuse themselves with seeing him rub his face
and eyes with them.

After all, however, the inferiority of Claudius was not really so
great as it seemed. He was awkward and ungainly, no doubt, to the
last degree; but he possessed some considerable capacity for
intellectual pursuits and attainments, and as he was pretty
effectually driven away from society by the jests and ridicule to
which he was subjected, he devoted a great deal of time in his
retirement to study, and to other useful pursuits. He made
considerable progress in the efforts which he thus made to cultivate
his mind. He, however, failed to acquire the respect of those around
him; and as he grew up he seemed to be considered utterly incapable
of performing any useful function; and during the time when his
nephew Caligula was emperor, he remained at court, among the other
nobles, but still neglected and despised by all of them. It is said
that he probably owed the preservation of his life to his
insignificance, as Caligula would probably have found some pretext
for destroying him, if he had not thought him too spiritless and
imbecile to form any ambitious plans. In fact, Claudius said himself
afterward, when he became emperor, that a great part of his apparent
simplicity was feigned, as a measure of prudence, to protect himself
from injury. When Claudius grew up he was married several times. The
wife who was living with him at the time of Caligula's death was his
third wife; her name was Valeria Messalina. She was his cousin.
Claudius and Messalina had one child--a daughter, named Octavia.
Claudius had been extremely unhappy in his connection with the wives
preceding Messalina. He had quarreled with them