rius, who happened to pass
that way, accidentally saw his feet beneath the hangings, and
immediately, pulling the hangings aside, dragged him out to view.
Claudius supposed now, of course, that his hour was come. He fell on
his knees in an agony of terror, and begged the soldier to spare his
life. The soldier, when he found that his prisoner was Claudius, the
uncle of Caligula, raised him from the ground and saluted him
emperor. As Caligula left no son, Epirius considered Claudius as his
nearest relative, and consequently as the heir. Epirius immediately
summoned others of the guard to the place, saying that he had found
the new emperor, and calling upon them to assist in conveying him to
the camp. The soldiers thus summoned procured a chair, and having
placed the astonished Claudius in it, they raised the chair upon
their shoulders, and began to convey it away. As they bore him thus
along the streets, the people who saw them supposed that they were
taking him to execution, and they lamented his unhappy fate.
Claudius himself knew not what to believe. He could not but hope
that his life was to be saved, but then he could not wholly dispel
his fears.

In the mean time, the soldiers went steadily forward with their
burden. When one set of bearers became fatigued, they set down the
chair, and others relieved them. No one molested them, or attempted
to intercept them in their progress, and at length they reached the
camp. Claudius was well received by the whole body of the army. The
officers held a consultation that night, and determined to make him
emperor. At first he was extremely unwilling to accept the proffered
honor, but they urged it upon him, and he was at length induced to
accept it. Thus the army was once more provided with a head, and
prepared to engage anew in its conflict with the civil authorities
of the city.

The particulars of the conflict that ensued we can not here
describe. It is sufficient to say that the army prevailed, and that
Claudius soon found himself in full possession of the power from
which his nephew had been so suddenly deposed.

One of the first measures which the new emperor adopted, was to
recall Agrippina from her banishment at Pontia, where Caligula had
confined her, and restore her to her former position in Rome. Her
husband, Brazenbeard, died about this time, and young Brazenbeard,
her son, afterward called Nero, the subject of this history, was
three years old. Octavia, the daug