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Ap'pius, fearing that what had been said might have a dangerous effect upon the multitude, and under a pretence of being sufficiently instructed in the merits of the cause, with rage interrupted him. "Yes," said he, "my conscience obliges me to declare, that I, myself, am a witness to the truth of the deposition of Clau'dius. Most of this assembly know that I was left guardian to him.
Virgin'ius, upon this, pretending the death of a near relation, got permission to leave the camp, and hastened to Rome, inspired with indignation and revenge. 17. Accordingly, the next day, to the astonishment of Ap'pius, he appeared before the tribunal, leading his weeping daughter by the hand, both of them habited in deep mourning. 18. Clau'dius, the accuser, began by making his demand.
After having vainly tried to corrupt the fidelity of her nurse, he had recourse to another expedient, still more wicked. He fixed upon one Clau'dius, who had long been the minister of his crimes, to assert that the beautiful maid was his slave, and to refer the cause to Ap'pius's tribunal for decision. 8.
Clau'dius afterwards married Agrippi'na, the daughter of his brother German'icus, a woman of a cruel and ambitious spirit, whose only aim being to procure the succession of Nero, her son by a former marriage, she treated Claudius with such haughtiness, that he was heard to declare, when heated with wine, that it was his fate to smart under the disorders of his wives, and to be their executioner. 23.
Fla'vius Clau'dius being nominated to succeed, was joyfully accepted by all orders of the state, and his title confirmed by the senate and the people. 19.
Thus died Clau'dius the First, the complicated diseases of whose infancy seemed to have affected and perverted all the faculties of his mind. He was succeeded by Nero, the son of Agrippi'na by her first husband. Nero had been adopted by Clau'dius. Questions for Examination. What happened on the death of Caligula? Who was appointed his successor? What was the character of Claudius?
At length, after the first heat of opposition was over, he led the weeping virgin to the tribunal of Ap'pius, and there plausibly exposed his pretensions. 10. Clau'dius asserted that she was born in his house, of a female slave, who sold her to the wife of Virgin'ius, who had been childless.
Clau'dius spoke next, and broke out into bitter invectives against the people; asserting that it was his opinion that the law should not pass. 10.
This sentence was received with loud clamours and reproaches by the multitude, particularly by the women, who came round the innocent Virgin'ia, desirous to protect her from the judge's fury; while Icil'ius, her lover, boldly opposed the decree, and obliged Clau'dius to take refuge under the tribunal of the decemvir. 13.
The lictors, in obedience to his command, drove off the throng that pressed round the tribunal; they seized upon Virgin'ia, and were delivering her up into the hands of Clau'dius: the multitude were terrified and withdrew; and Virgin'ius, who found that all was over, seemed to acquiesce in the sentence. 22.
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