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The Experience Myth

Probably no one History wanted power less, and needed it more than Claudius, who became the fourth Roman emperor. Living in the turbulent epicenter of an Empire plagued by intrigue and ambition; a dangerous place where no one was safe; Claudius survived precisely because he had no desire for what others craved. Anyone who has read the marvelous books by Robert Graves or seen the TV series I Claudius knows that the purple and the ultimate power behind it was thrust on the lame, stuttering scholar on pain of death. The threatening sword had to persuade the cripple to take what so many have would have readily died for. Absolute rule or a humiliating death ___ what a choice!

As the Fates would have it, Claudius became one of History's great rulers. He improved everything in the Roman world: the laws, the administration, the taxation, the infrastructure. He added to the Empire's realms by conquering Britain with very little bloodshed. By using the superstitions of the native Celts against them (something we should be doing in the Middle East), he, having no military experience, managed to win one of the most startling victories of all time. And, again because of his inexperience, he treated his defeated foes with a magnanimity that tamed their rebelliousness for over four centuries. Back home he indefatigably applied himself to the happiness and security of his subjects. All this from a man who avoided any connection with the Power his family wielded, and who was treated as an object of contempt and ridicule by both his family and his country.

Claudius had his faults, of course. He was a fool for friendship and love, as all good people are, and was betrayed by both. His notorious wife, Messalina, took every advantage her position made possible until she and a lover plotted to kill him for the ultimate power; and his childhood friend, Herod Agrippa, who had benefitted enormously from Claudius but was ( you guessed it) addicted to power, attempted a rebellion to create his own Empire. Too trusting to have learned his Machiavellian lesson, he later married the power mad Agrippina who, with the help of a power hungry lover, poisoned him. She wanted to rule, you see, but custom and law did not allow it for women. She hoped to exercise her power through Nero, her son from a previous marriage. But he was as mad as she, and even more corrupted by power. As everyone knows, he in turn murdered her; and, after 12 years of monstrous misrule died violently

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